In this resource, students use their STEM skills to help them design and build a model of a flood- proof house. Activities to help them with their design include testing materials (for strength and absorbency) and structures. Set on a fictitious island coping with the devastating effects of flooding caused by...

This resource pack, aimed at primary learners, links to the topic areas of properties of materials, adaptation and life processes by looking at birds and the nests they build.

An introductory presentation looks at the reasons why birds build nests, different types of nests, where they are found and the...

This book and accompanying teacher guide focus on the story of a young girl and her passion for saving water. The story follows the journey of an ordinary schoolgirl in the UK, who transforms into a water superhero when a DRY summer is followed by a DRY winter. The teacher guide provides eight linked activities...

This challenge enables pupils to model and test filters as a way of making dirty water cleaner. It can also be used to explore ways of making water safe to drink.  Curriculum links include separation techniques and pure substances.

The challenge can provide a focus for National Science and Engineering Week,...

This challenge, from Practical Action, requires students to design and build a model structure that will enable farmers to grow crops even in an area that may become flooded. A floating garden, built on a base of aquatic weeds, is a low cost and sustainable way of allowing people to grow vegetables. The resource...

The poster ‘Plant Pathogens – Identification’ illustrates diagnostic tests that are commonly used to identify plant pathogens in the lab and in the field.

The poster is accompanied by a presentation, which can be used as a step-by-step walkthrough of the ideas in the poster.

The poster ‘Plant Pathogens: Control’ illustrates the many ways that we control plant pathogens, from polyculture farming to controlling the import of plants.The poster is accompanied by a presentation, which can be used as a step-by-step walk-through of the ideas in the poster. Full teaching notes are given,...

Can understanding photosynthesis help save thousands of lives a year?

This poster and accompanying article introduce C3 and C4 photosynthesis in the context of food security and genetic modification.

Rice biologists have a problem. Rice is a staple food for more than half the world’s...

This issue of Big Picture provides lots of interesting information about flowering plants and their uses. 

The plant hormones animation explores the action of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and shows how scientists used experimental evidence to explain the role of auxins in a phototrophic response.

The...

This resource contains a series of lessons which are designed to extend students’ knowledge and understanding of plastics and plastic waste on a global scale. Linking to materials and their properties, the environment, recycling and design and technology, they contain investigations and activities aimed at both...

This cross curricular resource explores the difference that growing pumpkins can make to the lives of people living in flood affected regions in Bangladesh. It includes finding out about Bangladesh and its people and ways to address poverty, investigating the pumpkin lifecycle and seed germination, designing and...

In celebration of its founder, Fritz Schumacher’s centenary year Practical Action have created Small Is...Challenge. Schumacher’s philosophy was based on the idea that even a small change can have a big impact on people’s lives. The challenge for students is to look at technologies from the last 100 years and...