The development of running blades has greatly enhanced the running ability of amputees and people born without legs.  In this activity students learn more about how the inventor of running blades applied the scientific concept of potential elastic energy and biomimicry to design a high performance prosthetic leg....

This resource from the Department for Education provides some useful tips on how to organise a successful STEM careers day: from contacting your local STEM broker and organising exciting activities to involving sixth formers and STEM local employers.

This Practical Action resource presents a fun hands-on and brains-on challenge for Key Stages Two to Five.

The problem:...

A case study from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) which looks at the forensic evidence and intelligence that are left at crime scenes by footwear, gloves, tyres and fingers. New Latent Image Markup and Analysis (LIMA) software provides a fast, accurate way of transmitting and...

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...

In this STEMNET activity case study, design engineer and STEM Ambassador David Bennett describes how valuable he believes STEMNET activities are for schools.

David devotes about two days per month to STEMNET activities. He helps with careers events, advising students on what employers are looking for, how to...

This challenge asks teams of students to plan a major sporting event in their local area. The resource provides an opportunity for students to explore their ideas in a creative environment. Teams can define their own goals and priorities, but may want to focus on three main areas of planning an event:

•...

In this STEMNET activity case study, Kate Woolley describes a construction skills day at a language college for girls. The pupils were allocated 'real' roles on which their hands-on tasks were based. Kate also gave a presentation about civil engineering, using famous buildings as examples.

Since becoming a...

In this STEMNET activity case study, Graduate Engineer Andrew Keen describes a 'real life' project that he designed for sixth formers which involved developing an engine component. The Fuel Systems Team of his company was so impressed with the project that it is now working on a prototype component.

Andrew...

Rockets are used to launch satellites, probes and even astronauts into space. A rocket launch is extremely impressive. Thousands of kilograms are burned in just a few minutes in order to provide the force that the rocket needs in order to overcome the gravity of the Earth. Rockets provide an exciting context to...

These two Future Morph resources aim to show students that there is a wide choice of options open to those who study sciences and mathematics. The resources consist of:

Career examples list

The list covers six...

These technical briefs focus on energy access as a key element in lifting people out of poverty. In remote locations small-scale renewable...

These technical briefs focus on manufacturing on a small-scale. It is an important livelihood for many people in the developing world and businesses are usually run by a family or a small group within the same community.

Technical briefs are documents produced by Practical Action which are freely available...

These technical briefs focus on ways to transport goods and people in a relatively low cost way. This is important to people in the...

These technical briefs focus on low cost approaches to accessing clean water and sanitation. This is vital to health and well being and low costs are particularly important to poorer communities in the developing world.

Technical briefs are documents produced by Practical Action which are freely available to...