This item is one of over 25,000 physical resources available from the Resources Collection. The Archive Collection covers over 50 years of curriculum development in the STEM subjects. The Contemporary Collection includes all the latest publications from UK educational publishers.

A Beginner's Guide to Circuits...

A Catalyst article about Darwin's beetle collection - an early step in his scientific career. Beetle-collecting was something of a craze in the early 19th century; at the same time, scientific understanding of these creatures grew rapidly. The well illustrated article looks at Darwin's work in this field.

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A Bridge too Many, from the Centre for Science Education, is a set of teaching materials which offer a cross-curricular approach to learning about engineering. The context for the activities is a challenge based on a large model bridge that has been pre-constructed using prefabricated components, with weak pins...

This poster, from the Science and Technology Facilities Council, celebrates 100 years since two scientists in the UK pioneered a technique for crystallography.

Crystallography uses x-rays to create a diffraction pattern to examine the atomic structure of crystals. The poster explains Bragg’s Law, which...

A Catalyst article about how the scanning by an electron microscope of pollen grains shows up their structure, and can help scientists understand why some people suffer from an allergic reaction - hay fever. The article describes how the images were made and how they are used in scientific research.

This...

The aim of the Children’s Learning in Science Project (CLIS) was to discover how to use a constructivist approach to teach selected topics, and translate this into materials which could be used by teachers.

These are...

Published in 2006 by the Scottish Government, this report looks at the progress towards a Curriculum for Excellence. It was designed to present ideas and stimulate discussion between stakeholders in education within Scotland.

The Curriculum for Excellence considers how and what children and young people...

This animated clip explains how Mercury rotates in around 59 Earth days to rotate but only takes 88 Earth days to orbit the Sun (the length of its year). So Mercury spins three times for every two orbits, which means each Mercury day lasts for two Mercury years. This means, living on Mercury, you would celebrate...

Published in January 1980, this report sets out preliminary views on the form that a framework for the proposed National Curriculum should take and the ground it should cover. The ideas were presented to start a consultation process, leading to a curriculum that would apply to schools nationally and promote...

In this video, from Rolls-Royce, students can see what it is like to work in a company that develops and manufactures high technology products. The video includes comments and descriptions from a group of young people visiting Rolls-Royce. The video includes sections on: * The manufacture of hollow titanium fan...

A Godlike Heart is a short story about computational thinking, introducing the idea of using binary to represent different kinds of information. Set in ancient Mexico it follows the story of the kidnapping of and subsequent search for the daughter of a great “Jaguar Knight”, a general in the Mexican army.

It...

In this case study, from the Centre for Science Education and the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust, Sarah Williams and Matthew Bailey, from King Ecgbert School in Sheffield, share their experience of creating an interactive activity to help students with special educational needs to understand food webs and the...

This Catalyst article is devoted to brine shrimps. It examines their life cycle and food chain and also provides some advice on how to keep and care for them.

This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2003, Volume 13, Issue 4.

Catalyst is a science...

This Catalyst article describes a film which has been made to provide a range of reasons for students to study science. During the film high profile scientists, writers and teachers describe how science provides the technologies which are used in everyday life, how it can protect the environment and how it protects...