Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford UKCME Outreach Activities: national education support to raise awareness of the Materials discipline Presented by: Chris Taylor

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford Rationale Materials Science is a strategically important yet vulnerable subject Our primary role is to support those teaching in Higher Education However, unless the problem of dwindling student numbers is addressed, and reversed, there won’t be anyone to teach… Therefore, assisting with Outreach has become a core activity of our centre

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford UKCME – Our Mission UK Centre for Materials Education supports high quality student learning in Materials Science and related disciplines. We promote, encourage and co-ordinate the development and adoption of effective practices in learning, teaching, assessment.

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford UKCME – What we do 1.Help support the change of practice in learning & teaching through educational development activities 2.Offer an information and advice resource for all staff and students involved in Materials education 4.Work with HEIs to increase the quality & quantity of students applying to study Materials disciplines 3.Disseminate good / effective practice and innovation in learning & teaching, principally across UK

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford UKCME – How we can help UKCME Project Funding: (e.g. Teaching Development Grants, and Materials Awareness Grants) Awareness-Raising Events: (e.g. Workshops, Conferences, Courses) Departmental Support: (e.g. Supported Change Programme, Visits) UKCME Information & Resources: (e.g. Website, Database, Publications) Example Activities: Recruitment booklet Taster Courses Public Understanding Example Activities: Database of Resources ‘Materials Interactive’ ‘Why Study Materials’

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford UKCME Involvement with Outreach

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford Activities Composites on Tour For Schools area Guide to attracting Materials students Materials Interactive CD-ROM KickstartTV STEM Outreach Why Study Materials website

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford Composites on Tour

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford For Schools Area of dedicated to school-level resourceswww.materials.ac.uk

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford Guide to Attracting Materials students Part of a set of 12 guides for lecturers Contains information on: Resources Workshops Open days Careers Who you should target Available to order from our website

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford Materials Interactive CD-ROM A set of resources designed and created to help increase the awareness of Materials Science and Engineering, both as a discipline and a degree option. Includes several interactive simulations, rolling movies and PowerPoint presentations, which demonstrate the diversity and importance of materials in everyday use and the careers available. CD is freely available.

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford

KickstartTV Interactive Digital Television Available on Sky, Telewest/NTL and soon on Virgin Media Converting some of the content of the CD to upload to Kickstart Hoping to reach a new audience

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford STEM Outreach Working group formed by HE Academy subject centres: Materials Engineering Physical Sciences Biosciences Mathematics Information and Computer Sciences All considered to be “at risk” subjects

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford STEM Outreach Mailing List We have a mailing list set up, which currently contains 75 members, all involved in outreach. Contact me if you would like to be added to the Used to inform of new events and resources, and to promote discussion between outreach staff nationwide Wiki Contains information on everything achieved so far News of forth-coming events Can be edited (relatively) easily to include new work

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford STEM Outreach Next event:

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford www. Why Study Materials.ac.uk Based on content from Materials Interactive CD- ROM Created to increase awareness and understanding of the discipline, targeted at Designed to be used as a teaching aid, partly due to increasing requests over the last 2 years from teachers

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford www. Why Study Materials.ac.uk Sections currently include: Homepage Students pages Teachers pages

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford www. Why Study Materials.ac.uk Students pages: Careers information Competitions Courses Fun Stuff News Ask a Question Quizzes

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford www. Why Study Materials.ac.uk Teachers pages: Database of Resources School Packs Open days News Ask a Question

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford

Funding Opportunities Small amount of funding available to champion initiatives which support high quality student learning Visit our website or contact our centre manager Susan Doyle for further

Effective Schools Liaison Activities, 29 th March 2007, University of Oxford