This Catalyst article describes how bacterial colonies produce antibiotics and explains how their growth depends on the medium they grow on. Over sixty years ago, a Russian soil scientist called Selman Waksman discovered that soil bacteria belonging to the Streptomyces genus produce some very useful...

This lesson links aspects of states of matter to the use of bubbles to deliver drugs to cancerous tissue, and is appropriate to students aged 12- 14. Most children will be familiar with soapy bubbles consisting of gas surrounded by a film of moisture. This lesson looks at the formation of bubbles that contain...

Produced by Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), this resource encourages students to investigate the effects of various antifungal treatments on the growth of yeast.

This poster looks at the nature of antimatter. One side of the poster discusses Dirac’s prediction and the subsequent discovery of antimatter, in the form of the positron. The difficulty of the storage of antimatter is explained and the use of positrons in medical imaging (PET scanners) is described. The other side...

In this Triple Crossed activity, from the Centre for Science Education and supported by the Astra Zeneca Teaching Trust, students are provided with a number of images of bones and asked to work in groups to draw what they think the animal would have looked like. They are then provided clues to help build up their...

This article discovers how geneticists are beginning to discover the significance of junk DNA. The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2015, Volume 25, Issue 4.

Catalyst is a science magazine for students aged 14-19 years. Annual...

This lesson sets the scene for the study of the Lunar Discs, and gets students to think about the contexts and history leading to the collection of the Lunar samples in the loan boxes. By considering the events of the space race, role playing taking a moonwalk, and considering the actions of the astronauts,...

This sourcebook of information and ideas from the Nuffield Junior Science Project is a collection of photographs and descriptions of apparatus designed and made by children and teachers. It was intended for reference and also to give support to teachers who were making...

The EU has recently imposed limits on the power ratings of vacuum cleaners, and proposes further limits on appliances such as hairdryers. In this activity students consider a further (fictional) future restriction, on home electricity use. Students calculate the energy transferred in kilowatt-hours by the...

The project involved members of staff from the STEM subjects at the Kingswinford School working collaboratively to plan and deliver sessions to a group of Year Nine students. These sessions were held after school for an hour each week during the summer and autumn terms...

Modern society depends on programmable systems, from industrial robots to smartphones. The systems of today are only possible because of past inventions. The resources in this collection require students to research details about programmable system from the past, to present their findings to their peers and to...

This set of ten video case studies, from around 2010, illustrate a range of technician roles that use science and mathematics. The examples feature young college students and apprentices who talk about their area of study or work and who have a clear career route in mind. 

The case studies cover:

...

A Catalyst article about the role of environmental scientists working for a local authority. Climate change science needs to be applied to everyday life and this article explains how local authorities and their staff are often in the front line applying the science and making it work for public benefit.

This...