This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). New applications for traditional fabrics are being found, but increasingly, fibres and fabrics are engineered for specific purposes. Much...

This activity requires students to design and construct a payload fairing and vibration rig to test a protection system for a satellite (an egg).  Students are given limited materials (this can be differentiated accordingly) to produce their model, the success of the model is initially measured by the egg not being...

This resource explores the impact of globalisation on the manufacturing market. It explores the advantages and disadvantages of global product manufacture, looking at topics such as transport, sustainability, delivery, consumer rights, legislation. The presentation and worksheets combine to create a learning mat...

In this project, students compare the properties of a range of fabrics made from different fibres. The fabrics could be woven or knitted and they could be made from natural fibres such as cotton and wool or synthetic fibres such as nylon. Students should investigate physical properties, such as strength,  tear...

Dallas Campbell talks about how bras require engineering design to enable them to be both comfortable and supportive. He explains how a bra manufacturer...

This lesson teaches students different uses of 3D printing and highlights the three main parts to the 3D printing process (I.e. design, slice, print).

Did you know that some of our everyday materials used on the high street were originally designed for use in space? Many of these space-inspired materials are also part of the Design and Technology (D&T) curriculum, including shape memory alloys, Kevlar, titanium, GORE-TEX and graphene to name just a few.

This collection of resources has been developed to support the teaching of modern materials. Each resource is inspired by space, providing information, experiments and discussion points for each of the modern materials and technologies.

This collection of resources has been developed to support the teaching of smart materials. Each resource is inspired by space, providing information, experiments and discussion points for each of the smart materials and technologies.

This collection of resources has been developed to support the teaching of technical textiles. Each resource is inspired by space, providing information, experiments and...

This film looks at how Brompton...

This collection of resources looks at the Life Cycle Analysis of a mobile phone. Included in this resource are the student worksheets. teacher notes and a presentation.

Produced by the Technology Enhancement Programme (TEP), these images are useful for adding to documents, presentations or for use with an interactive whiteboard. Mainly simple line drawings, they can be cut and pasted into documents and image processing applications. The images in this resource are related to the...

This is a unit of three two hour lessons to consolidate understanding of the specialised materials and mechanisms used on exploration robots. Students build or test, or build and test these to develop knowledge and evaluate them.  These resources are aimed at the 14-16 age group.  The context is focussed on the...