This task is designed to assess how well students understand calculating the circumference of a circle, working with imperial units.

The task features a ‘Penny Farthing’ bicycle with a big wheel of diameter 52 inches and a small wheel of diameter 18 inches.

Tasks comprise:

• Calculating the...

This classroom resource for secondary computing lessons outlines the history of development of computers. It covers thousands of years of history, including:

• the abacus
• log tables
• the calculators of Pascal and Leibnitz
• Jacquard looms
• Babbage's Difference Engine and...

Supercomputers represent the pinnacle of computer performance. This resource from the University of York provides a fascinating history for students and will consolidate the key concepts that they have learned about high-performance computer architecture.

In these activities, produced by the European Space Agency, students work in groups to create timelines: first, one of their own lives and then one of the main events in the history of the Universe. The activity guides students to calculate the events in the history of the Universe to a scale of one year. Students...

This resource, from the Living in a Materials World CD-ROM produced by Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), describes the achievements of some of the physicists and chemists who have contributed to our scientific understanding of the structure and behaviour...

In this lesson, students will learn about solar system orbits and how asteroids can become dislodged and sent on a collision course with the Earth. They will then conduct an investigation into the relationship between impact speed and crater size in the context of Moon impacts. This activity is differentiated for...

Origami squares are shown with different colours on each side of the paper. Two folds are made and then a hole is punched through all of the layers. The challenge is to determine where the holes appear when the squares of paper are unfolded. This resource is suitable for Key Stage 3 and could be used as an...

This resource, aimed at primary level and linked to the curriculum area of plants, investigates holly leaves. Designed to be used in an outdoor area where holly plants grow, it provides questions about holly leaves which children may investigate, for example, how many...

Students first evaluate existing alarm systems and learn about a burglar’s attitude towards them using a video featuring reformed criminals. They are then briefed to create a working door access and alarm system using a BBC micro:bit and selected input and output components such as LDRs, reed switches, buzzers and...

Reducing energy usage in the home saves money, increases energy security and reduces the need to burn unsustainable fossil fuels. The first step in doing this is monitoring how much energy is...

In this activity children make a compostable plant box and then plant and grow a seed that can later be grown outside. Once children have planted their seeds they can carry out an observation over time to see what happens to their planted seed. They could also go on to investigate what a plant needs to grow in a...

This STEM activity works to develop pupils' knowledge and understanding of sound by giving them the opportunity to make a drum using a range of materials, testing how each material affects the sound. Pupils will then have the chance to make a set of earmuffs using different materials, testing how well each material...

In this Science upd8 activity students analyse information and evidence about homeopathy to decide whether it is based on scientific theory. They then choose the best arguments for and against homeopathy to decide whether they would use it, and whether it should be freely available to all.