This outreach programme aimed to build upon good practice from the Royal Society of Chemistry's (RSC) project Chemistry for our Future, and to develop new activities which could then be used with the RSC’s Spectroscopy in a Suitcase (SIAS) equipment. It explored appropriate contexts which may appeal to students...

The aim of this investigation is to measure the wavelengths in a spectrum of gas e.g. sodium or cadmium. It is expected that the students will calculate the wavelengths of a number of lines in the first order spectrum.

A different investigation to calculate the speed of sound in air using an air column in a tube.  Very easy to set up and take measurements, which is ideal for a class practical.

This video links well to the Scalars and vectors resource.  It explains the difference between speed and velocity in more detail by introducing velocity as the rate of change of displacement (as opposed to distance).

The equation v = ^s/...

This video poses a problem of a spinning tube which has an X and O written on either end.  If the tube is spun from the X end only an X is seen.  Likewise, if the tube is spun from the O end only a O is seen.

A camera is placed underneath a glass table and students asked to predict what would be seen if the...

In this podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Sue Nelson hears about the birth of an ocean in the Afar depression in the Horn of Africa. The continental crust is being ripped apart at a phenomenal rate – one metre every year over the last five years. In...

A Catalyst article looking at which type of radiation is absorbed and emitted through spectroscopy. This is the study of the wavelengths of light which allows us to identify the substances present in the source. This investigation provides a lot of useful information about a compound. It is used in a very wide...

This video shows how pulling a rope wound around the inner core to the right of a spool creates a torque that must move the spool also to the right.  Whereas doing the same experiment with a toilet roll has the opposite effect.  The roll moves in the opposite direction because the paper is attached to the outside...

This Nuffield Working with Science unit was designed to give the student the opportunity to work scientifically and to acquire some of the positive attitudes associated with informed opinions and the use of objective argument based on evidence. It was also hoped that...

Chris Holmes is a sports technologist for sports equipment manufacturer Adidas. This Department for Education clip is useful in showing students how a career such as this relies on a background of STEM study. Chris describes how he specialises in the development of sports balls. His job is to investigate the best...

Teaching and learning...

This podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) looks at how hikers and walkers could be unwittingly changing the landscape by spreading alien species; what it's like to work as a marine biologist in the Arctic in temperatures of minus 40°C; and exactly how...

Produced by the Learning Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), this case study tackles the theme of STEM skills for the future and knowledge transfer. In this case study, three members of Newcastle College staff travelled to CERN to view the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator. The aim of the visit was to...