This activity allows students to investigate how images are produced from data streams by using first a spreadsheet and then an image-processing program. They then go on to see how the usefulness of such a monochromatic image may be enhanced by using lookup tables and calibration. The materials used focus on the...

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...

Aimed at primary aged students, this STEM project provides a real-life context to explore the health and environmental problems faced by the 3 billion people globally who cook on open fires or traditional cooking stoves. Children are introduced to a family in Nepal and learn about indoor air pollution from their...

This Practical Action resource presents a fun hands-on and brains-on challenge for Key Stages Two to Five.

The problem:...

Stop the spread is a new STEM challenge for students aged 7 to 16. Highlighting the global issue of infectious disease students design, build and test a model of a hand washing device and produce educational materials for children in Kenya to encourage hand washing. It is accredited for the British Science...

This resource, aimed at primary level, helps to develop an understanding of pollination and how flowers attract insects. Linked to the topics of lifecycles, plants and living things and their habitats, it provides an opportunity to identify and name wild flowers, whilst investigating the frequency of different...

This activity supports learning in science and history, using the context of Dr Edward Jenner’s work on developing a vaccine for Smallpox.
Using a wide range of secondary sources of information children find out about different people’s views on vaccination in the early 1880’s. Using this information they can...

This activity supports learning in history and English, using the context of the context of Dr Edward Jenner’s work on developing a vaccine for Smallpox. It introduces the concept of historical evidence and helps children start to use primary and secondary sources to respond to simple history questions. The...

This play explores how other countries provide food for us in the UK and the impact that this has on the environment and local people. A family are transported to various locations in the World in...

This resource consists of three separate activities designed as an introduction to smallpox and the development of vaccinations resulting from Edward Jenner’s ideas, investigations and collection of evidence.  Activity (a) introduces Jenner’s work through the JAMES film. Children then take part in a smallpox...

This teaching package, aimed at Key Stages Two and Three, investigates the science of tree rings (dendrochronology). Linked to the topics of plants and living things and their habitats, it looks at cut tree trunks to determine the age of the tree, how fast it grew and...

This brief activity uses false-colour images of the Columbia glacier to introduce the idea of using sequences of satellite images to monitor change and focuses on the selection of appropriate data for an investigation.

This activity uses satellite images of the Earth to show how a glacier has changed over almost three decades. Children are asked to measure the glacier to find out how much it has changed in size and to compare false-colour images to suggest how this helps us find out more about environmental change. Guidance on...

This activity looks at water consumption on a local and global scale. Students learn about the main water contaminants and various methods of purification and the role of engineers and their approach to design challenges. The resource aims to inspire an interest in water conservation and to introduce students to...