A great simulation to find thinking distance, breaking distance and stopping distance when you change the road conditions or the state of the driver. Use the sliders on the spreadsheet to change , for example the amount of alcohol that has been drunk or the degree of wear on the tyres. The activity can be run by students working individually or led by the teacher with the whole class. There is a worksheet for students to complete to help them develop their thinking. The simulation is also provided on an older version of excel (19917)

UV reactive beads change from white to coloured when exposed to ultra violet light and are wonderful for teaching reaction rates (so much easier than trying to work out when the cross has disappeared!) They are genuinely suitable for use with any age group and the notes here give ideas about how to carry out investigations at different levels. Post 16 students can use these beads to find activation enthalpy with a convincing degree of accuracy.

This role play is designed to help students more fully understand the body's normal response to sugar and the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes

A teacher demo is used to introduce some student practical work comparing, by measuring mass, the amount of sugar in different soft drinks. Students will need to draw up a calibration curve and the practical work will help to develop their ability to use a burette accurately.

There are three worksheets here all designed to promote thinking and understanding rather than rote learning and copying.

Here's a teacher led demonstration to help clarify cloning to students. It's accompanied by a fun, non-threatening starter and a students worksheet about gene therapy.

This thought provoking and interactive whole class activity will help students to think through their understanding and views on a number of different scenarios. Two interesting ways of recording views are given and are short to lead to discussion and debate.

A simple worksheet designed for foundation students to help them distinguish between genotype and phenotype. No writing required!

This model was developed to teach the AQA astrophyics option at A level. The teacher sheet gives instructions for how to build a "working" model of a CCD in a couple of minutes from simple equipment you will already have. There is a follow up cut and stick worksheet for students to complete which consolidates the key ideas

There are two activities here. The first introduces the idea of temperature by encouraging students to compare the temperatures of different objects in the universe. The follow up experiment investigates where the energy from a hot object goes and helps students to think through ideas about energy transfer.

The circus of experiments that students carry out is accompanied by a worksheet for them to record their thinking. The activity is designed to help students think more critically about ideas of heat and energy transfer.

Combining ideas about scale and ratio with earth science, this pair of activities gives instructions for how to make a 3D model of Earth that can be sliced open to see its inner structure. It is followed up with a paper exercise where students make a scale drawing of our planet. The worksheet includes some extension questions for more able students.

Two activities here; an introduction that models how the pressure in gases is generated followed by instructions for students to carry out the collapsing can experiment - one of the most memorable pieces of practical work if a little wet! A follow up worksheet helps students think through the science behind the practical work

This set of resources leads students through an entire investigation into magnetism. WIth the help of the presentation they choose their own question to investigate. The teacher presentation provides suggestions, notes and an equipment list.

Here are some notes and ideas for teaching forces to help students think through these important concepts. The teacher demonstrations are followed up by a student worksheet to consolidate what they have learnt.

Force pairs are a key concept in physics yet for most of the population, they are not intuitive. This resource starts with thinking about the forces that send balloons flying. It's followed by a circus of acclivities that provide cognitive conflict to help students understand where forces are acting, even if it isn't obvious. The activity is accompanied by a worksheet for students for students to record their thinking

A great context for some investigative work and a fun experiment to carry out. There are background notes for teachers along with a link to a great website. For students there is a worksheet to help them think through all aspects of the investigation. Ideal for keystage 3 students to develop their skills.

A lesson on the important difference between cause and correlation. The teacher notes give details of examples where there is a strong correlation but no causal link, examples which can be hard to think of on the spot! The presentation is based around air pollution and helps students to understand the key ideas. It can be followed up with the worksheet which includes many examples. For each example students sort the three options given into correlation, cause or no link

Here are details of a practical investigation into the role of salt in preserving food that is simple to carry out and doesn't require much equipment. The results are quick and easy to analyse. To follow up there is a worksheet probing further into salt and human health where students calculate how much of the recommended daily intake is contained in various foods.

A suite of resources to help students understand the development of the periodic table and how it highlights patterns and trends in the elements. It includes a presentation detailing the history of the periodic table, two active worksheets to help students appreciate how the periodic table is organised, a template for students to make their own spiral periodic table and a list giving links to five of the best periodic table resources available on the web.