About this resource
Some of the biggest challenges we face stem from how we interact with our environment, and engineering is essential to finding sustainable solutions.
From renewable power to recycling, to making our homes more energy efficient, and tackling how we feed a growing population, engineering is a vital field.
The challenges in this STEM resource invite learners to explore some of these important and pressing problems that society faces, encouraging them to act and think like engineers to find their own solutions to a sustainable innovation design challenge.
This resource is designed to provide practical and contextualised applications where students and teachers can see the role that STEM-based learning plays in real-world engineering scenarios.
Each of the activities and challenges have links across science, maths and design technology. However, some activities will be more heavily weighted towards one subject.
Don’t worry! Experience or subject knowledge about engineering and STEM subjects is not required. The resource has been designed to allow students to learn independently and at their own pace, with your support as a facilitator, not a subject expert.
What do I need for the activities in this resource?
We want to make the resource as inclusive and accessible as possible. Although we provide some physical hands-on materials, most of the challenges can be adapted to use items that are easy to find around the house or in most classrooms.
The booklets are available for free for anyone to download. And any school who is part of our Connecting STEM Teachers programme will receive hard-copies of the resource as well as a class-set of DataHives. All for free! Find out more about the programme here.
DataHive Green
The DataHive Green is a device which has multiple sensors to measure:
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- Temperature (°C)
- Light (Lux)
- Voltage (V)
- Resistance (Ohm)
- Electrostatic charge
DataHive Edition
Find activities inspired by engineers working in sustainability and that use the DataHive Green.
Teacher video guide
Innovation Challenge
Engineering Habits Quiz
Engineers making 'things' that work or make 'things' work better. The 'engineering habits' describe the way engineers think and act. Take the quiz to discover your 'engineering habits now. If you take the quiz several times, you might find that different engineering habits are stronger depending on the type of activity or challenge you are doing. Engineering is all about having a diverse team of people and skills so having engineers with different habits of mind in any team is always important.