In this full scheme of work, designed for a series of two-hour double-lessons, students develop a Mars Rover for NASA based on a standard VEX design. They learn about the components of a robotics system including control units and data communications, and work through a design process towards a prototype. The VEX...

This activity, from the Institution of Engineering and technology (IET), focuses on the design of a tessellated product and preparation for manufacture. The resource is designed to allow students to:
• be able to analyse a design brief
• be able to generate...

This activity, from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), focuses on understanding the steps and the decision-making process in the design and build of products.

The resource is designed to allow...

This activity, from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), focuses on understanding that changing the composition of a material will affect its properties and characteristics.

It is intended that...

This starter activity can be used as an introduction to reverse engineering. Using the presentation Earphones and Headphones, students are asked to identify the product and its function. They consider the following questions:

These activities provide students with an understanding of the importance of fitness for purpose when designing new products. Students learn how to effectively dismantle and investigate an engineered product to determine its function/purpose.

This activity will allow students a practical opportunity to apply the formula of speed to establish and consider why streamlined shapes are advantageous.

The activity gives students the opportunity to explain what...

Windmills and wind turbines are based upon the principle of trying to create a shape where air flow causes the maximum possible change in kinetic energy. Wind turbines are designed to convert the kinetic energy in wind into electrical energy to power millions of homes...

This is one of a series of extended units, from the Association for Science Education and the Design and Technology Association, to provide in-depth coverage of a topic or an area of the curriculum. Through the study of this unit, students can learn about control systems; use a process for analysing systems; and...

This resource investigates how hoverboards work.

Suggested learning outcomes include:

• Understand how at least two different examples of hoverboards function.
• Know how to analyse examples of existing products.
• Analyse the main features of a product and identify improvements that...

This resource considers the social implications and challenges faced.

Suggested learning outcomes include:

• To know what is meant by a remote area.
• To understand the social problems and challenges faced by people living in remote...

This booklet focuses on gendered representations of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and how young people's views of careers in these subjects are developed. Classroom activities were developed for students drawing on media literacy skills to examine how their ideas have been influenced by...

This activity, from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), requires students to find as many advantages and disadvantages relating to remote or robotic surgery as possible.

It is intended that students...

These INSET resources from the National Curriculum Council (NCC) provide a range of activities for teachers of Key Stages One to Four to help them achieve continuity and progression in their design and technology lessons. The programme gives a picture of the practice at the time (1991) in a rapidly changing area of...

Most of the food we buy comes packed in plastic, cardboard or tins and jars, but why? Children explore this question, by investigating the properties of...