This resource requires students to consider where their water comes from and what life would be like if it were not readily available. It examines the importance of the water we use being clean and the consequences if that water is not clean. Students investigate simple ways of making dirty water clean and...

Does light behave like a wave, a stream of particles or both? Scientists at the University of Oxford are taking advantage of the particle-wave duality of light to carry out work developing exciting new technologies.

...

This physics extension module from the Salters’ Science course covers the action of sensors and amplifiers in electronic systems. Potential dividers are studied as a way of supplying different voltages. The action of light dependent resistors and thermistors in...

The loose fragments of material on the Moon’s surface are called regolith. This regolith, a product of bombardment by meteorites, is the debris thrown out of the impact craters. By contrast, regolith on Earth (called ‘soil’ as it contains organic material) is a product of weathering. ‘Weathering’ describes all the...

Produced by the Wellcome Trust, these resources include an interactive evolutionary tree and a video of the Tree of Life. These materials will help students to find out more about the work of Charles Darwin and evolution. The resources contain:

Tree of life video: The video is a short...

This challenge is an opportunity for students to explore, experiment and innovate whilst designing a specialised wetsuit for paratriathletes who need specialised equipment to allow them to compete. Whilst the development in technology of prosthetic limbs, racing wheelchairs and handcycles has been substantial, no...

This short activity introduces students to the ideas of the footprint and resolution of an image, asking them to choose and use appropriate methods to calculate how these quantities would change as they moved a camera to a series of vantage points above the surface of the Earth

This topic, from the Association for Science Education (ASE), focuses on nutrition and looks at links between diet and health. Students are able to reflect on the nutritional and social values of different diets and then exchange information about their findings. As they work though the topic the students make a...

This activity uses a humorous video to raise a serious question: can science tell us what animals are saying, and interpret their emotions? The Bow-lingual dog translator claims to detect animal emotions by analysing bark sounds waves. Students use research evidence to decide whether the device does what it claims...

By constructing a model of the constellations in the zodiac, students can learn about the relative motion of the Sun and the Earth. Students can find their own star sign and discover how the view from the Earth will change as the Earth orbits the Sun. The model allows them to see how the night sky changes over a...

From ARKive, this creative activity is designed to teach 7-11 year olds about endangered species, what it means to be endangered and what causes a species to become endangered. It also features examples of conservation in action and ideas for how the students can help. After a presentation, each student is given an...

This resource provides a set of videos and a practical investigation aimed at supporting working scientifically in the classroom and relating science to real world experiences. In the first video Professor Brian Cox joins a teacher to find out how to set up and run an investigation to find out what affects the size...

Students investigate why some plastic cups collapse when filled with hot water and some don't.  They compare the effect of hot water on a range of cups and relate their findings to the properties of the plasticsused for each cup:  whether it is biodegradable or not, its melting...

This is a simple comprehension activity for students to consider the main features of cystic fibrosis (CF), the recessive pattern of inheritance, carriers and screening. The student worksheets provide a clear diagram of the function of the CFTR protein, which forms a...

This comprehension activity, from Genetic Disorders UK, looks at the main features of Huntington’s disease (HD) and how it affects the brain. Students consider Huntington’s disease as a progressive neurodegenerative disease and the issues surrounding genetic testing for...