Teachers' notes

This site has been designed to help design and technology teachers and students consider sustainability in design. Here we take a look at the different information available and consider how you might make the most of it in the classroom.

Case Studies
Key stage 3 resources
Activities
Finding out more
Saving images and text

Case Studies

There are 35 case studies on the STEP site, primarily aimed at key stage 4 students. These provide a range of examples of sustainable solutions to technology issues from around the world.

Each case study includes background information, a design story, product analysis and an introduction to values issues. There are also suggestions for practical activities and class discussions. Teachers have found the case studies useful both for whole class work and for independent projects.

KS3 stage 3 resources

New to the site are six units of work specifically designed to meet the key stage 3 strategy framework for design and technology. We suggest you start by reading through the online resources for the units you're interested in - you'll find a design context and brief; facts and figures to grab students' attention; a research page leading to useful background information; and a series of downloadable activities.

If you want to deliver a unit in the classroom, download the student booklet. This:

has been produced as a PowerPoint, so that you can tailor it to meet the needs of your students within the curriculum time available
has been designed to be printed in either A4 or A3 size
is arranged into 10 sections that correspond to the teaching and learning objectives in the key stage 3 strategy.

Your students will need to use the STEP site to complete the booklets - the two have been designed to work alongside each other. You may also find it helpful to plan a series of short focused practical tasks to give pupils the knowledge and skills they need to complete a unit.

Find out more about how the STEP key stage 3 resources support the new key stage 3 strategy.

Activities

In addition to the activities included in the case studies and key stage 3 resources, there are:

four generic short focused tasks tackling different aspects of sustainability
five design and make activities
a worksheet to help students see how technology can make their everyday lives more sustainable.

These are designed to be stand-alone, but support and are complemented by the case studies and key stage 3 resources on the STEP site.

Finding out more

If you click on this cog off the STEP home page, you will find:

links to other useful websites
information on printed resources that focus on sustainability
a glossary (you can also see glossary information when you roll over highlighted words on the website)
background information about countries covered by STEP case studies.

Saving images and text

As you use the STEP site, you may come across images or information that you would like to save for future use. If you are a Internet Explorer user, you can:

copy text into your own document. Select the text that you want to copy, click on the Edit menu, and then click Copy. Open the document you want to save the text into, click the Edit menu and then click Paste
save an image. Right click on the image and select Save Picture As - from the pop-up menu. Select an appropriate name and destination for the file, then click Save. Please note that all reproduced images must be clearly credited to Practical Action.

If you have an email account and an email program on your computer, you can also send friends a link to the STEP website. Click the File menu, point to Send, then click Page by E-mail or Link by E-mail. A message window will open with the link in. Simply complete the message and send it as normal.