Activity 6: Rethinking Textiles Products
This activity, for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, looks at textiles in fashion design. It provides an opportunity for students to increase their knowledge and understanding of a circular economy approach to developing textiles products and how textile companies are applying this approach to developing new products. It explores…
Activity 5: Biomimicry
Biomimicry involves looking at nature for inspiration to solve engineering problems and to develop innovative new designs for products and architecture. This activity, from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, investigates what is meant by linear and closed loops systems and explores products that have been developed by learning from…
Activity 4: In the Loop
This design-and-make project, from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, provides hands on experience of working with materials, using CAD/CAM for design, and an opportunity for students to manufacture interesting products while addressing many circular economy concepts. The activity explores the use of materials, the principle of…
Mechanisms: Robot Building
From the Centre for Science Education, the RA3 project aims to bring parents together with their children and teachers to explore the worlds of science and technology. These activities use 'mechanical kangaroo' or 'mechanical horse' model robot kits. These kits allow children and parents to explore mechanisms…
Pod 5: Pupil Project
In this summative challenge from Nuffield Foundation groups of students use the knowledge, skills and understanding from earlier pods to explore a sustainability question of their choice. They need to research, analyze and present ideas in preparation for an exposition. Students assess each others ideas and plans on an ongoing basis.…
Pod 4: Climate Change
In this Nuffield Foundation resource students begin by reviewing their understanding of the carbon cycle. They investigate the link between human activity and increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and speculate on whether this is causing global warming. They compare the carbon footprints of different activities and…
Pod 3: Cars
In this Nuffield Foundation resource, students explore our relationship with cars and other forms of transport. They start by investigating some of the health and social problems associated with increasing car ownership. They move on to consider how innovative technologies could support more healthy and sustainable lifestyles. As…
Pod 1: Introduction
In this Nuffield Foundation resource, students explore the how humans have sought and used materials and energy throughout history. They learn that the current manufacturing system extracts raw materials, makes something useful and then disposes of it afterwards as waste. This take-make-dump model is not sustainable. Natural closed…
Pod 3: Game On
In this Nuffield Foundation activity students use the learning skills they have acquired in earlier pods to invent a new game of their own. They need to design and test equipment as well as establish effective rules and a fair scoring system. Groups then present and explain their new game at a sports fair where it is evaluated by…
Pod 2: In Top Gear
In this Nuffield Foundation activity students use secondary data to investigate how changes in technology have led to improved performance in cycling. They research footwear to see how materials of different properties can be combined for specific purposes and carry out a practical investigation to define the optimum design of a…
Pod 1: Up to the Mark
In this Nuffield Foundation activity students carry out an investigation into some sporting techniques to establish whether practice improves performance. They conduct research into the rationale for training schedules for different sports. Students then investigate target games to explore whether scoring systems reward skill fairly…
Introduction
This Nuffield Foundation resource opens with a team game that demonstrates the need for careful planning and collaboration. Students use their findings to construct a standard operating procedure that enables them to improve their performance through better collaboration. They are also introduced to their games learning log which…
Pod 2: Waste
In this Nuffield Foundation resource students investigate whether recycling alone can mitigate the wastefulness of current industrial processes. They categorize waste into two main categories - natural materials which can be recycled through natural systems, and processed technical materials which cannot. Students learn that in order…
Food for Thought
From Practical Action, in this activity students design and make a product using local and/or organic ingredients. They will also gain knowledge and understanding of the design and make process, write a design specification and produce a step-by-step plan for making a product. Further resources are available from the Practical Action’s…
Reusing Textiles: Waste to Wear
In this activity, from Practical Action, students are challenged to design and make a good quality textiles product from some throwaway textiles collected from home or bought from a charity shop. Further resources are available from the Practical Action’s Sustainable Design and Technology database.
Redesigning for Sustainability: Less is More
From Practical Action, this resource gets students to look at how a product could be redesigned to require less packaging. Companies are being encouraged to develop ‘environmentally-smart’ retail packaging design. In this activity, students are challenged to redesign a familiar product so that it has less (and more sustainable)…
Young Engineers - Poster Series
Produced by the Royal Academy of Engineering, these posters help students to think about some careers in engineering that they may never have considered, such as: sound engineering, flood prevention, developing camera technology or surgical equipment. The posters also pose engineering challenges to students and they could be used…