This activity from the Nuffield Foundation shows students how to use Kruskal’s and Prim’s algorithms to solve minimum connector problems. A cable TV company wants to lay cables to connect the towns, laying the cable along the roads shown on a map of the Isle of Wight. They want to connect all of these towns to...

This practical activity from the Royal Institution provides students with an understanding of the different ways in which proportion can be expressed. Through a mixture of explanation and practical work, students explore how it is possible to give an accurate quantitative description of colours. Students mix...

From the Integrating Mathematical Problem Solving project by Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI), this activity for post-16 students demonstrates that the acidity of a solution depends on the number of hydrogen ions per litre; the number of hydrogen ions per litre varies so much that a logarithmic scale is...

In this activity from the Nuffield Foundation students use the Chinese postman algorithm, also called the Route Inspection Problem, to solve practical problems. The College Open Day problem provides an introduction to the concept, and asks students to investigate the minimum distance someone would have to travel to...

This resource provided by Siemens, aimed at primary learners, looks at how science, technology and engineering has shaped the way we live. It is divided into four activities which link to aspects of the technology, science and mathematics curriculum.

• The power of steam - The first part...

In this resource students are required to use moving averages to investigate evidence for trends in local temperature change. There are links to the very real political and scientific debates regarding the question of climate change.

Climate Change Overview This brief overview makes...

The Nuffield Foundation provides this activity which students use to create spreadsheets that model what would happen to the temperature of the Earth if there were to be a sudden change in the amount of radiation entering or leaving the planet. Students then investigate polynomial and exponential functions to find...

The Nuffield Foundation provides this resource which shows students how, given a set of measurements along an irregular coastline, it is possible to approximate the area of land which is lost to coastal erosion over a period of time. Coastal erosion A - this activity uses the context of coastal erosion to introduce...

In this resource students deal with the problem of administering doses of a prescribed drug so that the body does not have too little or an excess of the drug. An understanding of half life is required. Students do not need to use more complicated formulae for...

In this activity, primary pupils make use of the theme of the King’s coronation to design a stone garden in the style of a flag or other item to commemorate the event. They will consider the design brief for the criteria, use a template to produce a design on paper, consider the scale for the final display and...

In this resource students are given four coordinate points and asked to find the equation of the lines that connect them. The four lines intersect to form a rectangle- can students find the area of the rectangle?

Each student worksheet contains different coordinate points, but the solutions all have...

This resource, from the Royal Institution, provides students with the opportunity to explore the formation of a parabola through a paper folding activity. Students follow a set of simple instructions which describe how to fold a piece of A4 paper and are asked to describe what shape is produced. The activity is...

This computing resource for primary schools introduces the concept of decomposition through dance. Using combinations of hand-jive, clapping or tutting, the lesson demonstrates how complex sequences of instructions (algorithms) can be broken down into smaller chunks. The children are challenged to look for patterns...

The Nuffield Foundation provides this activity which can be used to review students' knowledge of the derivatives of quadratic and cubic functions and their graphs. The slideshow provides an introduction by considering a quadratic example and a cubic example.

In this resource students are given a quadrilateral with one angle of 60 degrees and varying side lengths- with two of the sides of equal length. The challenge is to calculate the lengths of the diagonals.

Each student worksheet contains a different quadrilateral, but the solutions all have something in...