Through energy use, each UK home creates around six tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. Much of this is the result of electricity generation. In this activity, from the Centre for Science Education and the Comino Foundation, students look into the advantages and disadvantages of the Smart Meter – an innovative device...

This collection of smart materials resources supports students to learn about Quantum Tunnelling Composite, shape memory alloys, polymorph, microencapsulation, photochromic dyes, thermochromic dyes and E-textiles. The collection provides a classroom presentation, teacher notes, student worksheets, student revision...

In this practical lesson from the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), students complete a number of different tests on a selection of materials and identify each one from its particular properties. The tests include Eureka cans, electrical circuits and other...

This is one of a series of resources to support the use of the BBC micro:bit.

In this activity pupils will make use of the BBC micro:bit to design and create a programmable system that can control the temperature and soil moisture levels in a ‘smart’ greenhouse. They will analyse a design brief and design...

In this activity from the Institution of Engineering and Technology, students investigate the properties of different categories of smart materials and decide which kinds of materials might offer the best prospects for a financial investment. Students work in teams and...

Receptors under our skin send signals to our brains about the world around us. Engineers are borrowing this idea from the human body to create a ‘smart skin’ for aircraft. In this activity students learn about motes, the tiny sensors at the heart of this innovation, and how science and mathematics are central to...

This resource, aimed at primary level, links to the curriculum areas of food and diet, healthy eating and where food comes from. Children are asked to identify different types of food using their sense of smell. They then work in small groups to discuss and debate what food they may have. Once the food is known...

Aimed at primary aged students, this STEM project provides a real-life context to explore the health and environmental problems faced by the 3 billion people globally who cook on open fires or traditional cooking stoves. Children are introduced to a family in Nepal and learn about indoor air pollution from their...

In this Bowland assessment task, students are presented with an accurate drawing of a smoothie bottle. The task is to design a box that will hold twelve bottles. Students are required to measure significant parts of the bottle and use the results to help design the box, draw the net of the box, label the dimensions...

This activity introduces Darwin’s ideas on evolution by looking at variation, adaptation and distribution of banded snails. Children learn about Charles Darwin, then work as science explorers looking at different habitats and the snails found in them. Using correct vocabulary, they describe habitats and the snails...

This activity introduces students to Darwin’s ideas on evolution by looking at variation, adaptation and distribution of banded snails. It links to the topics of living things and their habitats and evolution and inheritance. Children are introduced to Charles Darwin and his work whilst on his five year voyage on...

This hands-on classroom activity from Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute for Key Stage Two and Key Stage Three students aims to aid in the teaching of respiratory health and hygiene topics. This interactive, practical activity demonstrates how microbes, such as bacteria...

Scientists from the University of Oxford are studying how information and misinformation can spread across social media platforms.  Mathematical models can be used to help predict how information might spread. 

In...

In this Bowland assessment task, students are presented with the results of two surveys aimed at determining whether a new drink was preferred by teenagers or adults. The task is to determine whether or not the two surveys were fair and to suggest improvements to the method of testing. Students are required to show...

Solar Detectives, from the Centre for Science Education, is a set of teaching materials which offer a cross-curricular approach to learning about engineering. Students build and modify a model solar car and research the science and mathematics underlying the use of...