Bacteria are one of the simplest forms of independent life with no nucleus or membrane bound organelles. These animations, from the Wellcome Trust, show that, despite this apparent simplicity, bacterial diseases pose a profound threat to world health. The animations are suitable as a lesson starter, to introduce...

A Year Ten module from the Salters’ double award GCSE science course. This module deals with interactions between species in ecosystems. Students are shown how stable conditions lead to a natural balance in populations and how human activities can disturb this balance....

This resource from Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is a practical, classroom activity that allows the students to make a balloon model of a disease-causing bacterium. This illustrates its basic shape and structure. Students can choose from three bacteria species...

In this activity, students consider the evidence for causal links between sugar consumption, obesity and disease. They then weigh up arguments for and against banning sugary drink sales to children.

Curriculum links include:

Key Stage Three:

*Working Scientifically: Analysis and evaluation –...

This article from Catalyst looks at the ageing process in bananas. As bananas age, spots develop on their skins. These contain fluorescent substances which can be seen with a UV torch.

The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2014, Volume 25, Issue 2.

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This manual, from the Microbiology Society, provides a basic introduction to microbiology, aseptic technique and safety.

Part 1 of the book includes information on good microbiological laboratory practice, equipment, preparation of culture media, sterilisation and disinfection, inoculation, aseptic technique...

A Catalyst article about biologists looking for patterns in the distribution of barnacle species on the sea shore. Barnacles are arthropods which live as tiny larvae in the sea and then cement themselves, head down, on suitable rocks, build a shell, poke their legs out of the top of it and start to filter feed. The...

This practical activity explores beak adaptations in bird populations and looks at the way in which variation in beak shape is related to the available food sources within an environment.

Students simulate bird feeding by using a ‘beak’ to collect food and place it into a stomach. There are four different...

A Catalyst article about Darwin's travels on the Beagle which gave him ideas about evolution. Darwin spent almost five years on board HMS Beagle as it sailed around the world. The purpose of the voyage was to map navigation channels around the coast of South America. Darwin was the ship’s naturalist and companion...

Produced by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) as part of their 'At Work With Science' series, this resource looks at a hypothetical, but realistic, project aimed at producing a new way of treating bacterial infections. In this activity, students first consider what features are important...

Amy is an ecologist working with the Forestry Commission. Amy is very frank in the video about her school history, describing her school reports as "less than shiny", and the video conveys how applied scientific research focuses her naturally curious nature.

In the video Amy describes how she writes computer...

The materials provide teachers with examples of different enquiry types, e.g. classifying and identifying, developing systems, and pattern seeking.  The booklet provides an overview of the enquiries and the particular approaches used. Scientists use many different ways to collect evidence, but a survey undertaken...