Grants for STEM projects are being made available by the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET). Projects for consideration need to be submitted by the 16th April.
“The Engineering Education Grant Scheme (EEGS) supports UK-based educational projects which increase engineering knowledge, improve wider engineering literacy and bring about a better understanding of the role of the engineer, and the contribution engineering makes to society, among young people aged 4-19. Any UK project aiming to promote a better understanding of engineering, inspire young people to study STEM subjects or raise awareness of engineering and technology-based careers could be funded.
Full details, eligibility criteria and an overview of the entire process can be found on our EEGS Guidance.
This scheme is jointly funded by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).”(IET)
https://education.theiet.org/support/funding/funding-schemes-and-bursaries
It is necessary to be aware of all of the consideration before applying but if you have a school project in mind, it’s definitely worth the attempt to get a Grant. Grants for STEM projects could go a long way to making the project a reality. Full details are provided in the documents: Evaluation Guidance and Impact evaluation.
Visit the site to see examples of projects already accepted. Among them there is a Scratch coding project, providing a series of workshops for primary children.
A school in Walsall developed a project where primary aged children learned about the engineering history of the area. “We felt that by linking the project to the children’s locality they are more likely to relate to engineering and show that they too can be like these people in the future. The first part of the project is to show Walsall children that there have been great engineers who have manufactured great products over the last 200 years. The second part of the project is to show the children that there are people of Walsall developing and engineering solutions to everyday problems and selling these products around the world. We want to highlight the ‘hidden engineers’ as many of these industries are located in areas where children would not frequent.” (https://education.theiet.org/media/3093/funded-actvities-spring-2019.pdf )
I loved the Mars project too: “Live O2 Mars is a project aimed at promoting STEM to year 6 Students in local primary schools through biology, physics, maths and robotics. It is a 2 stage activity process, combing work in schools with visits to our college. Stage 1 is the use of a Martian Soil Kit to explore the possibility of growing plants on mars and the use of Crumble controls and tracked kits to make Mars Rovers. Stage 2 is a visit to our college to take part in a day of activities based around a Martian Exploration Theme. 1. Launch – Design and Launch an Air Rocket (the payload will simulate the seedling/plant grown in stage 1) 2. Re-entry – Design a capsule to withstand landing on mars (the payload to be protected will simulate the seedling/plant grown during stage 1). 3. Delivery – Design a Mars Rover to plant the seedling/plant grown in stage 1.” (https://education.theiet.org/media/3093/funded-actvities-spring-2019.pdf )
There is certainly lots to inspire on the site.