A person is shown exercising using weights whilst lying on a bench.  As the weight is lifted the arms of the person curl around, so that the distance from the bench is not linear with time. As the exercise progresses it takes longer to do each bench press. Finally the weights are placed back on the resting stand....

A person is shown spinning around on a playground ‘carousel’ before getting off and walking away. The task is to graph the distance of the person from the camera against time. The resulting graph has periodicity and non-linear elements. This story can be used as a complement to ‘Distance from centre of carousel’...

A player is shown on a baseball pitch. They run around the bases before returning to the home plate. The speed varies between the different bases. The task is to draw a graph of the player’s distance from the home plate against time. The graph shows linear piecewise sections.

Distance from the home...

Produced by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, this activity takes students through a step-by-step approach to understanding the basic principles of distance-time and velocity-time graphs. Working through the activity will help students to:
* Understand the terms distance, time, velocity and...

This is a modelling activity where students use sampling techniques to determine the distribution and abundance of organisms in a simulated habitat. Students will simulate the mark–release–recapture technique (Lincoln Index) for estimating population sizes of mobile species. 

Curriculum links include: ...

Act 1

Two ditch diggers start digging towards each other...

This challenge enables pupils to model and test filters as a way of making dirty water cleaner. It can also be used to explore ways of making water safe to drink.  Curriculum links include separation techniques and pure substances.

The challenge can provide a focus for National Science and Engineering Week,...

This resource from Farming & Countryside Education (FACE) allows students to investigate how different farmers have addressed the challenge of sustainability, and the solutions they have devised to remain in business despite the serious long-term problems faced by the sector. The farm profiles help the students...

This activity provides a mathematical problem that is solved in a simple way. It relates to the way algorithms are used in search engines and links to problem solving in maths. The context is that of Santa trying to find his socks in one of 1024 boxes, which a clever elf solves for him. Children can then go on to...

This resource, from the Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching, uses diagrams to illustrate division by a fraction and, to clarify the common misconception identified with this task, prompts students to rethink the statement, divide three by one quarter, as the number of quarters that fit into three....

This Catalyst article explores how many mammal species' bodies are adapted to cope with the great pressures involved as they dive to great depths.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2.

Catalyst...

This task is designed to assess how well students understand working with recurring decimals in practical situations.

The task gives students the information that when you calculate 100 ÷ 6 using a calculator, the result is 16. 666666667

They use this information to arrive at answers to a series of...

The first interactive sheet shows fractions where the numerator is 1. The fraction is converted into a decimal by long division and illustrated as the fraction of a circle. The denominator can be altered to be between 1 and 9. The next two sheets also show long division...