Shifting Sewage

Through these resources, students investigate sewage tunnels that are being built under London and consider how society has changed over time, to identify the influences that have resulted in the needs for a new tunnel. Activities challenge students to use their mathematical skills to calculate critical dimensions in building tunnels.

The study of rocks can be made more relevant to the students by making a connection between the rocks they investigate in their science lessons and the rocks they would find in their local area. This will encourage the students to think about the implications that any potential large-scale tunnelling and boring work might have on the bedrock on which their town is built.

The resources could be used in teaching design and technology or engineering as well as science and mathematics, with the emphasis on how the development will affect the quality of life and how it could be realised.