Our ‘potted history of Rome’ for a light-hearted approach to Rome’s fascinating but complex history from 753 BC to 337 AD. This short video clip has been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our successful free online course, Rome: A Virtual Tour of the Ancient City, available from FutureLearn. Visit futurelearn .com site and search ‘Rome: A Virtual Tour of the Ancient City’ for the full course (free without certificates option available) This animation was created by Guy Horsfall, Todd Howson Moxey and Will Day, students from the University of Reading’s Typography and Graphic Communication department.

Language Development - Writing in English for Academic Writing This video covers concepts like word families and noun phrases, sentence structure, summary nouns, prepositions, conjunctions and adverbs, impersonal language, cautious language. Includes video text and guidance document. This guide was written for people with English as an additional language but will be useful to anyone who is new to the principles of academic writing. These video clips have been made available by the University of Reading and come from our successful An Intermediate Guide to Writing in English for Academic Writing. A free online course from the University of Reading available on the FutureLearn platform. Visit futurelearn.com site and search ‘An Intermediate Guide to Writing in English for Academic Writing’ for the full course (free without certificates option available). The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

A quiz to identify clause or phrase. This quiz was written for people with English as an additional language but will be useful to anyone learning about English Grammar. This quiz has been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our successful An Intermediate Guide to Writing in English for Academic Writing. A free online course from the University of Reading available on the FutureLearn platform. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/english-for-study-intermediate To find out more about what the University of Reading can offer schools please visit: https://www.reading.ac.uk/ready-to-study/visiting-and-open-days/activities-for-schools.aspx or join our network and keep up to date with what is happening at the University: https://www.reading.ac.uk/forms/crm/teacherrepresentativecontactform.aspx

Videos explaining what is considered ‘academic writing’, particularly useful for TEFL teaching. Analyses the five sections of an essay the title, introduction, paragraph 1, paragraph 2 and the conclusion and offers support on essay organisation. **Video 1 - The Key Features of Academic Writing ** Find out more about what is considered ‘academic writing’ Video 2 - Essay Organisation It’s important to think about how you organise your ideas in your essay because good organisation can make your essay easier to understand and ensures that you answer the hidden question in the essay title. This Video explores ideas for an essay based on title: ‘Discuss the reasons why people choose to live in Reading’. Video 3 - Analysis of the Five Different Essay Sections Analysis of five different sections: the title, introduction, paragraph 1, paragraph 2 and the conclusion. Video outlines these sections and explores the content that goes into each. These parts form the building blocks of any essay. These video clips have been made available by the University of Reading and come from our successful A Beginner’s Guide to Writing in English for Academic Writing. A free online course from the University of Reading available on the FutureLearn platform. Visit futurelearn.com site and search ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Writing in English for Academic Writing’ for the full course (free without certificates option available). The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

Ideal to support Geography Key stage 3 – this video shows classroom experiments to make clouds, showing evaporation, changes in temperature due to pressure, and cloud condensation nuclei using a plastic bottle and a bicycle pump. In this clip we see RMetS’ Dr Sylvia Knight demonstrates how changes in pressure result in cloud formation and how clouds need the addition of cloud condensation nuclei. Whilst we see a bigger experiment in our lab with a glass demijohn. This short video clip has been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our successful Come Rain Or Shine Open : Understanding the Weather. A free online course developed with the Royal Meteorological Society available from FutureLearn. Visit futurelearn .com site and search ‘Come Rain Or Shine Open : Understanding the Weather’ for the full course (free without certificates option available). The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

Two worksheets looking at weather maps. Worksheet 1 shows a UK weather map with the following weather features; warm front, cold front, depression, anticyclone, occluded front that need to identified on the map. The second worksheet students to give a forecast from four maps. A solution sheet and video are given. This content has been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our successful online course Come Rain Or Shine Open: Understanding the Weather. A free online course developed with the Royal Meteorological Society available from FutureLearn. Visit futurelearn .com site and search ‘come rain or shine’ for the full course (free without certificates option available). The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

