Amid the pandemic it is hard to keep in mind that many of the normal life transitions - from school to university, for example - will still go on, even if they look a bit different.

Even though it seems abstract right now, it is important that students get as much real-world experience as possible for their proposed new path before they start on it.

This is because through experience they can develop the skills they need for their next stage of their academic careers, and make sure they fully understand what a professional career in that field might involve.

There is a lot of guidance provided to schools with the aim of ensuring that the careers advice and experience that students receive is good quality and useful - the Gatsby Benchmarks, for example.

But in the current climate, the sorts of experiences recommended by the benchmarks, such as in-workplace experience, are near impossible to achieve for most students.

Careers guidance amid the coronavirus crisis

In normal times we at the Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS) provide students across the country with the opportunity to carry out cutting -dge science research while still at school.

The students we work with are school age in the UK and we give them all sorts of opportunities - for example, decoding the genome of the human whipworm, a nasty parasite that causes disease in children in Asia.

Of course, the current circumstances mean students cannot physically be in school right now, and if they are it’s not school as we knew it.

There are no opportunities for them to work on these ground-breaking projects in person, with us and the scientists and researchers that we pair them up with.

This is worrying for the science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) pipeline.

We already have a national shortage of scientists and engineers, with Engineering UK estimating that by 2024 we will need to train 186,000 engineers annually to keep up with industry demand.

One of our primary aims at IRIS has always been to plug this unacceptable gap.

But this absence from school for so many - which, of course, is completely correct from a health and safety perspective - will only serve to widen this shortfall.

Science from home

That’s why we must ensure that secondary students at this vital stage in their education can access science and research projects from home.

The future demand for people working in Stem doesn’t stop because of Covid-19. If anything, it makes the case even more strongly for the very real need for greater numbers of young people going into Stem fields, creating a stronger pipeline of talent.

Recently we have given 14- to 17-year-olds across the UK a unique chance to take part in a pioneering at-home astronomy project as part of their lockdown studies.

As part of this they explore data from the Spitzer Space Telescope and learn how scientists select potential targets for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) planned to launch in 2021 - described by Nasa as the world’s premier science observatory for the next decade.

In the comfort of their own homes, students explore key physics themes such as the electromagnetic spectrum and the life cycle of a star.

The project introduces students to the advanced skills of photometry and spectroscopy, expanding learning outside the curriculum and developing their science capital.

These projects are interesting, yes. They help to capture the awe and wonder of science for a new generation of students and future scientists.

But these projects teach a lot more than that.

Learning the ropes

They teach the scientific method, collaboration and sheer bloody-mindedness that is required of science researchers when they must try, try and try again.

They teach students to value and build on the work of others, and they teach them to communicate their findings. They teach them to be more critical consumers of science in the media, understanding the importance of context and source.

Making these projects available at home to those students who are keen to continue their scientific studies, especially those who are in transition years, to me, is vital.

Students taking part speak about improved confidence levels, because, for example, they know that when they start their university course in September, they will be required to carry out similar types of research.

We have also heard that participating in an online learning programme like this is helping them to feel prepared for the possibility that university for them may start in a virtual way. 

More broadly, whether offline or online, these kinds of projects arm students with real, authentic and relevant experience and understanding of their subject to put on their personal statement and to take to university or apprenticeship interviews and on into their degree or career.

Educators need to do all we can to ensure that this sort of learning continues to help our students embrace whatever they embark on next and however it is delivered.

Jo Foster is the director of the Institute for Research in Schools