Southampton STEM activities spark home schooling fun for young learners

Researchers from the Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics have created a week-long programme of online science and engineering activities to inspire young people during the pandemic.

The STEM at Home series, developed by the University of Southampton's Centre for Electronics Frontiers (CEF), has been shared with over 2,000 schools across the UK with support from the Royal Academy for Engineering.

The interactive learning activities are targeted at young learners between the ages of eight and 11. They include experiments with artificial intelligence (AI) and luminescence, challenges to build sensor and batteries with materials around the home and ways of testing your WiFi signal.

Professor Themis Prodromakis, CEF Director, says: "The whole concept and content for 'STEM at Home' was focused so that each activity leveraged the expertise of a few individual - and very talented - researchers from the Centre who have a deep knowledge about each of these subjects and are passionate about their research.

"With this series, we wanted to establish a complete programme for each day, supplementing the activities we developed with a list of additional resources and useful reading for the excited ones. Who knows – perhaps many of the young people who experience 'STEM at Home' will end up studying and possibly following a career in one of these exciting areas of Engineering."

CEF's Dr Dimitra Georgiadou, Dr Ioulia Tzouvadaki, Dr Theresa Schoetz, Dr Muhammad Hamidullah and Dr Alexander Serb filmed themselves to help compile the engaging Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) content.

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