In this resource students are to play the role of a graduate structural engineer for a major construction company, given the task of designing a steel bridge to carry a railway across a major motorway.

As part of the process learners have to analyse the proposed pin-jointed steel truss bridge by solving...

In this resource students are asked to test and monitor the strength of concrete specimens brought in to a materials testing laboratory.

In this exercise learners will consider some of the statistical issues that are relevant to the testing and control of concrete quality based on the testing of concrete...

Being able to develop cost-effective solutions is an important aspect of engineering and one that students investigate in this challenge. This challenge looks at the maximum volume of a satellite communications frame made from a fixed length of tubing. There is some guidance given to students through a series of...

Connecting radiators

Radiators are used to keep the communications part of a satellite at an optimum temperature. This is necessary in order for the equipment to function correctly. Connecting the radiators together adds robustness to the system. In this challenge students investigate the...

Origami with squares

Solar panels are an important part of satellite design. There are design constraints on the distance a panel can be from the core of the satellite. In order to increase the area of the panels, satellites of the future may well deploy panels other than rectangular ones....

These 17 resources use the context of satellite design to link in to areas of the mathematics curriculum.

The challenges enable students to take an active stance in the solving of mathematical problems. This is achieved through a variety of approaches; some of the challenges are very open, whilst for others...

Satellites often carry communications equipment or experiments placed into modules. These are then placed in equipment cabinets. This challenge looks at the most efficient way of packing equipment modules into a cabinet. This is an open investigation that can be tackled in a variety of ways.

Mathematical...

This resource, from Mathematics for Engineering Exemplars, shows the application of mathematics within a civil engineering environment. Here students apply standard deflection formulae to solve some typical beam deflection design problems. These formulae form the basis of the calculations that would be undertaken...

In this resource students are asked to play the role of a newly qualified engineering graduate that has taken a year out to work for an overseas aid agency in a developing country.

The civil engineering project you are working on aims to provide water to a number of rural villages where clean water for...

The Standards Unit: Improving Learning in Mathematics resources were produced as a response to the Smith report. The materials use active learning approaches originally designed for post-16 mathematics but for use across the secondary phase. The resources, and the work of the Standards Unit with leading maths...

This booklet outlines how assessment for learning can raise achievement in school. Evidence suggests that using good strategies for formative, (day to day) assessment could lead to significant improvements in the performance of pupils.

• Read section 1 on Learning goals, self-assessment and peer...

This guidance booklet, from the National Strategies collection, was inspired by the documents Inside the black box (Black & Wiliam, 1998) and Assessment for Learning, beyond the black box (Assessment Reform Group, 1999) and outlines how assessment for learning can raise achievement in school....

Nuffield Mathematics resources can be used to support teaching of the Core Maths qualifications.

This collection contains a spreadsheet for each the six qualifications (from AQA, City & Guilds, Edexcel, OCR (Quantitative Problem Solving), OCR (Quantitative...

This report, from the Royal Society, expresses the belief that science and mathematics are at the heart of modern life and provide the foundations for economic prosperity and explains the Royal Society’s ambition for the next twenty years of science and mathematics education. That it should enable people to make...

Produced by the Learning Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), this case study tackles the theme of progression through STEM subjects and careers. It describes how a careers day was used to widen students' knowledge of available opportunities in STEM-related fields. City and Islington College felt that students...