Published in June 2013, this report from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) presents the findings from an investigation into the impact on students of the subject-specific CPD undertaken by teachers at the National Science Learning Centre.

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By using a helical spring and varying the mass on the end of it, students can time the period of oscillation to calculate the acceleration due to gravity.  This can be done by plotting the extension (e) by the time period squared (T²).  This would be good to use computer software to assist with this....

By using a constant head apparatus or similar you will investigate the shape of a water path projected through the gravitational field of the Earth to find the acceleration due to gravity. This would benefit from using slo-mo filming or photography, or even to introduce students to a travelling microscope.

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This investigation uses a linear air track that is tilted to a slope to calculate the acceleration of an object due to gravity.  SUVAT can be used to calculate this value, and datalogging, especially using light gates can be used. Students can also use a protractor to measure angles which can be varied.

This...

From Nelson Thornes, this resource helps students studying physics at post-16, A2 level. They help students to learn how the mass of cosmological objects are measured. Examples include the Earth, the Sun and finally the super-massive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Some of these measurements were made...

Chemists analyse the tiny traces of substances which form a fingerprint. This allows them to determine drug abuse and as well as the age, gender and diet of an individual.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2016, Volume 26, Issue 3.

This Nuffield Working with Science unit was designed to encourage students to study fire in the context of safety at home, fire prevention and the role of the Fire Service.

Guidance for teachers and technicians...

This resource presents some real seismic data recorded before a volcanic eruption and allows students to locate some of the resulting earthquakes by use of graphs and maps.

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This video demonstrates how compressing a gas increases its temperature. A small piece of cotton wool is placed into the bottom of a narrow plastic tube. When the air is rapidly compressed by a piston, the air temperature increases and the cotton ignites. The 'fire piston' can be used to illustrates the transfer of...

This video demonstrates how adiabatic compression of air can produce enough heat to ignite cotton wool.  The auto-ignition temperature of cotton wool is approximately 400⁰C.  The video could be used to explain the way diesel engines work.

This Catalyst article looks at fireworks and their history, how they are made and set off, and what gives them their colours and effects. The basic chemistry used in fireworks is looked at and how they work once the fuse is ignited.

This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2002, Volume 13, Issue 2...

A Catalyst article about the Wright brothers who made the first powered flight. Unlike the try-it-and-see methods used in many of the previous attempts, the Wrights approached the problem of flight in a scientific way and beat the competition. This article looks at the Wright brothers' research and the wing shapes...

This podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) looks at how the famous White Cliffs of Dover could be made of fish poo (at least partially), why one researcher is so interested in dead whales, and why the Japan earthquake was so powerful and devastating....

In this video, Matt describes how he became a fisheries technical officer for the Environment Agency. His job is to monitor river habitats and fish populations, including improving the habitat and restocking fish after any pollution incidents.

The video could be used to introduce units of work including...