This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). Much of the energy consumption in the modern world relies on the use of oil, coal or natural gas, and these fossil fuels are non-renewable. Some people believe that biofuels, made from...

From the Integrating Mathematical Problem Solving project by Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI), this activity for post-16 students demonstrates that if a link is suspected between a risk factor and an illness, statistical methods can be used to test whether such a link exists. Topic areas covered are:...

In this biochemistry-based activity students consider why many industrial chemical reactions are being catalysed by enzymes. They find out about an important coenzyme, NADH and act in role as industrial chemists by evaluating the different ways of recycling it.

This SATIS Revisited resource looks at the environmental and ecological consequences of further expansion of biofuel crops due to deforestation, biodiversity and landscapes.

Biodiesel is a fuel derived from biomass (...

Linked to cutting edge research, these resources are designed to be delivered as either a maths or science lesson.  There are four lessons which can be used separately:

• Strategic sampling – find the infected ash tree with vectors
• Observing behaviour – measuring bee flight using Pythagoras’...

This resource looks at how biomimicry enables engineers to take ideas from the natural world to develop new products and designs. The specific example of gecko tape is used to illustrate this. Students play a game of pairs where they need to match technology with the animal or plant which inspired its development....

The Bionic Boy resources take inspiration from the Born to Engineer video from Ben Ryan, who is working to develop low-cost 3D-printed prosthetic limbs for young children and babies. Through discussion and practical activity, this resource supports students to increase their understanding of engineering through...

This resource, from the Association for Science Education (ASE), provides two stimulating activities for students to explore protein electrophoresis: proteins in seeds and proteins in fish.

Proteins in seeds: A multicultural context - are there different proteins in different seeds such as lentils in dahl...

This Nuffield Working with Science unit aimed to draw on the popularity of bird watching to develop skills of observation and investigation.

Guidance for teachers and technicians appears in...

This series of spotter sheets are useful when identifying living things in their habitats at different times of the year. They contain sheets for different species and types of bird and birds found in different habitats. The...

This task assesses understanding of scatter diagrams. A scatter diagram is presented that shows the lengths and widths of the eggs of some American birds.

The task involves plotting additional points on the diagram, describing correlation, interpreting a point on the diagram, and estimating the width of an...

This task assesses scatter diagrams and lines of best fit.

A scatter diagram is shown of the length and width of birds eggs. There follows a series of five short tasks on:

• Plotting an additional data point
• Making a statement about correlation
• Making an estimate of width from a...

In this resource from CensusAtSchool. students compare data on month of birth from 45,000 South African students given in a table to the same data represented in a bar chart. Students are asked to consider reasons for month of birth and why it is appropriate to use percentages for large data sets.Students are then...

This Licence to Cook practical session is about baking biscuits, both savoury and sweet. During the session, students will make either Cheese straws or ANZAC biscuits.

The session aims to improve students’ knowledge of flour based products and act as a reminder for the safe use of the cooker. It can be used...

In this activity, students are challenged to produce a scatter diagram consisting of ten points that give a product moment correlation coefficient of exactly 0.99. Students are expected to appreciate that the points will lie almost exactly on a straight line with at least one point being slightly out. The answer...