Issue 39: It's in the News! Space Junk

This activity from the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) Primary magazine takes the issue of space junk as its central theme. There are opportunities to develop and understanding of time and time zones, probability, mass, speed and large numbers relating to distances.

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Paxi Explores the Moon

This short animation film joins Paxi as he explores the moon. Paxi travels back in time to the creation of the moon, before jumping forward to introduce humankind’s many missions to the moon. Finally Paxi discuss’ what humans would need to survive on the moon for extended periods of time. This video, produced by...

Lunar lift off

In this lesson, students will consider the differences in gravity between the Earth and the Moon and the meaning of mass, weight and gravity. They will then use stills from footage of the Apollo 17 Lunar lift off to calculate the speed during the initial ascent.

Curriculum links:

• Reading and...

Dinner Party in Space

As part of the The Great British Space Dinner competition, celebrity chef, Heston Blumenthal, asks us the question, “Can you have a dinner party in space?”. Heston explains that, in the weightless environment on the International Space Station, you cannot have foods that can float around and get into people eyes...

What is gravity and how is it calculated?

This resource, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, introduces students to how our understanding of gravity has changed over time, and what this means for the gravitational field strength of different bodies in our galaxy.

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Reasons for the Seasons

This resource, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, is a video that explains why the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere experience different seasons at the same time. It uses clear diagrams and animations to demonstrate how the tilt of...

Our Earth under threat

This activity is designed as a ‘virtual mission’. Students will play the part of Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) scientists to the scenario of a possible asteroid impact with the Earth. By following the story of the mission (led by an automated powerpoint), students will apply their understanding of kinetic energy,...

Following the astronauts

This lesson is designed to introduce students to the Apollo missions and set the scene for the Lunar samples by investigating the landing sites where some of the samples in the Lunar disk came from. Students will use Google Earth to explore the Apollo 15 landing site, finding out information about the samples...

ATV – Albert Einstein

With the aid of animations, in this video, Anu Ojha explains Einstein’s theory of Special and General Relativity. Special Relativity tells us that the speed of light is constant, and therefore the measurements of space and time will change from the perspective of different observers. General Relativity tell us...

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

From the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the 'Big questions, big experiment' wall chart describes the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It looks at the "big questions" about our Universe that scientists are trying to answer, and how the amazing LHC will help them to do so. The 'Tunnel to the...