Produced by the Charles Darwin Trust, the activities in these materials help students to consider biodiversity within a habitat. To observe change over time, in 1846 Darwin planted a hedge at Down House. Twenty years later, he surveyed the hedge and recorded those species that had disappeared and new plant arrivals...

From the Charles Darwin Trust, these materials help students to consider the concept of how species are sustainable and how changes in the environment can lead to extinctions.

The activities look at how human activities have impacted on the Galapagos Islands since Darwin's visit. This includes effects on...

In order to avoid predators, the caterpillars of some species of moths rest during the day by masquerading as twigs, well-camouflaged and keeping their bodies rigid and still. The aim of the investigation is to determine if caterpillars of the peppered moth show a preferred angle of rest. Students look at a series...

These resources consider adaptation and competition in the context of carnivorous plants.

This module uses carnivorous plants and their habitats as a stepping-stone for exploring broader ecological concepts, in particular the structure of an ecosystem and predator-prey relationships. Students will engage in...

This series of five one-hour lessons covers computer networks at secondary-school level. The objectives of the lessons are:

• Describe what a network is, the difference between a LAN and a WAN and identify three network topologies.
• Describe pieces of hardware that are needed in a network.
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This activity, from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), allows students to compare old and new technologies (railway five-pointer telegraph against the SMS message) to experience how significant the advances in technology have been. The nature of...

US doctors are planning the world's first ever womb transplant. In this Science upd8 activity, students become an NHS ethics and funding committee. They consider ethical arguments and decide whether or not the NHS should fund non-vital transplants, like those of wombs, hands and faces.

This resource from Siemens looks at how the ear works and how sounds are converted into nervous impulses. The activities aim to develop student’s understanding of the concept of loudness and the decibel. A signal generator is used to compare loudness to frequency and to demonstrate how sound is represented in waves...

The purpose of this Ofsted conference was the use of assessment in raising standards of teaching and learning. Workshops drew on good practice from Key Stage Two and Key Stage Three, and provided 31 delegates with the opportunity to work with other professionals on assessment for learning (AfL).

The...

These conferences were a collaboration between Ofsted, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), the Secondary National Strategy (SNS) and the National Advisers and Inspectors Group for Science (NAIGS). The Programme of Study (PoS) for Key Stage Four science has changed and been reduced to a core. QCA is...

These materials, from Waste Watch (part of Keep Britain Tidy), have been developed to make explicit links between sustainability and packaging for students following GCSE level design and technology courses. The scheme of learning includes suggested activities for five active learning sessions, supported by the...

This activity is designed as a ‘virtual mission’. Students will play the part of Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) scientists to the scenario of a possible asteroid impact with the Earth. By following the story of the mission (led by an automated powerpoint), students will apply their understanding of kinetic energy,...

This resource from the Nuffield Foundation provides weather data that students use to consider which month would be the best to hold an outdoor gig. The activity gives students practice in using either a calculator or a spreadsheet to calculate mean and range values....

Inspired by the Born to Engineer video from Faye Banks, an engineer who works on the UK electrical network, this resource supports students to increase their understanding of engineering and the design decisions that electrical engineers have to make when creating a new electrical network.

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