That’s where STEM ambassadors would step in. BUT this isn’t anything new. We used to have guest speakers, interest talks and practicals delivered across squadrons up and down the country long before STEM was its own thing.
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Everyone has people. Like I said above… stem.org.uk has over 30000 stem ambassadors around the uk that are more than happy to deliver to groups!
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I love weekend courses. Just had one today.
Some of us have family commitments meaning our weekend availability is limited and we’d rather use what we have to deliver experiences to the cadets. If you have no commitments/responsibilities then knock yourself out with every weekend but don’t assume that all of us could give up multiple weekends for additional mandatory training without it seriously impacting the cadet experience and CFAV retention
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I see SHAPE still isn’t getting a look in… Sigh.
Well it’s not like citizenship and non-military skills factor into our key aims…
SHAPE is Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy
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To be fair, national aerospace kinda does that?
Not exactly electrical/mech, but fairly advanced?
Maybe this is something that RAFAC could utilise… Also it says that the scouts have a mechanics badge, does anyone know if they have a full STEM Syllabus? RAFAC does seem to be abit behind on this🤔
The RAF sponsors the Scouts’ Air Activities badges. It’s handled by the RAF outreach/enagagment team afaik. Not through the Cadets.
Likewise the Army support comes through their engagement teams not the ACF.
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That’s what I mean, surely it wouldn’t be too difficult for us to do the same thing. There’s probably already a syllabus in use with the scouts suitable for our blue and bronze level anyway!
More the reverse. Their badges were, and I’m going back a good few years, loosely based on ACO training materials.
That has changed as they’ve updated the content. One of the good things Scouts do as an organisation is have rolling reviews of activities and badge requirements.
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The RAF Youth Engagement Team have just launched their “Road to RIAT” STEM Activity Booklet
Is certainly aimed at Key Stage 2 but could be worth us all sharing in Social Media to start building interest in the RAF and Air Cadets for joining in a few years time.
This has got me wondering. If we’re going to really start focusing on STEM/Cyber that sort of thing, could internal competitions like these work? This is obviously something that has been going on for decades, but could we start doing our own STEM based competitions?
Maybe work with some well known creators to produce a sort of kit for some sort of competition? I don’t know exactly what, I’m just throwing an idea out there.
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We did (quietly) launch a Robotics competition. I wonder how many units took part. . .
https://rafac.sharepoint.com/sites/CyberPortal/SitePages/Robotics-and-Conding-Challenge.aspx
Was this meant to have been publicised? I’ve not seen this before. I consider myself someone who pays attention to email/sharepoint/announcements etc etc and I’ve heard nothing about this before! Given the ‘Challenge 3’ page only has 39 views, I’m guessing very very few people know this exists/are taking part…
But yes, this is the sort of thing I was thinking of, but with a bit more flair. For a start, producing a nice video to present the competition rather than just text pages on Sharepoint. That’s why working with a creator might be nice (think Colin Furze or Tom Scott or similar). Plus, I think a physical kit to work with would be good too. I appreciate this one is free so maybe more accessible. But a small buy-in of <£50 could get a nice educational robot kit of some kind.
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The CAA STEM website has been relaunched, with new downloadable activities, career guidance & an interactive map.
Still trying to confirm the RAFAC STEM lead - looks like the previous incumbent isn’t there any more.
Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers Europe.
It’s the only SHAPE I’ve ever heard of before today.
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I came here to give that answer too.
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