This activity uses Rutherford’s gold foil experiment to show how a scientist carried out an experiment to test a theory and how the unexpected results led to the proposal of a new one.  Students carry out a process of observe, hypothesise, test and conclude in order to work out what a mystery object is.

In this mystery, students make a hypothesis based on the old saying that a rotten egg floats when put in fresh water, and fresh eggs sink.   This is a good investigation to discuss margin of ...

This resource looks at how mystery objects can be used in class to introduce a topic, introduce new scientific equipment or vocabulary, or to explore changes in science and technology over time. Ideas are provided for effective questioning and how to structure the activity.

Students...

This series of activities from NASA are based on a weekly series of space science problems distributed to teachers in the United States, from 2004 to 2010. They were intended for students aged 9 to 19 looking for additional challenges in the mathematics and physical science curriculum. The problems were created to...

The National Non-Food Crops Centre (NNFCC) promotes the use of renewable energy, feedstocks and materials in sectors such as energy, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and construction. These factsheets provide concise information on the work of the Centre and investigate a wide range of topics including:

• ...

Produced by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), these naked Scientist podcasts look at physics questions in an amusing but also informative way.

The oldest light in the Universe • The Planck mission which measures the cosmic microwave background. • Mapping the surface of...

A Catalyst article about nanotechnology, the science of building tiny devices. Opinions differ on the use of nanotechnology, one school of thought is that it will be the answer to many of the biggest challenges in medicine, electronics and defence, another is that it will lead to opening up a dangerous world of...

This guide, from the National Strategies, considers the differences in educational outcomes of girls and boys with the the clear trend of girls outperforming boys at all levels and more women than men graduating from universities and with 'better' degrees. The purpose...

The purpose of this National Strategies guide is to support science teachers and subject leaders to establish how well students are doing in science at all stages of their secondary education and to give ideas as to how any emerging issues can be addressed as part of a...

Natasha is a researcher studying meteorites at the Natural History Museum.  She examines meteorites to tell us more about the history of the solar system and the origins of life on Earth. 

There are two cuts of the video – one aimed at primary aged children, and one for secondary.

Primary:

In this publication, the Assessment of Performance Unit (APU) set out how it was to approach the assessment of science teaching and learning in schools. The APU was set up to promote the development of method of assessing and monitoring the achievement of children at...

The National Association for Environmental Education promotes environmental education and helps educators improve the quality of their teaching and their students' learning, in relation to environmental and sustainability issues.

This collection of resources looks at how environmental education can be...

This collection offers a selection of videos and career profiles to highlight the breath of STEM careers available. Some of the resources include experiments and classroom activities linked to the career theme, such as the Brian Cox school experiment...