SATRO MATHS CHALLENGE 2015

This evening the SATRO AS Mathematics Challenge will be taking place at George Abbot School in Guildford. This is an after-school event where teams of five AS Mathematics students have two hours to tackle maths problems, including concepts they are taught at AS Level, as well as ideas which the students might expect to meet should they continue to study maths at degree level.

Less than 20% of students continue the study of mathematics beyond the age of 16, and so it is important to encourage those who do to consider taking their studies even further. SATRO very much hopes the event will inspire those attending to continue studying mathematics into University by providing interesting and unique problems for the teams to solve.

This event is extremely popular and this year will see nearly 200 students competing. Feedback from last year’s event included:

"The questions were challenging and sparked a couple of nice debates within the team which allowed for excellent teamwork."

"Good information about careers and very good mental challenge."

"The questions are a challenge for us, but they are surprisingly unique."

Visit our website for information about all of our upcoming challenges, www.satro.org.uk

SATRO welcomes valued support from Guildford Borough Council

SATRO is delighted to announce the support of Guildford Borough Council in its programmes for young people.   Following the move of SATRO back to their roots at the Surrey Research Park where it all started 30 years ago, SATRO are thrilled to have Guildford Borough Council’s support to enable them to continue its work to inspire young people about their future careers in science, technology, engineering and maths. 

Beccy Bowden, CEO, SATRO said, “SATRO’s mission is to inspire young people in the area about their future careers, being based at the heart of the Research Park has enabled us to link young people directly to some of the outstanding world-class businesses we have here in Guildford.  There is a huge demand for young people with the right skills and we are delighted to be helping develop the next generation of inventors and entrepreneurs for Surrey.”

Chris Burchell, Local Economy Manager, Guildford Borough Council with Beccy Bowden, CEO, SATRO, Cllr Gordon Jackson and Deputy Mayor Cllr Nikki Nelson-Smith attend The Problem Solving Challenge, George Abbot School.

Cllr Gordon Jackson, Lead Councillor for Economic Development at Guildford Borough Council said, "We are delighted to support SATRO in their work with local schools. Guildford is a centre for digital innovation and it is crucial to ensure that young people have the right skills to support employers' requirements. We hope events like these will inspire young people to look at alternative career paths that require expertise in areas such as science, technology, engineering and maths." 

Little BIG Awards – new website

The 12 schools currently involved in Cisco’s Little BIG awards will soon be able to use this new website set up by Cisco. It explains what the awards are. And for the schools it will be the place to find support materials and details of key dates and submission requirements. They will also be able to upload their submissions and presentations for Cisco direct to the website.  Take a look. https://www.littlebigawards.co.uk

Siemens ‘Next Big Thing’ Challenge 2015

How would you use technology to improve access to healthcare in remote parts of the world or response following natural disasters? A couple of the challenges thrown down by Siemens to schools taking part in this year’s Next Big Thing Challenge. The students were at Siemens offices in Frimley this morning to hear about these and the other challenges and meet their Siemens mentors.  Following first sessions with their mentors they have already started developing their ideas which will be judged by the dragons in May.

SATRO ROCKS & SOILS WORKSHOP @ LHEAD TRINITY SCHOOL

On of our Rocks & Soils workshops was held at Leatherhead Trinity Primary School yesterday.  Led by SATRO’s professional geologist, Year 3 children had a hands-on opportunity to investigate rock specimens.  Simple experiments were conducted to identify different mineral samples and an introduction to soils enabled the pupils to have an understanding of their geological environment.  This workshop was kindly sponsored by the GeoScience Department at ExxonMobil.  

SATRO NUMERACY DAYS - LINGFIELD RACECOURSE

Today, groups from two local secondary schools are attending a Numeracy Day at Lingfield Racecourse. During the day, the students will have an opportunity to set mathematical skills and knowledge into context through their application in daily working life. Exercises, contained a workbook given to students on the day, include a range of calculations based on what happens at a racecourse on race day. Activities include a behind-the-scenes appreciation of working in the weighing room, fence construction and angles of jump that are all based upon mathematical principles and associated calculations. These Numeracy Days are part of BHE&ST's Racing to School programme.

If you are interested in booking a similar event for a group of your own students, then please email amalee@satro.org.uk 

SCIENCE CAREERS: ARCHAEOLOGIST

Have you ever considered archaeology as a career? Here are some interesting facts about archaeology that could make up your mind!

- Archaeologists study human civilisations that lived in the past through the discovery and analysis of the things they left behind, this includes artifacts from millions of years ago right up to things that have been developed in very recent times.

- Archaeology is so important because there are in fact no written records for 99% of human history, archaeology can help to reduce this percentage.

- Archaeology has helped and still does help us to understand how humans have evolved and also how different cultures have developed. An archaeologist would survey, excavate and analyse data to help us understand these aspects of the past (as well as many others).

- Archaeology is a varied discipline that can involve aspects of art history, classics, physics, chemistry and geography amongst other fields. If these aspects appeal to you - archaeology could may well be a suitable career for you.

- If you want to become an archaeologist, it would be a good idea to study subjects such as statistics, geography and geology or history.