Lasers can be used to heat things up, and also to cool them down. Using carefully tuned lasers, scientists in the UK quantum technology hubs are able to slow atoms down to just a few centimetres per...

This case study describes Dr Ceri Brenner’s research at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories into high power laser-plasma interactions, with a particular interest in laser-driven particle acceleration. Ceri explains why she enjoys her job, what qualifications she needed, what motivates her and what skills she has...

The STEM club from Holy Cross School in Chorley and the North West Local Centre of the Royal Meteorological Society collaborated on a project to launch a balloon into the atmosphere. The balloon was carrying a camera, a GPS transmitter and a radiosonde, an instrument which transmits measurements by radio waves back...

In July 2010, 21 years after the National Curriculum was first introduced, the Wellcome Trust convened a seminar to reflect on the impact of the National Curriculum for science. Presented in this report are views that emerged from the seminar where delegates considered the National Curriculum’s initial development...

This mystery can be used to introduce osmosis and diffusion. 

Two beakers are displayed at the front of the room. Both look identical in that they both contain a plastic zip--lock bag with a starch solution inside. The zip-lock bags are both sitting in a clear solution. What the students don’t know is that...

Produced by the Learning Skills Improvement Service, these materials help to demonstrate effective practice. This case study, by West Nottinghamshire College, looks at the theme of progression through STEM.

This project was designed to develop strategies which would help students to bridge the gap between...

This report aimed to identify practical examples of good practice that promote good behaviour and that can be adopted by all schools. The authors identified aspects of practice that create the right conditions for good behaviour to be learnt. The authors further comment that whilst school staff work hard to support...

Purpose: Although teachers will often teach new practical skills directly, having digital support resources can be very useful. Such resources can be used to reinforce teaching by rehearsing techniques or by providing an aide memoire for rarely used skills.

Teaching sequence: The example provided teaches...

Published in 1947, the aim of this book was to place 'experiments against a background of teaching motives and methods ... [and thus] ...outline a rational way of teaching chemistry'.

This book is a third edition of a...

A podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). In this recording, Richard Hollingham talks to expert seismologist Brian Baptie from the British Geological Survey, who uses musical software to find out if earthquakes are getting more frequent.

Another...

This investigation is to find the thermal conductivity of a poor conductor in the form of a flat disc.  It is linked to specific heat capacity so follows on well from work done at GCSE, and gives students a good opportunity to test their maths skills using a complex equation.

This resource has been provided...