World Oceans Day
This resource provides a stand-alone lesson to support World Oceans Day in schools. The short activities include: Ocean acidification in a cup which demonstrates the basic process of ocean acidification Dissolving shell in vinegar investigates how the decreasing pH of the oceans can affect zooplankton Marine food web explores…
Frozen Oceans: GCSE Geography
This resource provides two data case studies based on oceans topics for GCSE Geography, introducing ocean acidification and sea ice thickness in order to develop students’ understanding of the issues and putting them in the context of extreme field research. The lessons relate to the 2009-2011 Catlin Arctic Survey expeditions…
Frozen Oceans: Key Stage Three Geography
The lessons in this resource follow the 2011 Catlin Arctic Survey expedition and introduce some of the scientific methods that were used and the information that was gathered. Each lesson includes new elements of the expedition and at least one enquiry question which links to how changes in the Arctic region are impacting on the…
Frozen Oceans: Key Stage Three Science
This resource is based on the research and journeys undertaken by explorers and scientists taking part in the Catlin Arctic Survey between 2009 and 2011. The suggested lessons are designed to fit into the existing curriculum and provide ideas for practicals, activities and real case studies, as well as highlighting careers in…
Rock Stars: Unbelievable!
This practical activity from the Royal Society looks at the work of palaeontologists and how they use fossil evidence to work out how dinosaurs lived and moved. Using a tape measure and a stop watch in the playground, students time how long it takes them to walk or run a set distance and calculate their average speed. They then…
The Age of the Universe
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, looks at Hubble’s law, whereby students use real data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to plot a graph from which they can obtain the Hubble constant. Students then look at the possible sources of error in their data and use this to calculate the uncertainty in their value…
Plotting the Rotation Curve of M31
In this activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, students use real data, taken from a scientific paper, to plot the rotational curve of M31 (Andromeda), our neighbouring spiral galaxy. They will look at Kepler’s third law to predict the motion of stars around the centre of M31. They will then measure the wavelengths…
3/5- Publication year: 2010 to date
- Activity sheet
The Rotational Period of the Sun
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, introduces students to ways of combining errors (uncertainties) from two independent measured quantities. Using the equation for Doppler shift, the error in the rotational velocity and time period are calculated. The content of the files are identical, except that one is identified…
Radius and Volume of Exoplanets
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, uses data from NASA’s Kepler space probe to determine the size of an exoplanet, and provides students with an insight into the advantages and disadvantages of the transit method of exoplanet detection. A classroom discussion, before the activity, illustrates the principle…
Kepler's Third Law
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, illustrates Kepler’s Third Law for our own Solar System using graphical methods, with a further look at how the same law can be used to derive information about the orbits of exoplanets around their parent stars. The activity could be extended to allow students to research…
Galaxy Zoo and the Universe
These two activities, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, involve using the Galaxy Zoo website to classify five samples of ten galaxies. The results are recorded in a table and presented in the form of a bar chart for each sample. These can be drawn on paper or plotted using Excel. Students then look at the differences between…
Colour and Wavelength in Space
In this activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, students look at the Sun and the Milky Way in different wavelengths. They apply their understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum to astrophysical objects and look at why it is important to use the whole spectrum in astronomy. The images of the Sun are within the document.…
Stellar Sat Nav
In these two activities, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, students use bearings to plot constellations. They are then asked to think about what they represent. The Higher Level file has more complex constellations, such as Orion, whereas the basic activity requires students to plot more simple constellations, such as the…
Celestia Navigation
Celestia is a spaceflight simulator that allows you to explore real astronomical data as you fly through space. The majority of content is related to our Solar System. This resource, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, acts as a basic guide and explores the potential of the program with a sample Key Stage Three activity included.…
Drawing Orbits
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, allows students to visualise the orbits of planets as ellipses, rather than circles, and allows for the further study of the geometry of these orbits through basic algebra, using terms derived from the drawing exercise. Depending on student ability, you may choose to assign…
Phases of the Moon
