Back to the office this week after 4 fun packed/exhausting days at the Association of Science Education (ASE) conference. As always the Conference was really inspiring and a great way to kick start the new year.

We love this conference for us so many reasons. Firstly, we get to meet some great teachers who haven’t heard of us before and are delighted when we tell them what we have to offer…for free! It’s a lovely feeling knowing that as a result of talking to us they will start using our teaching materials with their pupils. Then there are all the teachers we meet who already use our stuff, and come along to tell us how much they like it, which is hugely motivating, and great to capture. See the video below from Paul Tyler, a primary teacher form Glasgow. As if that wasn’t enough we also catch up with other colleagues in the sector too like those working for STEMLearning, Earthwatch, The Global Learning Programme and of course the ASE, so we can find out what everyone else is doing and where we might be able to support each other in the future.

A new thing for us was running a workshop on International Day where we shared the work we have done as part of our EU funded project Girls into Global STEM (GIGS for short :-)) It was really motivating to get such a positive response to the methodologies were are using in our project to get more girls interested in STEM careers,  focusing on both using STEM to solve global challenges and digital technology such as e-books to communicate pupils’ project work. Teachers enjoyed the hands on element of filtering water using chopped up banana skins too!

One thing I have noticed is the last few years is there is more and more going on for primary teachers. The Primary pop up organised by Claire Seeley  @seeley_Claire was a great way for us to demonstrate our new Ditch the Dirt STEM challenge, and there was a real buzz in the room. Then, new for this year Nicola Beverley @NicolaBeverley1 organised a Primary Teachmeet, and I got the opportunity to give a 2 minute talk on our resources to over 100 super keen teachers as well as listen to examples of some great science going on in our primary schools…check out exporify

So…if you teach science or have something to offer science teachers I would really recommend you keep an eye on the ASE website for the conference next year early January in Birmingham…and do come and say hello if you go as we will definitely be there!

To view our materials, including our popular STEM challenges please go to www.practicalaction.org/schools