Ignition*
Ignition* is a four year programme of creative approaches to the learning and teaching of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths), involving teachers, students, parents, artists, scientists, inventors, designers, engineers, film-makers, writers and journalists. Ignition* is being delivered by Ignite! in collaboration with The Mighty Creatives, and funded by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda).
The majority of children who enter the education system in September will leave in 2026 to take up jobs that have not been invented yet. They will lead changes from 2030 onwards in a world that we can only imagine. The solutions that they find to the challenges of the time, social, economic and environmental, will require a combination of knowledge, skills and imagination.
Many of the solutions and opportunities of the future will be found in the application of STEM subjects but without imagination and creativity we will merely repeat the mistakes of the past. Ignite! promotes creativity in learning and works with partners to test new models of curriculum development and change.
Ignition* is our focus on STEM subjects and realises our belief that creativity is applied imagination, innovation is applied creativity and that STEM subjects are innately creative.
The Ignition* programme consists of six programmes:
Come Alive with Science
To encourage young people to recognise that STEM subjects are creative, and are based on experiment, enquiry and curiosity, we are offering support for 50 secondary schools to work with a creative practitioner and a scientist to devise creative STEM challenges, games and competitions to spark the imaginations of local primary school pupils during National Science and Engineering Week (in March each year). Extra activities include cafés scientifique for parents and opportunities for making films to document the whizzes, pops and bangs.
Invent!
The invention competition with a difference. Schools and individual students are encouraged to sign up for the Invent! Competition in March to come up with new solutions to old problems, or completely off-the-wall, stunningly out of this world, amazingly left-field ideas. Pupils submit their invention prototypes for judging but also attend a summer day out, during National Shine Week, where they can take part in fun and surprising invention workshops, showcase their own inventions to fellow young inventors and learn from some of the most incredibly creative minds in the UK. There are great prizes to be won, including a Grand Engineering Day Out.
STEM Fluency Labs
The STEM Fluency Labs are life-changing residential five-day labs of intensive learning and exchanges of ideas, between teachers, scientists and artists. Designed and run by Performing Arts Labs (PAL), in collaboration with Ignition*, these three residential labs will have lifted the creative practices of teachers, artists and scientists to a new level of inspiration.
Lab 13
As kids we all start with an appetite for experiment, a curiosity to find out how things work, or to see what would happen if…
Lab_13 is a space where that curiosity can be let loose. Based in a school, but entirely managed by young people, the idea is based on the world famous Room 13 art studio in Fort William, Scotland. Lab_13 is a place where young people can experiment, play, invent, design, solve problems, explore, work alongside a scientist/designer/engineer/inventor in residence… and so much more. Ignition* will provide support to set up six Lab_13s across the region. The first three are up and running at:
- Dovecote Primary School, Nottingham
- Crown Hills Community College, Leicester
- Peele Community College, Lincolnshire
Creative Sparks
Ignite! Creative Sparks astonish everyone with their exceptional creativity, and now we are on the search for more talent. The new cohort of Creative Sparks must be aged between 14-21 and live, work or study in the East Midlands region. They will receive support to follow a programme of personal creative STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) development, including travel and residential creativity labs. In return we expect them to act as role models and ambassadors to inspire their peers and raise their educational and career aspirations.
Sci Art Fusion
What better way to communicate science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and how they connect to our lives, than through the media? This enrichment programme aims to inspire, surprise and delight young people and wider audiences in the connections between arts, culture, STEM subjects and society. This includes commissioning new films (directed by pupils), works of art, theatre in education programmes and new media technology. We encourage artists to work with scientists and young people to create new works , and have teamed up with the film website, Planet SciCast, to create an award for the best STEM film of the year.
These complementary programmes are designed to produce self-confident, creative, innovative, ingenious inventors, designers, engineers and scientists of the future.
Click here to find out more.