Receptors under our skin send signals to our brains about the world around us. Engineers are borrowing this idea from the human body to create a ‘smart skin’ for aircraft. In this activity students learn about motes, the tiny sensors at the heart of this innovation, and how science and mathematics are central to...

Solar Detectives, from the Centre for Science Education, is a set of teaching materials which offer a cross-curricular approach to learning about engineering. Students build and modify a model solar car and research the science and mathematics underlying the use of...

Five activity sheets produced by Institute of Physics (IOP) to accompany the MODEL Project's Sounds Good video.

Worksheet one takes an overview of the topic. Worksheets two - five are targeted at specific sections of the video.

Answers to all the worksheet questions are provided in the Word document...

This outreach programme aimed to build upon good practice from the Royal Society of Chemistry's (RSC) project Chemistry for our Future, and to develop new activities which could then be used with the RSC’s Spectroscopy in a Suitcase (SIAS) equipment. It explored appropriate contexts which may appeal to students...

The focus of this activity is on the principle of hydrodynamics through testing boat hull designs in a test tank.

This activity gives students the opportunity to explore and develop their critical thinking and decision making skills through a practical approach....

This Practical Action resource presents a fun hands-on and brains-on challenge for Key Stages Two to Five.

The problem:...

Stop the spread is a new STEM challenge for students aged 7 to 16. Highlighting the global issue of infectious disease students design, build and test a model of a hand washing device and produce educational materials for children in Kenya to encourage hand washing. It is accredited for the British Science...

A two-part activity that starts with a group discussion about the factors that need to be considered when an aircraft takes off and lands. The second activity challenges student to design and make a model aeroplane and a mechanism or system for launching it.

This activity challenges students to work in small teams to design a water supply system for a small town of 5,000 inhabitants. They have to work within a budget, including giving themselves a profit margin.

The...

Inspired by the Born to Engineer video from George Edwards, a young engineer whose understanding of temperature measurement helps him to create a newly engineered product, this resource supports students to increase their understanding of engineering by learning about temperature control and its importance in the...

In this resource students are asked to test the operation of pulley systems and calculating their mechanical advantage.

Suggested learning outcomes include:

• To understand what is meant by mechanical advantage.
• To be able to calculate the mechanical advantage of pulley systems.
• ...

A National STEM Learning Centre and Network Engineering Case Studies resource investigating the design process involved in developing a paper cup for manufacture.

You wouldn't believe making a paper cup could be...

From the LSIS, this activity helps students understand risk assessment and its application in a range of settings. It has four stages: * Stage 1 - considers the five principles of risk assessment and moves on to consider the guidelines for determining the level of risk. * Stage 2 - students assess the hazards and...