In this activity from the Institution of Engineering and Technology, students investigate the properties of different categories of smart materials and decide which kinds of materials might offer the best prospects for a financial investment. Students work in teams and...

In this activity, students explore the questions: What are the main sources of air pollution? What is the impact of transport emissions on air pollution and the natural environment? What can we do to reduce air pollution coming from transport? To what extent can emissions be reduced if solar powered cars instead of...

From NASA, this is a set of high quality images and information about the solar system. The set of materials features the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Earth’s Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, asteroids, comets, meteors and meteorites, the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud, and moons of the solar system...

This activity introduces children to simulations - modelling or acting out real-world, or maybe imaginary, situations. Linking to the teaching of space, it asks what factors need to be considered when simulating the solar system. Out of these, the children then decide what the most important things to include in...

This progression toolkit develops understanding of the key concept of solutions, as part of a topic on substances and mixtures. This key concept helps to build broader understanding about substances and properties, which is one of the big ideas of science education at ages 11-14.

It includes diagnostic...

This resource provides a selection of lesson plans, worksheets and teachers notes relating to sound at Year Four. They include activities which show that sounds are made when objects vibrate and that sounds travel through solids, liquids and gases. They also look at the structure of the ear, how vibrations are...

Tim Peake is a European Space Agency astronaut. This resource gives background to Tim’s training leading up to his mission in 2015/16 to the International Space Station. Tim is shown in survival training, in the swimming pool training for microgravity, and in the centrifuge at the European Astronaut Centre to...

The focus of this activity is on the principle of hydrodynamics through testing boat hull designs in a test tank.

This activity gives students the opportunity to explore and develop their critical thinking and decision making skills through a practical approach....

This Practical Action resource presents a fun hands-on and brains-on challenge for Key Stages Two to Five.

The problem:...

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Identify when an electrostatic force is acting in familiar situations. 
• Describe how objects with a positive or negative charge attract or repel other charged objects.
• ...

This Mathematics Matters case study, from the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, discusses the importance of statistics and computing to developments in medical research. Sequencing the human genome was a fantastic achievement, but it was only the beginning. Now, statisticians are coming up with new...

Produced by Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), this investigation looks at stomatal opening and closing in Commelina communis (Asiatic dayflower). This is achieved by varying the turgor of the guard cells by bathing lower epidermal peels in solutions of different osmotic strengths. Changes in guard cell...

A series of case studies from the Medical Research Council (MRC) which demonstrate the impact of research on society.

There are many factors that influence the healthcare we receive at the doctor's surgery - the story usually begins with discoveries by scientists working in laboratories. Once scientists spot...

This is one of a suite of continuing professional development (CPD) units from the Department of Education covering the five ‘key ideas’ at Key Stage Three (cells, interdependence, particles, forces and energy). It links with the...

This is one of a suite of continuing professional development (CPD) units from the Department of Education covering the five ‘key ideas’ at Key Stage Three (cells, interdependence, particles, forces and energy). It links with the...