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...

This collection of posters are themed around ‘Manufacturing the Future’. The posters can be used to help inform students about the cutting-edge technologies and exciting careers available in UK manufacturing. Topics include: * Astrium - space engineering * True Snowboards - snowboard design and production *...

The Mars Safari Education Pack is designed to leave primary school children feeling like they’ve explored the Red Planet! Working in small groups, children design and build their own ExoMars rover, analyse ‘Martian’ soil samples, safely navigate the Rover across the surface of Mars and make a solar light that only...

Aimed at the 11-14 age group, this is a unit of six one-hour design and technology lessons to develop an understanding of how systems on exploration robots are combined and collect data. Students are given a design brief to build their own model rover, experientially, to function in simulated Martian conditions....

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...

This activity asks students to plan and carry out an investigation to test the suitability of materials to absorb or insulate sound and to identify what other variables need to be considered when choosing a material to use in a building. Students also consider whether a...

Students consider how materials need to be tested for their suitability for a specific job before engineers in construction projects can choose them. The tasks will ask the students to think about what properties need to be considered, how these might be scientifically...

Published by LSIS, this is a case study from the City of Bristol College. It looks at a programme to set up a collaboration with local schools, Nottingham University and local businesses to enhance the professional development of staff and offer new learning experiences for students studying mathematics. The aim...

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 resource, Assistant Head Teacher Matthew Evans describes activities undertaken in his specialist Technology College to support STEM subject teaching. The school runs many STEM Clubs and has worked with STEM Ambassadors for nearly 15 years.

Matthew works closely with the STEM Ambassadors and...

This is one of a series of resources from the IET designed around the theme of the future of flight with the purpose of developing pupils knowledge and skills in engineering and mathematics. In this activity, pupils will make a balloon rocket and carry out timed tests to calculate the velocity of the balloon. The...

This activity considers displaying data from a practical investigation looking at the effect of streamlining a boat's hull. It gives students the opportunity to consider how this information can be represented effectively and use this to form conclusions. The...

This is one of a series of resources to support the use of the BBC micro:bit. This resource focusses on pupils designing and programming a BBC micro:bit to help wheelchair athletes monitor and record their sporting performance over time.

In this activity pupils will make use of the BBC micro:bit to design...