This problem looks at fencing chickens using pens. The challenge is to work out how many lengths are needed to create six separate pens for the roosters.

This combination problem builds up from combinations of three socks to six socks. Can students find a pattern and use it to work out how many socks would be needed to ensure a different pair was available each day for a month?

This resource consists of three separate activities designed as an introduction to smallpox and the development of vaccinations resulting from Edward Jenner’s ideas, investigations and collection of evidence.  Activity (a) introduces Jenner’s work through the JAMES film. Children then take part in a smallpox...

A sheet is shown containing six calculations that have been partially obscured by juice spilled on the sheet. The challenge is to work out what the calculations were, and their solutions.

This problem provides a gentle introduction to simultaneous equations. Three bags of shopping are shown: two have prices and one does not. The challenge is to find out the price of the final bag of shopping.

In this set of activities, children will learn about the water cycle and, in particular, how water in the soil contributes to the cycle and responds to changes in it.

Activities are:

• learning about the story of a snowflake to illustrate the water cycle
• investigating evaporation and...

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Describe the speed at which the temperature increases along a thermal conductor compared to a thermal insulator

• Identify materials that are good thermal conductors or...

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Identify which of two objects or substances has the most energy in its thermal store when the only difference between them is temperature

• Identify which of two objects...

RAL Space is the UK’s national space laboratory where our thermal engineers and technicians help design and build spacecraft. They make sure that the components will work correctly and are protected in the extreme temperatures of space by using a special type of insulation. In this activity and presentation, pupils...

This experiment allows you to investigate the boiling point of brine and the melting point of lead using a potentiometer arrangement. An alternative approach using digital voltmeters is also included at the bottom of the sheet.

This resource supports students to understand the key properties of thermosetting and thermoforming polymers and provides examples of uses for these polymers. The resource contains a classroom presentation and student worksheet.

This Science upd8 activity illustrates practical applications of classroom science in the context of using sustainable building materials, and highlights several related various career routes. Students become members of a consultancy firm which specialises in sustainable building projects. They have to use their...

After thinking of a number, a series of steps is given that result in an answer that is independent of the initial number. There is scope to use fractions and directed numbers in the problem....

Published by the Wellcome Trust, the 'Big Picture' explores issues around biology and medicine. The human brain may be the most complex structure in the universe.

The brain is so powerful that it is attempting to...

These activities, from the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM) publication ‘Thinking for Ourselves’, provide a variety of contexts in which students are encouraged to think for themselves.

Activity 1: In the bag – More or less requires students to record how many more or...