The many applications of mechanics make it an important topic of interest to applied mathematicians, scientists and engineers. This resource, produced by the Centre for Teaching Mathematics at the University of Plymouth, is designed to provide a more realistic view of mechanics and help the teaching of mechanics...

From the Institute of Physics, this pack of activities aims to encourage teachers to work together in providing a consistent approach to careers advice and guidance. It will also help teachers to build on their own knowledge of physics-based careers and, in turn, help...

This resource, produced by the Centre for Teaching Mathematics at the University of Plymouth, is designed to provide short problems to stimulate discussion of mathematics amongst A level students and between students and their teachers; and to provide some longer investigations which search more deeply into the...

A Catalyst article following the journey of the space probes Huygens and Cassini, sent to explore Titan, a moon of Saturn. After a seven year journey Huygens was set to fall through the atmosphere transmitting data back to Earth via Cassini so more can be learnt about this distant moon. The article describes the...

In the early 1990’s The Centre for Teaching Mathematics at the University of Plymouth published a series of books – the 'Exploring...' series.

The books covered pure mathematics, mechanics and statistics, providing a bank of problems and investigations which challenge students to think more deeply about...

This resource, produced by the Centre for Teaching Mathematics at the University of Plymouth, is designed to provide a series of short problems to stimulate discussion of statistics amongst students and between students and teachers; and to provide some longer investigations which search more deeply into the...

In this resource from the DfE Standards Unit, students explore trigonometrical graphs by recognising translations, stretches and reflections from their equations, sketching the graphs and learning about the period and amplitude. Students should be familiar with the graphs of y = sin x and y = cos x and have...

Published by the Wellcome Trust in September 2011, this report aimed to find a deeper understanding of young people’s attitudes to science education, particularly regarding the value young people place on science education (for themselves as individuals and for society in general), as well as the key factors...

This activity, from Shirley Fall, contains ten linked problems which are intended to lead to students developing a rule for integrating functions of the form y=ax n where n not equal to -1. Problem 1 begins by exploring the area enclosed under a straight line y=2x+3 from x=0 to x=a for varying values of a, leading...

In this resource from Shirley Fall, students are presented with a general straight line y=mx+c and are shown that the gradient of the line between any two points that lie on the line is always equal to m. Students should be encouraged to explain the proof to check...

This Catalyst article describes discovering hydrothermal vents at ocean sea-beds. Hydrothermal vents form along mid-ocean ridges. A mid-ocean ridge is where the Earth’s tectonic plates are moving apart, usually at a rate of about 6 to 18 centimetres a year. The presence of hydrothermal vents had been predicted by...

Published in 2009 by LSIS, this report describes an action research project conducted by Long Road Sixth Form College. The project explored the use of learning objectives to enhance student progression, provide effective feedback, promote independent learning and improve success rates in AS level mathematics.

This activity, from Shirley Fall, requires students to use and interpret function notation, sketch graphs using key points, explore the common transformations of translate parallel to the y axis, translate parallel to the x axis, stretch parallel to the y axis from the...

This Catalyst article looks at volcanic activity that generates earth tremors. It talks about seismologists that measure these tremors in an attempt to predict future eruptions.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2016, Volume 27, Issue 2.

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