This resource, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, challenges students to explain the phases of the Moon by linking the movement of the Moon around the Earth with our perspective from Earth of light and shadow on the Moon. The two files are identical, apart from the curriculum links stated in the teachers' notes. The…
The Spinning Earth
In this activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, students are introduced to the rotating Earth and the concept of longitude. They will carry out simple arithmetic that relates the 24 hour clock with the Earth’s rotation. The questions in the activity require an understanding of angle: one hour being equal to 15 degrees…
Human Sundial
In this activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, students look at their shadow at different times of the day and measure differences in its size and direction. The activity needs to take place in the playground on a sunny day. A compass or an online map can be used to help work out which way is North on the playground before…
Making Shadows
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, looks at how shadows are formed and what affects their size, direction and shape. Students place an object at the centre of a sheet of paper, and use a torch to produce shadows of different length and direction. This activity can be used as an introduction to shadows made by…
Fruit Solar System
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, helps students grasp the various sizes of planets in our Solar System using mostly fruit, with some other items. The class discussion before the activity encourages students to take an educated guess as to which planet each item represents. Equipment per team (multiply as necessary…
Moon Zoo
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, uses the Citizen Science project ‘Moon Zoo’ to help astronomers identify boulders on the surface of the Moon. There are two activities currently available on the Moon Zoo website: Crater Survey and Boulder Wars. Crater Survey requires much more time on each image…
Daytime Moon Viewing
This resource, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, uses daytime viewing of the Moon to reinforce ideas learned in the classroom about light, shadow and the Moon itself. Advice is given on the best times to view the Moon, and the compulsory and optional equipment needed. By viewing the Moon during the day, students will be…
Cosmic Rays: Mysterious Extraterrestrial Visitors
Produced by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Cosmic Rays is a colour A5 leaflet that opens out into an A2 double-sided wallchart describing cosmic rays and where they come from, what effect they have on Earth and how they are used in scientific applications. Sections of the leaflet cover: • The discovery…
space:uk - Winter 2011, Issue 33
This issue of space:uk, published by the UK Space Agency, focuses on the planet Mercury and the spacecraft being designed and built with the aim of investigating the 'weird' planet. The issue reports on current news stories including the launch of the two Galileo 'In-Orbit Validation' (IOV) spacecraft, new missions…
space:uk - Spring 2012, Issue 34
From the UK Space Agency, this issue of Space:UK magazine contains a variety of news stories and features on: • Green planet - how space is helping to save one of the world's more valuable resources • Space, time and LISA - the UK-built mission to invesitgate ripples in space and time • Free-fall science -…
Preserving Britain's Coastlines
This Mathematics Matters case study looks at the serious problem of coastal erosion. Much of the UK’s coastline is undergoing erosion, placing homes, businesses and other important coastal sites at risk. Mathematical modelling can enable us to understand both the short and long term processes that lead to erosion, and help…
Danger: Rogue Waves
This Mathematics Matters case study, from the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, looks at how mathematical models try to understand the causes of rogue waves. These huge waves appear without warning, towering high over ships and oil rigs. Traditional mathematical models couldn’t predict the occurrence of these dangerous…
Try This - Make Your Own Cloud
In this Catalyst article an experiment is described in which the formation of clouds can be replicated. The experiment requires nothing more than a plastic bottle, warm water, matches and a small thermometer. This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2011, Volume 21, Issue 4. Catalyst is a science magazine for students…
Infra-red Astronomy
A Catalyst article describing how the VISTA telescope, which is located in Chile, works. It detects infrared radiation - electromagnetic radiation beyond the red end of the spectrum. This has two great benefits: • The telescope can detect radiation from distant stars which are otherwise hidden behind clouds of dust which…
Mission to Mercury
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 the inner solar…
Drilling Down/At Sea with Chikyu
A Catalyst article about Chikyu, a Japanese drilling ship capable of boring through the Earth's crust. It will investigate regions where the crust is thinnest. Core samples are examined using a number of scientific techniques and they have produced useful information about areas where there is seismic activity together with…
Birth of an Ocean: Africa Splits Apart
This Catalyst article describes how, as two tectonic plates separate, wide fissures appear in the ground in northern Ethiopia. Eventually a new ocean will form in the area affected. The Earth’s surface is not stable or permanent. The tectonic plates that form our planet’s outer crust are constantly moving around, bumping…
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