Laboratory design activity that could be used for an after school STEM club, mini science project, summer project or even a class task. Aimed at school level but can be as simple or challenging as you would like to make it :) A supporting PowerPoint is attached with ideas for student instructions ie group tasks visiting laboratories, what to focus on/take notes + photos of. This can be quite hands on and you can let students measure things and do conversions, creating keys and grids in their own laboratory design plans, if you have the facility to do so.

The new year is a time when many people set resolutions or ‘intentions’, however, these can be set at any time in the year and are beneficial towards our personal growth. Inside this short booklet are ideas of intentions (what habits/things do you want to create or release?) and how to go about choosing them positively (i.e. avoid negatives such as losing weight, how about 'eating healthier foods 70% of the time?) There are also prompts and ideas for starting your own gratitude journal and plenty of things to complete to get you thinking, including how we can view our challenges in a positive light - what can we learn from them? This booklet can be easily adapted if you wish to use it with a class, assembly, project, colleagues etc.

Attached is 2 double lessons (4 hours) worth of activities, lesson is interactive, student-led, exam-focused. Prior to this, students should choose a contemporary scientific issue of their choice - this can be from a magazine eg New Scientist or Chemistry Review etc. or from online. They can produce a little written piece introducing this if you wish them to. The teacher can then go through the PowerPoint regarding part B of the exam -this PowerPoint explains the structure of part B of the exam and describes what to include and how to structure your answers in order to achieve high marks. In some cases, ideas of how to start answers are given. Students should answer each of the questions (except the last one) for THEIR chosen contemporary issue (see peer assessment form for how to do this in presentation style. This can be done in a presentation format and communicated to the class, during the presentation, the presenter will be assessed by their classmates using the peer-assessment form attached. Many skills are addressed in this lesson(s), such as communication, critical thinking, analysis, detecting bias, independent research, ability to give and receive constructive criticism, drawing valid conclusions, making sensible judgements, simplifying complex issues and interpreting graphical and statistical data etc. Link to video introducing Unit 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMFkvxYIVfU