All life forms on Earth are based on organic biochemistry. This activity requires students to analyse an unknown soil sample (just recovered from a space mission to another planet!) and look for signs of possible indicators for life. Curriculum areas covered: • Cell biology • Food tests, including starch, sugar,...

The aim of this activity is to encourage discussion about the nature of relationships between variables. It provides examples of relationships where there may appear to be correlation but not necessarily a causal relationship. The task is suitable for group or...

Designed for students who have advanced through Scratch and are ready for additional challenge, this resource explores Build Your Own Blocks (BYOB) as a tool for learning modular programming using procedures. 

After examining, briefly, the history of the computer and the Turing Test as a measure of their...

Designed for teachers and STEM Ambassadors, this guide to the James Webb Space Telescope contains sections on the design of the spacecraft and instruments, and the science objects of the mission.  Advice on which information is appropriate for primary and secondary level is included.

These materials contain a range of activities where students use real genomic data from the Cancer Genome Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute to find mutations in a gene associated with pancreatic cancer. Students mark the locations of the mutations on a gene sequence banner and record the results on...

This Nuffield Working with Science unit was designed to help students to understand the need to consume less domestic heating fuel, to know the main ways in which heat can be lost from buildings, to find by experiment which substances make good insulators and to write a...

This protocol allows students to demonstrate and test Koch’s Postulates using apples infected with the fungus Penicillium expansum. The required experimental work extends over 3 to 4 weeks, but the essential steps can be demonstrated in a single practical session if students are provided with cultures and infected...

This resource was produced by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) as part of their 'At Work With Science' materials. In this interactive resource, students are introduced to the legal aspects of the Health and Safety regulations; the concept of risk assessments and how to develop them....

This investigation is to find the thermal conductivity of a poor conductor in the form of a flat disc.  It is linked to specific heat capacity so follows on well from work done at GCSE, and gives students a good opportunity to test their maths skills using a complex equation.

This resource has been provided...

Scientists at the University of Oxford often use mathematical modelling as a key part of their research.  Modelling how information travels through social media sites is a part of understanding ways to analyse and potentially reduce the spread of misinformation.

From Practical Action, this resource encourages students to look at how design specifications are balanced when developing new products.

This resource, from the European Space Agency, contains exercises in physics and chemistry based on real space data, designed for secondary schools. The exercises and data were developed and checked by ESA space scientists and engineers. They are most appropriate for students at Post 16 level. There are a total of...

This resource, from Susan Wall, contains a number of advanced level activities designed to practise and strengthen understanding of linear functions. Although students have worked with linear functions at GCSE connections between properties, equations and diagrams are not always secure. At advanced level students...

Linear Programming involves creating a function that represents a real life problem. The aim is to optimise this function given certain constraints. Simple examples of linear programming will have few variables and constraints, however, real life situations will have many more variables and constraints that will...

For this investigation students will be calculating the density of a liquid (usually water) by using the loaded test tube method.  By adding mass to the test tube, you work out how far it has sunk then by substituting results into an equation, work out the density of the liquid.  This is a good experiment for...