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....

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...

The work suggested in this Nuffield Working with Science unit was planned so that students should:
1. be aware of the advantages of a systematic approach to car selection and purchase
2. be aware of the legal and social responsibilities of car ownership
3...

Our society is linked by many networks: telephone networks, utility supply networks, computer networks, and road networks. For a particular network there is usually some choice about where the roads, cables, or radio links can be placed. This resource explores the need to find ways of efficiently linking objects in...

In this Science upd8 activity students use their understanding of simple circuits, electricity and magnetism to diagnose and fix problems with the running of a magnetic train in a theme park.

This resource is based on the Inventive podcast. The podcast mixes engineering fact with fiction. Each podcast features an interview with an engineer. In this activity, structural engineer and author Roma Agrawal is the inspiration for C M Taylor to write 'The Nightbuilder'.

Short audio clips about the...

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...

In this activity students are set the challenge of finding missing values such that the mean and variance of a Poisson distribution, a Binomial distribution and a normal distribution makes sense. The solution sheet contains three possible solutions.

This resource is part of the Making Stats Vital collection...

When there are a lot of people using one resource, such as cars using roads, or messages getting through the Internet, there is the possibility of “deadlock”. A way of working cooperatively is needed to avoid this happening. The resource begins with instructions on how to play the orange game. The activity contains...

A National STEM Learning Centre and Network Engineering Case Studies resource investigating the design process involved in developing a paper cup for manufacture.

You wouldn't believe making a paper cup could be...