This set of reports and case studies commissioned by the Wellcome Trust explore the nature of science delivery across the UK capturing baseline metrics prior to the full implementation of it's UK wide Primary Science Campaign in autumn 2017 and reports on the progress of the campaign...

A collection of investigations around the topic of plants, looking at life cycles, factors affecting growth, parts of a plant, composting and plants that we eat. Investigations provided by Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS) are:  

Holly leaves: investigate questions...

Published in September 2014 this report details the findings and recommendations of a study carried out by the Wellcome Trust on the deployment of science and maths leaders in primary schools. The study carried out in 2013 explored how science and maths expertise is currently used in schools and looked at...

The Principia Space Diary aims to help children find out more about the Principia mission, to strengthen literacy and visual literacy skills and engage children in STEM learning. The diary is supported over the six months of Tim's mission by lesson plans released each month. The teaching notes produced so far...

This collection of short videos features different people who work in space related careers or who have been involved in the creation of the space diary. They introduce themselves and the job they...

In this creative writing activity children imagine what it is like to leave Earth on a journey into outer space.  It uses the context of British astronaut Tim Peake’s journey to the International Space Station as a stimulus to develop literacy skills.

This resource is part of the Principia Space Diary,...

This creative writing exercise asks your space apprentices to choose a place on Earth that they have never been to, and imagine what it might be like to visit. They will use a selection of images that Tim Peake took while on...

In this activity children explore timelines, identifying dates relevant to themselves and their families and then significant events in the history of space exploration. They could then interview family and friends about their...

Robots are really useful in space as they can do lots of different jobs, some of which are too difficult or dangerous for humans. This activity looks at the different uses of robots in space exploration, with children...

Growing plants on the International Space Station (ISS) is an important research area as it has the potential to help future exploration. In this activity, children consider the different factors that impact the growth of plants...

In this activity children read and extract key facts about the different planets in our Solar System: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Using this information they write a planetary report...

The Principia Space Diary aims to help children find out more about the Principia mission, to strengthen literacy and digital literacy skills and engage children in STEM learning....

This report, edited by Wynne Harlen in 2009, sets out the principles that should underpin the science education of all students throughout their schooling. It argues that students should be helped to develop ‘big ideas’ of science and about science that will enable them to understand the scientific aspects of the...

The resource includes Scratch blocks which can be printed and laminated to allow children to create block algorithms visually and in a hands-on way. A great resource to introduce the idea of Scratch blocks to Key Stage One students in the hope that they will become familiar with the system when they reach Key Stage...

Two different sets of printable Scratch blocks that could be used for display or for unplugged programming in upper key stage 1 classrooms as an introduction to programming.

Alec Jackson is the author of the Scratch block cutouts resource.

James Holmes, Gary Setchell, Keith Madderson and Cobie van de...