Students consider how materials need to be tested for their suitability for a specific job before engineers in construction projects can choose them. The tasks will ask the students to think about what properties need to be considered, how these might be scientifically...

This challenge asks teams of students to plan a major sporting event in their local area. The resource provides an opportunity for students to explore their ideas in a creative environment. Teams can define their own goals and priorities, but may want to focus on three main areas of planning an event:

•...

This is one of a series of resources to support the use of the BBC micro:bit. This resource focusses on pupils designing and programming a BBC micro:bit to help wheelchair athletes monitor and record their sporting performance over time.

In this activity pupils will make use of the BBC micro:bit to design...

Mechathlon, from the Centre for Science Education, is a set of teaching materials which offer a cross-curricular approach to learning about engineering. The context for this case study is designing a multipurpose vehicle which could aid recovery following a devastating...

In this activity, students investigate the uses of materials and fabrics in medical applications, such as pressure bandages for burns injuries and anti-embolism stockings for deep vein thrombosis. The students make their own pressure sensor using different types of fabric. They then calibrate their sensor and...

Aimed at primary level, this activity pack contains a range of different activities based on the theme of sound and communication. Designed for use in class or within a science week or club, the activities promote investigative work and communication skills and include: investigating pitch, sending messages via...

This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP).

Metals have been used for many thousands of years, but it was only in the 20th century that an understanding developed of how their properties could be explained in terms of their...

In this experiment students prepare a smear slide of yoghurt and observe Gram stained bacteria using a microscope. The lesson also looks at magnification and representing numbers in standard form.

Curriculum links include:

* Working Scientifically - Experimental Skills and Investigations: use...

This guidance, from the National Strategies, is aimed at middle leaders in secondary schools: subject and year leaders, SENCOs and other coordinators of aspects of school improvement.

The resource provides guidance for middle leaders in evaluating the performance of their teams and the teams’ impact on...

This resource, from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), allows students to investigate the wide range of sophisticated imaging technology available in modern hospitals, and to explore the latest ideas in search-and-rescue robotics.

This collection of practical activities, investigations and games is all based on current lunar research. It supports many aspects of working scientifically and links to area of the curriculum including: earth and space, light and shadows, forces, materials, changes of state and rocks and soils. Activities are...

In this activity, students investigate the potential effects to health of the use of mobile phones and their transmitters, which use radio waves and microwaves to transmit information. Research can include the electromagnetic spectrum and its applications and how energy...

Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic radiation and they penetrate into human tissue. There is still a significant debate about the safety of holding even a low power microwave transmitter next to your brain or keeping it in a trouser pocket. The possibility of...

This module introduces the STEM Projects Toolkit, its background and its goals. A schematic diagram shows the contents of the resource pack, showing the pathways which teachers and technicians can use to access information and enrich lessons.

The resource builds on the successes of the CREST Awards, a formal...

This module, from the STEM Projects Toolkit, considers the use of the inquiry-based approach in everyday teaching of STEM subjects, encouraging students to use initiative and make independent decisions. The resource compares different types of Inquiry Based Learning and includes approaches for differentiation and...