Purpose: An important form of investigation that can be difficult to manage in classrooms is ‘observation over time’. Fixed length lessons reduce the number of possibilities for observation to those changes that occur within minutes rather than hours. One solution to this problem is to use time lapse photography to...

Rockets are used to launch satellites, probes and even astronauts into space. A rocket launch is extremely impressive. Thousands of kilograms are burned in just a few minutes in order to provide the force that the rocket needs in order to overcome the gravity of the Earth. Rockets provide an exciting context to...

Purpose: Field trips can be difficult to organise in schools and so may be limited in scope and duration. Using virtual reality technology, it is possible to supplement a field trip with observations from other sites, to broaden the context studied.

Teaching approach: Once students have analysed data from...

Purpose: Good practical science should include a variety of types of investigation and locations. Digital technology can support activities that involve outdoor work and observations over time, without being disruptive to school routines. 

Teaching approach: In the example described in the link below, data...

Carried out by University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) this project was instigated to investigate the equivalence of standards set in national tests over a period of several years. The experimental...

The first Student Workbook for Nuffield Physical Science began with an extensive introduction to this novel course for students. The Workbook was not designed as a textbook. The content of each section was arranged on the same plan, and each contained four types of...

This animation, from the Wellcome Trust, illustrates how several species of the Schistosoma parasitic worms exploit humans and fresh water snails. The parasites use rivers and streams to transfer between the two animals, using each for a specific phase of its life cycle...

The Education Reform Act of 1988 established, amongst other things, the idea of a National Curriculum (NC) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The National Curriculum set out to “promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society”; and “prepare such...

Produced in 2009-2010, Assessing Pupils Progress (APP) was produced by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and is a structured approach to periodic assessment, written to enable teachers to use diagnostic information about students’ strengths and weaknesses and to track students’ progress.

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The STFC Lunar Rocks and Meteorites Loan Scheme has been running since the mid 1980s. It has lent the NASA Moon rock discs and meteorites to thousands of schools, museums and outreach organisers. The collection has been produced by the ASE with the University of...

This resource uses the context of the British Challenge for the America's Cup to explore composite and nano materials.  The video uses the challenge to build the highest performing racing yacht as an introduction to composite materials and how they are designed to improve their properties for a specific use.  This...

Purpose: Students may not have time in lessons to obtain sufficient data to give them the ‘big picture’ of their chosen context. This is often the case in ecological or pollution investigations where they can only sample a ‘snap shot’ of the situation. Providing access to a published database of results can provide...

The materials in this resource are from the Secondary National Strategy ‘Progressing to Level 6 and beyond in science’ project. They were intended for science teachers who are focusing on helping their students in developing skills in researching scientific issues....

This video poses a problem of a spinning tube which has an X and O written on either end.  If the tube is spun from the X end only an X is seen.  Likewise, if the tube is spun from the O end only a O is seen.

A camera is placed underneath a glass table and students asked to predict what would be seen if the...