Who?
My name is David Bremner and I am a research Technician with over 30 years experience.
Where?
I work in the Rowett Institute at the University of Aberdeen.
What?
Teaching and learning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) is important for many reasons. STEM innovations are all around us as part of our everyday lives. From the houses we live in and the food that we eat, to the technology that allows us to interact and communicate with friends and family.
Why?
My aim as a STEM ambassador is to engage with children. Let them know that there are no barriers to participation in STEM subjects and that they are for everyone, and hopefully provide a pathway to explore a wide range of exciting topics or ideas and develop transferable life skills such as creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, problem-solving and curiosity.
When is the best time to promote and engage children in STEM activities?
Surely being a University, the natural assumption is that with the logical progression from secondary school to further education that secondary age is where we should target? The truth is that unless children develop an interest early on, they are unlikely to pick STEM subjects to study later on.
Young people make natural scientists; right from a young age, they start exploring their surroundings or the world around them. Touching, feeling, watching: they pick up things, they drop things, they bite and taste things, effectively carrying out experiments. They ask lots of questions, some brilliant, some maybe not so much, all the time feeding their curiosity, the very definition of a scientist, although when you have just been asked Why? Or how? For the 13th time, it may not feel like this…
My aim as a STEM ambassador is to engage with children. Let them know that there are no barriers to participation and STEM subjects are for everyone, and hopefully provide a pathway to explore a wide range of exciting topics or ideas and develop transferable life skills such as creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, problem-solving and curiosity.
Over the course of 2023, as well as the knowledge exchange opportunities through work, outside of work I have participated in numerous activities in my role as a STEM ambassador.
One such activity is being a Science Pen Pal for a class at Meethill Primary near Peterhead. The plan was to write 1 letter per school term covering a variety of topics and set them questions or tasks which as a class or individually they respond to in a reply. The week before Christmas I have just received reply number 2!
In the first letter, I asked the class what they thought a scientist was, what they did and what they looked like. Being tall, short, wrinkly, funky and buff just proves that science is open to everyone!
I've just completed a spotlight profile which I hope will soon be live on the STEM website and I have registered to participate in "I'm a Scientist, Get Me out of Here!" (which doesn't involve going anywhere near a jungle!!) so I'm excited to see what opportunities 2024 holds.