This video shows a classroom experiment to demonstrate that hot air rises. Many weather systems, including land and sea breeze and hurricanes, are the result of hot air rising. To illustrate, Dr Sylvia Knight shows you a simple practical demonstration using a teabag, matches and a heatproof tile that you can try for yourself. Ideal for Geography Key stage 3. If you’d like to complete this experiment, please be aware of the potential fire risk and take care when using the matches. We recommend you complete the experiment well away from flammable materials, within a room with a high ceiling. This short video clip has been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our successful Come Rain Or Shine Open: Understanding the Weather. A free online course developed with the Royal Meteorological Society available from FutureLearn. Visit futurelearn .com site and search ‘come rain or shine’ for the full course (free without certificates option available). The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

A video of the advantages and disadvantages of using poetry as historic evidence – particularly when thinking about how the ancient Romans interacted with their surroundings. Conversation between Professor Matthew Nicholls and Dr Luke Houghton, Classics Department. Particular focus on poetry written during Augustus period who was establishing imperial rule in the city of Rome after the collapse of the Republic. Video explains how Virgil includes several monuments that had recently been restored by Augustus and Rome’s foundation legends. This short video and worksheet has been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our free online course Rome: A Virtual Tour of the Ancient City, available from FutureLearn. Visit futurelearn .com site and search ‘Rome: A Virtual Tour of the Ancient City’ for the full course (free without certificates option available) The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

Let’s explore ancient Rome’s great forum spaces. The oldest was the main Forum, followed later on by the nearby imperial fora. These started with Julius Caesar’s Forum Iulium, which set a pattern which other emperors followed. First and foremost was Caesar’s adoptive heir Augustus, who built the Forum Augustum, partly to honour Caesar (and Augustus’ revenge on his killers). Look around the grand political and religious structures of the Forum in the high imperial period. You should get the flavour of the dynastic space taking shape and see some of the structures which still stand today. These films and worksheets have been made available by the University of Reading and come from our free online course Rome: A Virtual Tour of the Ancient City, available from FutureLearn. Visit futurelearn .com site and search ‘Rome: A Virtual Tour of the Ancient City’ for the full course (free without certificates option available) This animation was created by Guy Horsfall, Todd Howson Moxey and Will Day, students from the University of Reading’s Typography and Graphic Communication department.

What is Higher Education? What can I study? How is University different to FE? What’s life at University like? What happens at University Open days? We aim to answer these questions and more with our free online course Live Smart: Your Essential Guide to Living at University Visit futurelearn .com site and search ‘Live Smart: Your Essential Guide to Living at University’ for the full course (free without certificates option available) The lesson available here is a small selection of the content developed by the University of Reading and FutureLearn to help all students prepare for the transition to higher education and think about the life skills for living at university and beyond no matter what uni they choose.

Advanced guide on how to respond to essay questions, essay structures (SPSE, compare and contrast, cause and effect). Includes an example question and works through answering; analysing the question, reading and research, paragraphs, sources, paraphrasing, planning and conclusion. This guide was written for people with English as an additional language but will be useful to anyone who is new to the principles of academic writing. These video clips have been made available by the University of Reading and come from our successful An Intermediate Guide to Writing in English for Academic Writing. A free online course from the University of Reading available on the FutureLearn platform. Visit futurelearn .com site and search ‘An Intermediate Guide to Writing in English for Academic Writing’ for the full course (free without certificates option available). The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

A simple quiz to identify the work class - pdf question sheet and answer sheet. This quiz was written for people with English as an additional language but will be useful to anyone learning about English Grammar. This quiz has been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our successful An Intermediate Guide to Writing in English for Academic Writing. A free online course from the University of Reading available on the FutureLearn platform. Visit futurelearn .com site and search ‘An Intermediate Guide to Writing in English for Academic Writing’ for the full course (free without certificates option available). The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

How the different groups of cellular microbes evolved (tree of life, LUCA & DNA), how cellular microbes,bacteria,archaea, prokaryotes, eukaryotic microbes and viruses evolved and replicate. This short video and pdf have been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our free online course Small and Mighty: An introduction to microbiology available from FutureLearn. Visit futurelearn .com site and search 'Small and Mighty: An introduction to microbiology’ for the full course (free without certificates option available) The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

