This Science upd8 activity offers an opportunity to test students' understanding of the solar system, and their skills as independent enquirers, problem solvers and effective communicators. Students are part of an earth-bound team set the task of interpreting a range of data relating to the solar system/universe....

From NASA, this image presents the approximate sizes of the planets relative to each other. Outward from the Sun, the planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. The planets are not shown at their relative distances from the Sun.

This Science upd8 resource revolves around the topic of the universe. A mission brings space dust back from the tail of a comet. The dust may reveal secrets about the origins of the universe and life on Earth. Students must defend the mission's $200 million price tag and produce a graphic to support their talks. ...

This short activity introduces students to the ideas of the footprint and resolution of an image, asking them to choose and use appropriate methods to calculate how these quantities would change as they moved a camera to a series of vantage points above the surface of the Earth

This podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) looks at what UK farmers are doing to protect the country's vanishing bumblebees, butterflies and other pollinating insects; how scientists are trying to figure out how many types of microbes there are on our...

This resource, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, explores magnetism and how it is used in a compass. It is aimed at key stage 2, but the activities would also be suitable for introducing magnetism to key stage 3.

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These learning objectives were produced to help teachers plan for progression for students aged 11-16, as part of the National Strategies Framework for secondary science.

Components:...

The videos in this collection from teachers TV are aimed at secondary school science practitioners. They contain materials that can be used in the classroom, as stimulus material.

Clips in this section cover a wide range of topics, including:
* astronomy, space and the solar system
* Earth...

In this resource from the European Space Agency, students learn about changes of state of matter using water on the Moon as an example. They interpret data from a pressure vs. temperature graph for water to enable a discussion about how changes of state are different on the Moon compared to what we are used to on...

The growth of plants in space is a keen area of experimentation, including ongoing work aboard the International Space Station. Successful crops will help astronauts to spend longer in space, boosting their healthy diet while reducing the mass of prepared food that must be transported from Earth.

Using a...

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...

From NASA, this activity helps students see the relative distances from the sun of the planets in our solar system. Astronomers refer to the distance from the sun to the Earth as one 'astronomical unit' or AU. This activity demonstrates an easy way to calculate the distances of the other planets from the sun and...

In this activity students take on the role of Earth observation scientists submitting a request for an image they would like for their research. This gives them the opportunity to consider the possibilities of pictures taken from orbit (and the limitations) and to write scientifically for a specific audience. It...

Purpose: Good practical science should include a variety of types of investigation and locations. Digital technology can support activities that involve outdoor work and observations over time, without being disruptive to school routines. 

Teaching approach: In the example described in the link below, data...