Step-by-step guide

Step-by-step guide Research workshops (90 mins) Activities for the workshops are designed to be student led, with hands-off teacher supervision. Please note that you do not have to offer all five workshop options; the number offered can depend on resources available. 1. Give out the workshop materials. 2. Put up timings on the board. 3. Remind students to take notes to help them provide feedback to their teammates. Coding: ● ● ● In pairs students write down the steps for how to make a jam sandwich, swap the instructions with another pair and use them to make a jam sandwich. They will then review the steps and try to replace the sentences used with logic statements or flow charts. Students will then discuss why we use computer programs, and apps in particular, exploring how different apps can be categorised. Nanotechnology: ● ● ● Students investigate what nanotechnology is through experimentation with Magic Sand, Ferrofluid or another nanotechnology. In pairs, using counters or beans, students will then lay out the letters of a word whilst wearing oven or gardening gloves, reflecting on the challenges of manipulating items on a small scale. Finally, they will research and share more examples of nanotechnology, and consider how nanotechnology could be used to enrich the school environment. Ergonomics: ● ● ● In pairs, students use the seating risk assessment to assess their partner whilst sitting at their desk. Students then research the types of seating available and why they may be used and make a recommendation for their partner. In pairs, students look at a range of different types of pens and identify differences between them before going on to design a new grip for a pen. 8

Step-by-step guide Research workshops (90 mins) continued Magnetism: ● ● ● ● Students read the Binary Fact file and write their name and other words using binary. Students lay out the words (in binary) using magnetic and non-magnetic materials (e.g. metal washers to represent 1s and plastic discs to represent 0s) on the adjustable grid, and cover with another adjustable grid, and are challenged to ‘read’ each others’ words. Ask students to consider the physical space required to store a book with 500,000 characters using this same method. Students carry out internet research into the types of technology using magnetic memory and the impact miniaturisation has had. Electricity: ● ● ● ● ● Students write down different ways of generating electricity and to describe how they work. Provide students with a coil of wire and a magnet and demonstrate how moving a magnet near a coil of wire can produce electricity. Pupils write down all the different items in their classroom that require electricity to help them learn. They are challenged to consider alternatives and make predictions as to whether the classrooms of the future will require more or less electricity. For higher ability students: in pairs, students calculate the electricity usage for their classroom, using the Power usage fact file, and come up with ideas on how they could reduce this. Finally, students discuss surfaces that use motion from walking in the school and how this might be turned into electricity, with reference to the Movement Fact file. Feedback (30 mins) 1. Using the feedback worksheet, the Project Manager should ask each person in turn to summarise what they have learned. 2. Encourage teams to begin to identify links between the different topics and to think about ways in which they can combine them and implement ideas in their own classroom. 9