This resource, from Mathematics for Engineering Exemplars, shows the application of mathematics when designing a pumping system. The operating pressure of a pumping system can vary due to various factors, so all the relevant operating conditions need to be assessed to ensure the selected pump is capable of...

What do you have to consider when designing satellites? And what mathematics is involved?

This collection of resources aims to help students discover the answers to these questions and more. Each resource contains a range of student activities and teacher guidance, covering content most suitable for Key...

Being able to develop cost-effective solutions is an important aspect of engineering and one that students investigate in this challenge. This challenge looks at the maximum volume of a satellite communications frame made from a fixed length of tubing. There is some guidance given to students through a series of...

Connecting radiators

Radiators are used to keep the communications part of a satellite at an optimum temperature. This is necessary in order for the equipment to function correctly. Connecting the radiators together adds robustness to the system. In this challenge students investigate the...

All the resources listed here are aimed at the age group 14 to 16, except for the "Space for Engine" resource. 

Coolant tank design

Making efficient use of physical space and of materials is a central theme of many engineering problems. In this challenge students...

Origami with squares

Solar panels are an important part of satellite design. There are design constraints on the distance a panel can be from the core of the satellite. In order to increase the area of the panels, satellites of the future may well deploy panels other than rectangular ones....

These 17 resources use the context of satellite design to link in to areas of the mathematics curriculum.

The challenges enable students to take an active stance in the solving of mathematical problems. This is achieved through a variety of approaches; some of the challenges are very open, whilst for others...

Satellites often carry communications equipment or experiments placed into modules. These are then placed in equipment cabinets. This challenge looks at the most efficient way of packing equipment modules into a cabinet. This is an open investigation that can be tackled in a variety of ways.

Mathematical...

This resource, from Mathematics for Engineering Exemplars, shows the application of mathematics within a civil engineering environment. Here students apply standard deflection formulae to solve some typical beam deflection design problems. These formulae form the basis of the calculations that would be undertaken...

In this resource students are asked to play the role of a newly qualified engineering graduate that has taken a year out to work for an overseas aid agency in a developing country.

The civil engineering project you are working on aims to provide water to a number of rural villages where clean water for...

This report, published by LSIS, describes an action research project by Leeds College of Building. The practical construction of the roof involves using a roofing square. It was identified that staff required professional development on how the trigonometric information on the square has been derived and relates to...

In 2007 and 2008, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) monitored the new specifications in GCSE science and GCSE additional science offered by the three England-based unitary awarding bodies – the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), Edexcel, and Oxford, Cambridge and RSA...

In this activity students use the spreadsheet to simulate the generation of two normal distributions, each with different means and standard deviations. The spreadsheet models what happens when the two distributions are added together in order to explore whether the result is also normally distributed.

This...