This activity shows how Earth observation can be used to study human geography by comparing the satellite images of Las Vegas over the last few decades. Linking to measurement of irregular areas and addition and multiplication of fractions, it asks children to measure the area of Las Vegas at three separate times...

This Science upd8 activity draws on Titan which is the biggest of Saturn's moons.

There are two student activities; one involves labelling a diagram to tell students on Earth about the nature of Titan.

The other asks students to take the role of Titanian space explorers and use data to compare the...

This resource, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, challenges students to explain the phases of the Moon by linking the movement of the Moon around the Earth with our perspective from Earth of light and shadow on the Moon.

The two files are identical, apart from the curriculum links stated in the teachers...

In this lesson, students apply their knowledge of reaction rates, and structure and bonding, to an exciting new context – the chemistry of interstellar space. Having watched an engaging animation, students work in groups to find out about the nature of interstellar space and its atoms, ions, and molecules. They...

Comets are considered to be time capsules containing information about the conditions of the early Solar System. In order to understand what comets are, where they come from, and their influence on the evolution of Earth, it is necessary to find out what material they contain. This teacher demonstration and student...

Students will begin by comparing the range of temperatures on the Earth, Mars and the Moon, using the student worksheet ‘Temperature: from one extreme to another!’ They will have to plot the temperature over a ten-day period from 4 September to 13 September, as measured by three different craft that landed on the...

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...

In this activity children take on the role of Earth observation scientists submitting a request for an image they would like for their research. This gives them the opportunity to consider the possibilities of pictures taken from orbit (and the limitations) and to write scientifically for a specific audience. It...

These activities, produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, challenge students to look at tabulated data and produce a suitable graph to emphasise the key findings of the data. Tables of information are supplied on different topics including human physiology, atmospheric composition on different planets and...

In this series of activities from the Science Museum, students understand the carbon cycle, how it has been affected by our use of fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution and how this underlies current worries about climate change. Students gain an atom's eye view of the carbon cycle and play out how the...

This resource, provided by Anne Watson, Els De Geest and Stephanie Prestage, describes how a group of ten teachers taught low attaining groups in secondary school, and what features were seen to be important. The teachers had a shared commitment to improving the attainment of their lowest attaining students by...

NASA's Viking Mission to Mars was composed of two spacecraft, Viking 1 and Viking 2, each consisting of an orbiter and a lander. The primary mission objectives were to obtain high resolution images of the Martian surface, characterize the structure and composition of the atmosphere and surface, and search for...

In this activity, children learn that a shooting star or meteor is a piece of rock that lights up as it travels through the Earth’s atmosphere. They also work scientifically to investigate how craters are formed when a meteor...

Work done in this Nuffield 13 - 16 module followed from the S unit called ‘Cars on the move’. This X unit provided enough material for eight double periods. It could be selected to complete either a Science or a Further Science course. The teachers’ guide included seven...

In this lesson, students apply their knowledge of chemical kinetics, spectroscopy, and structure and bonding, to an exciting new context – the chemistry of interstellar space. Having watched an engaging animation, students work in groups to find out about the nature of...