Produced by Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), these materials look at the work of the plant biologist, Julian Ma. Through seeing how natural and genetically-modified plants can produce medicines, students gain a greater understanding of the career opportunities...

Produced by Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), these materials look at the work of product manager, James Seymour. Through investigating organic food crops and horticulture, students gain a greater understanding of the career opportunities available in plant...

Produced by Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), these materials look at the work of plant research scientist, Beverley Glover. Through activities based around plant adaptations, students gain a greater understanding of the career opportunities available in plant...

Understanding the osmotic potential of plant cells is a key part of understanding...

This Unilever Laboratory Experiment, published in 1966, describes the use of steam distillation to separate oil from crushed cloves. The method for extracting the eugenol from the oil used carbon tetrachloride (tetrachloromethane) and so would need to be modified before this could now be done in schools and...

Two lessons from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)'s Seeing Science in which students look at how some plants absorb heavy metals. The lessons include an experiment to measure the amount of copper absorbed by lettuce and radish plants. In another activity, students use evidence cards and a map to...

This mystery can be used to introduce osmosis and diffusion. 

Two beakers are displayed at the front of the room. Both look identical in that they both contain a plastic zip--lock bag with a starch solution inside. The zip-lock bags are both sitting in a clear solution. What the students don’t know is that...

This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). Electromagnetic waves show a huge range in terms of frequency and wavelength, but the same basic principles underlie wave behaviour:...

This activity, produced by Solar Spark, uses "magic dye", a mixture of three different dye molecules. The mixture contains a yellow disperse dye, a direct blue dye and an acid red dye. When a fabric is put into the mixture, the dyes only attach to the types of fabrics they can bond well with. For example, the blue...

From Solar Spark, this simple activity allows students to make a spectrometer using a card box and a compact disc. The compact disc acts as a diffraction grating and splits the light being observed into its constituent wavelengths. This gives the colours of the rainbow when viewing white light. This type of...

Produced by Solar Spark, this activity allows students to make a photovoltaic cell in the school laboratory. A solar cell uses light from the sun to produce electricity. A type of solar cell, called a dye-sensitised solar cell (DSSC), can be made. This type of cell is cheaper than other solar cells, and is now...