letter to parents

CSIRO EducationPO Box 225Dickson ACT 2602Ph: +61 2 6276 6643Fax: +61 2 6276 6641Email: education@csiro.auABN 41 687 119 230Dear Parent/GuardianCREST - Creativity in Science and TechnologyWelcome to the exciting world of Science, Technology and Engineering. Your child hasaccepted the exciting challenge of undertaking their own research project through CREST. I’dlike to tell you a little about the program and how you can help your child.CREST stands for Creativity in Science and Technology. A CREST project provides anopportunity for your child to demonstrate creativity, in the choice of topic, in the way theyundertake their research and in the way that they report their findings. CREST projects haveapplications to the community – they aim to help solve a problem or to make an improvement.To complete their project, your child will need to persevere despite the difficulties they mayexperience. These three aspects, CREATIVITY, APPLICATION and PERSEVERENCEunderpin the CREST program.Your child has further details about CREST and how to go about their project. Their teacherwill probably have also provided them with skill and experience in completing a simple projectat school.You can help your child by:• listening and encouraging them to spell out what they are doing and what they are going todo next• brainstorming ideas with them (accepting ideas no matter how ‘lateral’ and helping them toassess how realistic and achievable their ideas are)• helping to make contact with appropriate people who can assist (where relevant) and• providing encouragement, help and guidance.A few important points to keep in mind:• CREST is not a competition – the aim is for all students to have success. By initiating aproject and seeing it to conclusion, your child will develop a variety of useful skills and gainconfidence through experience• You may need to be generous in your judgements about your child’s progress –encouragement and guidance should be the focus for your comments. Try to focus onwhat has been achieved and guide your child to the next step• Be careful not to help too much – it is vital that your child be the main researcher. Yourassistance is valuable but it is essential that your child chooses their own topic and seeksassistance rather than having it imposed upon them. Your child must carry out all theexperimental work. All assistance must be clearly explained in their report

Experience has shown that involvement with CREST can be a major motivating force forstudents. It encourages them to go on with their studies in science and/or related fields so theycan continue to experience the challenges and rewards of research.When your child has completed their project, they may wish to enter it in the competitions thatare offered by Science Teacher Associations in each state and territory.Your child may also like to pursue their interest in science further by joining CSIRO’s DoubleHelix Science Club. The Club has 17,000 members and offers many benefits including aweekly Science by Email e-newsletter and a choice of one of two popular magazines. RegularDouble Helix events are also held at many centres across Australia. Further details aboutDouble Helix are available from CSIRO Education at the address above or via e-mail ateducation@csiro.au or on the web at www.csiro.au/helix.Good luck with your CREST parenting!Ross Kingsland AMManagerCSIRO Education