Year 7 collaboration brings STEM careers to life
Two Year 7 classes have been working on a project with the Swindon and Wiltshire Careers Hub this year. The students covered the same topics and content as the rest of Year 7 but they also took part in three employee/employer careers discussions over terms 4, 5 and 6.
We spoke to Jess from Nestle, a University student who was on a placement year working with food science and cereals. Agnes was from Atkins, a structural engineer who is working on reducing the country's carbon emissions. Both Jess and Agnes spoke about how crucial algebra and maths are to their roles.
In the final term students worked with Rich from BlueFlame Media, he created a geometry pixel project for the students to work on. Rich answered an array of questions and had a look at all the fantastic work produced. Due to practicality, the workplace visit was instead a VR experience at Nova where Scott, of SAF-VR, came along and all the students got to experience games such as beat saber, fruit ninja, etc in a real immersive experience.
I’d like to say a massive thank you to Rich, Jess and Agnes for their time. All this work was done by them voluntarily and with no financial incentive, they’re just passionate about their industries and educating the next generation that maths can indeed lead to many exciting careers. Thank you to Scott from SAF-VR and Steve from Altria Orbis who work with very cool VR technology and helped widen the minds of my Year 7s.
Last but not least, a huge thank you to Jaime and those at Swindon and Wiltshire Careers hub for this exciting project.
Everyone involved in the project have embodied our Nova values of Drive, Integrity, Scholarship and Contribution. The students were kind, respectful and polite to all those who they interacted with, they all got stuck in with the project showing a great amount of Drive and Scholarship in lessons , and the greatest contribution is for all the professionals who gave up their time for us. You've been invaluable to making the reality of maths careers more concrete.
This is not the end of incorporating careers with the different maths topics, students are forever asking "When would we use this?" and now I can reply with more informative responses!
Mrs Malik
Maths is important for all jobs and for daily life, but students sometimes view maths topics as too abstract and irrelevant. Our proposal was to bring employers into the classroom to help students to see the value of their learning, and the exciting opportunities that come from studying maths. We’ve been overwhelmed by the commitment of teachers and employers to support this new approach”.
Shona Taylor, Swindon and Wiltshire Careers Hub Lead
834