This brief resource provides five ideas for investigating the effects of eutrophication on aquatic plant life. Each activity is based on setting up a range of solutions with increasing amounts of minerals and following the growth of aquatic plants. The resource offers suggestions of how the mineral content could be...

This resource, from the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB), allows students to investigate the behaviour of ants, and includes:

• Background information about British ants.
• A step-by-step approach to the collection and maintenance of some British ants with particular reference to...

This activity from the Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) team at QMUL is an introduction to algorithms suitable for those in upper primary school. A ‘self-working’ magic trick is shown – this is a trick that works every time, as long as the process is followed exactly. No understanding of the trick is needed by the...

A Catalyst article about the astronomer William Herschel who discovered Uranus in 1781. He became the first person since ancient times to identify a new planet. However, he is also known as the ‘accidental’ discoverer of infrared radiation. The article asks is this a fair description and can such discoveries really...

Students check and complete invoices. Students also work with their own data in spreadsheet simulations of invoices.

This resource is part of the Nuffield Maths Level 1 Foundation resource collection.

This article from Catalyst looks at ionic liquids which are a developing area in chemistry. Ionic liquids are liquids which have the potential to provide greener ways of carrying out chemical processes.

The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2014, Volume 25, Issue 2.

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A Catalyst article about iron, a relatively abundant element that humans have made widespread use of since the Iron Age (about 750 BC). The article explores the extraction of iron ore, the chemistry of iron and the blast furnace process.

This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2006, Volume 16,...

This Catalyst article looks into Alzheimer’s disease which affects around 465 000 people in the UK, with the number of sufferers is growing as the population ages. It is a form of dementia that causes cell death in the brain and leads to memory loss and mood swings. The article investigates whether the presence of...

A Catalyst article explaining how new data suggests that it is very unlikely that life ever existed on Mars. When the presence of water was confirmed a few years ago, there was a lot of speculation that at least simple life forms had once lived there as water is essential for every known living organism. The latest...

A Catalyst article examining if there are harmful chemicals in farmed fish. Oily fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines and mackerel contain plenty of protein, vitamins and the right sort of fats. They are rich in omega-3 fatty acids which are released when fats are digested. The human body uses these fatty acids to...

A Catalyst article about the Kepler spacecraft, which is used to look for extra-solar planets. Scientists are hoping to shine light on the age old question of life’s existence elsewhere in the Universe using a new space-based telescope named Kepler. Launched on 6 March 2009, Kepler is searching the sky for small,...

All life forms on Earth are based on organic biochemistry. This activity requires students to analyse an unknown soil sample (just recovered from a space mission to another planet!) and look for signs of possible indicators for life. Curriculum areas covered: • Cell biology • Food tests, including starch, sugar,...

This report identified the alarming disparity between the proportions of students studying mathematics beyond the age of 16.  At that time only one-fifth of pupils in England continued to study maths at any level after achieving a GCSE - the lowest of 24 developed countries. A key recommendation from the report was...