Bett 2016

KEYNOTE ADDRESSES
New feature: The STEAM Village
A new feature at Bett this year, the STEAM Village will focus
on CPD, products and services relating to the study of these
vital subjects, including the fight to close the gender gap
Photo: Jack Terry Photography/Bett
Keynotes: Speakers at Bett 2016 will
include Professor Sugata Mitra (top)
and education secretary Nicky Morgan
this theme in the Bett Arena at the 2016
show. At 3:30pm on Wednesday, January 20,
secondary teachers looking for ways to ignite
their students’ (especially girls) interest in the
STEM subjects, should listen to Belinda Parmar,
founder of Lady Geek (http://ladygeek.com).
Ms Parmar sits on the advisory board for the
government’s Your Life campaign, which aims
to encourage women into STEM. Her session is
entitled Sweat the small stuff.
At 2:10pm on the opening day of the
show, the session How can creativity enhance
learning: Inspiring girls into science will be
presented by 16-year-old student, Amy O’Toole.
Amy became one of the world’s youngest
published scientists for her work on the
Blackawton Bee Project. At Bett she will be
focusing on her passion for inspiring girls to
take an interest in science.
The STEM theme continues on the second
day of Bett (Thursday, January 21) with a
presentation entitled Rewriting the script for
women in STEM: closing the gender gap.
This session will be held at 12:15pm and the
three presenters will bring an array of ideas and
experience to the arena. They are Dr Sue Black,
award-winning computer scientist; Anne Marie
Neatham, CEO of Ocado Technologies; and
Ann-Marie Imafidon, founder of STEMettes
(http://stemettes.org).
Other STEM-related presentations in the Bett
Arena include:
• Girls with a plan – Google Science Fair
2014 winners Ciara Judge and Emer Hickey
are supporters of getting more young people
involved in STEM (4pm on January 22).
The UK’s apparent skills shortage across the
STEM subjects has often been blamed for
hampering our economic recovery.
The Confederation of British Industry
recently found that nearly 40 per cent of
firms looking for staff with STEM skills
have had difficulties recruiting, with half of
these believing that the situation with skills
shortages was only going to get worse.
Also of deep concern is the gender gap in
STEM, with women making up just 15.5 per
cent of the UK’s core STEM workforce.
The demand for improved STEM
education is now being broadened to include
art and design. In all the STEM-related
careers, art, design and creativity add huge
value and influence.
For this reason, the call for more students
to study the STEM subjects is now often
referred to as a demand for experts in
STEAM (science, technology, engineering,
arts and mathematics).
As such, Bett 2016 sees the arrival of the
STEAM Village.
In stand location G458, the STEAM
village will play host to a number of
organisations supporting learning in the
STEAM subjects.
The village is aimed at creating an
interactive, “learning through play” space
for teachers, techies, students and parents
alike – a place for visitors to have a go with
STEAM solutions and products and engage
with how they can be assimilated into the
classroom.
In the village, experts will be on hand
to explore key STEAM topics, teaching
methods and new technologies.
Due to industry demand, many of this
year’s exhibitors across the show floor will
• Space Camp with NASA – Dr Ellen Stoffan,
planetary geologist and chief scientist of
NASA (12pm on January 23).
• Flash hack on stage: festival of code in 30
minutes – Emma Mulqueeny, CEO, Young
Rewired State (3pm on January 23).
Steve Jobs Schools
On Friday, January 22, at 10:45am, Maurice de
Hond, founder of the Steve Jobs Schools, will
be providing us with a new concept for igniting
students’ love of learning. Inspired by his
daughter’s use of educational apps, he launched
this new model. At a Steve Jobs School children
are taught from an early age to indicate what
they want to learn, to find information, to
filter it according to its relevance, and then
apply it. Currently more than 20 schools in the
Netherlands work with this theory of education
(www.stevejobsschool.nl).
Other presentations
• Future of edtech: is it time to give up on
be showing resources and services designed
for STEAM. As such, we recommend using
the “filters” tab on the exhibitor listing page
of the www.bettshow.com website to search
for these companies.
However, the STEAM Village is certainly
the best place to start for those visitors
interested in inspiring their students in these
subject areas.
Elsewhere, on the CPD front, the School
Leaders’ Summit, the Learn Live theatres
and the Bett Arena will have dedicated
STEAM content, presentations and panel
discussions.
For example, on Wednesday, January
20, Chris Aitken, computer science teacher
at Wick High School, will talk about how
the school uses creativity in computer
science as a medium to encourage more
girls into the subject (Creativity and code:
getting more girls into STEM, Learn Live
Secondary Theatre at 10:30am).
And on Thursday, January 21, a debate
will take place at 10am in the Learn Live
FE and Skills Theatre entitled The Debate:
Inspiring girls to pursue careers in STEM
and involving award-winning computer
scientist Dr Sue Black.
The Bett Arena will also be hosting a
number of STEAM-related sessions – for
details on some of these see the article
opposite.
Remember, entry to Bett and the seminars
is free of charge but it is recommended that
you reserve your place as sessions can get
very busy. Details of the sessions above
were correct at the time of going to press
but are subject to change. To search for
more STEAM-related CPD sessions, visit
www.bettshow.com
computers? Audrey Watters, education writer
who runs the HACK education blog (3:45pm
on January 21).
• How we help teachers and other students use
#edtech effectively: Digital leaders in schools
across the UK – Chris Sharples, head of ICT
from Lady Lumley’s School (11:50am on
January 22).
• Schools of the future: breaking with
traditional teaching (panel discussion –
2:45pm on January 22).
• A glimpse of robotics’ future – Tony Prescott,
professor of cognitive neuroscience, University
of Sheffield (3:15pm on January 22).
• How to come up with great ideas and actually
make them happen – Ewan McIntosh,
founder, NoTosh (5:45pm on January 22).
Further information
Presentation details correct at the time of going
to press but subject to change. To view the full
Bett Arena agenda and reserve your place at the
sessions, visit www.bettshow.com
SecEd 9