This activity gives pupils in key stage 2 the opportunity to plan, test and execute a simple mission on the moon. Throughout the session pupils will take it in turns to give commands and to navigate blindly across the lunar surface. Pupils will be taught to understand the importance of clear step by step...

This resource, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, is an animated video, teacher guidance and pupil activities that explore some of the challenges that exist for getting astronauts to Mars, and what it would be like to live there for a while....

This resource is set in the context of challenges encountered in getting to, landing on and living on Mars.

The resource covers some mathematics, physics and biology:

• Launch crew: How many people can you fit in different spacecraft modules.  Mathematics.
• Launch aerodynamics: Investigate...

In this DIY Faraday Challenge, students are asked to work in teams to design and construct the rocket which will transport supplies via Earth orbit to the astronauts on Mars. They are also required to build a system to transport the rocket to the...

A Catalyst article about BepiColombo, a spacecraft which will visit Mercury, powered by a revolutionary new rocket engine technology using ion engines and using a slingshot manoeuvre to accelerate it. The development of the spacecraft is an international project and will combine exciting scientific goals exploring...

This collection of practical activities, investigations and games is all based on current lunar research. It supports many aspects of working scientifically and links to area of the curriculum including: earth and space, light and shadows, forces, materials, changes of state and rocks and soils. Activities are...

In this activity students adopt the role of a small team of undercover environmentalists, deep in a tropical rainforest, on a mission to investigate and expose the illegal activities being carried out by a multinational logging organisation that is destroying the planet.

Rainforest involves four lessons:...

This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). Visible light is the region of the electromagnetic spectrum with which we are most familiar. We are able to distinguish between different...

This edition of the Computing at School newsletter covers many topics including:

*Visual development of mobile apps using App Inventor

*Active learning in computing using Lego NXT and Logo

*BYOB, an extension to Scratch that aids abstraction and extension

*Robot simulation using RoboMind...

Published by LSIS, this report describes an action research project conducted by Liverpool Community College. The research looked at the use of mini netbooks utilising the wireless network in the college building to provide a flexible alternative to converting classrooms into IT suites. Therefore retaining the...

Students are presented with two mobile phone tariffs and have to explore at what point one tariff becomes better value than the other. They have to select a way of comparing the tariffs using appropriate graphs or tables, work systematically to explore the effects of changing the amount of time the phone is in use...

In this activity, students investigate the potential effects to health of the use of mobile phones and their transmitters, which use radio waves and microwaves to transmit information. Research can include the electromagnetic spectrum and its applications and how energy...

Students use an Excel spreadsheet to calculate mobile phone bills. They compare mobile phone tariffs to see which one is the best for someone to use.

This resource is part of the Nuffield Maths Level 1 Foundation resource collection.

Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic radiation and they penetrate into human tissue. There is still a significant debate about the safety of holding even a low power microwave transmitter next to your brain or keeping it in a trouser pocket. The possibility of...

This Science upd8 resource examines what proof there is that mobile telephones are harmful. Policy makers usually follow the precautionary principle. They issue warnings at the first hint of danger. Should we take their advice? In this discussion activity, students judge the risks and the strength of the evidence...