This Catalyst article describes the work of scientists detecting changes in the oceans. The working lives of three oceanographic scientists who are investigating the Gulf Stream are examined, as is the requirement for them to work closely with experts in other fields, such as: engineers, software developers and...

In this set of two activities, pupils will develop their understanding of seasons and the basic mechanism behind the different seasons on Earth. Pupils will learn that trees look different at different times of the year due to seasons, that seasonal changes can be seen from space and how to analyse images and...

A podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). With efforts to improve energy efficiency focused on green transport, sustainable power generation, growing your own food and reducing waste, it is often easy to forget that the very buildings we live and work in...

In this resource, from the Association for Science Education (ASE) students can develop their understanding of the interaction between living things and their environment by comparing the conventional use of agrochemicals with organic production.

This resource includes a number of activities to support...

A podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Does your shopping basket contain chocolate, biscuits and shampoo? If it does, you may be unwittingly contributing to the destruction of the some of the world's pristine rainforests.

Manufacturers now use...

Glaciers exposed to particulate matter (pollutants) undergo changes to their surface reflectivity. This phenomena called albedo leads to an increased heat absorption at the surface of the ice and as a result an acceleration in the melting process. This resource includes a practical activity that models the effects...

This resource, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, challenges students to explain the phases of the Moon by linking the movement of the Moon around the Earth with our perspective from Earth of light and shadow on the Moon.

The two files are identical, apart from the curriculum links stated in the teachers...

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

• Identify natural ways in which rock can be physically broken up.           
• Identify natural ways in which rock can be eroded.    
• Describe the difference between...

Physics and the Earth Sciences for Middle Schools is one of the titles in the series of ASE Lab Books that were published in the early 1970s for the Association for Science Education by John Murray. Each title covered one or two topics and brought together the best of...

In this activity developed by the Institute of Physics, students use iron and sand to model the composition of the Earth and estimate what fraction of the Earth is occupied by its iron core. After completing this activity, students should be able to: *Measure mass and volume. *Calculate density from mass and volume...

Planet Earth podcasts, from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and hosted by Planet Earth online, cover a variety of topics about the world around us. Each podcast reports on two to four different stories, describing research projects and studies, dangers to the environment and wildlife, and proposed...

These resources from the European Space Agency climate change initiative education resource pack allow students to learn about how the ocean circulation has an impact on the climate. This redistribution of heat around the Earth 'planetary heat pump' supplies warmer water to the poles and influences the rate at...

A podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Scientists recently found plastics floating in some of the most remote and inaccessible seas in the world, just off the coast of Antarctica. Although it clearly looks ugly in such a pristine environment,...

This resource provides a lesson plan describing how to use slow motion animation (slowmation) to teach plate tectonics. It gives ideas on how to deliver the task along with the key questions to ask to ensure understanding and suggested software to use for the animation.

The research summary discusses how...

In this activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, students use real data, taken from a scientific paper, to plot the rotational curve of M31 (Andromeda), our neighbouring spiral galaxy. They will look at Kepler’s third law to predict the motion of stars around the centre of M31. They will then measure the...