November 2010 | East Midlands STEM Fluency Lab
for Ignite! and Creative Partnerships as part of the Ignition* programme
The third and final East Midlands STEM Fluency Lab took place in the snow-bound Barnsdale Hotel on the shore of Rutland Water. 26 East Midlands-based teachers, artists and scientists came together for five days of intensive learning and sharing.
The Lab was co-led by PAL’s Lab Director Cathy Bereznicki and Heidi Gale, one of the teacher participants in the 2008 Lab and co-director of the 2009 Lab. This year, the East Midlands-based participants were joined by two educators from Texas: elementary school Principal Walter Perez and Lucinda Presley . They brought a different perspective and unbounded enthusiasm for creative teaching.
The three residential Labs were commissioned by Ignite, and took place 2008-2010. They are one element 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.
The STEM Fluency Lab programme provides a hands-on, multi-disciplinary approach to enquiry, invention, and sharing of outstanding practice, designed to enable teachers to transform their capacities for creativity across their subject areas and, in turn, inspire their colleagues and the next generation.
Lab Co-directors
Cathy Bereznicki
Heidi Gale
Participants
Adel Al Salloum - theatre director
Tom Carter - teacher
Victoria Colley - teacher
Tracey Colston - teacher
Mandy Coombs - teacher
Julia Downton - teacher
Jason Dungate - teacher
Leigh Fish - scientist
Florian Gleisner - teacher
Michael Goodman - teacher
Lisa Hartland - teacher
Andrei Khlobystov - scientist
Liz Maher - teacher
Diane McKenzie - teacher
Leighton Mead - teacher
Walter Perez - teacher
Lucinda Presley - teacher
William Rae - teacher
Steffie Richards - artist
Filippa Rodda - teacher
Emma Shaw - teacher
Peter Smith - teacher
Amy Turner - Lab co-ordinator
Marvin Walters - teacher
Laura Ward - teacher
Trevor Woolery - animation artist
Kate Willis - dance artist
Visitors
Angie Alloway – Studfall Junior School
Craig Bell – teacher, 2009 Lab participant
Cathy Brown – STEMnet
Hasmita Chavda – Ignition
John Crookes – QCDA
Jenny Egner – teacher, 2009 Lab participant
Tricia Goodchild – Women in Engineering, Northampton University
Rick Hall – Ignite
Marion Hamshere – teacher, 2008 Lab participant
High James – The Mighty Creatives
Tracey Osborne – South End Junior School
Kathy Pimlott - PAL
Katherine Richardson
Dy Shepherd - teacher, 2008 Lab participant
Sam Swain - teacher, 2009 Lab participant
Funded by
Ignition!
Creative Partnerships
East Midlands Development Agency
