Resources by Best Evidence Science Teaching

pH scale

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Describe how to find out, safely, whether a solution is an acid.
• Identify and give examples of alkalis.
• Describe what information an indicator provides.
• Interpret...

Physical weathering and erosion

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Identify natural ways in which rock can be physically broken up.           
• Identify natural ways in which rock can be eroded.    
• Describe the difference between...

Planets and the Solar System

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Identify that we live on the surface of the Earth which is a sphere

• Describe how the Earth spins on its axis and explain what a day is

• Describe how...

Plant nutrition and photosynthesis

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Recall that plants are living organisms that need food to stay alive and grow.

• Recall that plants are producers that use a process called photosynthesis to make their...

Polymer properties

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Explain why a long molecule has a higher melting point than a similar but shorter molecule.

• Recognise that a polymer molecule can be made up of thousands of atoms....

Pressure

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Identify factors that can increase the pressure of a fluid.
• Explain why the pressure of a fluid is a scalar quantity that is equal in all directions.         
• Explain the...

Pressure in fluids

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Describe the movement of particles in fluids on either side of a boundary.
• Explain phenomena that are caused by differences in fluid pressure, on either side of a boundary...

Primary BEST: Outcomes of the pilot study

This is a report on a pilot study by the Best Evidence Science Teaching (BEST) project based at the University of York, funded by the Salter's institute, to explore primary school teachers’ responses to a selection of BEST resources adapted from BEST age 11 to 14 resources and see how teachers used the resources in...

Prisms and lenses

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Recall that light can change direction (refract) when it passes across a boundary between transparent media
• Describe how the angle light passes across a boundary between two...

Production and Transmission of Sound

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Identify what vibrates to make sound

• Describe the effect of larger vibrations on a sound

• Describe the effect of faster or slower vibrations on a...