The British Science Association’s CREST Award programme aims to help students build their science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) skills and interest. Students develop their own project ideas and conduct desk-based and practical research with support from an educator (for example, a teacher, club leader, or supervisor). The CREST Discovery, Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards differentiate by number of required hours and age of participating students, with the Silver Award requiring 30+ hours of project work in total.
A key challenge for secondary schools is encouraging students to take an interest in STEM subjects and to pursue courses and future careers in the sciences. The CREST programme promotes engagement by allowing students to investigate a research question, engaging in inquiry-led STEM learning. This independent evaluation, involving 2,810 pupils from 180 schools, builds on the previous evaluations of CREST by undertaking the first randomised controlled trial of the programme
The study found no evidence that year 9 pupils offered participation in the CREST Silver Award made any additional progress in science attainment, compared to similar pupils that were not offered the programme. This finding has moderate to low security due to the high number of students that dropped out of the trial, and the risk that remaining students may not be representative of the overall student population
There was no evidence to suggest that the CREST Silver Award improved self-efficacy in science or increased the proportion of students aspiring to a STEM career; however, small positive impacts were found for pupil confidence and attitudes to school. There is some indication that the delivery model of CREST might influence the programme’s impact on science attainment. Despite the overall average being zero, exploratory analysis found that pupils participating in CREST outside of class time made two months’ additional progress while those that participated during class time made three months less progress than similar pupils in control schools. These results should be treated with caution as the trial was not designed to measure the difference between these groups
It is important to note that this result does not disprove a link between inquiry-led STEM learning and academic attainment. A small proportion (22 – 29%) of students successfully submitted their final projects to the British Science Association. The process evaluation indicates that both CREST educators and students found that they had little time to work on CREST alongside other commitments such as preparing for GCSEs. This may be one possible explanation for a lower than expected proportion of final submitted student projects
The EEF also intended to evaluate the longer-term effects of CREST Silver Award, by analysing GCSE results for pupils involved in the trial. This would have been particularly insightful, as previous research for the British Science Association, using a quasi-experimental design, suggested improvements in GCSE grades for pupils receiving the intervention (Pro Bono economics, 2016).
Unfortunately, the GCSE year for these pupils was Summer 2020, which coincided with the impact of COVID-19. A decision was therefore taken to cancel the analysis, due to the impacts of partial school closures, and consequent changes to GCSE grading, which meant the independent evaluation was unable to reliably estimate the impact of the programme. Consequently, there will no longer be an additional report reflecting this analysis.
The EEF has no plans for a further trial of CREST Silver Award.
- Pupils that were offered participation in the CREST Silver Award made, on average, no additional progress in science attainment in comparison to those in the control group, equivalent to zero months of additional progress. This is our best estimate, which has a moderate to low security rating.
- There is no evidence to suggest that the CREST Silver Award improved self-efficacy in science or increased the proportion of students aspiring to a STEM career. Small positive impacts were found for pupil confidence and attitudes to school. This is our best estimate.
- There is no evidence that participation in CREST Silver impacts science attainment differently for girls and boys.
- There is some indication that the delivery model of CREST might influence the programme’s impact on science attainment. Exploratory analysis found that pupils participating in CREST outside of class time made two months’ additional progress while those that participated during class time made three months less progress than similar pupils in control schools. These results should be treated with caution as the trial was not designed to measure the difference between the groups and the statistical uncertainty around the results is consistent with larger or null impacts in both cases.
- The process evaluation indicates that both CREST educators and students found that they had little time to work on CREST alongside other commitments such as preparing for GCSEs. This may be one possible explanation for a low proportion of final submitted student projects.