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Electric & Eclectic with Roger Atkins - LinkedIn Top Voice for EV
In conversation with the past, present, and future movers and shakers of the electric vehicle eco-system. Upstream in mining and mineral processing and downstream in batteries and charging infrastructures - and all points in between! I will draw on friendships and experiences from almost 40 years in the auto industry - almost half of that embedded within the nascent EV industry.
Failure and success are all part of my story...and that of many people I know. YOU will hear about it all.
Electric & Eclectic with Roger Atkins - LinkedIn Top Voice for EV
Revolutionising STEM Education: Insights from Diane Clark on Industry Partnerships and Electric Vehicle Integration
Unlock the secrets to pioneering STEM education through the engaging insights of Diane Clark, Mission Director of Curiosity Box. Diane unravels the innovative methods Curiosity Box employs to make learning tangible and impactful for children, especially in underserved areas. By collaborating with prestigious organizations like the Faraday Institute and the British Science Association, Curiosity Box ensures their products are both educationally significant and accredited, aiming to boost confidence in teachers and inspire resilience in students.
Discover the transformative power of community outreach in the industrial sector as we highlight notable examples like Agritas and Amphenol. These companies are not only enhancing their local presence but are also revolutionizing the way complex scientific concepts are taught to young minds. Agritas, for instance, partners with schools to introduce innovative battery boxes that make science both accessible and fascinating. Learn practical advice on how businesses can get involved, emphasizing strategic partnerships and the financial commitments necessary for impactful engagement.
Finally, we steer into the electrifying world of electric vehicles and their integration into education. The need to normalise knowledge about batteries and electric motors from an early age is critical, and our discussion sheds light on how this can be achieved. With insights from our eclectic guest, Diane Clark, we highlight the exciting opportunities the electric vehicle revolution presents for learners of all ages. By investing in STEM education today, businesses can help bridge the skills gap, ensuring a future workforce that's ready to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.
Diane Clark is Mission Director of Curiosity Box.
Speaker 2:We developed our battery box with the Faraday Institute. We don't do things by heart. We make sure they're piloted to a lot of schools. They're developed by teachers, scientists and engineers. You know we have accreditations by the British Science Association and work closely with them.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to the Electric and Eclectic Podcast Show with Roger Atkins and some truly smart and amazingly interesting guests.
Speaker 2:We speak regularly to lots of businesses who have a severe workforce shortage and there is a massive skills gap in the UK.
Speaker 3:Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin.
Speaker 1:Okay Di tell us all about the Curiosity Box. See, I can't even say it. I'm so excited to find out more. What's it all about?
Speaker 2:So the Curiosity Box? You're right, it started as a subscription service, a retail D2C business, to get more kids involved in STEM, practical STEM, and lots of things nowadays are on screens and I, throughout this business and other businesses, really want to focus on getting away from the screen. Screens have their place, but practical learning is so important and so it's important for us not to lose that. We also wanted to make sure that it wasn't a standard experiment box. Lots of boxes it's a case of you know they all have their place, as I say, but it's, it's. It arrives, you put it together, it does something. That's the end of it. What we do is we, we walk through kids, through the engineering cycle, so we encourage mistakes, we encourage tinkering, we encourage not things going as expected as they would in any real-life situation around engineering and science and stuff. You know science is done. It's not completed. We're consistently learning. So from the the, you know our customers. They are very lucky in the fact that they have the income to buy these additional practical stem boxes for their children, but we wanted to engage with kids that were underrepresented and we wanted to encourage more girls into the STEM space. The way that we did this we, not me, our founder, renee, who was so passionate, who is so passionate, a about the environment and B about getting STEM into schools. How she did this was she developed school boxes. How she did this was she developed school boxes. Now, what we do is is we provide all of the resource, all of the lesson planning, all of the theory, all of the timings, all of the questions, everything you could possibly want we give you in a box to be able to deliver a STEM day or a stem, half term or term, depending on which box you're choosing, and it and it gives kids practical stem to do and it relates to the curriculum.
Speaker 2:So what we've found over the years is that within our research primary school kids, the teachers are predominantly female and they are predominantly from the humanities. They that, you know that's the subjects they've covered. So they've not always done science past gcse themselves. So there was an element we found of just kind of a there wasn't, there wasn't a particular confidence around delivering these stem subjects and even though there's brilliant science leads in primary schools, there's just you know this, we could be doing more. There's also not the ability because of budgets.
