The Mars Safari Education Pack is designed to leave primary school children feeling like they’ve explored the Red Planet! Working in small groups, children design and build their own ExoMars rover, analyse ‘Martian’ soil samples, safely navigate the Rover across the surface of Mars and make a solar light that only...

Guidance and navigation engineer, Richard Lancaster, explains how the ‘Mars Yard’, at Airbus Defence and Space, Stevenage, allows engineers to test out the capabilities of the ExoMars rover.  He talks about the need to transmit all commands and receive data through a spacecraft orbiting Mars.  Spacecraft engineer,...

Could there be life on Mars? Perhaps so, although the high intensity of UV light means that it is unlikely to be found on the surface. The experiment demonstrates how bacteria grown on agar plates can be killed off by UV exposure. Curriculum areas covered: • Microbiology • Cell biology • Aseptic technique The video...

Aimed at the 11-14 age group, this is a unit of six one-hour design and technology lessons to develop an understanding of how systems on exploration robots are combined and collect data. Students are given a design brief to build their own model rover, experientially, to function in simulated Martian conditions....

This is a unit of three two hour lessons to consolidate understanding of the specialised materials and mechanisms used on exploration robots. Students build or test, or build and test these to develop knowledge and evaluate them.  These resources are aimed at the 14-16 age group.  The context is focussed on the...

These materials, from the Microbiology Society look at the work of Louis Pasteur and helps students to understand the growth of yeast. There are three resources that can be used together or separately and are suitable for Key Stage Two or Three students.

Marvellous microbes This comic strip...

From the Microbiology Society, these resources help children to think about how important it is to keep their hands clean to avoid spreading harmful microbes. Marvellous microbes: issue two This comic strip follows the story of a small girl and illustrates how important it is to wash her hands...

Produced by the Microbiology Society, these activities explore the microbes that cause dental plaque and tooth decay. [b]Marvellous Microbes issue three[/b] This comic strip shows a dentist explaining how plaque forms on teeth from saliva, food and bacteria. The dentist shows how a disclosing tablet can stain the...

In this activity, produced by ARKive, children learn about the concept of adaptation. They create and design a new species of mini-beast and learn how different species are adapted to survive in particular habitats. The activity could be undertaken in class or set as a homework activity. This creative activity is...

A factsheet for KS2 pupils on Mary Anning, the famous fossil hunter and collector from the 19th century. She made many incredible discoveries and became famous throughout the scientific world as her work was extremely important to palaeontology, the scientific study of ancient life.

This resource looks at how cutting edge science is being used to answer archaeological questions, as well as solving present day problems, such as the identification of meat in processed foods. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA was performed, at the University of York, on samples from skeletal remains unearthed by the...