Secondary project briefs (ages 11+)


Bronze Awards are typically completed by students aged 11+. They complete a ten-hour project which is a perfect introduction to STEM project work. Over the course of the project, teams of students design their own investigation, record their findings, and reflect on their learnings. This process gives students a taste of what it is like to be a scientist or engineer in the real-world.


Silver Awards are typically completed by students aged 14+ over thirty hours. Project work at Silver level is designed to stretch your students and enrich their STEM studies. Students direct the project, determining the project’s aim and how they will achieve it. They carry out the project, record and analyse their results and reflect on the project and their learnings. All Silver projects are assessed by CREST assessors via our online platform.


Gold Awards are typically completed by students aged 16+ over seventy hours. Students’ projects are self-directed, longer term and immerse them in real research. At this level, we recommend students work with a mentor from their chosen STEM field of study. All Gold projects are assessed by CREST assessors via our online platform. There are more CREST approved resources that have been developed by our partners and providers specific to your region.


There are more CREST approved resources that have been developed by our partners and providers specific to your region.


Find out how to build practical CREST projects into secondary science lessons using our free teacher guidance pack. Supporting this guidance are easy-to-use, free-to-download mapping workbooks, which match individual Bronze, Silver and Gold CREST Award projects with each area of the secondary science curricula for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. You can download and save your own copy of the relevant mapping workbook via the following links:


England

Northern Ireland

Scotland

Wales


To browse the briefs, click the buttons below or scroll down.

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5 years ago

Fabrics for cold weather clothing

  • Text
  • Thermal
  • Fabrics
  • Investigate
  • Properties
  • Insulation
  • Fabric
  • Applications
  • Quilting
  • Layer
  • Beaker
Investigate the thermal properties of different fabrics used in cold weather clothing. This resource is published under an Attribution - non-commercial - no derivatives 4.0 International creative commons licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). For more information visit our Terms and Conditions (www.crestawards.org/terms-and-conditions).

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Page 1 of 2 Fabrics for cold weather clothing In this project, you will investigate the thermal properties of different fabrics used in cold weather clothing or other thermal insulation applications such as sleeping bags or duvets. You will also look at the effect that quilting fabric has on thermal insulation. Getting Started You should start this project with some research. Find out about the design of fabrics with good thermal insulation properties and their use in cold weather clothing. You could also research other thermal insulation applications such as sleeping bag and duvets. Try to find out a little about how the thermal insulation of fabrics is measured and compared. At the same time, try to obtain samples of fabrics for your own tests. Designing experiments: Design your own experiments to measure and compare the thermal properties of different fabrics. You could start by devising a test procedure that involves wrapping a layer of fabric around a 250 ml beaker of hot water and measuring with a thermometer and stop-clock how long the hot water takes to cool down. Do this for each fabric but make sure your tests are fair and allow a comparison of the thermal properties of your sample fabrics. Consider whether or not you need a lid on the beaker and how you are going to measure the rate of cooling. More than one layer … Most thermal insulation applications involve more than one layer. Often the fabric is quilted. Devise your own tests to measure the effect of having more than one layer of fabric and then investigate the effect of quilting the fabrics together. Click to edit project description Things to think about If you have time you could investigate the effect of different sizes of quilting pattern. You may be able to use your tests to investigate other techniques used by manufacturers to improve thermal insulation. You will need to decide how you are going to present your results and how you are going to relate them to what you found out about the way manufacturers construct their products to give maximum thermal insulation. Useful Resources Some examples of fabrics that you could test include: fleece, down, wool, cotton and silk.

Bronze level

Ten hour projects recommended for ages 11+. Find out more about this level and how to gain a CREST Award on the Bronze Awards page.


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Bronze

Silver level

Thirty hour projects recommended for ages 14+. Find out more about this level and how to gain a CREST Award on the Silver Award page.


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Silver

Gold level

Seventy hour projects recommended for ages 16+. Find out more about this level and how to gain a CREST Award on the Gold Awards page


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Gold

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