This starter activity can be used as an introduction to reverse engineering. Using the presentation Earphones and Headphones, students are asked to identify the product and its function. They consider the following questions:

This report looks at how classroom teaching be improved to enhance students’ learning of STEM subjects and improve the uptake of STEM careers. The report draws out key points of interest for senior leaders.

The Ingenious project successfully enabled a range of schools across 26 European countries to effect...

In this Catalyst article the work of archaeologists working on the graves of World War One (WWI) victims is described. The total number of military dead in WWI is estimated at 8.5–10 million. In the mud and confusion, many of the dead did not have proper burials. Many temporary graves were destroyed by later...

This podcast from the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Planet Earth Online collection looks at why scientists are planning on drilling three kilometres beneath the Antarctic ice sheet in one of the most ambitious exploration projects ever undertaken; and how worms that feed on dead whale bones at the...

Each individual blade of grass consists of various tissues, each made of cells in their thousands. In these cells an as yet unknown number of reactions and interactions are constantly taking place. The cells contain different parts known as organelles, which can be thought of as the cellular equivalent of the...

This Catalyst article describes how biophysics is helping in the search for novel antibiotics. Bacteria produce an array of proteins to kill off their competitors. These proteins, called bacteriocins, are very efficient at penetrating the defensive outer layers of bacteria cells by moving through specific membrane...

This report, published by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) in 2008, is based on a survey of ABPI and UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) member companies to review the position three years on from a previous report called Sustaining the Skills Pipeline in the Pharmaceutical and...

The teaching unit ‘A...

Reliance on unsafe drinking water is a significant problem in many areas of the world. This Catalyst article looks at the method of solar disinfection to provide safe drinking water.

UVA from the sun causes a breakdown in cellular functions, and combined with the increased temperature of the water from a...

In this Catalyst article, students at La Sainte Union Catholic School in North London investigate the link between lichen species and air pollution around their school.

Lichens are indicators of changes in air quality; tolerant species replace those which are sensitive to a given pollutant. This effect is...

Teaching and learning...

Starting Games, the first in series of three books of mathematical games from Spectrum written by Dave Kirkby. It was produced mainly for the primary years and those students working at National Curriculum levels one to three. This book contains forty games, each in the form of: • a photocopiable gameboard or score...

This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). In recent years, the development of new magnetic materials has shown extraordinary advances. The remarkable strength of the latest generation...

This book from the SISCON series contains stories of inventions, studies two important modern industries (plastics and microelectronics) and looks at the effects of their developments on society in the 1980s.

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