Concrete change: the innovative chemistry of sustainable cement

Suitable for 14 to 19-year-olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom or shared with students online.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 Chemistry and Engineering.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Theodore Hanein and his team at the University of Sheffield in the UK who are investigating alternative methods for cement production. This includes replacing raw materials with waste products from other industries and reducing the carbon dioxide released during cement manufacture.
• This resource also contains an interview with Theo. If you or your students have a question for him, you can submit it online – go to the article using the Futurum link below and scroll to the bottom of the page. Theo will reply!
• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Theo’s research, and tasks them to communicate research findings to stakeholders.
• The accompanying animation and script summarise the team’s research.
• The PowerPoint reiterates the key points in the article and includes further talking points to encourage students to reflect on their own skills and aspirations.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

If you like these free resources – or have suggestions for improvements –, please let us know and leave us some feedback. Thank you!