Technology for Fun
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Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
About the store
I have been teaching practical engineering, physical science, technology and math for 7 years. Before that I spent 24 years as a design and development engineer in industry.
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STEM Engineering Challenge - Balloon Buggies
In this activity students design, build and test a balloon buggy made from cheap and everyday household items, and optimize it for maximum range and/or speed. The buggies are then be raced competitively and compared to try and understand what makes an optimum design.
This task can be used to support student learning of Engineering Design, Forces and Interactions and Energy from the NGSS. The resource includes materials, tools and preparation needed, context, task components with explanations,
3rd - 8th
Engineering, Measurement, Physical Science
STEM Engineering Challenge - CD Racers
In this activity students will design, make and test a CD Racer from cheap and everyday household items, and then use their understanding of forces and energy to optimize it to achieve maximum range (distance traveled). The students will then compete to find the overall winner, and compare their designs of CD Racer to try and figure out what features contribute to an optimum design. This task can be used to support student learning of Engineering Design, Forces and Interactions and Energy from
3rd - 5th
Engineering, Measurement, Physical Science
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About the store
Experience
I have been teaching practical engineering, physical science, technology and math for 7 years. Before that I spent 24 years as a design and development engineer in industry.
Teaching style
I like the students to learn mostly by doing, rather than listening to lectures or watching demonstrations. I set them a fun and exciting challenge and give them limitations and hints and tips, and they have to come up with solutions and actually build and test them and get them to work.
Awards & shining teacher moments
I won the 2015 Alastair Graham Bryce Award for inspiring and encouraging students towards a career in engineering.
I also won the Worshipful Company of Engineers Stephenson Award 2016 for excellence in inspiring young people into engineering.
My own education history
I did my first degree in engineering at Cambridge University in the UK, and then an MSc in machine design at Cranfield University.
Additional biographical information
I am a chartered engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. As well as teaching students I run workshops for teachers and for engineers and scientists who then go into schools to run my activities.
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