Video showing the tree of life and pdf with information on the five major groups of microbes; Viruses, Prokaryotes, Bacteria, Archaea, Eukaryotes (including Protists and Fungi) This short video clip has been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our free online course Small and Mighty: An introduction to microbiology, available from FutureLearn. Visit futurelearn .com site and search 'Small and Mighty: An introduction to microbiology’ for the full course (free without certificates option available) The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

A video and pdf showing how microbes have evolved a range of defence mechanisms that help to protect them against viral infections and how viruses can adapt. Microbes have been at war with each other, competing to access these nutrients for millions of years. Many have evolved ways to make chemicals that inhibit the growth or kill other microbes. In response to this chemical attack, microbes have evolved ways to resist the damaging effects of antimicrobials. This short video clip has been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our free online course Small and Mighty: An introduction to microbiology, available from FutureLearn. Visit futurelearn .com site and search 'Small and Mighty: An introduction to microbiology’ for the full course (free without certificates option available) The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

This video shows how to use an infrared thermometer to measure temperature, in the air and of clouds and to demonstrate the presence of greenhouse gas molecules. Ideal to support Geography Key stage 3. This video follows on from our video - Measuring The Weather In this video, Dr Sylvia Knight demonstrates how to use a range of thermometers to measure the temperature of the ground, the atmosphere and even to show the greenhouse effect. After viewing this video you could investigate the microclimate of your school; temperature differences will show up best on a calm day. This short video clip has been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our successful Come Rain Or Shine : Understanding the Weather. A free online course developed with the Royal Meteorological Society available from FutureLearn. Visit futurelearn .com site and search ‘come rain or shine’ for the full course (free without certificates option available). The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

This video shows classroom experiment to measure wind speed and direction using bubbles, and explains that this is as an example of flow visualisation. Ideal to support Geography Key stage 3. Measuring the speed and direction of the wind is one of many practical ways you can investigate the weather in your surroundings. In this video, Janet Barlow, Professor of Environmental Physics in the Department of Meteorology demonstrates how you can measure the speed and direction of the wind using a bubble machine. Fieldwork ideas after viewing this video: Use bubbles to see if you can estimate the wind speed by timing how long they take to travel 5m (roughly 5 large paces) Find a building you can walk all the way round and which doesn’t have too much vegetation around it. On a windy day, walk around the building blowing bubbles, and see how the speed and direction of the bubbles changes. You could even try and show it on a sketch map. Are there places where the bubbles get caught in turbulence, going round and round in circles? This short video clip has been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our successful Come Rain Or Shine Open: Understanding the Weather. A free online course developed with the Royal Meteorological Society available from FutureLearn. Visit futurelearn .com site and search ‘come rain or shine’ for the full course (free without certificates option available). The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

A video and worksheet showing how to prepare the heart for dissection and the dissection showing the left and right sides of the heart, major and minor blood vessels, heart muscle, myocardium, the heart valves and chordae tendineae. This resource has been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our free online course Heart Health: A Beginner’s guide to cardiovascular disease. Visit futurelearn .com site and search ‘Heart Health: A Beginner’s guide to cardiovascular disease’ for the full course (free without certificates option available) The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details.

3D model of an amoeba (a protist) eating a bacterium that is being infected by a bacteriophage. Explores the differences in size and structure of a eukaryotic cell, a prokaryotic cell, and a viral particle. This short video clip and pdf has been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our free online course, Small and Mighty: An introduction to microbiology available from FutureLearn. Visit futurelearn .com site and search Small and Mighty: An introduction to microbiology’ for the full course (free without certificates option available). The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more details. Note: Video tour of 3D model on online course. In the course, you can navigate through the model using your mouse or trackpad.

In our Anatomy of the Heart video, Dr Sam Boateng describes the anatomy of the heart, looking at the atria, ventricles, blood vessels and valves. And in our Function of the Heart Video Dr Sam Boateng as he explains the function of the heart and its importance to other systems in the body. These short video clips have been made available by the University of Reading and comes from our free online course Heart Health: A Beginner’s guide to cardiovascular disease Visit futurelearn .com site and search ‘Heart Health: A Beginner’s guide to cardiovascular disease’ for the full course (free without certificates option available) The University of Reading Recruitment and Outreach team offers a huge range of free events, programmes and activities for students to give them all the information they need about higher education and to enhance their subject knowledge and experience. Visit our website for more detail