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.
Idea development Research and develop your concept Start by researching your ideas. Look into what similar products already exist and how they work. • Where do they get their data from? What limitations are there? • What output does your tool produce? • Does your tool use supervised or unsupervised machine learning? • Do you teach your tool using training data? Where does this data come from? • How does your tool assess its performance? • What are the ethical considerations of your product. What is the worst thing that could happen? • How will your tool continue to improve once the product is on the market? • Where will you source live data from and how will this be used to provide feedback for the algorithm (set of rules that your machine follows)? Design your product You will need to make decisions about the physical designs of your product. Think about whether your idea could be integrated into a tool already in use, or whether it would be an entirely new product. • Would it be an app on a smartphone, or part of a fridge or a washing machine, or would it be something totally separate? • Who is your product aimed at? How will it be useful for them? • What is the physical format of your product? • What will you do to ensure that your tool will be safe and that people trust it? • How will you make your design both fit for purpose and attractive to consumers? • How is the machine learning integrated? Will your product collect data? • What is the reasoning behind your design? Marketing Have a look at what already exists, think about what makes your product unique. • Decide on a target audience • How will you reach them? • How will you convince them they need this product? • Write a 2 minute elevator pitch to explain and sell the idea of your product. Presentation Create a presentation on your idea using the poster making materials provided. Your presentation should be 5 minutes long, and every team member should get a chance to speak. TIP! 12
Team roles REMEMBER: You will all work on different parts of the project, but your job title shows which part of the project you will lead. You are in charge of making sure that thing gets done, but everyone on your team should have an input in all the tasks. Project Manager Software Lead Makes sure the whole team and the project is on track The creative minds behind your program - responsible for creating a flowchart for your product, like the ones from the ‘Machine Learning Now’ workshop. Research Lead Responsible for thinking about where and how to source the voluminous sets of data you will need. Research support for other team members. Risk Lead Responsible for thinking about the risk vs. utility of your product and how to manage that. How will you help people trust your product? You need to identify the risks involved and ensure that your machine learning tool will be safe and unbiased. Design Lead Marketing Lead Responsible for the physical design of the product. Responsible for developing a marketing plan and thinking about who this tool would be useful for, how and why. 13
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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.
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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