These resources explores how engineers have used their knowledge of waves to improve lives.  The activities include:

• Using the reflection of light to create a floating image
• Investigating the best material for thermal resistance (insulation) in a survival suit

Curriculum links...

Earth Observation (EO) scientists collect information about the Earth – the land, the sea and the atmosphere – using sensors carried on satellites, aircraft, ships, buoys floating on the ocean and thousands of weather stations around the world. There is now a great deal of data available and scientists are finding...

Mini Robot Wars, from the Centre for Science Education, is a set of teaching materials which offer a cross-curricular approach to learning about engineering. Students build a small Robot Wars type robot controlled by an umbilical chord and two forward and reverse...

This resource provides a set of videos and a practical investigation aimed at supporting working scientifically in the classroom and relating science to real world experiences. In the first video Professor Brian Cox joins a teacher to find out how to set up and run an investigation into the effect of increasing...

From The Centre for Industry Education Collaboration (CIEC), this guide provides practical information and advice about organising a visit to a local science-based industry. Visits can be engaging, stimulating and profitable for the students, teachers and companies...

This Science upd8 activity offers an opportunity to test students' understanding of the solar system, and their skills as independent enquirers, problem solvers and effective communicators. Students are part of an earth-bound team set the task of interpreting a range of data relating to the solar system/universe....

In this activity, students are introduced to Maglev technology as a way of reducing the friction between the tube and the train in a vacuum tube train. Students are presented with the scenario that in 2025, the UK has been invited to invest £100 billion towards the...

The activities in this resource relate to communicable plant diseases, the use of monoclonal antibody diagnostic tests (ELISA), and the use of genome sequencing in identifying plant pathogens. The activities are based around tasks carried out in the ‘real...

In this Science upd8 activity students take on the role of a trainee documentary producer working for an environmental channel. The television programme scenario, ‘Bears in Trouble’, explores how rising temperatures in the Arctic could be endangering the survival of polar bears. Polar bears seem perfectly adapted...

This maths in construction resource explores some common maths that a Quantity Surveyor uses while at work—most commonly to do with calculating areas and assessing the cost of a project. The session includes a group activity where students work together to calculate the costs of paint that would be needed for a...

Published by the Royal Academy of Engineering, this activity looks at using alternative forms of transport, in this case cycling. The activity centres around groups of students developing an engineered product that represents the ideas of personal transport and sustainability. There is also a case study looking at...

This information sheet, from the Royal Academy of Engineering, provides teachers with a challenges to stereotyping activity. Some students may not understand what engineering involves, others may be fully engaged in another subject, while for some engineering may appear too hard or culturally irrelevant. By using...

Produced by the Royal Academy of Engineering, this information sheet is aimed at helping teachers send a positive message across to students who can often feel that engineering has ‘nothing to do with me’. Many students do not realise that engineering is a very broad area. Much of what people buy, own, wear, eat...

The information sheet, from the Royal Academy of Engineering, covers what materials are required and encourages students to think about how a material alters as it is processed and how it can be used. Students are encouraged to think about engineering applications for a material and also the marketing of a product...

This information bulletin, from the Royal Academy of Engineering, is aimed at teachers to help them encourage students into engineering careers. The bulletin provides three case studies about young engineers and also provides a selection of activities to engage students in thinking about engineering concepts and to...