Physicists are involved in a wide range of activities, including electronics, energy, space, transport, medicine and materials. Their work can involve designing and conducting experiments, simulating real-life problems and conditions in laboratories, or making a series of observations which are written up in...

Through this challenge, pupils will have the opportunity to explore and understand the everyday life of the Victorians. Pupils will have the opportunity to identify potential problems/areas of Victorian life where an invention could be useful and to use drawing, writing and speech to communicate their invention to...

Purpose: Recording a video clip of motion or colour change is an effective means of generating data, but video can also be created to communicate the methods and findings of a practical science activity.

Teaching approach: Still images, and video clips can be imported into a video editing app, where they can...

Purpose: As an alternative to traditional methods of investigating motion in the classroom, such as ticker tape timers or light gates, it is simpler and cheaper to analyse video clips of the movement of objects. Cameras in mobile phones and tablets can record a brief video which when imported into a video analysis...

These animations from the Wellcome Trust, illustrate that, unable to replicate without using the cellular machinery of more complex organisms, viruses invade and hijack their host's cells, resulting in serious disease.

The animations use the examples of Dengue virus to show how an RNA virus replicates using...

In this video from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), engineers explain the technology behind Wii controllers. Micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) is the technology behind games console controllers and products like air bags. New applications for...

Purpose: Field trips can be difficult to organise in schools and so may be limited in scope and duration. Using virtual reality technology, it is possible to supplement a field trip with observations from other sites, to broaden the context studied.

Teaching approach: Once students have analysed data from...

This investigation can be linked to density which is taught at GCSE and show how this is built on.  The aim is to determine the coefficient of viscosity of a viscous liquid such as glycerol, but this could be expanded to different liquids.

This report, from the Royal Society, expresses the belief that science and mathematics are at the heart of modern life and provide the foundations for economic prosperity and explains the Royal Society’s ambition for the next twenty years of science and mathematics education. That it should enable people to make...

Through investigations of the eye and vision, students can learn about a wide range of topics, including homeostasis, the electromagnetic spectrum, behaviour, physiology and cell biology.

This resource provides novel practical ideas that can be carried out in class and instructions on carrying out eye...

These two guides from Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) help teachers to plan and organise school visits to CERN in Geneva and the Isaac Newton group of telescopes on La Palma in the Canary Islands. The guides give great reasons to visit, explain what services and support would be offered to school...

Astronauts, and especially spacecraft commanders, must take in a huge amounts of information from displays and screens. Small changes in this information might indicate important changes that should be addressed, and missing the signs may have important consequences.

This simple activity challenges students...