We’re excited to introduce a new Neon quality standard that encourages providers to include a follow-on activity for teachers to use a few weeks after the initial session.
This simple addition helps young people reflect on what they’ve learned, deepening their understanding and making your activity even more impactful.
We’re here to support you every step of the way—with guidance, templates, and a drop-in session to help you meet the standard.
We want STEM teachers and their students to enjoy the very best engineering experiences, so we only feature experiences that meet our quality criteria.
Need a refresher? The Neon quality standards are:
We’re here to help you implement this new standard - discover resources and support below:
Templates and resources: We’ve got templates for reflection activities that you can easily adapt and use. Check them out below:
Webinars and training: As a Neon provider, you will have access to drop-ins and training sessions to help you understand and implement the new standard effectively. We'll be in touch when these are available to attend
Ongoing support: Our team is available to provide ongoing support and answer any questions you might have. Get in touch.
Discover further links to useful reflection resources to use in your activity below:
Meet the Future You Quiz
Share the link with teachers. Suggest they do this with their students, then students feedback on which of the ‘Jobs include’ most appeals to them and why.
Science Museum Group classroom resources
Pick one of these resources that links to your activity and share it with the teacher. The resources have guides for teachers about how they could use. Providers can highlight the link to the activity
STEM Learning - STEM clubs resources
Pick one of these resources that links to your activity and share it with the teacher. The resources have guides for teachers about how they could use. Providers can highlight the link to the activity.
Royal Academy of Engineering – Engineering Habits of Mind Quiz
Share the link with teachers. Suggest they do this with their students, then students feedback on the following:
Engineering Habits of Mind Quiz
Free potential competitions to enter
Share these with teachers to explore as a next step with their students as an extra-curricular activity or whole day event:
Poster competition by British Science Week
ICE Cityzen pollution control teacher guide
Mangorolla CIC runs a programme called ‘I’m A.. Engineer/Scientist/Mathematician/Computer Scientist, Get Me Out Of Here!’. It’s a text-based online chat where students engage in authentic, real-time conversations with engineers, exploring curriculum-aligned themes.
Recognising a challenge in gathering effective feedback through traditional surveys, they developed a ‘reflect’ follow-on activity. This hands-up, probing question session is designed to occur straight after the chat. It allows teachers to quickly gauge student understanding and adapt their next steps based on class responses.
Crucially, this activity was conceived to provide the Mangorolla team with the valuable insights they needed, while simultaneously offering immediate benefit to teachers and their students.
Mangorolla previously designed their learning outcomes for their experiences based on the Neon quality standards, demonstrating a direct link between our framework and their practical resource development. The activity now supports not just STEM knowledge, but also vital skills in careers and communication, aligning seamlessly with Gatsby Benchmarks and Skills Builder.
To ensure its integral role, the reflect activity has been elevated in importance within their "Ask, Chat, Vote” sequence, becoming to "Ask, Chat, Vote, Reflect". It is now integrated throughout the teacher's journey, from booking confirmations to pre-chat reminders, ensuring teachers are well-informed and prepared. This strategic integration reinforces its value as a pedagogical tool for teachers. It’s also a vital mechanism to understand the impact and efficacy of the ‘I’m a...’ activities.
This teacher and student first design also serves Mangorolla’s internal feedback needs. The successful activity design shows how Neon quality standards can drive improvement and ensure activities are truly successful.
