A sequenced approach

There is increasing recognition that, however inspiring, fun and informative a STEM outreach activity may be, on its own a single experience is unlikely to have a long lasting impact on young people’s aspirations towards STEM careers. We believe that presenting young people with a sequence of linked activities and resources will increase their interest in a career in engineering, as well as their understanding of the breadth of opportunities that are available to them.

Our collections bring together quality assured experiences with supporting resources which you can use together to inspire your students about engineering careers - and keep them inspired.

Learn more about how our collections are built here

Getting started

Three collections that will help you get the E into your STEM careers provision.

 

The included Neon experiences and resources will help your students build key skills in Problem Solving, Creativity and Teamwork. The Neon Quality Standards ensure that all experiences we list are linked to the Gatsby Benchmarks.

 

Our research shows that students who attend outreach activities like the ones on Neon are 3.4 times more likely to consider a career in engineering.

Basic engineering careers collection

A free, low-resource collection that introduces your students to engineering and technology careers over 2 terms.

2 experiences 3 resources
View collection

Big Bang Blueprint engineering careers collection

A free, low-resource collection that introduces your students to engineering and technology careers using the Big Bang Blueprint as a starting point.

2 experiences 7 resources
View collection

Challenging perceptions engineering careers collection

A free, low-resource collection that introduces all students, especially girls, to engineering and technology careers over 2 terms. The experiences in this collection are all available online.

Our approach

Our research showed that the activities in a collection should include five key elements:

  1. They should show what engineering and technology jobs can achieve.
  2. They should make links between young people's interests and strengths and engineering and technology jobs.
  3. They should challenge stereotypes.
  4. They give young people the opportunity to develop and use their skills.
  5. They should recognise and celebrate those skills.

The Neon team curated the Neon career pathways on this page carefully to ensure that they contain all of the five elements above. We believe that this means that using these pathways will increase your students engagement with engineering careers.

We have suggested a sequence of how you could use the resources, but you may wish to use them in a different order.