Water pushes upwards with a force called ‘upthrust’. (You can feel this if you try to push a light object such as a balloon or aeroboard under water). The shape of a ‘boat’ affects the weight (passengers/cargo) it can hold. The more water that the boat displaces the more it will float and therefore the more weight...

Many different personal attributes can impact on road safety including a person's vision, ability to concentrate, reaction times and mobility. The car of the future should be designed to help people overcome these issues.

Magnetism is a key scientific phenomenon. Utilising this has allowed designers to create new and innovative products, such as fully working MAGLEV trains and hoverboards.

This resource focusses on designing a hoverboard that works using magnetism and magnetic field.

Students will design a jet pack that can be worn by either the players or referee during a football game on the Moon. They will consider how a jet pack works and the different parts of a jet pack. They will then sketch an idea for a wearable jet pack with consideration for how it will fit, the weight of the jet...

In this activity pupils will design a robot that can mark the pitch lines for a game of football on the Moon. They will produce a labelled sketch of their idea before writing a microcontroller program using the Crumble system.

This activity could be used to teach about designing electronic products and...

In this activity, aimed at secondary-aged pupils, the students will design a new carriage that is powered by electricity for the King’s coronation. They will consider the design brief and criteria for the carriage before sketching and...

This is one of a set of resources produced in conjunction with the engineering company Arconic. The resources are designed to support teaching of key engineering concepts at both key stage 3 and key stage 4, including the new GCSE in Engineering. This resource focusses on designing a sustainably powered aircraft...

From Practical Action, this resource is an eco-tool used to compare the sustainability of two products or design ideas.

Senior Design Engineer Lee helps to make buildings as energy-efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. Lee started out as an apprentice at NG Bailey, learning and applying engineering skills in work. He's now in his final year studying for a degree in building services engineering.

Design for a better world is a design challenge for students aged 11-14 years. It offers students the opportunity to:

• Learn about the global goals for sustainable development.
• Access a range of global contexts including water and sanitation, food security and climate action in which to...

This resource gives students a brief overview of the different options available when building a parachute for the CanSat Competition. Students will learn about the underlying physics of parachutes and their design and how to control the speed of their CanSat. 

Learning objectives:

• Understand...

This collection of three resources asks students to:

*design and model the physical elements of a robot arm and demonstrate how this could be achieved using a smart material. Students can then subsequently use this information to support the design of a robot arm.

*design and model a robot arm in 2D,...

In this activity, pupils will use the theme of the London Marathon to respond to a design context, investigate the context on the internet and design a wheelchair for sports use. 

Pupils will consider the use of different search...

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...

In this activity, students will use memory metal wire to create a model of a deployable structure.  The James Webb Space Telescope has several structures that must be deployed in space, including parts of the primary mirror.  Students must create and evaluate a design to enable the primary mirror to fold inside the...