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Member-Designed Schools Activity
Challenges In A Box
The IET Coventry and Warwickshire Network has developed the following Challenges In A Box for school teachers to use to assist
in educating pupils of various ages. We are keen to have feedback and new ideas for these challenges.
Challenges In A Box are copyright (see below for exceptions). However you are free to copy for use in schools and for instructing
children of school age and for use by children of school age
Please feedback to: Derrick Willer, [email protected]
Project
Flight
Why Lag Your
House?
Bridges
House Of Gadgets
Replacing The
Family Car
Hydrogen As A Fuel
Fan or Turbine
Efficiency
Paper Catapult
Introduction To
Computer
Programming
Code and Decode
Prime Numbers
Pythagorean
Triangles
The Safety Deposit
Vault
Robot Challenge
Card Tricks
A Dozen Ten Minute
Challenges
Another Dozen Ten
Minute Challenges
Yet Another Dozen
Ten Minute
Challenges
More Ten Minute
Challenges
Two Sets of Primary
School Quick
Challenges
Three More Sets of
Primary School
Challenges
Description
Download Link
A paper based exercise helping 5-13 year olds to understand flight. There are different planes to be made and different wing
arrangements demonstrate how lift affects flight – canard versus tail-plane, etc. (30 mins)
A simple card based exercise for younger pupils to learn how insulating your home can improve heating and save on
energy. Suitable for pupils aged 5-13. (60 mins)
http://mycommunity.theiet
.org/files/1357
http://mycommunity.theiet
.org/files/1347
A paper based exercise suitable for 7-13 year old pupils.
Pupils make a bridge out of paper into a U” shape and find out how much weight (pennies or model cars) it will take with
different depths of the “U” versus the remaining area for the bridge. They graph the results. The project is then extended to
bridge the gap between two chairs with paper, sticky tape, etc. costing them “money” – e.g. cheapest to hold a 100gm
weight wins. (30 mins)
For 9 - 13 year olds. An exercise to understand sustainability and conservation. Pupils imagine what will happen if rubbish is
not collected. Then there is a short story about conservation. The pupils decide on a gadget to make and are given recycled
materials to make it. (3 hours)
Pupils should investigate the whole-life carbon footprint of a car using the internet. They should draw graphs pie-charts,
etc. comparing buying a new car versus keeping the old one. Internet research, spreadsheets, etc. can be used and make
this relevant to the challenge subject. Suitable for pupils aged 12-16. (Homework, 4+ hours)
Hydrogen powered cars, etc. are already working at Birmingham and other universities. Pupils make hydrogen and oxygen
and test them. They are then asked to work out the best place to make hydrogen using sunlight. They should work out the
costs of transporting from source to point of use - including compressing/liquefying the gas. Internet research, graphs,
spreadsheets, etc. can be used and make this relevant to the challenge subject. Suitable for pupils aged 12-16. (In-school
experiment, 30 mins, Homework 4+ hours)
Pupils should make a fan and work out its efficiency at various blade angles and numbers. A Design Council Project finalist
utilised a boat propelled by the fan pulling against a weight suspended over a pulley. But pupils can use any other method.
Project report with graphs, etc is required. Graphs, spreadsheets, etc. can be used and make this relevant to the challenge
subject. Suitable for pupils aged 12-16. (12+ hours)
Pupils in small teams are asked to design, budget and then make a catapult out of recycled paper. Recycled materials are
free but nuts, bolts, elastic bands, sticky-tape, etc. cost money. They catapult a ball at a set of skittles three times, scoring a
maximum of 89 points. Additional cores depend upon the accuracy of their budget and the innovative nature of their design.
Suitable for pupils aged 10-15. (2½ hours)
Utilising the Basic programming language, pupils learn now to write and test a program initially to add, then to subtract,
multiply and divide two numbers. Suitable for pupils aged 12-16. (1 hour +)
http://mycommunity.theiet
.org/files/1267
This project is aimed at learning more about programming by developing a computer program to code and decode a
message. Pupils will be able secretly to send a coded text document attached to an email to a friend who, when given the
correct key, will be able to decode the message in the text document. Alternatively they can save secret data in coded
format. Suitable for pupils aged 12-16. (1½ hours +)
This project is aimed at learning about programming by developing a computer program to test if a number is prime and
then to extend this to list all prime numbers up to a given number. Suitable for pupils aged 12-16.
(1 hour + )
We all know that a 3,4,5 triangle is a right angled triangle, a Pythagorean Triangle. In this project pupils write a computer
program to discover other whole-number Pythagorean Triangles up to a given length of the shortest side. Suitable for pupils
aged 12-16.
This project is based on a real spreadsheet for a company in Birmingham. The spreadsheet is complex and must be mailmerged with invoices and overdue letters in a word-processor. Suitable for pupils aged 14-18. There is a model answer. An
extension is to utilise a database such as MS Access - this is very relevant to the challenge subject. (1 hour + )
This project challenges teams to build a model robot from K’nex kits. Meccano or other construction kits can also be used.
It is aimed at pupils ages 10 to 14 (years 5 to 9). The project could be used to introduce primary school pupils to their
secondary school with “mentors” for each team from the secondary school.
