Search results

Video

Reverse engineering

This series of short videos from Khan Academy deconstruct and explain the way household items are designed and how they work including a digital alarm clock radio, a coffee maker, a tap light (a toggle switch light), a hair dryer, a DVD player, a universal remote and a digital camera.

Interactive

Chicken farming in the living world: Stage 1

Chickens are fascinating animals and provide students with an interesting subject matter to discuss the many aspects of our living world. This interactive course for students explores the question 'How do humans use plants and animals?' and comprises a series of modules and supporting videos. Students will plan, design ...

Interactive

Chicken farming in the living world: Stage 2

Chickens are fascinating animals and provide students with an interesting subject matter to discuss the many aspects of our living world. This interactive course for students explores the question 'How do we create food and fibre products from animals and plants?' and comprises a series of modules and supporting videos. ...

Interactive

Invictus Games Sydney 2018 – Design and Technology – Stage 5

How can we make our contemporary world more inclusive? This Stage 5 Design and Technology module, Build a better world - investigating inclusive and accessible technologies and spaces, explores inventions and architectural designs that seek to improve access for those with disabilities throughout their everyday routines. ...

Online

Design dilemma

This series of lessons aims to develop awareness of the needs of diverse commuters on our public transport system. Students investigate the challenges involved in getting on and off public transport for users with additional needs, for example commuters in wheelchairs. They work collaboratively in teams to investigate possible ...

Interactive

Wing loading

Wing loading is a measurement that relates the mass of an aircraft or bird to the total wing area. This resource provides an interactive for students to compare flight capabilities of planes with birds, matching those that are the most similar.

Online

Balloon car challenge

In this practical activity, students design and build a balloon-powered car and race it to better understand the ideas related to rocket propulsion. The resource includes a step-by-step teacher guide and student worksheets.

Video

How do solar panels work?

The Earth intercepts a lot of solar power: 173,000 terawatts. That’s 10,000 times more power than the planet’s population uses. So is it possible that one day the world could be completely reliant on solar energy? Richard Komp examines how solar panels convert solar energy to electrical energy. This TedEd animation (4:58 ...

Text

Cotton Australia: posters

This page provides links to 5 posters that can downloaded as PDFs. The posters include: field to fashion process, sustainable cotton farms and a map showing where cotton is grown. Variations of the posters are available for primary and secondary students. The web page also provides a link to order free hard copies if required.

Video

Use your creative thinking skills!

Ashwini Ranjithabalan from Women in Engineering and IT at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) sees engineering as the business of solving future problems. What are some of the challenges we (and our societies) might face in the future? Get some friends together and see if you can brainstorm a list. Now choose one ...

Video

Building spaghetti bridges

Have you ever tried making a bridge out of dried spaghetti? What about a spaghetti bridge that can support a roadway and small car? Watch as teams of first-year university students reveal and test their designs. How did they decide what kind of bridges to build? Have a go at designing, testing and building your own spaghetti ...

Video

Know your robotics materials

Sean, a robotics mentor for FIRST Robotic Competition's 3132 'Thunder Down Under', worked on the robot's intake system which allows it to take in the 'boulder', or the ball, so it can then shoot into the high goal or the low goal. What were some of the challenges he faced in designing and building this feature?

Video

Growing carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes are a very tiny but super strong material used in manufacturing to create strong, lightweight products. Besides sporting equipment, find out what other kinds of products are made using these tiny molecules. What other qualities (besides size and strength) do carbon nanotubes have that makes them even more ...

Video

Australian Curriculum - Agriculture in education (a teacher's point of view)

This is a video about the value of a unit of work focusing on agriculture and food production as part of an integrated approach to Implementing the Australian Curriculum. It is presented by year 6 teacher Tathia Shield Wells and includes footage of her students making butter and growing vegetables. She explains how the ...

Video

Food security researcher

This is a short clip in which a dietician, Kate, describes a food security research project she is working on and includes details about what food security is, the skills employed by researchers and what she enjoys about her project topic. Kate provides encouragement for undertaking work experience to find out more about ...

Video

Low impact sustainable agriculture

This is a video (4:15 min) about how the Stewart family is regenerating their family farm, Yan Yan Gurt West, in south-western Victoria. Presented by family members, the resource describes how the land was over-cleared in the past and its hydrology or water resources were compromised when swamps were drained. The regeneration ...

Video

Biofuels – From Sorghum to Ethanol (video)

This is a video [6:05 min] about the production of ethanol from sorghum at the Dalby Bio-Refinery in Queensland. The video describes and illustrates the stages in the production process including milling the sorghum into ‘flour’; mixing the flour with water to hydrolyse the starch; adding enzymes to liquefy the starch (the ...

Online

Meet the food system

This unit of work consists of two parts, supported by lesson plans, slides and handouts and teachers guides. The first part examines the food system as a complex network that is deeply connected to health, society, and the environment. The second part explores key milestones in the history of agriculture, with a focus on ...

Interactive

The bridge challenge

This interactive challenges students to select the most appropriate bridge design for four different sites including considering size, shape and building materials. The interactive is supported with information on the basics of bridge design.

Interactive

Engineer a jetliner

In this interactive, students work through the engineering decisions required for the wing and engines configuration best suited for four different requirements. Students select from different wing and engine designs that are each rated for build cost, fuel burn and wieght. The first three options focus on designing low-cost, ...