A podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Richard Hollingham finds out that bowerbirds are not just brilliant at making elaborate bowers, they are also good at mimicking other birds and most other sounds they hear, including human voices.

He also...

This collection offers students, and their teachers, a set of interesting, exciting problems. Each problem is designed to develop thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills. In completing the activities students will be required to represent a situation in mathematical terms, analyse models, interpret, evaluate...

Bowland Maths includes over thirty tasks designed to help assess students’ achievements and progression against key processes. To help with this assessment, each task contains sample work, and a 'progression table' showing how students’ work on the task can provide evidence of their progress with the four key...

This unplugged activity, from the CS4FN team at Queen Mary University of London, helps learners to understand variable assignment and operations. They use the idea of variables as boxes as the basis of a group activity, developing their use of logical thinking to trace variables through programs.

The...

This Study Plus unit from the National Strategies develops an understanding of volume and surface area of 3D objects through exploring nets.

There are opportunities for practical work in all of the lessons. The unit looks at perimeter, area and volume in context. In addition, there are opportunities to...

Boxes and bottles come in all shapes and sizes. These Cre8ate maths activities explore some of the mathematics behind packaging decisions taken by manufacturers, they provide a platform for students to make conjectures and find efficient ways of recording results to justify claims they have made. In Boxing stock...

This resource contains two excel programs; ‘Removing and Collecting Like Terms’ and ‘Multiplying Out and Simplifying’, each containing a series of interactive spreadsheets designed to explore how to deal with brackets.

Braille is a system of dots which enables blind people to read and this resource, from the Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching, provides the opportunity for students to explore the patterns used in this code. The activities are designed to prompt class discussion and mathematical thinking, while engaging...

This unplugged activity from Peter McOwan and Paul Curzon mingles computer science with biology. A group activity is used that mimics the firing of neurons within the brain. These trigger other neurons to fire – these can be compared to AND gates in logic circuits.

The ‘brain in a bag’ kits used in the...

The use of different types of signals is hugely important in all areas of healthcare. Signal processing engineers are involved in everything from extracting information from the body’s own electrical and chemical signals to using wireless signals to allow search-and-rescue robot swarms to communicate with each...

Alexandra Park School met with a student baker. Their work with her was mostly a focused practical task (FPT) about the ingredients and processes used in bread making.
Students were also shown how bread is made in batches on an industrial scale. Students were involved in the STEM Ambassador’s bread making...

Sydenham School met a STEM Ambassador who is a food product technologist. The visit provided students with insight into food, cooking and nutrition, including basic hygiene during practical sessions, target markets, research, generating ideas, making, product evaluation and sensory evaluation.
Students...

Work done in this Nuffield 13 - 16 module followed from the unit called ‘Energy’. This B unit provided enough material for six double periods in the third year of secondary school (year nine). The teachers’ guide included eight worksheets to supplement the students’...