Speaker 2:You know it's always that story, isn't it that we can't? They're not doing practical sciences and technology as much as they could be in schools. It's not a SATS test subject. So you know, maths and English, yep brilliant, throw everything at that, but when it comes to science, it's not tested. So therefore, the budget, you know it's a bit dubious. So when we kind of thought, right, okay, so how are we going to get this into schools? Because we know schools don't have budgets, particularly in deprived areas, you know, particularly in places where other things could be taking priority sure kind of thought okay, so what do we do?
Speaker 2:we need to solve this problem. How do we do that? We speak regularly to lots of businesses who have a severe workforce shortage and there is a massive skills gap in the UK. Now I don't know about you, roger, but it makes absolute sense for me to suggest then, those people in those industries you know millions and millions of pounds industries should be funding this kind of practical technology and engineering into schools. It makes sense.
Speaker 1:Well, it does die. Because I think the reality is, in a democratic system where you have changes at the top of the education department, you know, ministerial changes, let alone anything else you're inevitably going to see things you know come into favour, come into fashion and move out of it again To sustain things in the long term. I can see to your point that the business holds a much better sustained focus on something through those, those political cycles, if you like. I mean, I don't want to stray into politics, um, but, but, but I I get your point notwithstanding, they've got the money and and, to be blunt, they want the end result talented people to come out of education with a passion for, for stem subjects, um, um it. I think finding, finding that resource, finding that focus, that support from industry, yeah, makes absolute sense does as well.
Speaker 2:And you know, and it's it's, it's kind of we we start having these conversations and a lot of a lot of the time when people approach us. So, for example, I'm speaking, I was speaking to a company who's building a gigafactory and they really wanted to engage with the local community because they, they understand that they're going to be sort of disrupting their everyday life and they wanted to engage. So they, they spoke to us and how they could do that in a you kind of an innovative way and while I was having a conversation with them and they were talking, you know, so passionate. So these people are good people and they're really passionate about what they're doing and what they're trying to achieve. And this was all about renewable energy. And when we were talking to them, they was really passionate about talking about their gigafactory. And I just asked the question okay, that's great. Oh, ok, think about this.
Speaker 2:Because then you get the secondary response, which is very much oh, we're going to do careers days and we're going to too late, you have lost. You have lost a group of people that would have been engaged had they had access to this practical learning in primary level. You know there's lots of reports that I can send on to you after Roger that will explain that in order to really engage these kids, we have to get them young. Secondary school too late. People from deprived areas too late Girls.
Speaker 2:How many conversations have I had, for example, amphenol, a really really lovely group of people, um, in a factory in Whitstable, and they're talking to me, really, really engaged, about how they can inspire the kids. And you know we're talking about doing some things next year with them. And the lady I was speaking to she she said when she's doing her reach out days and there is a piece of technology or engineering that has to be completed by these students, she always stands back and says it's never for her, it's not for her. And I asked her why and she said because that was just her kind of that's always just been the thing, it's just never for her. So one day she actually had a go at this thing, whatever she was tasked to do, and she absolutely smashed it. She beat all the fellas, you know.
Speaker 1:Right. Well, I'm curious about this. I mean, it's a long time since I was at school, but I've got children. They went to school, boys, I've only got boys. I've now got grandchildren, a boy and a girl, twins, as it happens, which in itself would be interesting to watch.
Speaker 1:Over the years, you know identical parents obviously Growing up, you think, are they both going to be given the same sort of inclinations or opportunities? And again, as much as I don't want to talk about politics, I don't really want to talk about gender politics in a sense other than we have. You know, we have a workforce, the workforce. The better the workforce is for the country, the better the country is. It's not just a question of, you know, governments putting money into projects or this or that, the other. You know, the talent of the nation begins, as you rightly say, in infant school, in primary school, then, right the way through, what is it that happens to girls at whatever point? You know? Please educate me on this, because I'm trying to work out what is the moment when they're not given the focus or a similar opportunity, or they're disinclined to it. For what? For whatever reason? Compared to their, their, you know, to boys, what?
