The Ultimate STEM Challenge

We are asking students across the UK to take on the Ultimate STEM Challenge and win some fantastic prizes for their school!

We’re looking for students aged 11 to 14 to put their STEM skills to the test and tackle some real-life problems to address an important global issue.

Working in teams between two and four, all you need to do is create a science or engineering project on one of three exciting challenge areas.

The Ultimate STEM Challenge

The Prizes

There are some fantastic prizes to be won including:

• A celebratory event at the Science Museum • £500 for your school • Lots of Science Museum goodies.

Science and technology enable human beings to achieve many things, including creating the products that make up the world we enjoy today – and those that will shape our future.

All this needs energy: energy to extract raw materials, energy to process and manufacture them, and often, energy to use them.

Energy demand is ever increasing, which means it is important to find ways to use less energy where we can and get more from the energy we use. This means being more efficient.

Increasing efficiency: getting more from less

• Can you explain what ‘efficiency’ means?

• Can you think of some examples of where products or activities are becoming more energy efficient?

• Can you think of any products or activities that still need to become much more energy efficient?

Efficiency: getting more from less

About BPBP is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies.

BP is constantly seeking new ways of increasing their energy efficiency to get more from less – from keeping cool in the office to smooth travel across oceans

Increasing efficiency at BP

The following case studies show real-life examples of BP working to reduce their energy usage in a range of different situations.

In all of these cases, BP scientists have to use STEM to address the challenge of increasing efficiency.

BP case studies

Trim TurbinesBP Auwahi Wind farm - Hawaii

•BP has a wind farm in Hawaii that’s on top of a volcano!

•It can be very windy up there, which is helpful for powering wind turbines

•Just 8 of these turbines will make enough energy to power 10,000 homes

BP’s Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC)

• VLCC’s are the largest oil tankers on the planet

•BP’s British Vantage VLCC tanker is 331m long – that’s bigger than the Eiffel Tower!

•These oil tankers make trips from Venezuela all the way to China a 15,881 mile journey which takes 44 days!

Streamlined Ships

Getting more from less:

Streamlined ShipsBulbous bow

Getting more from less:

Streamlined ShipsBlue Whale

Better BuildingsBP ICBT – Sunbury UK• Keeping a building cool in the summer and warm in the winter uses a lot of energy

• BP’s International Centre for Business and Technology was designed to naturally circulate air, reducing the need for artificial heating and cooling

•This means over 50% less energy is used which means saving £32,580 a year on fuel costs

Getting more from less:

Better BuildingsLiving roofs

Now get ready to choose your challenge.

Each challenge will put your STEM skills to the test as you tackle some real-life problems to address important global issues.

Remember – each team can only choose one!

The Ultimate STEM Challenge

BP Shipping transports oil, liquid natural gas and other products around the world. Efficient ships use less fuel, allowing BP Shipping to minimise its environmental impact. 

Streamlined Ships

Do an investigation to find the most efficient design for a large tanker.

BP operates 13 wind farms in the U.S. and invests in 13 others – together they generate enough renewable electricity to power about 500,000 homes. More efficient wind turbines can increase the amount of power each of them produces, helping to tackle climate change.

Do an investigation to find out how to make a wind turbine more efficient.

Trim Turbines

BP uses innovative ways to increase energy efficiency in some of its buildings.

One major way that buildings use up energy is through air conditioning and central heating.

Do an investigation to design and test energy efficient ways of keeping a building cool in summer OR warm in winter. 

BetterBuildings

Working in groups of 2, 3 or 4:• Choose your challenge • Create a PowerPoint presentation or • Create a YouTube video showing how you approached your experiment

Your teacher will register on the BP Educational Service website and submit your entry by 15 January 2016

How to enter

We are looking for the following: • Excellence of method – have you followed a sound scientific method?• Communication skills – can you explain your work clearly, confidently and in a

way that inspires others?• Passion for STEM – does your enthusiasm shine through?

Judges’ criteria

Sound scientific method

To follow a good scientific method you should:• make a hypothesis• do your research• make sure your experiment is a fair test• can you replicate your results?• analyse your results• present your evidence and explain your conclusion clearly.

To find out more about following a sound scientific method, watch our InvestiGATE videos.

Your video should be no longer than 3 minutes.

Remember the following:• Speak clearly. • Think of your audience – don’t waffle!• Don’t just talk – show us what you’ve been up to.• Introduce yourselves, your school and what inspired you to tackle the challenge.• Remember copyright – don’t include anything that you didn’t create yourself, so no

music or photos taken from the internet.• Practice – do a practice run through, checking light and sound.• Watch out for time – plan what you’re going to say and who is going to say it.

Tip: You don’t have to use a professional video camera to make a film – you could just use someone’s phone.

Create a winning video

Your presentation should be no longer than 20 slides.

Remember to: • Write clearly – check your spelling and grammar. • Think of your audience – don’t waffle!• Include lots of pictures to show us what you’ve been up to.• Introduce yourselves and your school and what inspired you to tackle the challenge.• Remember copyright – don’t include anything that you didn’t create yourself, so no

photos or video clips taken from the internet.

Tip: Presentations must be in PowerPoint – any version is fine. They should be no more than 10MB to ensure that they upload easily.

Create a winning PowerPoint

Good luck!To find out more about theUltimate STEM Challenge visit www.bp.com/ultimatestemchallenge