Sustainable design and manufacture
A collection of resources for GCSE Design and Technology that support developing student understanding of sustainable design and manufacture
Circular Design Guide
This website provides design thinking strategies and information on designing for a circular economy.
System Reset: Design and Technology for a Circular Economy
The activities in this collection, from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, are all designed to introduce the principles of the circular economy to students in secondary school.
Behind the Seams Toolkit
This toolkit from TRAID Education provides lesson plans, presentations and resources to support student understanding of sustainability issues surrounding the clothing industry.
Production
- Lesson Plan 1: What are my clothes made from?
- Lesson Plan 2: Why are my clothes so cheap?
Consumption
- Lesson Plan 1: Why are we buying so many clothes?
- Lesson Plan 2 How can I source clothes in a better way?
Waste
- Lesson Plan 1: What happens to my clothes when I don’t want them?
- Lesson Plan 2: How can I make a change?
The Great Recovery
This is a fantastic film, showing the link between the chemistry of recycling and product design - this is a good opportunity to link up with the science department, or to simply illustrate the link between the STEM subjects to students! Have a look at the Great Recovery website for more ideas and examples of industry design solutions: http://www.greatrecovery.org.uk/resources/
One Planet Packaging
These resources cover every aspect of sustainable packaging design. The slides and the case study are really useful for illustrating the core principles, and the resource sheets are equally useful as handouts for students, or background information for non-specialist teachers.
How to Save the Planet and Be Cool
This video from the Science Museum video Punk Science team shows some of the changes needed to help prevent climate change, focusing on reuse, recycling and reducing waste. Many ways of reducing waste are shown in the form of a photo diary. The issues of food miles and vehicle emissions are also addressed.
6R's explained *suitable for home teaching*
This is a good starter activity to introduce the idea of the 6 Rs: rethink, reuse, recycle, repair, reduce and refuse. Students look at the definitions and rank each of the Rs in terms of which contributes most and which least to making the world a more sustainable place.
Recycling and Sustainability
This booklet provides an overview of waste management, with particular focus on the different processes used in the recovery of materials from waste and on the end use of recycled materials. It also provides a practical introduction to the physics behind the processes used to separate waste materials, with activities and teachers notes
The Paper Cup Company
This Dragons Den style resource is a great way to develop students' understanding of the ecological and social footprint of materials.
Less is more!
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) packaging.
Product analysis: impacts on people and the environment
This resource from Practical Action includes a presentation and worksheets which give Key Stage Three and Four students opportunities to understand more about the impact of existing and new products on people and the environment. The presentation is packed with useful activities to reinforce students' learning.
Textiles: Eco Design
Tom is the Creative Director for outdoor eco-clothing brand, Finnister. Their customers not only want clothing which looks good and performs well, but also which reflects concern for the environment. In the film clip, Tom explains what eco-design means. He is always looking for new types of fabric which perform better than existing fabrics, but with a lower environmental impact.
Design abacus
An eco-tool used to compare the sustainability of two products or design ideas.
Choosing Sustainable Materials
This film clip looks at a sustainable system of timber production and woodland management. It is explained that sustainability is the way in which the environment is managed, not whether trees are felled or not. Clear felling uses excavating machines to clear large areas of woodland at a time as part of an ongoing cycle of felling and re-planting.
Rexam's Full Circle film - the lifecycle of an aluminium can
Full Circle is an educational film that explains the can making process, its distribution and what happens to it once used.
The aluminium can is 100% and infinitely recyclable. A can that is on the retailers' shelves tomorrow, if recycled can be back on the shelf again as a new can in as little as 60 days
Design ethics, sustainability and the environment mock exam
This mock exam tests student understanding of the ethics involved in being a designer. Questions look at sustainability, life cycle analysis and the impact of design on society.
The ethical implications of design
This resource looks briefly at the moral implications of design and the design of products. It touches on the impact that products (such as mobile phones) have had on society and asks students to explore issues around sustainable manufacture.
Make the world... more sustainable
Sustainable design is fast becoming a matter of global corporate citizenship. More consumers are choosing products based on their environmental impact, forcing manufacturers to reconsider how they develop and market products. Finding solutions to the problems people have in real world situations, that are designed with sustainability in mind, are key to students' development of ideas when preparing for their GCSEs and A Levels.
These resources include five short videos and a presentation that invites students who are preparing for their GCSEs to understand and solve challenges using sustainable sources of energy. It introduces the Global Goals for sustainable development and considers current and emerging sources of energy before setting tasks students can solve using wind or solar power. There are links to Practical Action resources and a teacher guide is included with further links to help students identify careers options in sustainable engineering sectors.
These resources have been developed by The Design and Technology Association with sponsorship from the ERA Foundation.
Sustainable Design Cards
This webpage provides a selection of online and downloadable cards, each providing a method of designing sustainably.
Natural Entrepreneurs – design a sustainable world
Natural Entrepreneurs is a European funded project encouraging students aged 15-18 years to use biomimicry as a research and design tool. It provides an online platform which guides student teams through the Biomimicry Design Process. It offers an opportunity to explore how biomimicry can tackle the sustainability challenges facing Europe today and presents the applications of biomimicry design as desirable and viable solutions.