A Catalyst article about using the ISIS accelerator to study the structures of materials. ISIS is one of the UK's world leading research centres and this article explains how the centre uses neutrons to study materials at an atomic level. Acting as a super microscope the ISIS accelerator can be used for physics,...

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

• Recognise that atoms are not visible under any type of microscope and that scientists have never ‘seen’ the structure of an atom.
• Distinguish the nucleus of an atom from the...

Produced by Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), this investigation enables students to investigate the process of mitosis in a growing root tip. The mitotic index is the fraction of cells in a microscope field which contain condensed chromosomes.

In this activity students prepare and stain root tips....

An image representing human chromosomes in metaphase. Atomic Force Microscope image of ...

One of a series of resources from Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS) investigating key topics in plant biology. An enjoyable and thought-provoking introduction to the topic of sexual reproduction in plants. Students observe in real time the growth of a pollen tube, over the course of a lesson. When a pollen...

A Catalyst article about the life and work of the physicist Robert Hooke. Hooke was a man of many interests. He invented many mechanical devices, including the universal joint used in all cars and designed a balance wheel for a watch. As part of his wide ranging observations, using a microscope, he first coined the...

In this independent research project, students investigate how cooking pasta affects its properties and see if this is linked to how starch in pasta in altered during cooking. They can investigate the effect of...

Produced by Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), this investigation looks at stomatal opening and closing in Commelina communis (Asiatic dayflower). This is achieved by varying the turgor of the guard cells by bathing lower epidermal peels in solutions of different osmotic strengths. Changes in guard cell...

The Nuffield Advanced Biology Foundation Unit was designed to help students progress from GCSE science to the Nuffield Advanced Level Biology course as it was in the 1990s. Using brief overviews of some of the topics in the Study Guides, this booklet was designed to...

Matter and Change is one of the publication themes of the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme.

One of the most fundamental ideas that students should learn in science is that ‘stuff’ is made from atoms – the enormous variety of different kinds of materials that they see around them arises from a relatively...

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

• Recall that most (but not all) cells are too small to be seen without a microscope.

• Apply the idea that cells have a three-dimensional shape.

• Link...

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

• Use a light microscope to make and record observations of cells from a range of tissues and organisms.

• Apply the idea that organisms are made up of one or more cells...