These resources, from the Science Year Primary CD-ROM, focus on engaging activities for teaching primary science. Please note that this collection of resources was first published in 2001. Ideas about the teaching of science explanations can change over time, and older resources may require repurposing for use in...

In 2001 the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) funded Science Year in England and Wales. As part of this programme NESTA commissioned the Association for Science Education (ASE) to produce a series of inspiring electronic resources to support science teaching and learning. This rich set...

In this activity children are introduced to safe solar observation. Using everyday materials, the activity provides a step by step guide to create a safe sun viewer. A second activity investigates ‘sunspots’ and looks at how to use binoculars as a projector to see 'sunspots'. ‘Sunspots’ are areas of the sun which...

Professor Saiful Islam is a chemist who never wears a white lab coat. Rather than conduct experiments in laboratories, he uses the world's most powerful computers to produce computer models of the inner, 'atomic' structure of materials used in 'green' energy applications, from the lithium ion rechargeable batteries...

Salt water is denser than freshwater. That is why we float so much more easily in the sea than in a lake or a swimming pool. An object will float if it is less dense than the water surrounding it. Therefore, things float easier in salt water as it is denser than freshwater. This is particularly evident in the Dead...

In this activity aimed at ages 9-10, children solve a problem faced by farmers in Mexico – ‘How to grow strong, healthy plants, that can survive and thrive in difficult conditions’. ...

This activity allows pupils to learn how to analyse samples on Mars. Pupils are given the opportunity to use targeted information to work out what their rovers have found on Mars surface and to think like a geologist as they investigate stratigraphy (layers or rocks) using cakes and confectionary samples. This...

Aimed at primary level, this resource provides a practical context to explore the requirements of plants for life and growth. Children are introduced to the ways in which local communities in Bangladesh successfully grow enough pumpkins for themselves and to sell to provide an income. This leads into an...

A great deal of space exploration is performed by autonomous craft. They have mapped remote planets and even landed to send surface data back to Earth. Satellites have changed the world of communication, earth observation and, through global positioning systems, everyday navigation. This collection, with...

This clip, from Footagevault, could be used for teaching key stage three and four content on energy, electricity and forces, or chemical and material behaviour. The film clip dramatically shows Newton's Third Law of Motion in action, "to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction...". The footage...

Aimed at primary level, this activity pack contains nine activities about bees. The activities link to the curriculum areas of identifying plants and animals, pollination, lifecycles, food chains and habitats. They include: identifying bees and bee pollinated plants, the factors which affect growth and decline in...

Find out how engineers who work in disaster response save lives on a massive scale. This Tomorrow’s Engineers poster and accompanying teacher booklet, activities and a lesson plan will help students to understand the scale and impact of disaster response engineering.

Many types of engineering are employed in...

What is the common link between chocolate biscuits and orangutans? In this activity aimed at ages 8-9, children learn about rainforests, their location, structure and some of the animals and plants that live in them. They look at rainforests in Sumatra and how deforestation has occurred in order to grow oil palm...

This resource supports learning about animals, including humans at primary level. Children are introduced to the banded mongoose, an animal which uses its sense of smell to recognise other banded mongooses. They then play a game to test how good they are at using smell to identify each other. Finally, they explore...

These resources, provided by The AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust, include materials produced as part of The Cambridgeshire SEN Science Project which brought together a group of special schools and developed a scheme of work and an assessment/recording framework for...