This activity challenges students to design, and agree on an optimal route for, a village bypass, subject to the Highways Agency constraints for road design. Students use the provided software or physical resources and measure lengths of lines and curves, fine tune cost-benefit trade-offs, interpret data, convert...

In this resource from the European Space Agency, students use a multimedia module to learn about sea currents, the highways of the oceans, and how they are important for understanding local climates. Through a hands-on activity students investigate the causes of ocean currents. The final activity use satellite...

In this Bowland assessment task, students are required to plan a walking trip to Hilbre Island. Students are given information about when it is safe to walk to the island, how long it takes to walk there and the times of the high tides on the proposed dates of the trip. Students have to understand the problem, work...

Scientists at the University of Oxford are investigating the link between sporting activity in young people and the development of osteoarthritis. In very active people, bony lesions can form on the hip joint which increases their risk of developing the condition.

In this activity students apply what they...

This task is designed to assess how well students understand calculating the circumference of a circle, working with imperial units.

The task features a ‘Penny Farthing’ bicycle with a big wheel of diameter 52 inches and a small wheel of diameter 18 inches.

Tasks comprise:

• Calculating the...

This classroom resource for secondary computing lessons outlines the history of development of computers. It covers thousands of years of history, including:

• the abacus
• log tables
• the calculators of Pascal and Leibnitz
• Jacquard looms
• Babbage's Difference Engine and...

In these activities, produced by the European Space Agency, students work in groups to create timelines: first, one of their own lives and then one of the main events in the history of the Universe. The activity guides students to calculate the events in the history of the Universe to a scale of one year. Students...

Origami squares are shown with different colours on each side of the paper. Two folds are made and then a hole is punched through all of the layers. The challenge is to determine where the holes appear when the squares of paper are unfolded. This resource is suitable for Key Stage 3 and could be used as an...

Students first evaluate existing alarm systems and learn about a burglar’s attitude towards them using a video featuring reformed criminals. They are then briefed to create a working door access and alarm system using a BBC micro:bit and selected input and output components such as LDRs, reed switches, buzzers and...

Reducing energy usage in the home saves money, increases energy security and reduces the need to burn unsustainable fossil fuels. The first step in doing this is monitoring how much energy is...

In this Science upd8 activity students analyse information and evidence about homeopathy to decide whether it is based on scientific theory. They then choose the best arguments for and against homeopathy to decide whether they would use it, and whether it should be freely available to all.

This resource from Defence Dynamics helps students to gain a better understanding of homeostasis and, in particular, the regulation of body temperature (thermoregulation). Students consider the needs of a polar explorer on a mission to the South Pole, thinking about the equipment needed as well as the challenges...

The family tree for honeybees is given together with rules for reproduction. The challenge begins with identification of male and female bees in a diagram. Further rows are then added and the information collected in a table. There is an extension to then find the number of bees in other generations without drawing...

It is long journey from basic stem cell research to a reliable stem cell therapy. This comic book explores the role of stem cell researchers and the process they undertake as they try to move stem cell research on towards clinical trials and therapies. A selection of card games is provided which can be used to...