The STEMNET Case Study (part 5)

What do you feel were the positive outcomes for the pupils?

As your activity is about STEM then students should learn something from it, you are not just there to entertain. Often your personality and approach will put something in a way that their teacher has not and this different perspective from a stranger often commands an unparalleled respect from them. As you are not there to test them, students will often learn while they feel they are being entertained. The most recent quote I heard from a pupil was that, “This is the best day at school EVER!” and yet the activities were simple, hands-on chemistry that they had likely already covered in class.

What do you feel were the positive outcomes for yourself? 

Just because being an ambassador is inevitably voluntary, this does not mean the rewards are not immense. At a recent fair I finished by talking to a small group of pupils about their future STEM careers, when one pupil came and said that in ten years time, he wanted to be standing where I was and he wanted to teach me something. This has been one of my most favourite experiences so far, in realizing the positive outcomes of the work of a STEM ambassador. To see one person glimpse a positive view of their own future in STEM is reward enough.