Speaker 2:the answer there is I don't know, but I don't. The important thing, I think the important thing is is we know how to solve it to a degree so, and it's really within the most simplest terms. You know we could. We could talk here all day about, you know, confirmation bias and unconscious bias and all sorts yeah doesn't solve the problem.
Speaker 2:You know, there is something intrinsic to us that suggests these stereotypes. What we need to do is find out how to navigate it. So the best, probably the best example I can give you in how we combat that is when Renee was testing out one of our boxes, our Potter art box, which is all about electronics. It's basically a box, you know, on the on the face of it, of wires and batteries and leds and core things like that. And when renee because we we pilot all of our boxes and we test all our boxes in schools with teachers, of course and when renee put the box on the table, the first group that went to it were the boys and they, they had this kind of instinctive that's for me kind of idea where it's come, I don't know. So when renee sort of learned and and did some more thinking about this and she said okay, right, how do I stop this happening? What, what's? What's preventing the girls coming towards this box?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:What she did was, instead of putting the box on the table and the first thing the kids see is wires and things like that, the first thing you have to do is make a greetings card. I remember as a little girl that was one of my favourite things to do. I used to love making like a Father's Day card, a Mother's Day card, a birthday card. It was the simple art kind of. I was very proud of it and it was something that I liked doing. So in Potter books, in the Potter right now, what we do is the first thing you do is you make a card Instantly. Those girls think that's for me.
Speaker 2:I can do that. I do that a lot. That's for me. I can do that. I do that a lot. Then they start building out and they start creating this, this greetings card that then you know has flashing eyes, or is a car that has flashing lights, or you know things like that. The next stage is when another box comes out, this big red box, that gets sort of taken into the classroom instantly. The girls think I've done that before, that's for me, so whatever is in the box, I want to engage with because they know they can wow.
Speaker 2:Well, matter about the why? I don't think. I think there's a lot we can do. We can think about that later, we can dissect that later and we can. We can leave that to the academics to to write all their papers on. But for the here and now and the fact that we want to inspire, these are the changes that we, we are making. Whether we've thought about it, because we're a group of women, we're a group of mums, I don't know whether, um, I don't know, but the fact is that worked.
Speaker 1:So let's keep going yeah, yeah, well, but listen, I I've had the good fortune to, to work in my career with lots of really smart people. Um, I don't make any distinction really around what they looked like. You know who they were. It's just what their character was, what their knowledge was, how we kind of got on together, but inevitably, because I've worked in the automotive industry, they have predominantly been men. Now, there is a reason for that. You're articulating some of that in what you're saying and what this is all about.
Speaker 1:But, going forward, because we've got an aging population, we've got a diminishing workforce, we've therefore, quite logically, got an intense focus on whatever working people that we've got, each and every one we want to see realize the best of their abilities and ambition. And certainly, given that the world, the future, the world we see today, is about technology, is about innovation, is about engineering, is about science, I mean it just stands to reason that what you're doing, what you're describing Dai, is oh, my word it's actually really, really important, really important. It's not just a good thing to do, you know, well done. This is significant. And, like I said earlier, don't want to get political. Whatever it is we need to do. That will work, that's what we should do.
Speaker 1:So it sounds to me what you're doing is working. Can you give someone who maybe now is listening to this, thinking well, thinking well, I find out a bit more about this. Our company might sponsor some of this stuff. I like the sound of this. What, what kind of um, what sort of evidence have you got that this now is starting to work? It is starting to impact and fire up that, that interest, uh, in children in stem. So I.
Speaker 2:So I think the first example when we're talking about industry and how it relates directly lots of companies that I speak to, they say that their local community don't even know who they are or what they do. You know, going back to the Amphenol analogy, a lovely company, as I said, when they go to their careers, days and stuff, everybody says to them oh we thought you was a pharmaceutical. We wondered their name and they're like we need to. You know what is this? Another company that we're working with, agritas, the battery company.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they have absolutely nailed an outreach and you know we're talking at the moment and hoping to to get confirmed. Um them, send in battery boxes that we create, which were wow.
Speaker 1:I'm loving the sound of this. By the way, if you heard, you probably have the battery industrialization center. I actually went back to school uh, die last week for two days and I'm 65. And they're very focused on education and development. As much as you're and I'm delighted to hear what you're saying. You know Agritas have nailed the reach out. That sounds fantastic. I definitely recommend you and the BIC. Uk B BIC should be talking to each other.
