Bring STEM learning to life in your classroom with IET Faraday

If you like Explorify, then you’ll love the free curriculum-linked resources and activities from the IET Faraday programme. By showing pupils the exciting, real-life applications of science, design & technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the IET Faraday programme provides teaching resources and competition days for schools, designed to introduce young people to engineering and fuel their enthusiasm for STEM subjects.

Lessons can become even more engaging when the learning can be shown to have real-life applications. IET Faraday aims to deliver an engineering context by using case studies that showcase some of the most innovative examples of current engineering and technology from around the world.

IET Faraday provides the following subject specific and curriculum-linked resources, free-of-charge:

• classroom activities to drop into lessons
• handouts
• classroom presentations.

Each set of resources is brought to life in a modern engineering context by including:

• award-winning short films presenting images of male and female engineers, of varying levels of ability
• case studies and engineer profiles which can be used to inspire project work and help with careers guidance.

IET Faraday also offers primary and secondary curriculum support posters so that you can brighten up your classroom with their informative and visual designs. You can download your favourites or order a pack to be delivered direct to your door.

Another option is to organise a practical STEM activity, which is fun, memorable and enlightening. The IET runs free engineering-focused Faraday Challenge Days, during which students use their STEM skills to research, design and make prototype solutions to genuinely tough engineering problems. The event is set up and run by our team of STEM professionals to give you the time to focus on your students. The winners of each event win prizes for themselves and a trophy for their school. The top five teams from across the UK get an all-expenses-paid trip to the National Final in July each year to compete for a cash prize of up to £1,000 for their school.

Alternatively, why not invite an engineer into the classroom or for a chat via Skype. This can really help to bring some real-life experience into the classroom, adding context to lessons, supporting activity days, after-school clubs and careers events.

But don’t just take our word for it! Andy Thomson, Director of Design Technology and Engineering, Highgate School, London says:

“The IET Faraday website should be a key resource for any STEM department. I use the videos and posters to enhance my teaching. I’m also involved with the Faraday Challenge Days, which are a great way of engaging students with real life applications of STEM in a fun and stimulating way. Faraday Challenge Days are a key part of our extra-curricular programme and really help to develop the engineers of tomorrow.

If you want your daily STEM fix, then I recommend spending a couple of minutes each day on this website. It really helps to widen my knowledge in the classroom, I can direct students to articles, competitions or knowledge – this enables a conversation to take place, which can be the start of a whole new idea.”

All of the IET Faraday’s resources are freely available — so what have you got to lose? Bringing a little inspiration into the classroom could get young people thinking about their career ambitions and how STEM subjects may be key to achieving them.

Find a range of teaching resources and activities to inspire your students within IET's Virtual Faraday Challenge, which is open to anyone aged 7-15.