The Assessment of Performance Unit (APU) was set up in 1975 within the Department of Education and Science (DES) to promote the development of methods of assessing and monitoring the achievement of students at school, and to seek to identify the incidence of under achievement. The APU commissioned research teams to...

The Assessment of Performance Unit (APU) existed to provide objective information about national standards of children’s performance at all levels of ability. Its terms of reference included making the findings available to those concerned with resource allocations within government departments, Local Education...

This resource is a summary of a seminar organised by SCORE (Science Community Representing Education) in November 2009. The seminar aimed to discuss the purpose and methods of assessment of practical work in science. It also looked at the current GCSE specifications and the key philosophical differences of the...

This activity, available in three different programming languages, requires students to ‘dry run’ written code and work out what it does. This is a useful skill for programming, which tests their understanding of assignment and subsequent changes to variables within programs. They step through code and analyse the...

The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB) supports research and education about animal behaviour. It provides support to teachers in schools and colleges in teaching animal behaviour, from primary schools to sixth forms. In addition they provide general advice on behavioural methods, statistics,...

This collection of materials is produced by the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM).
The collection contains three sub collections: Resources for the Primary Mathematics Classroom, Resources for the Secondary Mathematics Classroom and articles from the ATM Journal "Mathematics Teaching".

The...

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) provides a wide range of resources for use by teachers and students. Many of the materials link topics studied in the classroom to their applications in industry and research. In addition to interactive resources across the 5-19 age groups, this...

On 30th June in 1908 the largest asteroid in recorded history smashed into Earth in Siberia. This date is now used as an opportunity to highlight the risks of asteroids to equipment in space and the Earth; and their positive effects such as their role in the formation of the solar system and asteroid impact sites...

In this Space mission themed activity, pupils will observe how seeds grow into mature plants by tracking the development of three unknown seeds. Pupils will also learn to make scientific observations and record data to track the growth of these plants over time before being given the opportunity to interpret and...

In this set of six activities, pupils will investigate which factors affect plant growth, and relate these factors to growing plants in space. They will learn that plants need air, light, water, nutrients and a stable temperature to grow. Children will also observe what happens to plants when they vary some of...

In this set of activities, students will learn about the different components of plants. They will learn which parts of well-known plants are edible and learn the difference between a vegetable, a fruit and a seed. The students will have to imagine and draw the plant associated with the fruit/vegetable/ seed they...

This astronaut logbook introduces pupils to a typical week in the life of an astronaut. It enables pupils to compare an astronaut's diet, exercise, hobbies and clothing with their own. The logbook takes the form of a work book which pupils have to complete whilst learning about the International Space Station and...

This activity includes a game-based approach to measuring reaction speed. Fast reflexes are vital to astronauts who may need to deal with rapidly escalating incidents and high-speed projectiles.

The effect of distraction on reaction speed is investigated – students collect multiple readings and take averages...