Good Practice Guide

The below are tips drawn from regional and national contacts with regards to starting out with curriculum development and student support activities:

Encourage undergraduate students to take part in e-mentoring as mentors if you have access to this system. Use local coordinators to stimulate undergraduates and schools students to post
Ensure the mentor and mentee are actively engaged in a relevant activity (STEM day, after school club, residential course, design and make activity etc) to maximise the value of the relationship
Encourage undergraduates to volunteer for ambassador activity or incorporate ambassadorial schemes into your curriculum
Find STEM ambassadors to demonstrate the diverse range of careers that studying STEM can lead to. It may be useful to contact individuals through STEMNET
Commit to acting positively in response to feedback from teacher fellows
Higher education staff can promote the work of Science Learning centres when they go into schools as an additional route to STEM learning
Develop and support local industrial placements organised with schools and with undergraduates
Provide additional support to facilitate and support the group work aspect of context and problem based learning
Use personal response systems (e.g. voting systems) to: introduce interactivity to lectures; obtain student feedback and track student performance
Consider buddy schemes, virtual learning environments and web-based resources to boost the confidence, learning and practical skills of incoming undergraduates to improve their capability and student retention and to enhance the quality of the students’ learning experience