November 2009 | East Midland STEM Fluency Lab

for Ignite* and Creative Partnerships as part of the Ignition* programme.

This was the second STEM Fluency Lab, building on the success of the first Lab, held in 2008. Teachers, artists and scientists came together for five days of intensive learning and sharing.

As part of the strategy of embedding the work in the East Midlands area, PAL’s Lab Director Steve Mesure was joined by Heidi Gale, one of the teacher participants in the 2008 Lab, as co-director.

Three such residential Labs were commissioned by Ignite! to take place 2008-2010. The Labs are part of an exciting and comprehensive programme of work called Ignition!. Funded by the East Midlands Development Agency to the tune of £1.9m, the programme aims to stop the decline in young people taking up science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) as courses of higher-level study or as careers.

After the Lab, participants are supported by the Reflect programme of co-mentoring. Over the three years, 60 teachers and 30 artists and scientists will take part in what promises to be an inspiring programme.

Lab Directors

Heidi Gale
Steve Mesure

Participants

Benjamin Adams - teacher
Adel Al-Salloum - theatre director
Craig Bell - teacher
Cathy Bereznicki - PAL Labs in Learning Director
Amy Bingham - teacher
Sarah Comber - teacher
Bethan Daley - teacher
Jenny Egner - teacher
Andy Fawkes - teacher
Leigh Fish - scientist
Alex Foreman - teacher
Robert Freeman - teacher
Greg Gilbey - teacher
Victoria Harrod - teacher
Graham Helliwell - teacher
Andrei Khlobystov - scientist
Patrick Morrow - teacher
Lesley Newnham - teacher
Margaret Nwagwu - teacher
Ashwin Patel - teacher
Clive Perkins - teacher
Steffie Richards - artist
Lisa Saunders - teacher
Sam Swain - teacher
Amy Turner - Lab co-ordinator
Kate Willis - dance artist
Trevor Woolery - animation artist
Ben Wong - teacher

Visitors

Sharon Ainsworth - School of Education, Nottingham University
Cathy Brown - STEMNet
Phil Brown - British Science Association
Helen Curry - STEM Lab 08 participant
Deborah Fraser - emda
Rich Hall - Ignite
Hugh James - The Mighty Creatives
Alice King - STEM Lab 08 participant
Sai Pathmanathan - Director of Programmes, Ignition
Helen Pollard - Institute of Physics Teacher Network Co-ordinator, East Midlands

Funded by

Ignition
Creative Partnerships
East Midlands Development Agency