The Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair, founded 2009, is the United Kingdom’s largest celebration of

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

(science, technology, engineering and maths) for young people, and is one of the largest youth events in the UK. The fair takes place annually in June. It is led by

EngineeringUK EngineeringUK is an independent, not-for-profit organisation. Its stated purpose is to promote the contribution that engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machin ...

in partnership with over 200 organisations across government, industry, education and the wider science and engineering community. The Big Bang programme exists to bring science and engineering to life for young people. The Big Bang celebrates and raises the profile of young people’s achievements in science and engineering and encourages more young people to take part in science, technology, engineering and maths initiatives with support from their parents and teachers. Big Bang at School events take place across the UK to enable young people to discover close to home the exciting and rewarding science and engineering careers that their science and maths subjects can lead to. In 2012, the Big Bang Fair was hosted in the

National Exhibition Centre The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in Marston Green, Solihull, West Midlands, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International railway stati ...

in Birmingham. An all-girls team of pupils from a state school in the Highlands- Alness Academy were awarded the prestigious title of UK Young Engineers of the Year for their work on health and safety prototypes to be used in Haiti, which had recently suffered major earthquake damage alongside an outbreak of cholera. The six girls were Josie Tolliday, Emma Roddick, Cassie Armstrong, Meg Beattie, Holly Henderson and Kayleigh MacDonald. The all-girl team have continued to excel in their extra-curricular activities. Cassie Armstrong is now an elected Member of

Scottish Youth Parliament The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) is a youth-led, democratic organisation which aims to represent the young people of Scotland. The SYP is made up of around 166 democratically-elected representatives aged 14–25 from across Scotland. Represe ...

; Emma Roddick went on to become Donald Dewar Debater of the Year; Kayleigh MacDonald has been successful in dance competition Rock Challenge.

Criticism

The Big Bang Fair has been criticised by

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

such as the

Campaign Against the Arms Trade Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) is a UK-based campaigning organisation working towards the abolition of the international arms trade. It was founded in 1974 by a coalition of peace groups. It has been involved in several high-profile campaig ...

and

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split with ...

due to the heavy involvement of arms manufacturers and

fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels m ...

companies at the event. The event has been described as being a PR stunt rather than being a genuine attempt to educate children and get them involved in STEM in future. Furthermore it has also been criticised for presenting a "distorted view of the value of science" in reference to the involvement of arms manufacturers and oil companies.

References

External links

* Annual events in the United Kingdom Engineering education in the United Kingdom Science events in the United Kingdom Science exhibitions Science festivals Youth science {{UK-festival-stub