What does your child study at school that you’d like to learn more about? Share with the IET for your chance to win a £200 voucher

[LucyBMumsnet]

Many parents will recognise feeling out of their depth when it comes to helping their kids with science, technology, engineering and maths homework. In a recent poll of parents with children aged 5 to 13, a third of parents said the mere thought of having to help their children with anything related to these subjects left a third ‘feeling ill’. Half openly admitted they know less about science than their children - and the same goes for technology (44%), engineering (25%) and maths (38%).*

The IET is looking to inspire children and their parents to explore the wonderful world of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) this summer at their free online Engineering Open House Day (EOHD) live event on Friday 23rd July between 10am and 3pm.

They’ll be showcasing stories and experiments that illustrate why STEM is such a fascinating topic and providing inspiration for the next generation of astronauts, marine biologists, app creators and engineers. All the fun interactive activities, tutorials and experiments will then be available to dip back into throughout the summer holidays on their website.

Here’s what the IET have to say: “Engineering Open House Day aims to help children aged 5–13 year-olds and their parents understand what it’s like to work in STEM by giving exclusive behind the scenes access to a huge range of organisations to demonstrate the breadth of creative and innovative careers on offer. There’s discussions, games, demonstrations and competitions to keep your children entertained for 5 whole hours and more! So in that spirit - and in the hope of giving you some inspiration for conversations with your own DC - we’d love to hear what you’d like to learn more about in the wonderful world of STEM.“

What does your child learn about at school that you’d like to know more about? Are there things you wish you were taught or would like to refresh your memory on? Has the difference between proper and improper fractions escaped you, making maths homework a weekly challenge? Perhaps science was never your strong point but you’d like to understand how the technology we encounter every day really works?

If you need a bit of inspiration, have a look at the list of activities, talks and behind-the-scenes visits taking place for Engineering Open House Day here. There’s something for children (and adults) of all ages and interests, including the opportunity to design and create your own app with Apple and learning how to build and launch your very own rocket.

Everyone who comments on the thread below will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

*Find out more about this research, click here

My child learns about Shakespeare and reads some plays/books. I didn't study Shakespeare and would like to know more about the plays/books he wrote.

Geography 100 percent i didnt go to high-school and would have loved to learned more on this subject

I feel confident with maths, biology, chemistry and physics up to gcse level but I’d have no idea where to begin with coding!

german.

French I seem to have managed to learn having resurected my school french. German on the other hand is not going in...

I have a PhD in chemistry so feel confident in the sciences and maths, but I don’t know much about coding and would like to!

Also, slightly off-topic, but I am struggling to teach DS to read in English! He goes to school in French and so they obviously don’t learn English until much later (he’s 5).

My child studies geology/geography and is currently looking at volcanoes and how the earth was formed - this really interests me and I'd love to know more about this topic (also Maths, fractions and decimals)

Maths, Science and coding in IT.

Have however loved going back over Geography, History (topics & how it is taught is so much better than in my day when I hated it!)

Classics. I love the stories but just can't remember them all.

Intriguing.

I wasn't interested in history at school but find my DDs homework fascinating. I'd love to study more.

Maths. I have an o grade in the subject so am not completely stupid but I’m totally confused with some of the problems ds3 comes home with. The whole lingo appears to have changed. Fortunately he’s good at maths and google is my friend.

Mathematics is my nemesis, am worried I won’t be able to help DC in Year 1 let alone upper school and beyond 😬

Coding. I know it is vital and probably achievable, but I have no idea even where to look for advice. Where's the duolingo site for coding?
I am sad to say that all my DDs have dropped IT as soon as they have been able to, and I wish I had been able to provide more support to them which might have encouraged them to continue.

Id like to learn more about most of the things they do at school maths being the main one as id like to be able to help them without them being told there working it out wrong.

It's more the style of teaching that I wish they would do an optional class for parents on

It's confusing for the child when you try to help with homework but it do it "the wrong way", and it's confusing for parents trying to work out where they are going wrong when you haven't got a clue what on earth they've tried to do to solve a maths problem etc

A Level Business Studies, just think I'd really enjoy learning this now although would have found it dreary when I was the age to do it!

Physics. I was rubbish at it at school and Ds is very interested in science. I just had a mental block! I hope he doesn't when he goes to high school.

I was quite good at maths at school so was surprised when I couldn’t understand my DD 5’s worksheets I’d like to know more about the way maths is taught now. A lot of the language and processes taught are different to how I was taught.

Definitely coding! And I’d like to know the new way of doing maths

My child is learning Latin which I wish I had been taught at school. I'm now self studying it.

Wow, I see so many answers saying coding which is exactly my answer! I'm so jealous that the kids are doing coding, something I only did at university.

I'm so glad I did coding and mathematics at university.

The one thing I wish I had the chance to learn is Spanish. Languages are becoming less popular amongst kids which is sad to see but when the kids do pick a language that you've never studied, then you'll always be stumped lol.

Coding and anything new that has changed with IT as before it used to be MS Office and nothing fancy, but now it all seems a bit complicated.

I actually feel confident with most of the subjects, even coding, as I self taught myself several years ago and work in that field, so thankfully it has come in useful!

One thing I wish I had self taught myself is definitely French or Spanish.

Haha, I'm also going to say coding! We've become so technology based in modern times so it's no surprise that they've added coding to the curriculum.