This activity looks at the use of plastics. Because the manufacture of plastics requires huge quantities of oil and produces pollutants including greenhouse gases alternative sources of raw materials are required. This activity will enable students to explore how to make plastics and experiment with different...

This activity sheet describes a group activity designing and manufacturing smart packaging which uses thermochromatic pigments to show that the food product is at the correct temperature. The sheet also contains a profile of a mechanical development engineer.

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This resource aims at raising students' awareness of what engineers do and how the profession contributes to the world. The key activity for students is to define and discuss engineering as a career. There are also two case studies to use.

This activity is aimed at using a new material QTC (Quantum Tunnelling Composite). The aim of the activity is to encourage students to think creatively about new uses for this material. It can be used to make fabric switches for example and it has great potential for helping save on the space and weight that new...

This activity challenges stereotypes by asking students to draw and describe an engineer and then requiring them to explain their drawings together with discussing stereotypes. There are career profiles and further activities for teachers to pursue with their students.

In this activity, students are asked to analyse data to work out which form of personal transport is currently the least safe. They then consider what safety features are in use at the moment.

Students brainstorm and...

Produced by the LSIS, these materials include an interactive activity and presentation that introduces safety signs as a communication medium. It has a lively, interactive approach to help students become familiar with the meaning of the four main types of safety signs. Students apply and test their understanding...

This maths-based challenge explores sustainable travel, developing student understanding of the effects that some modes of transport have on the environment and ways of reducing it.

Students are asked to compare alternative methods of transport by calculating journey times and their carbon footprints.  The...

These NASA materials describe hands-on science and engineering challenges for students, using space exploration as an engaging context. The activities are related to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite missions. Students design and build: *an air-powered...

Aimed at primary level, this pack contains activities that can be done with materials easily found at home. These activities are an ideal way for the whole family to take part in science activities without needing hours of preparation. The activities cover a mixture of topics including: changing state, properties...

In this activity, students consider how engineers build the hull of lifeboats so that they are light and strong. Students are challenged to construct a beam using cheese crackers, wafers, paperclips, bridge supports. They can consider building beams using a wider range of materials such as aluminium or wood beam...

This activity explores 3D shapes and where they may been seen in everyday life. Children construct four shapes and think about where these shapes may be seen in different vehicles in different situations such as the road, airport, railway station, the ocean, and in space.

Aimed at primary level, this...

 These materials look at three possible projects that relate to sustainable transport:

* Communications project - students gather information and produce a balanced view on the costs and benefits of using hydrogen as fuel for vehicles.

* Practical project - students investigate the factors that affect...

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...