This multimedia package was developed by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme to provide teachers with clear and consistent ways of talking about energy. Energy is a particularly difficult concept to explain. These resources aim to cut through the confusion that often surrounds the energy concept, and examines...

This simulation allows students to learn about conservation of energy with a skater dude! Students can explore different tracks and investigate the relationship between the kinetic energy, potential energy, and thermal energy of the skater. They can also build their own tracks, ramps and jumps for the skater.

Produced by the Wellcome Trust, this issue of the Big Picture looks at the physiology and sociology of exercise and movement.

For humans, movement is for more than just basic survival. They move for fun, to compete and to be healthy. This resource looks at the biological systems that keep humans moving and...

The generation of energy with solar power plants in the desert is a highly controversial issue. In this activity students consider the questions: Which arguments do the opponents and the proponents put forward? To what extent do solar power plants have the potential to contribute to meeting Europe’s energy needs?...

In this activity students consider the questions: Which components of food are healthy and which are not? Why should we care about this? What are the effects of the individual components of food on the human body? What do our families eat? What are the likely effects of what we eat? How can we ensure that the...

In this simulation students can see how light knocks electrons off a metal target, and recreate the experiment that spawned the field of quantum mechanics.

[b]Sample Learning Objectives include:[/b]

*Visualize and describe the photoelectric effect experiment.

*Predict the results of experiments...

In this simulation students can hang masses from springs, adjust the spring stiffness and damping, and even slow time. The lab can be transported to different planets and there is a chart which shows the kinetic, potential, and thermal energy for each spring.

[b]Sample Learning Objectives[/b]

*Explain...

This simulation allows students to use an air hockey table to investigate simple collisions in 1D and more complex collisions in 2D. Students can experiment with the number of discs, masses, initial conditions, and can vary the elasticity and see how the total momentum and kinetic energy changes during collisions...

In this activity students consider the questions: How does heat energy move around? How can we model the flow of energy and changes in temperature? What can be done to prevent hypothermia? Why do we need to try so hard to stay at the right temperature? In order to survive and be comfortable in hot or cold...

This simulation can be used to explore how light interacts with molecules in our atmosphere.

Sample learning objectives include:

*Explore how light interacts with molecules in our atmosphere

*Identify that absorption of light depends on the molecule and the type of light

*Relate the...

These downloadable videos are part of the multimedia package Stuff and Substance, developed by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). They can be used to introduce ideas of the energy changes which accompany changes of state.

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...

This concept cartoon explores student's ideas about heat and insulation. A common misconception is that some materials have the property of making things warm. In this case because we have put coats on to keep warm there is a tendency to believe that the coat will also make the snowman warm so that it will melt...

This engineering resource, produced by Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI) for the Royal Academy of Engineering, asks the question: how can you calculate the energy used, or made available, when the volume of a gas is changed? A bicycle pump, a refrigerator and the internal combustion engine change the...

In this activity students make a comparison of conventional and energy saving light bulbs and ask the questions: How can individuals contribute towards the needs of society? Why have traditional light bulbs been abolished by the EU? In Germany, as in many other European countries, conventional light bulbs are to be...