From Solar Spark, this simple activity allows students to make a spectrometer using a card box and a compact disc. The compact disc acts as a diffraction grating and splits the light being observed into its constituent wavelengths. This gives the colours of the rainbow when viewing white light. This type of...

In this activity, students make a nail into an electromagnet. They then investigate whether increasing the number of coils of wire, or the thickness or length of the mail, affects the strength of the electromagnet.

In this project students make their own additive-free fizzy drink using yeast and compare the homemade fizzy drink to fizzy drinks you can buy in the shops.   Curriculum links include respiration, fermentation, microbes, pH

This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). Energy is a universal concept across the sciences, yet it is often difficult for students to understand. Part of the problem is that current...

These resources explores how engineers have used their knowledge of waves to improve lives.  The activities include:

• Using the reflection of light to create a floating image
• Investigating the best material for thermal resistance (insulation) in a survival suit

Curriculum links...

Could there be life on Mars? Perhaps so, although the high intensity of UV light means that it is unlikely to be found on the surface. The experiment demonstrates how bacteria grown on agar plates can be killed off by UV exposure. Curriculum areas covered: • Microbiology • Cell biology • Aseptic technique The video...

These materials, from the Microbiology Society look at the work of Louis Pasteur and helps students to understand the growth of yeast. There are three resources that can be used together or separately and are suitable for Key Stage Two or Three students.

Marvellous microbes This comic strip...

This collection of resources, from the National Physical Laboratory, sets a number of measurement challenges for students that can be performed in their own homes, or in school. 

All resources contain an explanatory video and a downloadable worksheet. 

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Measuring the diameter of our star This simple exercise allows students to measure the diameter of the Sun using a metre rule and two pieces of card. An image of the Sun needs to be projected on the card using a small hole in one piece of card.

Measuring the number of hours in a day...

Mechanics and Properties of Matter 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. Each title brought together the best of the teaching notes and experimental ideas from members of the...

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...

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...