Produced by the Science Museum, this resource sees students working in groups to explore the issues surrounding genetic testing. Students receive a sealed secret box, that contains a chance card. Opening the box represents taking a genetic test. Students have to decide whether they would want to open the box. In...

This Science upd8 activity draws on clinical trials. Eight young volunteers had been in clinical trials before, but this time things went horribly wrong. Six of the eight were left fighting for their lives. In this discussion activity students consider whether new treatments should be ever tested on human...

These three activities, from Centre of the Cell, demonstrate how double blind trials are run, explaining what a placebo is and how the placebo effect works, how bias is removed as far as possible and how participants and trial medicines are randomised. Through these activities, students investigate the placebo...

Produced by the Citizen Science project, this resource engages students in debating the social, political and health issues surrounding the use of drugs.

In this activity, debate commences by introducing characters, scenarios and issues connected with drugs. Students are given opportunities to hot seat as...

As human population increases our appetite for meat is growing but very soon demand will outstrip supply. Farming large animals puts a strain on our natural resources and creates polluting waste. Scientists are proposing eating insects to help solve this problem. In this activity students are asked to plan a menu...

This topic, from the Association for Science Education and aimed at students aged 8-12, focuses on nutrition and the links between diet and health. Students reflect the cultural significance of diet. The topic allows classes in schools across the world to exchange information about food and health.

After...

Ebola can spread quickly with devastating consequences. To help fight it scientists are developing drugs and vaccines. In this activity students are asked if they would trial a new Ebola vaccine. They gather information from different sources, weigh up risks and benefits and apply what they know about genes to...

Ecology is one of the titles in the series of ASE Lab Books that were published in the early 1970s for the Association for Science Education by John Murray. Each title covered one or two topics and brought together the best of the teaching notes and experimental ideas...

These activities allow students to model how environmental scientists compare diversity in different ecosystems by using ordinary playing cards as ‘species’ to generate data to calculate Simpson’s Diversity Index. This can be completed in a single lesson. Some students find the concept of species diversity quite...

Aimed at primary learners, this resource aims to develop an understanding of some of the food chains within a woodland habitat. Linked to the topics of animals and all living things, it includes a matching activity, a game and a simulation of a food web. Teacher...

Cell structure and function. This Science upd8 activity focuses on the medical careers students could pursue, by applying knowledge about cells, tissues and organs and their science skills.

Students take on the role of a hospital Family Liaison Officer who has to research various aspects of cell biology and...

In Background Stories for Teachers, the authors of the ‘Teaching about why things change’ project illustrate a new approach to the fundamental question 'why do things change?'. They do so with the help of stories about some scientific topics which show how the topics...

Produced by Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), these materials give a range of suggested activities that investigate enzyme activity in ripening fruit. These include:
• the changes in enzyme activity during ripening and storage
• the activity of the same...

This teaching guide provides a range of ideas and resources for teaching about enzymes at A level. Curriculum links include lock and key, active site, induced-fit, inhibitor, and cofactor.

Although produced to support the teaching of OCR AS and A Level Biology A specifications (H020 and H420), the resource...

In this SATIS Revisited resource students investigate how scientists monitor seismic activity and warn of impending volcanoes, the limitations of the scientific data collected, and resulting precision level of warnings.