This early edition of the Computing at School (CAS) newsletter includes articles on Scratch programming and curriculum structure in lower secondary school. Also, videos showing the importance of maths in computer science are highlighted.

With this simulation, students build an understanding of solution concentration by varying amounts of solute, solvent, and solution. Experimenting with several different chemicals in solid and concentrated solution form, students can develop qualitative and quantitative relationships.

Learning objectives...

The idea of a concept cartoon, can be used to assess children’s ideas at the start or end of a topic. Look at the snowman’s coat concept cartoons, which misconceptions do you think children will have about thermal insulation? Think about the next science topic that you will be teaching and find out the...

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 concept cartoon, from the Association for Science Education (ASE), is focusing on food and vegetarianism. Concept cartoons provide a new approach to teaching, learning and assessment in science, they feature cartoon-style drawings showing different characters...

This concept cartoon, provided by the Association for Science Education (ASE), focuses on light. Concept cartoons provide a new approach to teaching, learning and assessment in science, they feature cartoon-style drawings showing different characters arguing about everyday situations. They are designed to intrigue...

This concept cartoon, provided by the Association for Science Education (ASE), is focusing on weather forecasting. Concept cartoons provide a new approach to teaching, learning and assessment in science, they feature cartoon-style drawings showing different characters...

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This practical activity allows students to explore how nature creates calcium carbonate, a compound needed to manufacture cement, at ambient temperatures and using abundant, readily available raw materials. The cement used in concrete is manufactured from calcium carbonate, which is extracted from open-pit mines....

Concrete Canvas is an example of a deployable structure. It is a flexible, cement-containing fabric that hardens on contact with water to form a thin, durable, waterproof and fire-resistant concrete layer. Essentially, it’s concrete on a roll. Applications include erosion control and building vent walls in mines....

This downloadable video is part of the multimedia package Stuff and Substance, developed by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). It can be used to show water condensing out of the air. A pure sample of water is normally in the liquid state at room temperature, but water particles can remain separated...

This short film from the Technology Enhancement Programme (TEP) is one of a series of clips which were produced to demonstrate the properties and use of a range of smart materials.

This fabric looks and feels like ordinary Lycra but is highly conductive. It can be cut into narrow strips to form conducting ‘...

This Pedagogics resource uses the following quote from the Chinese philosopher Confucius: "Tell me...and I will forget. Show me... and I will remember. Involve me... and I will understand"

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

• Select a particle diagram to correctly show the rearrangement of atoms during a chemical reaction.

• Interpret the quantitative meaning of a chemical equation.

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