This report from Ofsted describes how assessment in science is most effective where it is used as a teaching tool as well as a means of judging attainment. Similarly the assessment of practical coursework is not just a means of assigning students to levels but of giving them the information they need to improve...

This report is about career guidance in English secondary schools, and how it could be made better. Career guidance has been much criticised but what would it look like if it were better? Through international visits, analysis of good practice in English independent schools and a comprehensive review of current...

This report looks at hands-on practical science in secondary schools and uses an international study to answer the question ‘What does good look like?’. Using a  model of...

Good career guidance helps inspire students towards further study and enables them to make informed decisions whenever choices are open to them. It helps them to understand enough about the world of work to know what skills they need to succeed.

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A Catalyst article about green chemistry. Many reactions take place in solution. Water is a familiar solvent but there are many others, including a rather surprising one, carbon dioxide, which is a non-polluting ‘green’ solvent. The chemical industry relies on solvents to produce many everyday products, such as:...

A Catalyst article about using computers to crunch data from CERN. The article looks at GridPP, a UK computing grid for handling particle physics data.

This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2007, Volume 17, Issue 4.

Catalyst ...

This report from Ofsted is based on evidence gathered during a rapid response survey. Inspectors visited 45 secondary schools in February 2010 to look at their science curriculum provision at Key Stage Four and to find out how students at the end of Key Stage Three and Key Stage Four were guided towards specific...

This Catalyst article looks at some of the unusual features of water and especially the way it behaves when it is frozen. The article explains the properties of water and how it behaves at different temperatures with the aid of illustrations showing its molecular structure. Some unusual scientific ideas are also...

A Catalyst article about hair, how it grows, how it can be sculpted into the latest fashionable shapes and can hold fast to all the colours of the rainbow. The article explores how hair grows and how its physical structure and chemical make-up are affected by hair products.

This article is from Catalyst:...

This report of the Central Advisory Council for Education (England) resulted from research into the state of secondary education, focusing on students aged 13 to 16 who were of average or below-average ability. The report was known as the Newsom Report, named after Mr J H Newsom, chairman of the advisory council....

A Catalyst article about the composition of sea water. The article looks at how the sea became salty, how the factors such as hydrothermal systems can affect it and it investigates whether its composition has always been the same.

This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2005, Volume 15, Issue 3....

This Catalyst article looks at 'Restored Hearing', a business which grew out of a school science project. It provides therapy for sufferers of temporary tinnitus, a debilitating hearing condition caused by exposure to loud noises. The article looks at how hearing loss can occur and how also explains how the...

A Catalyst article about how engineers use their understanding of sound waves to develop highly realistic sound systems for films, music systems and computer games. The same ideas can help people with eyesight and hearing problems. Sound waves are affected by their surroundings and the article examines this along...

This Catalyst article looks at the work of Robert Hooke, an employee of the Royal Society, Britain's oldest scientific society. His job was to present two or three different experiments each week to the assembled members of the society – and this was at a time when experimentation was new and there were no books of...

A Catalyst article about high-level nuclear waste. It is hot, corrosive and a source of intense radiation. The nuclear industry is seeking safe ways to deal with such waste, and wants the public to help shape the decisions that are made. This article presents some information about the options for the storage of...