Speaker 2:We'd love to See. The thing is as well. Our boxes they are not. You know we developed our battery box with the Faraday Institute.
Speaker 2:We don't do things by heart. We make sure they're piloted to a lot of schools. They're developed by teachers, scientists and engineers. Sure, they're piloted to a lot of schools. They're developed by teachers, scientists and engineers. You know we have accreditations by the British Science Association and work closely with them.
Speaker 2:So I think the message is for people to understand that we are very good at what we do in the sense that we are able to get all this super cool, clever science and technology and engineering. And we are. We have the ability because this is our business and this is our kind of our usp, let's say we, we are able to translate that to practical science for children that age, with them understanding. Now, some people, you know, when they're in the echelons of of their careers and and they are very, very clever, super people they forget how to be able to translate it so easily. We've been to cenex and we've seen, you know, some professors and super engineers trying to explain what we're doing and it's really, really interesting to see, you know, they're so far forward in their fields that that ability to be able to translate it to primary school is very, very difficult yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Do you know what? The more you're talking, the more you're explaining, or more you're giving me the background, giving us the background to, to what you're doing, the more I'm impressed, because you definitely have been, you've been reaching out to, to the right people. I recognize all of the people you're doing. The more I'm impressed because you definitely have been, you've been reaching out to the right people. I recognize all of the people you're talking about and they're all smart organizations. So so listen, we've only got another sort of 10 minutes or so. I'd like to get into a little bit more of the kind of meat and potatoes. So let's say, I'm a company, large or small, listening to this. Who do I talk to? How do I? I mean, are we talking about tens of thousands of pounds? Are we talking about a few thousand pounds? I mean, what are you looking for in terms of financial investment from people if we sort of cut to the chase?
Speaker 2:So this, what we've done, this is our social value arm of our business. As I've said, we've got a retail business. This is the stuff that we do because we want to do it, so we've kept our costs very, very low. Renee is also super, super conscious about the environment. So what we've got is you've basically got a potential to fund a box, which can be anything from £ to 250 pounds, that will give you a box that can go into the school on that particular topic and for it will deliver for a class.
Speaker 2:Now, everything in that box is reusable. The the most important thing within that box is the teacher booklet that gives all of the learning and and as well as the practical stuff and walks them through it. So that box could influence, you know, 1000 kids for 250 quid. You know we're not talking massive amounts of money. Now, don't get me wrong, we can. We're talking with very, very large organizations who want to use our boxes as a private label, you know. Then you're talking you know 100 grand kind of money, because you know we have to have minimum orders and we have to do all the development and we have to pilot it and it's and it's basically a company would be sending that out under their own name right right oh, we, you know we.
Speaker 2:we have a really lovely company called barnbrook, barnbrook systems, based down in hampshire, and they are very altruistic in their approach because they just want to get it to kids in schools. So they're, they're buying a box a month, you know, and it's for 300 quid. They're getting a box, they're sending it out to the schools. We're finding the schools, we're finding where this, these boxes, are needed to go, and that's great. But also other companies they develop a box with us, so they look at the sort of, for example, like the Faraday Institute or Bloodhound we worked with Bloodhound Right right.
Speaker 2:Bloodhound to look at hydrogen and we developed a box and we call it our green speed box, and so that's a more of an intensive £25,000, £30,000. But it can be as simple as ordering for £3,000, 10 boxes to go in 10 different schools. Those boxes are going to remain. You know, they're going to have to get a few consumables replaced, but ultimately those boxes are going to add to the science kit of the school. There's lots of reusable stuff that it's going to be passed from class to class. So it really really is a cost-effective solution as well. You know we don't do this anytime soon. We've got our retail business. That's kind of that's where the, where the dinner on the table comes from, so to speak. But this is our social value aspect, this is what we want to do, and so we really reduce the barriers to business to work with us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I really like it. Look, and I know a lot of people. Well, I'm just reading what you've put on your LinkedIn page so people can get in touch with you on LinkedIn. So Diane D-I-A-N-E, Clark C-L-A-R-K, and then STEM info, the contact info is stemdaycouk, and then does it need to be forward slash, G-B-B-O and then forward slash? Is that correct?
