This five hour teaching pack supports students to research, design and prototype their own Internet of things product to enhance the working lives of firefighters.

In this project, students use Autodesk Homestyler to design a living space for a disabled client. The design must include a ground floor living space with outdoor landscape. The overall plot must not exceed 25m x 60m and the living space must not exceed 10m x 40m. Students create a customer profile to base their...

A resource which covers core theory for GCSE Design and Technology: understanding the different classifications of plastics and polymers. Within this lesson students will understand the processes involved in refining, fractional...

A presentation to support a project to design and make a useful item that incorporates throwaway materials. 

This resource from Practical Action includes a presentation and worksheets which give Key Stage Three and Four students opportunities to understand more about the impact of existing and new products on people and the environment. The presentation is packed with useful activities to reinforce students' learning. The...

St Bonaventure’s School met with a STEM Ambassador from the BBC. She discussed her career and the various different jobs involved in product creation.
Using a TED talk as a starting point students worked through the activities with the STEM Ambassador.
As an extension activity, students then used the...

Produced by Practical Action, these materials help students to consider the impacts of a product through its whole life cycle. A presentation describes the concept of lifecycle analysis (LCA) and gives some examples. Students are then challenged to consider the life cycle of familiar products, from raw materials,...

This classroom presentation supports the teaching of planned obsolescence and a product lifecycle. Using the example of a mobile phone, students explore the volume of phone sales over time and discuss how manufacturers can plan a product's lifespan, looking at product growth, maturity of sales and decline over time...

 In this lesson students will use case studies of what a life cycle assessment is and how/why they are carried out.  Students will also gain an understanding of how a life cycle assessment can be misused. Learning will be demonstrated by carrying out product evaluations using LCAs on different products using...

In this lesson students will understand the life cycle of a product through studying a graph. Students will understand the five stages of the life cycle assessment graph and the role planned obsolesce has in relation to the benefit of the manufacturer and not necessarily the consumer. Through case studies and...

Produced by Practical Action, this short activity introduces the various factors that influence the choice of consumers. Students consider different products and the reasons behind why they would or would not purchase them. The activity is a perfect introduction to sustainability and aims to help students think...

The ‘production’ section of the Fixpert's resource focuses on producing a  high-quality working prototype that meets the problem described in the original design brief. Activities that support this section include: ‘hack a toothbrush’, starting points for innovative ideas, and making paper bowls. These activities...

This collection of STEM education reports explores professional development across the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM subjects). The reports include:

A recommended code of governance for schools: a flexible framework for strategic planning

Space for technicians?

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