Simple little card sort activity, ideal for use as a paired starter activity. Can be done without cutting the cards out if you’re in a rush. Gives a range of simple every day examples of reversible and irreversible changes.

Making Magnesium Oxide - worksheet to guide students through the classic chemistry practical.

Making Sense of Chemical Formulae - a quick starter or plenary activity. Students are shown some ball and stick molecular models and they need to identify the atoms present. Can be done against the clock to add a bit of competition.

Hearing Flow Chart - a quick starter or plenary activity, where students complete the gaps to explain how the ear works. Can either be displayed on the board as a whole class activity, or printed out for individual or paired work. Answers are included.

The human eye. Two pairing activities that can be displayed on the board or printed out as a starter or plenary activity.

Molecular models and formulae. A simple little starter or settler activity, which can be shown to the whole class on the board or printed for individual students.

Light revision word search. A quick way of reinforcing light-related key vocabulary and spellings. Once students have completed the word search, they can fill in the missing word meanings at the bottom of the sheet.

Separating sea salt. A pairing and gap fill activity, ideal as a quick starter, plenary or knowledge retrieval exercise.

Scientific Investigation Template and Check Sheet - the zipped archive contains an investigation template and guidance notes, which can either be typed into directly or printed off. It also contains a check sheet, for students to confirm that their write-up includes all the important features.

A crossword and word search activity summarising key ideas from the KS3 chemistry chemical reactions topic. Could be used as either a starter or plenary activity. Both activities have the same answers, so less able students can use the word search to help scaffold their answers to the crossword. More able students can do the crossword alone.

Hazchem symbol cards with their meanings and examples, which can be used as the basis of a card sort (if you have time) or gap filler activity (if you don’t). A quick and simple starter or plenary activity. Also a useful discussion point about hazards in the lab and the wider world.

A worksheet to support students investigating turning moments using a seesaw. The sheet gives full instructions for the practical and an outline results table for students to complete.

Properties and uses of metals combined crossword and word search activity, ideal for reinforcing key scientific vocabulary in a starter, plenary or homework.

This activity includes fact cards explaining how six different methods of contraception work. It gives some of the advantages and disadvantages of each method. I usually display these around the classroom and get the students to rotate between them, memorising them as they go. They then transfer their new knowledge into the outline table provided. Some questions are also posed to gauge their level of understanding of when each type of contraceptive might be appropriate.

Elements, compounds and mixtures literacy task. Students are presented with several pieces of text, which they need to analyse and rearrange into the most appropriate order. They could then interrogate the text to pick out key scientific vocabulary, nouns, verbs etc.

Contact and non-contact forces literacy task. Students are presented with several pieces of text, which they need to analyse and rearrange into the most appropriate order. They could then interrogate the text to pick out key scientific vocabulary, nouns, verbs etc.

Cells literacy task. Students are presented with several pieces of text, which they need to analyse and rearrange into the most appropriate order. They could then interrogate the text to pick out key scientific vocabulary, nouns, verbs etc.

Worksheet that guides students through the process of calculating the pressure underneath their feet. Having calculated their own pressure values, students then apply the concept of pressure to several practical examples.

Salt solubility data and graphs. The zipped file contains a spreadsheet and presentation containing solubility data and graphs for several different ionic salts (sodium acetate, sodium bromate, sodium formate, sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate) and sucrose. Can be used alongside some questions as a quick starter or plenary activity to practice students’ data interpretation skills.

Microbes around school. As part of a CREST Award some of my students swabbed different surfaces around the school, grew the microbes on agar and recorded their results. This presentation can be used as a starter or plenary activity. I usually print off pictures of the eight different surfaces and get students to work in pairs or small groups to try and order them in terms of number of microbes. We then discuss the results and relate them to the standard of cleaning around the school.