For her research, Veronika looked at how pine cones close when the weather is wet and open when it is dry. Pine cones do this to give their seeds the best chance of flying far away from the tree so that they can grow into new trees far away. In the rain, the seeds will not fly as far and will end up competing with...

The Bionic Boy resources take inspiration from the Born to Engineer video from Ben Ryan, who is working to develop low-cost 3D-printed prosthetic limbs for young children and babies. Through discussion and practical activity, this resource supports students to increase their understanding of engineering through...

Taking inspiration from the Born to Engineer video from Nina Parsons, a young engineer who has combined her love of motorsport with a career in composite design, this resource supports students to increase their understanding of composites in a motorsport setting. Students will learn about different composites,...

Concrete Canvas is an example of a deployable structure. It is a flexible, cement-containing fabric that hardens on contact with water to form a thin, durable, waterproof and fire-resistant concrete layer. Essentially, it’s concrete on a roll. Applications include erosion control and building vent walls in mines....

Inspired by the Born to Engineer video from Mathew Holloway, this resource uses the Crumble controller, setting students a design challenge that sees them create their own umbilical controlled buggy that can navigate small spaces. Although specific to the Crumble controller, this resource could be used as a design...

The drone resource box is aimed at key stage 3 or key stage 4 students and could be used as a six-session curriculum resource or a drop down activity day. The resource explores how drones work and how they can be used for civilian, humanitarian and commercial purposes. Each session will be based around a different...

These resources explore how different indigenous populations have used engineering to allow them to live in extreme environments and what we can learn from these solutions. They also explore some modern engineering solutions to living in extreme environments.

The engineering our existence STEM resources are...

This resource is designed as an introduction to deployable structures using flowers as an example from the natural world. It has activities associated with nets and density and discussion of a link to symmetry and transformations. There are also various practical suggestions (such as making a party blower).

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This resource is a set of instructions for groups of six students to make a working umbrella mechanism out of simple materials. It is a completely practical activity with no formal maths content but it is very useful for linking the students’ work on deployable structures to a real piece of engineering that they...

Taking inspiration from the Born to Engineer video from Angelo Grubisic, an aeronautical engineer who combines his love for engineering with a passion for extreme sports., this resource supports students to increase their understanding of flight and how engineers use nature to inspire their ideas. Students will...

Inspired by the Born to Engineer video from Sam Fraser, an engineer who combines his love for engineering with a passion for football, this resource supports students to increase their understanding of materials engineering, including materials testing, design and material properties (Hooke’s Law, shear,...

This resource gives a very practical use of basic mathematics that might be used by a trades person in their work. The activity is based around carpeting and flooring rooms. It involves the use of area and lots of calculations which resemble the functional skills questions in GCSE maths exams.

No specialist...

This resource is based around the subject of nets to protect people from mosquitos which spread malaria. It includes various mathematical, discussion and design based exercises. The maths topics covered include nets, area, angles and scale.

Equipment required for the main challenge includes plastic straws...

Inspired by the Born to Engineer video from Faye Banks, an engineer who works on the UK electrical network, this resource supports students to increase their understanding of engineering and the design decisions that electrical engineers have to make when creating a new electrical network.

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This resource is based on Thomas Heatherwick’s rolling bridge at Paddington Basin in London. Rolling bridges are also used in areas after natural disasters to provide temporary crossings. There are exercises involving the mathematical analysis of the design and some basic construction of models of the bridge. The...