What are the different types of bridge and how do they cope with the loads put on them?

Lesson Objectives

• The student could research and explore the way forces affect bridges and discuss how to explain this information to the intended user group.
• They should categorise...

Many of the chemicals we use as drugs, flavourings and perfumes originate from natural sources but often the most economical way of obtaining them is to produce them artificially on an industrial scale. Scientists at the University of Oxford are researching into how to...

A set of four activities which explore the ways that shape, colour and other visual stimuli can affect our perception of taste and how we choose food.  Children compare the tastes of drinks which are identical except for their colour, predict whether green or red apples will taste sweeter, and investigate how...

In Flesh Eaters, provided by the Association for Science Education (ASE), students are challenged to unravel a bizarre crime using their scientific skills.

Flesh Eaters is a 'learning adventure'. It combines computer-...

This Catalyst article explores 'Biomodels', biological species which are increasingly well-understood and which have been chosen because they can help us to test new biological theories, particularly in the field of genetics.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2....

This book looks at several aspects of flight:

* Falling through the air

* Parachutes

* Flight

* Forces for flight

* Control in the air

* Space flight

Flight was one of the Science at Work series. All the booklets in the series were highly illustrated with practical...

This challenge, from Practical Action, requires students to design and build a model structure that will enable farmers to grow crops even in an area that may become flooded. A floating garden, built on a base of aquatic weeds, is a low cost and sustainable way of allowing people to grow vegetables. The resource...

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Identify objects that are floating.
• Describe how the mass and volume of an object affect how well it floats.  
• Describe how the shape of an object affects how well it...

In this lesson, students devise their own flood warning device and create a technical brief for an international audience using recognised circuit symbols. They also consider how people both here and in Nepal can best prepare for floods. Heavy monsoon rains can devastate communities in Nepal. The severe flooding...

Students work in teams to design and make a prototype device that can design and make a prototype of a simple device (to be sold in stores like B&Q) that will allow homeowners to remove water from their house during periods of flooding.

In this challenge the device will have to move 100ml of water from...

This podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) looks at why removing some man-made coastal flood defences might not be such a bad idea, what it is like studying gas exchange in the wilds of the Southern Ocean, and – in what could be the first case of '...

After learning about flooding, students consider the design problems caused by its early detection. Students are introduced to moisture sensors, and can build their own using the instructions provided or use a ready-made version. This is connected to the BBC micro:bit and used as an input device. After processing...

A fact sheet from the Geological Society about different kinds of flooding, river, costal, groundwater, urban and flash floods, and the role played by climate change in increasing the risk of flooding.