In this practical activity students stain root tips and examine them for signs of cells dividing by mitosis. Students can either compare two different sources of root tip or two different stains. The mitotic index is the fraction of cells in a microscope field which contain condensed chromosomes. This index can be...

A Year 11 module from the Salters’ Key Stage Four double award science course. This module explores the controlled and co-ordinated energy changes which maintain a complex series of interlinked metabolic processes in living tissues.

Produced by Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), this investigation looks at stomatal opening and closing in Commelina communis (Asiatic dayflower). This is achieved by varying the turgor of the guard cells by bathing lower epidermal peels in solutions of different osmotic strengths. Changes in guard cell...

From Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), these practical activities allow students to investigate how woody and herbaceous plants support their shoots, branches, flowers and fruits and shed them at the appropriate time.

A number of investigations are suggested that can be adapted for students over a...

This Cre8ate maths activity draws on measuring stretchiness which involves the collection of real data, calculating percentages and experimental design. This resource models one way in which engineers use their knowledge of mathematics to investigate the properties of materials. Here students investigate the...

Aimed at Key Stage Two, this resource looks at the problem of launching RNLI lifeboats from different types of terrain in all kinds of weather. Linked to work on forces, shape and space and design and technology, it introduces the concept that both force and area affect the pressure applied on a surface. Working...

This Nuffield Working with Science unit aimed to help students to analyse many facets of a local manufacturing industry. Students were expected to plan visits in detail, and well in advance. One of the aims was to give students practice in meeting and working with a...

This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). Understanding the idea of a ‘substance’ is central to making sense of the variety of materials in the world and the way that they change. Research on students’ understanding shows that...

Aimed at Key Stage One, this resource looks at activity levels and how, through practice, the body may perform better. Linked to Pe and the topic of animals including humans, it also aims to develop enquiry skills. Meet the character Fizzy and her dog Dizzy, who want to learn more about the human body and set...

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 sterilise seeds of...

In this activity children are tasked with investigating the effects that different sugary drinks can have on our teeth. An experiment is set up using eggshells with different sugary drinks poured over them. Children then observe the changes to the eggshells over several days and are asked to consider their findings...

This Unilever Laboratory Experiment, published in 1967, describes an experiment to measure the contraction of hair in a hot solution of phenol. The procedure is based on a school-made apparatus to measure the changes of length. The results are discussed in terms of hydrogen bonding and disulphide bonds between...

This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). In recent years, the development of new magnetic materials has shown extraordinary advances. The remarkable strength of the latest generation...

These activities from Cre8ate maths explore the efficient use of space in car parks. These are two-dimensional ‘best fit’ problems which require logic and a systematic approach to find effective solutions. They give students the chance to devise and test out strategies using systematic trial-and-improvement...

This Nuffield Working with Science unit used the study of survival techniques to give students opportunities to collect evidence, advance hypotheses, and design experiments. Students were encouraged to investigate situations in which people can be faced with unexpected...