A number of scenarios are presented to encourage debate around genome sequencing. All teaching materials are provided.

• The interaction of genetic and environmental factors in influencing phenotype
• Ethical implications of genetic screening

Curriculum links:

• Sequencing...

From the Integrating Mathematical Problem Solving project by Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI), this activity for post-16 students demonstrates that the efficiency of a river can be measured using the hydraulic radius; this depends on the cross-sectional area of the river and the wetted perimeter of the...

Published by the Wellcome Trust, the 'Big Picture' explores issues around biology and medicine. The Earth's climate is changing ever faster, and human activities play a role in speeding up this change.

The Earth’s climate is changing. In fact, it has always been...

This field study provides the opportunity for students to use ecological survey techniques and conduct investigations to understand how the environmental (abiotic) conditions in a habitat can affect the presence and distribution of organisms. The resource provides a practical investigation of the relationship...

The main aim of this resource is for students to understand some of the conflicts surrounding land use in the UK – particularly the conflicts between economic incentives, society, and environmental conservation. The resource also provides a practical introduction to the complexities of managing habitats, with a...

The main aim of this resource is for students to understand the impact that roads can have on heathland habitats, both in terms of anthropogenic nitrogen pollution and habitat fragmentation.

The resource provides practical, scientific investigations without the need to organise a field trip. The...

This activity from the Nuffield Foundation introduces the use of moving averages and weighted moving averages to smooth out seasonal fluctuations in UK house prices, enabling the yearly trend to be identified. The data provided is adapted from The Halifax House Price Index spreadsheet and although the arithmetic...

This in-service training pack, from the Centre for Science Education, was developed to help subject leaders to make effective use of the Engineering a Better World resources. The aims of the pack are to:

*enable leading teachers to develop their team's experience and expertise when integrating engineering...

From the Integrating Mathematical Problem Solving project by Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI), this activity for post-16 students shows how regular sampling of a variety of prices is used to get a measure of inflation. There is more than one possible way to do this. A measure of inflation is used to...

This presentation and collection of short activities, from Eurostemcell, introduce basic stem cell concepts and include teacher’s notes with each slide and useful diagrams. The materials include:

 Presentation: Introducing stem cells

• Stem cell biology basics: for post-16 students,...

This resource is an interactive activity which aims to provide an introduction to the lowland heathland habitat. The five topics relating to lowland heathlands covered by the resources include: • The biotic components of lowland heathlands, focusing on plants • The biotic components of lowland heathlands, focusing...

These materials contain a range of activities where students use real genomic data from the Cancer Genome Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute to find mutations in a gene associated with pancreatic cancer. Students mark the locations of the mutations on a gene sequence banner and record the results on...

Linear Programming involves creating a function that represents a real life problem. The aim is to optimise this function given certain constraints. Simple examples of linear programming will have few variables and constraints, however, real life situations will have many more variables and constraints that will...

This is a classroom-based activity from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute that allows students to explore the features of two bacterial pathogen genomes. The aim of the activity is to highlight the role of different genetic components in two strains of Staphylococcus aureus and to identify how these have led to...