Introducing the Faraday Institution ‘Fully Charged Battery Box’

New STEM Outreach Resource

We’re very excited to be launching the Faraday ‘Fully Charged Battery Box’ – a resource designed to enable researchers and teachers to share ideas relating to battery research in a relatable way for 7- to 11-year olds. The boxes are packed full of “hands-on” activities for pupils to learn about energy and batteries. They are designed to inform young people about real world problems that the research community is tackling and light a spark in curious young minds about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) careers, particularly in the energy storage sector.

We were pleased to be collaborating on this project with a key like-minded partner, Renee Watson of the Curiosity Box, who prepares, administers and distributes these resources on our behalf. To find out more and purchase a box contact the Curiosity Box.

The boxes will allow us to engage with large numbers of pupils, extending awareness of the role and work of the Faraday Institution and the idea of battery technology research as a possible career choice without our HQ team needing to physically visit lots of schools. They will provide teachers and researchers, particularly our trained STEM Ambassadors, with the quality resources they need for their STEM outreach activities.

The box showcases some of our PhD researchers and their work and includes links to their spotlight videos. It contains resources for teachers, a quiz, and, most importantly, ample materials to aid students to:

• use their knowledge of electrical circuits to make a gift card that lights up;
• make a lemon battery, enabling them to explore different sources of power by constructing a simple circuit that powers a digital clock without using store-bought batteries; and
• make an eco e-racer. Pupils can race cars they construct that move using energy stored in rubber bands, then try and power the cars using energy from a battery.

Our commitment to STEM outreach

The Faraday Institution is committed to providing STEM resources for our community, to give our researchers who share the passion for inspiring young people to consider careers in the fields of energy storage and battery technology, the tools to be fully successful. If you are interested in becoming a STEM ambassador for the Faraday Institution and participating in classroom and outreach-events, please email me direct at [email protected].

Help us spread the word

• Make your child’s or local school aware of this scheme.
• Ask your employer or a local business to sponsor a Faraday ‘Fully Charged Battery Box’ contact [email protected].
• Follow @FaradayInst @TheCuriosityBox @SublimeSTEM @reneewatson77 and @jacquimurray25 on twitter and retweet details about our battery related STEM outreach activities.

Princess Anne and students investigate the Fully Charged Battery Box at the recent STEM careers fair at Sandhurst