Developed with funding from the Department for Education, these video clips show interviews with young professionals working in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) sectors. The films introduce some of the exciting careers that students may access by studying STEM subjects. The professionals...

This activity idea looks at different types of seed dispersal used by plants. Children carefully observe different types of seed head and decide which method different plants use to spread their seeds. They then create a paper spinner to model the dispersal of sycamore seeds and compare this to the way helicopter...

The Young Scientist Investigates topic book on Seeds and Seedlings was published in 1981 and gives information, illustrated by full colour photographs and drawings, about where seeds come from and the variety of flowers which produce them. It describes the growth of new...

A Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC) resource designed to allow pupils, aged 5 to 12 years, to explore the world of seeds and plant growth. All the activities can be used to encourage children to care for and appreciate living things and to think about the world around them. The...

This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). Silicon-based sensors detect photons that we ourselves cannot, and so provide a real extension to our senses. The booklet looks at these...

Each individual blade of grass consists of various tissues, each made of cells in their thousands. In these cells an as yet unknown number of reactions and interactions are constantly taking place. The cells contain different parts known as organelles, which can be thought of as the cellular equivalent of the...

This resource, produced by the Institute of Physics (IOP) and the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), contains a short introduction to medical imaging and how seeing inside your body can help diagnosis. A presentation is accompanied by teachers' notes.

The presentation describes:

A year 11 module from the Salters’ Key Stage Four double award science course. This module deals with radiation and radioactivity, introduced through their uses in medicine, both for diagnosis and treatment. Students simulate non-intrusive tests made by doctors in...

This Catalyst article describes how biophysics is helping in the search for novel antibiotics. Bacteria produce an array of proteins to kill off their competitors. These proteins, called bacteriocins, are very efficient at penetrating the defensive outer layers of bacteria cells by moving through specific membrane...

This resource will let students see pink elephants. When the human eye is exposed to one colour for a relatively long period of time, the cone cells will become saturated with that colour. Once the eye is exposed to a broad range of colours again, the brain will pick up weaker signals from that colour and an image...

In these resources from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), students look at the scientific and factual side of this important aspect of the curriculum. The Key Stage Three lessons look at how plants can be used to clean up contaminated land and the science of acid rain. The Key Stage Four lessons...

In this resource from STFC, students investigate the cutting edge research techniques which are being applied to food science. Powerful x-rays, produced in a particle accelerator known as a synchrotron, are being used to discover what happens at an atomic level when chocolate is made and what changes take place as...

In this section of STFC's Seeing Science, two lessons allow students to explore how scientists work to control the outbreak of a disease. Can anthrax, a deadly disease lead to a cure for cancer? Early results using powerful x-rays produced in a particle accelerator known as a synchrotron suggest that it might....

These resources from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) look at parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. The Key Stage Three resources look at how synchotron radiation is used to look at the structure of proteins and viruses. The Key Stage Four lesson focuses on infrared radiation and its uses,...

In these STFC resources, students discover fascinating facts about materials and their properties. The Key Stage Three resources look at the many different facets of cement. The Key Stage Four resources examine ethics and science of oil drilling, oil being the basis for the plastics industry. The resource also...