Engineering Educates builds on the success of the award-winning Greater Manchester Engineering Challenge launched in 2018 by the University of Manchester’s Science and Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub (SEERIH).
Designed and run in partnership with leading STEM sector organisations and charities, the campaign offers primary and secondary teachers with ready-to-use resources that are learner-focused, inclusive and non-competitive. A perfect response to making real links between Science, Design & Technology, Maths and Computer Science.
Every two years the challenge focus changes. This archive provides teachers with direct access to resources developed for previous campaigns. All are open access for use.
The Engineering Educates Farmvention Challenge was launched in partnership with the National Farmers’ Union in 2022. All resources are archived here for downloading.
The resources involve 3 different pathways tailored to inspire 7-14 year olds to think as engineers in the context of British farming. Each pathway includes sequences of five curriculum-linked sessions. Learners apply their knowledge and skills from maths, science, design technology and computing and are written by teachers-for teachers.
The pathways lead learners through the Engineering Design Cycle with links to contemporary issues related to environmental sustainability. When thinking and working as engineers, learners solve problems that are true to the challenges farms face, with ample opportunity for creativity, imagination and teamwork.
Choosing a pathway for your learners
Pathways are age related:
Age 7 - 9 years: Cattle Carers
Age 9-11 years: Soil Defenders
Age 11-14 years: Sustainable Farming
7-9 years
Learners are introduced to British farming, with particular focus on arable farming.
They create 3D models, develop and test prototypes and use micro:bits to automate their designs.
Age 9-11 years
Learners explore and create solutions to improve cattle health and living conditions, focusing on uses on British dairy farming.
They create and automate 3D models to improve communication between animals and farmers.
What’s been the impact?
Age 11 - 14 years
Learners explore the environmental impact of farming and investigate how to balance the emission of greenhouse gases and its removal. A key feature of this challenge is sustainability on British farms. They design and create solutions for farms of the future.
This report provides a comprehensive overview of activity and impact from the Engineering Educates Farmvention campaign. By drawing directly on issues raised by NFU members, the campaign focused on creating opportunities for 7-14 year old pupils to investigate the issues challenging UK farming communities with an engineering mindset.
3 separate pathways focused on the technological developments revolutionising agriculture and enabling farmers to make increasingly accurate data driven decisions. This sought to address the fact that too often practical school science learning is superficial and lacks depth, with pupils engaged in prescriptive practical work that lacks purpose (Bianchi et al, 2021).
