Overview
We evaluated The Big Bang Fair 2024 to understand its impact on students and educators. 2,414 students and 276 educators completed surveys after experiencing The Fair. These surveys explored The Fair’s influence on students’ STEM awareness, motivation, and career aspirations, and educators’ knowledge and confidence to speak to students about STEM careers. Findings show high engagement, with 91% of students enjoying the event and significant increases in interest in STEM careers. Educators also reported greater confidence in guiding students towards jobs in STEM. The report highlights key successes, areas for improvement, and recommendations for future events.
Who this is for
- Employers
- Researchers
- STEM outreach organisations
Key findings
Our evaluation findings indicate that the programme has succeeded in achieving this aim, as:
- 91% of students enjoyed The Fair, and this was rated similarly across different groups of students
- Most students agreed that The Fair made them interested in doing more STEM activities (80%) and in a future job in STEM (82%)
- The impact of The Fair was amplified among students who were already interested in STEM activities
- Girls’ ratings of the impact of The Fair on their interest in STEM jobs and confidence to pursue these tended to be lower than boys’
- Girls reported greater knowledge gains compared with boys
- Girls were more likely than boys to speak to STEM professionals and complete group-based activities while at The Fair
Educators were similarly positive about The Fair’s content and impact:
- 95% of educators reported that they enjoyed The Fair
- 98% agreed The Fair highlighted a variety of careers in engineering and technology, providing students with an opportunity to see 'where STEM can take students'
- 87% said The Fair motivated them to organise more STEM activities for their students
- 64% said that attending The Fair made them more confident to speak to their students about engineering careers
- 73% said it made them more likely to suggest engineering careers to students
The Fair provides young people with an opportunity to learn about STEM careers and feel inspired by the unexpected opportunities these careers offer. Our evaluation also showed that we need to know more about how the messages in our outreach resound with underrepresented groups, particularly girls, so we can close the gaps in their perceptions and aspirations.
— Amanda Aldercotte, Head of Evaluation and Impact, EngineeringUK
Percent of agreement across survey items by student gender:
