In this Core Maths task, based on a resource developed by the Nuffield Foundation, students are given a large dataset of children’s and young adults’ anthropometric data to use to investigate whether particular sets of data are related. The students are asked to present their findings in the form of a report/...

This video demonstrates how a 19kg flywheel, attached to a 1 metre shaft can be lifted easily when the flywheel is spinning, yet almost impossible when stationary. It appears that the rotation reduces the weight of the...

This primary level activity linked to evolution and inheritance looks at the adaptations of bacteria and how adaptation causes problems when treating a bacterial infection with antibiotics. The occurrence of antibiotic resistant bacteria is caused by evolutionary adaptation, by understanding how the bacteria are...

This Catalyst article describes how bacterial colonies produce antibiotics and explains how their growth depends on the medium they grow on. Over sixty years ago, a Russian soil scientist called Selman Waksman discovered that soil bacteria belonging to the Streptomyces genus produce some very useful...

From the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), this student factsheet looks at the development of antibiotics, how they work, bacterial drug resistance and how the risks of developing resistance to antibiotics can be reduced. BBSRC is a part of Research Councils UK (RCUK).

This lesson links aspects of states of matter to the use of bubbles to deliver drugs to cancerous tissue, and is appropriate to students aged 12- 14. Most children will be familiar with soapy bubbles consisting of gas surrounded by a film of moisture. This lesson looks at the formation of bubbles that contain...

This resource can be used to demonstrate an understanding of the use of anti-caking agents that allow powdered food products to flow more freely through machinery. The action of an anti-caking agent in cocoa powder is investigated in one activity and a case study using real results from an industrial setting...

Produced by Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), this resource encourages students to investigate the effects of various antifungal treatments on the growth of yeast.

This poster looks at the nature of antimatter. One side of the poster discusses Dirac’s prediction and the subsequent discovery of antimatter, in the form of the positron. The difficulty of the storage of antimatter is explained and the use of positrons in medical imaging (PET scanners) is described. The other side...

This resource can be used to demonstrate an understanding of the role of antioxidants in food processing to delay oxidation. A data based activity analyses types of fat in foods and an investigation into the browning of apples under varying conditions allows a quantitative measure of the oxidation reaction. 

In this Triple Crossed activity, from the Centre for Science Education and supported by the Astra Zeneca Teaching Trust, students are provided with a number of images of bones and asked to work in groups to draw what they think the animal would have looked like. They are then provided clues to help build up their...

This article discovers how geneticists are beginning to discover the significance of junk DNA. The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2015, Volume 25, Issue 4.

Catalyst is a science magazine for students aged 14-19 years. Annual...

This historic footage, from Footagevault, was recorded at the top of the Apollo 1 rocket stack shortly after the fire which claimed the lives of the first Apollo astronauts. The film shows how ferociously things burn in a high pressure pure...

This lesson sets the scene for the study of the Lunar Discs, and gets students to think about the contexts and history leading to the collection of the Lunar samples in the loan boxes. By considering the events of the space race, role playing taking a moonwalk, and considering the actions of the astronauts,...

This sourcebook of information and ideas from the Nuffield Junior Science Project is a collection of photographs and descriptions of apparatus designed and made by children and teachers. It was intended for reference and also to give support to teachers who were making...