This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). Plastics – or polymers as they are more correctly called – look set to be the material of the future. Think of any product and it is likely that it consists, at least in part, of a polymer...

In this Bowland assessment task, students decide the rate at which taxi fares are set. Students are provided with the price of diesel over the past eight years and use this data to decide what would be a fair price increase. Students are required to process the data to find a relationship between fuel costs and...

Scheduling jobs in a fashion workshop is the context for this Nuffield exploration. There are six people in the workshop and a series of jobs to be completed in one day.

The key processes which developed include:...

This activity requires students to investigate the mathematics behind fashion trends. The software contains an introductory short film that shows the CEO and Store Manager of a London boutique discussing how to be successful in running a fashion business. His...

This range of practical activities and resources provided by ASE is aimed to teach about plants and flowers in schools.Growing fast plants can provide rewarding results in a short time span and the ideas encourage all students to be involved with the activities....

This lesson plan with starter, main and plenary from CensusAtSchool suitable for Year Eight students develops the concept of ratio. Students will Investigate the Golden Ratio (also known as Phi) using the ratio of height to belly button height data collected and presented as a dataset.

The resource comes...

This Cre8ate maths activity allows the opportunity to discuss the modelling function of mathematics. The tasks allow students to develop their own strategies and to consider the idea of an ‘efficient’ algorithm. In addition, 'First fit and full bins' activity involves work on ratio and pie charts.

This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). New applications for traditional fabrics are being found, but increasingly, fibres and fabrics are engineered for specific purposes. Much...

This Salters’ Chemistry Course unit from the University of York Science Education Group covered:
* The use and importance of germicides.
* The chemist's role in public health.
* Some of the chemical reactions inside our bodies.
* The function and...

This activity asks students to work in teams to design an experiment or experiments which will test the claims of companies producing various types of domestic water filtration equipment. All teams can be given the same advert or all four adverts can be distributed for...

This Bowland assessment task requires students to plan when they should start preparing a meal in order to have it ready by a stated time. Students are given a number of job cards. Each card explains what needs to be done, how long the job will take and a condition as to when the job should be completed. Students...

In Flesh Eaters, provided by the Association for Science Education (ASE), students are challenged to unravel a bizarre crime using their scientific skills.

Flesh Eaters is a 'learning adventure'. It combines computer-...

Students begin by making a 'Digit Flipper'. There are three versions in the resource plus blanks to make others. The teacher notes then explain how the 'gadget' can be used in lessons.

The 'Digit Flipper' can be manipulated to show different numbers. Teachers can ask students to make the largest possible...

This challenge, from Practical Action, requires students to design and build a model structure that will enable farmers to grow crops even in an area that may become flooded. A floating garden, built on a base of aquatic weeds, is a low cost and sustainable way of allowing people to grow vegetables. The resource...

Students work in teams to design and make a prototype device that can design and make a prototype of a simple device (to be sold in stores like B&Q) that will allow homeowners to remove water from their house during periods of flooding.

In this challenge the device will have to move 100ml of water from...