It was first developed and run at Jaguar Cars Visitor’s facility at Castle Vale, Birmingham, with some 150 thirteen year old
school pupils in teams of six.
In the lunch period we were entertained by Prof. Carl Chinn MBE, the famous Birmingham local radio celebrity with some of
the pupils and some teachers being interviewed on BBC West Midlands Radio.
We are indebted to Jaguar Cars and BBC West Midlands Radio and Prof. Carl Chinn MBE for their valued assistance. (1½
hours +)
What are the maths behind these card tricks? Pupils can work alone or in small groups to discover how these card tricks
work. Suitable for homework or for 45-60 minutes sessions. Suitable for pupils aged 12-16.
(45-60 mins)
A
variety
of
ten-minute
challenges
with
teacher
instructions
and
visual
aids,
with
answers.
Four Stars Challenge, Support Water Bottle Challenge, Vampires and Maidens, Fake Coin, Escape from Dungeon, Lines,
Mixed Wine Bottles, You Can’t Trust Bankers, Chocolate Roulette, It’s about time you solved these to get your degree!,
Marshmallow Towers, Don’t Drink the Poison and Bakers Dozen – Use Your Loaf.
A variety of ten-minute challenges with visual aids and answers.
Feuilles et Grenouilles, 6174 is a Magic Number, Multiply Two Digit Numbers by Cheating, Odds and Evenings with Dice,
Twelve Days of Christmas, A Card Trick, Square a Two Digit Number – The Up/Down Method, Same Birthday, (N+1)x(N-1)
2
=
N -1,
Factorials!,
The
Answer
is
always
34,
Calendar
Addition,
Bakers’
Dozen
A Piece of Cake
A variety of ten-minute challenges with visual aids and answers.
Half of Eight, Cut It Short Or Cancel It, Calendar Cubes, Max Plank, Hats Off for Maths, Left Over Lolly, Soup Kitchen,
th
Chinese for Starters, Which Is More Rosé?, Baby’s Blocks, Friday 13 , Baker’s Dozen - Fairy Cakes, I Do Éclaire, send me
Doughnuts
A variety of ten-minute challenges with visual aids and answers.
Watch The Birdie, Crash Course, Are You Square, I’m Broke, 4 Into 3 Will Go, The Extra Square, ? + - x ÷ ?, Have You Got
The Bottle, This Will Make You Cross, Weight For It, Crack The Code, How Many Squares, A Baker’s Dozen Is A Prime
Number
Set1: Where on earth am I, Dice, Where are you?, Introducing Pythagoras, How odd is that?, Who’s Who?, The prime of
life, Tortoise and hare, Never a cross word, Know you countries, Weather, Can you tell the time, Use your loaf.
Set 2: True or false, Time to cook, Bouncy Bouncy, Know your capitals, Arith-madness, More cross words, Tomatoes can
ad up, Naughty boys get together, Is the track safe?, Use your loaf.
Set 1. Four Stars Challenge, Support Water Bottle on Paper, Frogs and Lilly-pads, Have You Got The Bottle, Marshmallows
Tower, Crossword, Coins of the Realm, Spaghetti Bridges, Mon-Onica, It Sucks, This is Electric, Fairy Cakes, I do Eclaire,
send me Doughnuts
Set 2. Sail Away, Floaters and Sinkers, Pens, Pencils, Erasers And Rulers Don’t Add Up, Sun Dial, Santa’s Jet Sleigh,
Secret Writing, Crossword, How to Blow up a Balloon without Really Trying, Coining It, Snakes or Ladders, Are You A Good
counter, Discover the Planets, Baker’s Dozen
Set 3. How Many Skittles Make 10, Does Adding Up Make You Cross, All Mixed Up, How Many Triangles, Rocket Car,
Some Sums R Simply Stunning, Supermarket Sweep Up, Bus Driver’s Dilemma, Unlucky for Sum, Seeing is Believing,
Veggie Racer, Do Sums Make You Cross, Which Oaf did not use his Loaf?
http://mycommunity.theiet
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http://mycommunity.theiet
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http://mycommunity.theiet
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http://mycommunity.theiet
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http://mycommunity.theiet
.org/files/1351
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http://mycommunity.theiet
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http://mycommunity.theiet
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http://mycommunity.theiet
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http://mycommunity.theiet
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Careers
Presentation
Derrick Willer summarises his career working as an engineer in many countries across the world. He then leads the pupils
to prepare a bid for funding for his son’s IET Award winning project Track Safe, using the animation at
www.smartrailroad.com to describe the project which involves sensors, radar, RFID, software and computer systems. (3060 mins)
See
http://www.smartrailroad.c
om
Copyright including Intellectual Copyright © IET Coventry and Warwickshire Network 2012-2014 except where the challenges are described elsewhere prior to 2012.
Free to copy for use in schools and for instructing children of school age and for use by children of school age
www.dwiller.com - select Projects In A Box, to download please right click and open in new window/tab
You will need to sign in or register with The IET who will not send information unless requested.
Alternatively please email [email protected] for copies