Making waves

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...

How to make your own hovercraft

This resource shows how you can successfully lift a person off the ground using two cordless leaf blowers, problem-solving skills and some STEM knowledge: the same knowledge and skills that are used to design hovercraft.

Curriculum links include:

forces - Balanced and unbalanced...

Making stars: fusion

”When you tell people you make stars for a living, their heads turn and their mouths open.” The video features Dr Kim Cave-Ayland who is a control engineer at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE). 

At CCFE they use a tokomak to create a plasma hot enough to fuse hydrogen.  They are working to create a...

People like me long session

This session allows Stem Ambassadors to work with groups to help students to make career decisions,  think about how they will fit in when choosing their own future directions. The session highlights which job roles can suit individual personalities – these roles are not restricted to STEM...

People like me mothers and daughters session

Polar Bears in Trouble

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...

Future Morph: Theatre Technician

In this Future Morph video Suresh Chawla talks about designing, building and moving stage scenery. Suresh explains how working in the theatre challenges him to solve design problems and build useable solutions. He describes how scenery must be light and strong before explaining how some pieces are moved with pulley...

Brilliant barnacles

In this module students will study barnacle morphology, life histories and life styles as Darwin did. He based his classification and search for a common ancestor upon his studies. Recent work using genetic and molecular evidence and scanning electron microscopy shows how some of the key difficulties in drawing the...

Natural or man-made chemicals?

This presentation is intended as a tool to help dispel the myth, “natural is good; man-made is bad”. It contains examples of useful chemicals as well as dangerous ones, highlights some
common misconceptions and provides an engaging context for discussion.

Engineering the future of the barrier

In activity, students produce an Engineering ‘specification’ based on application of their science and mathematics knowledge and understanding. This will be put into the context of risks to London from flooding and the need for improved flood defences due to increased risk of higher floods due to rising sea levels...