FAQs
Ri Masterclasses are interactive STEM enrichment workshops for school students lead by professional scientists, educators, academics, or outreach experts. Students come together from several schools in a local community to attend the series of workshops.
They offer students in-depth investigations of exciting topics in STEM that are outside of the school curriculum. Ri Masterclasses combine theory with interactive exploration of the topic in a friendly, supportive environment. The aim is to open young people’s eyes to the world of maths, engineering or computer science and allow them to deeply explore a range of ideas with other like-minded young people and encourage their passion for the subject.
Face-to-face Masterclasses
Students from different schools are brought together in a physical venue, supported by supervisors and helpers. The speakers are typically also present in the venue, but this could also be run with a remote speaker and activities facilitated by the attending contributors.
Online Masterclasses
All activities are run online, with students accessing the sessions on individual devices. The speakers, supervisors and any helpers are all also present virtually. The supervisors moderate student interaction via mic/video/text messaging and in break-out rooms. Students do not need to be in school during these sessions.
Livestreamed into schools
Groups of students stay in their own schools and take part in live-streamed Masterclasses, usually during school time. The speaker leads the workshops remotely via a livestreamed video call and the supervising teachers in the rooms facilitate the activities and moderate student interaction. Multiple school groups take part in the live online session, with each supervising teacher overseeing all interaction with the speaker and other schools. This format is usually only suitable for Primary Masterclasses, less so for secondary students due to the timetable constraints though they could be run after school hours like a STEM club.
Masterclasses cover a range of STEM topics, either purely mathematics or computer science, or other STEM subject with a maths or computer science focus. Workshops are usually linked to a whole host of other topics, including wider STEM subjects, art, sport, politics, and more.
Note: until 2020, we additionally ran Engineering Masterclasses. Please contact us if you’d like to discuss the future of our Engineering Masterclasses, or how we can create a technology Masterclass programme for you that looks at applied Computer Science, Mathematics and Engineering in one series.