Tideway: STEM activities (key stage three)

Tunnelworks is a series of teaching and learning resources linking mathematics and science to the Thames Tideway Tunnel project, a major new sewer that will help protect the River Thames from increasing pollution. Background to the project is given in the ...

Tideway: design and technology (key stage four)

Tunnelworks is a series of teaching and learning resources linking mathematics and science to the Thames Tideway Tunnel project, a major new sewer that will help protect the River Thames from increasing pollution. In this collection of design and technology focused activities the Augmented Reality (AR) app is used...

Writing a Flowchart

This engineering activity, suitable for children in computing lessons, looks at the basics of flowchart construction. Simple examples, such as the decisions made by a dog chasing a stick, are used to make flowchart representation of algorithms accessible to younger children. A simple design activity requires...

Saving the planet one journey at a time

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...

Programming commands

This activity is designed to build on understanding of programming commands and what they are used to do in a program. It requires learners to show a detailed knowledge of each command and what it is used to do. It also requires them to apply programming skills in a real context. The resource contains an...

Producing a treadle pump

This resource looks into making a prototype of a treadle pump. 

Suggested learning outcomes include:

• To be able to manufacture a working prototype of a treadle pump for people living in a remote village.
• To be able to select appropriate materials, tools and equipment for a manufacturing...

50+ Primary level STEM activities for any classroom

We know that in the current situation, STEM activities may be harder to run, especially with concerns about sharing equipment in groups.  We have selected over 50 activities that can be done in any classroom, with very little equipment.  These can...

Animate materials

Animate materials can sense, move, change shape, and adapt to their environment to fulfil particular goals. Across the scientific world, researchers are developing tools and ideas, many of them inspired by the mechanisms of nature, to create materials that have lifelike properties.

This set of resources,...

This is Engineering: farming futurist

“I’m Chief Technical Officer and Co-Founder for our business LettUs Grow. The company aims to build the most efficient farms to feed the next generation. Instead of growing plants in soil, we cover plant roots in mist filled with nutrients. This increases the plants growth and uses less water than...

Big ideas: the future of engineering in schools

The Big Ideas: the future of engineering in schools report, supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering, reflects the views of leading engineering education experts and key stakeholders such as employers, parents and students. It proposes that students should be explicitly taught about engineering and the...