Low-resource or low equipment sharing resources


The resources on this page have been selected to support educators in finding CREST project ideas that require little equipment, can be run outside of a lab or at home, and use equipment that doesn’t require much sharing.

Find out more about the different CREST Award levels here: CREST Awards.

At primary level, our curated home learning packs don’t require many resources so they’re perfect to use either in the classroom or at home. For Primary teachers who have CLEAPSS access, we recommend this piece on doing Practical activities within your bubble.

At secondary level, each project brief has an overall challenge, ideas for getting started and a list of resources you might need. Read the health and safety section carefully before you begin. Young people should create a plan for their project and a risk assessment before they begin any practical activity. You can use the CLEAPSS student safety sheets as well as the rest of the CLEAPSS website to help them.

If you are looking for further advice on how to get started with CREST, visit our help centre and check out our FAQs.

If you are looking for ideas for running CREST at home, many of the below resources are suitable, and you can still access our Star and SuperStar Home Learning packs below. If you need further support, check out the CREST at home section of the Help Centre.


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4 years ago

Machine Learning Bronze

This resource is published under an Attribution - non-commercial - no derivatives 4.0 International creative commons licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Teacher guide AI

Teacher guide AI agriculture The latest developments in machine learning for farming include: autonomous robots for harvesting crops; the use of drones, software based tech, and algorithms to capture and process data about crop and soil health; and, machine learning models to track and predict environmental impacts on crop yield such as weather changes. In this project students will be challenged to think of innovative ways that image, sound and movement recognition could be used for farming and agriculture, and to then design and make their own simple AI powered tool using the teachable machine app. Prompts • What routine jobs are there on a farm? How does the farmer know when they need doing? • How does a farmer use sight and sound in their job? Think about whether a tool that uses image, sound or movement recognition could help them to do that task. • How will you test whether your tool works? 8

Student brief AI agriculture Factors such as climate change, population growth and food security concerns have propelled the agriculture industry into seeking more innovative approaches to protecting and improving crop yield. The latest developments in machine learning for farming include: autonomous robots for harvesting crops; the use of drones, software based tech, and algorithms to capture and process data about crop and soil health; and, machine learning models to track and predict environmental impacts on crop yield. Imagine you are a farmer. You have heard about some new technologies that other farmers are using. One farm has started using moisture sensors, which connect to an app to tell you when your crops need watering, to help reduce water usage. Another has agricultural drones, with near infrared view, to spot blight in a few plants before it spreads. You want to come up with a new way that farming tech could help make your farm more efficient. Design a machine learning powered tool to help improve farming and agriculture. Getting started In this project you will design an innovative way that machine learning could be useful for farming and agriculture. Try out the teachable machine app (see Useful Resources) to help get to grips with how machine learning systems work. Start by reading up on the latest high-tech farming equipment using the ‘Useful resources’ links. Brainstorm ideas for different jobs that farmers need to do regularly, resources that farms use a lot of, and common problems for farms. Maybe you can interview a local farmer. Is there a way that data from images, sound or movement could be used to help do a job a human normally does, reduce the use of expensive resources, or solve a problem? Use your research to come up with a concept that uses machine learning. Things to think about • What kinds of tasks need doing regularly on a farm? How regularly are they done? How do farmers know when to do them? • Farmers have to deal with lots of things that are out of their control - floods, droughts, pests. What measures could they take to protect their crops and animals if they could better predict these events? • What types of things do farmers need to predict? How could data help inform these predictions? • Do your ideas use machine learning? Do they learn from examples, data, and experience? Useful resources • Teachable machine tool https://teachablemachine.withgoogle.com/ • Watch this video about high tech farming https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p07dgym k/the-high-tech-farming-revolution • Follow the food https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follo w-the-food/ • How high tech is transforming farming https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/busi ness/farming-technology-agriculture.html Health and safety To avoid any accidents, make sure you stick to the following health and safety guidelines before getting started: • Find out if any of the materials, equipment or methods are hazardous using http://science.cleapss.org.uk/Resources/Stu dent-Safety-Sheets/ to assess the risks (think about what could go wrong and how serious it might be). • Decide what you need to do to reduce any risks (such as wearing personal protective equipment, knowing how to deal with emergencies and so on). • Make sure there is plenty of space to work. • Clear up slip or trip hazards promptly. • Make sure your teacher agrees with your plan and risk assessment. 9

Challenges for ages 5-11


These challenges take about an hour each. Once you have completed eight of them you can get a CREST SuperStar Award. Start by downloading the Passport. Children can use this to record each activity they complete.

Our curated packs for home learning require very little equipment or resources, so are ideal now that you are back in the classroom. They also add flexibility as students can finish their Star or SuperStar Award at home, if needed.

Each challenge has an organiser card and an activity card. All the instructions to set up the activity are in the organiser card. Read the 'watch out' section carefully before you begin. Children can use the activity card or you can read it through together.

Find out more about Star and SuperStar levels here.


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Projects for ages 11-18


Each of these projects take between ten and thirty hours to complete. The project briefs have an overall challenge, ideas for getting started and a list of resources students might need. Before they begin, students should read the health and safety section carefully. Once students have completed their projects, they can get a CREST Discovery, Bronze, Silver or Gold Award. The amount of time spent on the project and how well they met the CREST criteria determines the level students will be awarded.

Start by downloading the relevant Workbook or Profile Form below. Young people can use these to help them complete their project and record their progress.

Young people should create a plan for their project and a risk assessment before they begin any practical activity, which should be checked by a teacher. You can use the CLEAPSS student safety sheets as well as the rest of the CLEAPSS website to help them.

For Bronze projects, once a student has completed their project, you can sign up to assess it and order their personalised certificate here. Bronze assessment is incredibly easy and can also be adapted for at-home learning if needed due to unexpected lockdowns, meaning parents can always assess when teachers cannot. Check out how to assess a Bronze project here

For Silver and Gold projects student work will need to be submitted online and will be assessed by a CREST assessor. Learn more about assessment for Silver Awards here

Find out more about Bronze level here.

Find out more about Silver level here.

Find out more about Gold level here.


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