In this resource from the Construction Youth Trust, students are asked to work with percentage and decimal calculations when exploring the financial accounts of a small business. The materials have been written to help a non-teaching STEM professional to work with students in an educational setting.

The...

Even though computers are fast, there is a limit to how quickly they can solve problems. One way to speed things up is to use several computers to solve different parts of a problem. In this activity sorting networks are used to do several sorting comparisons at the same time. This resource begins with a discussion...

This lesson or enrichment activity investigates recursive algorithms using Fibonacci series.

It begins with an engaging maths magic trick ‘how to fake a super brain’ that uses a special property of Fibonacci numbers, and proceeds to look at the Golden Ratio in nature and its ‘beautiful’ properties.

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This activity gives SEND pupils the opportunity to create a program to control a single Bee-Bot around a complex course. Pupils learn to break down a problem into smaller parts, create an algorithm and a program to move a robot to a specific point and to detect and correct errors in the program by creating obstacle...

This activity for younger children introduces algorithms and algorithmic thinking. After first planning how to draw numbers using the simple commands available, children then program a BeeBot to create the shapes (BeeBots are a type of simple programmable rover). By watching and feeding back on each other's efforts...

This introduction to using the small programmable robot, the BeeBot, introduces children to creating simple programs. They learn the importance of sequences of accurate instructions, and test their sequences out using a 'fakebot' or paper-robot. Children are encouraged to debug and develop their sequences before...

For lower-primary children with some understanding of algorithms, this Barefoot Computing activity uses a basic robot (BeeBot) to show how algorithms are executed as stored programs on digital devices. Simple sequences of instructions are given to the BeeBot to 'write' numbers. These algorithms are represented by...

This archive document guides teachers introducing Logo to the computing classroom. While some sections may refer to outdated technologies, many of the techniques and learning outcomes remain relevant to users of any Logo platform. The activities begin with simple drawing using the turtle and pen, and progress...

STEM plays an important role in the movies, even if you don’t always see it on the big screen. Sometimes it’s in the special effects that enhance a scene, or even the big ideas behind the story.

This programme has students creating their own special effects, building and testing stunt cars and exploring...

This report from Ofsted looks at low level classroom disruption. Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) raised concerns about low-level disruption in schools in his Annual Report 2012/13. As a consequence, guidance to inspectors was tightened to place greater emphasis on this issue in routine inspections. In addition...

Looking to discuss the big, contestable questions in STEM? This collection of resources from The Economist Educational Foundation supports students to understand how the scientific and technological processes of the modern world are intertwined with political decisions and ethical calculations. They help develop...

This presentation covers algorithms and their complexity expressed as Big O notation. This could be used by students as a revision aid or as a basic introduction to the topic.

The Big Ideas: the future of engineering in schools report, supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering, reflects the views of leading engineering education experts and key stakeholders such as employers, parents and students. It proposes that students should be explicitly taught about engineering and the...

This resource looks at binary data and contains an Excel workbook with macros to enable recolouring/checking the colour of cells. A series of binary numbers are given in a rectangular grid of cells on the left when the workbook is first opened. Students are required to recolour the original binary grid, to show the...

A series of spreadsheet-based activities to simulate both binary and hexadecimal encoded image files. The students are required to convert between binary and hexadecimal as well as to and from denary as part of the process of solving these puzzles. The worksheet contains a number of example pictures which the...