This Catalyst article looks at soil composition and the reasons behind protecting soil from turning into dust. The UN Year of Soils highlighted the many ways in which humans rely on soil for much more than growing crops.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary...

A Catalyst article looking at climate change. In particular the science of phenology, the study of the times each year that certain life-cycle events occur, is examined. It involves recording data on when birds migrate, eggs hatch or when leaves change colour. If the climate is changing, the timing of these events...

A Catalyst article following the journey of the space probes Huygens and Cassini, sent to explore Titan, a moon of Saturn. After a seven year journey Huygens was set to fall through the atmosphere transmitting data back to Earth via Cassini so more can be learnt about this distant moon. The article describes the...

This Catalyst article describes discovering hydrothermal vents at ocean sea-beds. Hydrothermal vents form along mid-ocean ridges. A mid-ocean ridge is where the Earth’s tectonic plates are moving apart, usually at a rate of about 6 to 18 centimetres a year. The presence of hydrothermal vents had been predicted by...

A Catalyst article about a Kenyan scientist who is searching for better treatments for malaria, a disease which kills more than a million people in Africa each year. The article also explains some of the challenges of doing science in Africa, where funding is low. Often the illness shows a remarkable ability to...

From Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), this practical activity was developed for Scottish Highers specifications, but the protocol can equally well be used for other specifications. 

Students look at potato cyst nematodes, a serious pest of food crops. This is a good example of parasitism to study as...

Heating accounts for over half of the energy used in homes in the UK. This Catalyst article looks at buildings designed to cut heating demand almost to zero. There are over 70,000 passive houses in Europe – just a few of them in the UK. To be described as ‘passive’, a house must meet strict criteria for energy use...

In celebration of its founder, Fritz Schumacher’s centenary year Practical Action have created Small Is...Challenge. Schumacher’s philosophy was based on the idea that even a small change can have a big impact on people’s lives. The challenge for students is to look at technologies from the last 100 years and...

This Catalyst article investigates the development of better, more energy-efficient solar cells. Every minute enough sunlight strikes the Earth to power our civilisation for a year, yet less than 1% of global energy generation is provided by solar energy. Solar cells convert sunshine directly to electricity, but to...

This Catalyst article describes what it is like to work with laboratory animals, ensuring that they are treated ethically. The article focuses on the career of an animal technician making the point that a degree is not essential to pursue a career in science. There are many positions available each year for lab...

This is one of a suite of continuing professional development (CPD) units from the Department for Education covering the five ‘key ideas’ at Key Stage Three (cells, interdependence, particles, forces and energy). It links with the 2002 Framework for Teaching Science:...

Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic radiation and they penetrate into human tissue. There is still a significant debate about the safety of holding even a low power microwave transmitter next to your brain or keeping it in a trouser pocket. The possibility of...

This report, published by LSIS, describes an action research project carried out by Newcastle College. The main aim of the research was to identify a new approach to teaching which would help engineering students in the learning of calculus. The cohort of students had no previous experience of calculus and the...

This Impact Summary, published in 2015, showed how for the previous ten years the National Science Learning Network had provided teachers, technicians and other educators with high impact, subject-specific professional development in science and other STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics...

This book, published by the Association for Science Education (ASE) and The British Society for the History of Science, celebrates the life and work of Marie Curie and the subsequent developments in radiochemistry.

The book focuses on the development and applications of radiochemistry and is set out in a...