Year 9 STEM Taster Days

This event aims to address the need for more pupils to take STEM A-Levels and progress to STEM degree programmes. Each January, we invite local schools to send 15 of their able and enthusiastic Year 9 pupils, to inspire them to consider studying separate sciences and higher-tier mathematics before they make their GCSE choices.

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Timetable | Practical Sessions | Register

A group of year nine students attending a STEM Taster Day

 

The day is comprised of three STEM workshops and a careers session allowing Year 9 pupils to get to know the Central Teaching Laboratories and to experience STEM.

Year 9 STEM Taster Days 2025 will take place on 7 and 8 January.

Pupils attend one of the two available dates. The cost to schools is £90 for up to 15 pupils.

Miss, this is like the best experiment I have ever done

- Pupil, on Year 9 STEM Taster Days

Genuinely, some have tapped into skills they would want to do in the future post KS4 and perhaps KS5.

- Teacher, on pupils at Year 9 STEM Taster Days


Timetable

09:00-09:30

Arrival

09:30-09:45

Welcome and introduction

09:45-11:00

Practical session 1

11:00-11:15

Break

11:15-12:30

Practical session 2

12:30-13:10

Lunch break

13:10-14:25

Practical session 3

14:25-14:50

Careers & feedback session

Year nine students taking part in an experiment involving spectroscopy bottles.

Practical sessions

See below for a list of practical sessions that have featured at Taster Days in the past, and to find out whether they’ll be running at this year’s events. Schools are asked to select five preferred sessions – we aim for at least two of these to be included in pupils’ three allocated sessions.

Subject area

 Session name Description
Archaeology Rameses’ Kitchen Nightmares (Tuesday only) Analysing Ancient Food Residues
Archaeology Examining Ancient Materials (Wednesday only)  
Chemistry Skittles Spectroscopy Use the physics of light to analyse the chemistry of dyes in everyone's favourite sweet treat - Skittles!
Chemistry Alginate Sensors Investigate the pH of different chemicals using special gooey alginate beads. Identify which cocktails have traces of metals, including the one that contains some golden treasure!
Computer Science Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (Tuesday only)

This session uses several interactive puzzles to introduce the key concepts of machine learning and the precise processes by which they are realised specifically in artificial neural networks, which are driving the current deep-learning revolution in AI.  You will develop an intuitive understanding for their capabilities and limitations by exploring and modifying real neural networks on Tensorflow Playground, based on the very libraries used in industrial-scale AI applications, and you will implement your own neural-network algorithms in Python.  The goal of this session is to demystify deep learning techniques by reducing them to their intuitively understandable core algorithms, but without resorting to simplistic analogies and metaphors.
Computer Science Introduction to Robotics (Wednesday only)

Robots managing large warehouses are one of the many example where automation helps humans to solve a task faster and cheaper. For this to be effective, robots need to be at least partially autonomous, i.e., able to sense and react to the physical world without (constant) human intervention. In this hands-on lesson, pupils program Lego EV3 robots to follow a line, avoid obstacles, and ultimately navigate a warehouse safely and autonomously.
Electrical Engineering & Electronics Build Your Own Electronic Game Create a Gameboy–style games machine.
Engineering Spaghetti Bridges As a team, your task is to design and build a bridge out of spaghetti that supports the heaviest load (per mass of bridge). You will then get to test your bridge to find out what mass is required to break it.
Environmental Sciences Earth and Ocean Sciences  
Maths The Dangerous Dragon Quiz  Compete against other students in the Dragon Quiz to solve maths challenges. Taking on the Dragon Masters in a team of 4, can you claim the Dragons' treasure?
Maths Disaster in Mathemagicland Mathemagicland has been destroyed! Your mission is to help Fairy Nuff and her friends rebuild the houses, gardens and temple by solving the mathematical clues.
Physics Planetarium Explore the stars and planets in this astronomy session in our inflatable planetarium.
Physics Light up the World A session looking at light and the EM spectrum.
Physics What has Radiation ever done for us? Apart from medical scans, smoke alarms, clean energy and accurate measurements.
In this session, we’ll perform a number of exciting activities which explore the world of nuclear radiation. We’ll see where radiation comes from, why it's important for us to understand it and take a look at where we use it in everyday life. Using our cutting-edge equipment, you’ll come away with a whole new understanding of radiation and what it means for our lives.

Register

Year 9 STEM Taster Days 2025 will take place on the 7th and 8th of January. Pupils attend one of the two available dates.

Teachers:  click below to register your school:

Register for a Year 9 STEM Taster Day

 

Questions?
Contact Chris Marchant: marchant@liverpool.ac.uk

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