Safety over cost, a practical example of the problems faced by mathematicians, engineers and businesses.

So that students can see how important maths is to our businesses and to our building industry we have put together a practical problem solving exercise called The Oil Rig Platform. It is designed to simulate the workings of a team of engineers, trying to find a solution to a problem by building an oil rig platform.

The students are divided into small teams and challenged to build a model of an oil rig platform and work out how much it costs to build using only set materials. To test for safety the platform must be able to support the weight of a brick! Will your students design it so cheaply that it collapses or will they spend more money to make it strong and sturdy?

The exercise is suitable for both KS3 and KS4 students and runs over one lesson. Each team is given the student brief, a set of resources and a deadline. The winning team is the one who can build the oil rig, support the weight of a brick and is the cheapest to build. A great learning experience and good fun for everyone.

What’s more – we have made it really easy for the teacher to deliver too!

This resource contains: clear teachers’ guidance notes that explain how to run the exercise, the students exercise brief, resources checklist and the assessment criteria.

How much does this all cost? Only £20.00 and can be re-used over and over again!

There are more details at…

http://c-l-e.co.uk/buy-teaching-resources-online/oil-rig-platform/

You can pay and download the exercise direct from our website using PayPal or you may wish to pay with either a cheque or a purchase order number. Simply e-mail your purchase order number to us and we will send the exercise to you along with the invoice for payment within 14 days.

Julie O’Brien
Creative Learning Events
0113 3909814
07977 489779
www.c-l-e.co.uk

This resource is designed for teachers to use in the class for groups of pupils to learn about team engagement between the different STEM fields.

Each group works together as a team, develop their strategic thinking, identify suitable STEM careers that will solve their problem and then work through a series of constraints that appear to hinder their task delivery.

They must think, collaborate and decide together as a team before they present their ideas to the other groups in their class. It is suited to both Science Key Stages 3 and 4 with cross-curricular links to Maths, English, ICT, PE and PSHEE.

There are very few resources that allow pupils to understand STEM careers in a fun way and this latest product from Elementals has been tested by STEM Leader Ros Walker and her pupils.

Comments from pupils include:

“I enjoyed the game and I thought it was great. I learned more about different jobs that I hadn’t heard of before. This game will help you learn in a fun way”

“I would play this game again and again because each time you play it’s different but fun at the same time.”

Teacher and Learning Support Assistant observation comments include:

“A fantastic learning resource. Kept the children focused and on task for the whole lesson. A resource that is usable in a variety of lessons and for a wide spectrum of abilities. The game is very well designed and innovative” Learning Support Assistant

“A really excellent resource which engaged and motivated the students. A new way of allocating responsibility without the kids noticing. Cross – curricular activities which helped with language and numeracy – and it worked for both key stage 3 and 4” Teacher

For more details follow this link: http://www.elementalpublishing.co.uk/hhm/stem-careers-board-resource