From Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), this practical activity was developed for Scottish Highers specifications, but the protocol can equally well be used for other specifications. 

Students look at potato cyst nematodes, a serious pest of food crops. This is a good example of parasitism to study as...

This protocol allows students to investigate the effects of the hormone auxin (Indole Acetic Acid or IAA) as a plant growth regulator. The investigations give opportunities to look at auxiliary bud development, root development, and leaf abscission in Coleus. The method is suitable for independent investigations by...

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...

The SAPS ELISA kit for Botrytis has been developed as a low cost kit to bring practical immunology into the classroom. The monoclonal antibody in the kit detects Botrytis, a fungal pathogen. Botrytis infects plant material (such as strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes and flowers) and is of considerable importance...

In this activity from Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), students investigate what causes a Venus’ Fly Trap to shut. These experiments are related to a series of investigations that Darwin carried out as part of his work on evolution and adaptation and background...

This Unilever Laboratory Experiment, published in 1966, describes the use of steam distillation to separate oil from crushed cloves. The method for extracting the eugenol from the oil used carbon tetrachloride (tetrachloromethane) and so would need to be modified before this could now be done in schools and...

In this resource from the IET, pupils learn about density and materials, whilst creating their own density columns and making jingle bells dance. Using Christmas as the context for this STEM experiment, the activity provides detailed guidance and a maze puzzle extension activity.

This Salters’ Chemistry Course unit from the University of York Science Education Group covered:
* The use of soaps and soapless detergents.
* Emulsions and the action of emulsifiers.
* The hardness of water.
* The manufacture and use of cosmetics,...

A Year Ten module from the Salters’ double award science course. Practical tests using “urine” samples illustrate chemical diagnostic testing for illness. Different types of illness are classified, also different types of micro-organisms and the body’s defences against them. Experiments show how bacteria grow and...

This Nuffield Working with Science unit was designed to help students to understand the need to consume less domestic heating fuel, to know the main ways in which heat can be lost from buildings, to find by experiment which substances make good insulators and to write a...

In this lesson from the Science and Technology Council (STFC), students use an experiment to see if carbon dioxide does cause global warming. The lesson starts with a presentation which raises questions to be answered by the experiment. Students are asked to evaluate the method and results before planning and...

Two lessons from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)'s Seeing Science in which students look at how some plants absorb heavy metals. The lessons include an experiment to measure the amount of copper absorbed by lettuce and radish plants. In another activity, students use evidence cards and a map to...