Speaker 2:So any of those, or the email on there, or just if you look on curiosity-boxcom, just reach out any way. You think you can even help at curiosity-boxcom. Hello at all of those are picked up by a very small team in Oxford and we're always, you know, engaging and on it. So yeah, just reach out by any way via the website or via me via LinkedIn. That's absolutely fine. I'm always happy to have a chat, love a chat.
Speaker 1:Well, indeed, so do I. I'm renowned for it. Sometimes I chat too much, to be honest with you, diane, but look, you've given us a really fantastic insight into this. I think it's really important to notwithstanding the social dynamic, the aspect of many things you've spoken about to have a successful country, you've got to have an educated workforce and you can't have that being half the workforce, for whatever reason. It's got to be everybody, and I think particularly in this arena, the STEM arenas science, technology, you know engineering, mathematics um, it is is so important.
Speaker 1:I can't whinge and whine about my education, which perhaps wasn't fantastic. Um, I've tried to make up for lost time, like I said, even going to back to school last week, which was I've tried to make up for lost time, like I said, even going to back to school last week, which was I've got to tell you, it was a bit of a shock, to be honest. You know, taking on board information, making notes, thinking about it, it's, you know, it's a lot easier when you're young, I think, um, you're a bit of a sponge, aren't you?
Speaker 2:I'm going to interrupt because do you know what I've got? A story that is that is really resonating with what you've just said. I'm a scientist, I'm a business consultant. That's my bag, that's my education, that's my training, that's my experience.
Speaker 2:When I started at the Curiosity Box and was just overwhelmed by how brilliant this concept was, one of the first things I learned was how an electric motor works, and it was I'm. I was winding around a piece of metal to make my own electromagnet, and then I was put it in a circle and I was turning the magnets on and off and it was just. If you, if you want to learn, and you and you, you you've no experience in that particular field. Our boxes are for primary schools, but, by god, did I have so much fun and did I learn so much? So there really are for everybody, if you like. Yeah, never knew how an electric motor worked, fascinated by how it does, and you know, getting seeing the kids as well when they're doing it, seeing if they, if they bring the magnet a bit closer or a bit further away, what's going to happen. How does this work?
Speaker 1:absolutely, yeah, brilliant, all in this box to deliver to your kids yeah well, diane, I know we've probably only scratched the surface, but, that being said, you've told us an awful lot about how this is, know how to get in contact with you and the organization. I just wish you tremendous success. I don't think this is a let's see how it goes thing. For a few months, I have a feeling that this could become a real long term decade, long decade, plus long momentum, and threaded through much of what, um, perhaps hasn't been happening. If we, if this starts to become, you know, a rich seam of of support and encouragement and inspiration, that's only a, that's only a good thing. So, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm really keen to, to help you. So, whatever I can do, I'll definitely give you a shout out to the right people as best I can, um, and you know, keep, keep up the good work thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, we're um, we're excited. We're starting to see increases. People are getting it. People, yeah, they're not going to bankrupt themselves by doing this engagement. If anything there's just going to be, have a positive reflection on them. So people are getting it now and as well, they need the future workforce, because what currently is happening isn't working well, that that's right and I mean it's.
Speaker 1:You know, when you have children or grandchildren, you realize how fast. You know how quickly childhood is. You know goes goes by in a flash. You know it's those 5, 10, 15 years and then you know people are either learning a trade and a skill not enough of of that going on, by the way. Shouldn't all go to university? I don't think. And yeah, getting stuck in it's going to be a fascinating workplace with AI and all these other things going on. But I think everything you've described and the background and the work you're talking about yeah, understanding how batteries work is pretty cool, as well, as well as electric motors, as you described. So there's a wonderful world out there for all of us, at whatever age. But you know, if we don't get it right with kids at the beginning, then we're just forever making up for lost time, aren't we? And playing catch up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's just make it part and parcel, let's just integrate this, so it's just normalized, you know.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, Absolutely Well. Look, thank you for coming on the Electric and Eclectic podcast. I think we've definitely been a bit electric and pretty, pretty eclectic too, so I think you were the perfect guest, Di. Thank you for joining me today.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me, roger, thanks for listening to the show and make sure you follow Roger on LinkedIn, where you'll discover almost all there is to know about the spectacular electric vehicle revolution.
