STEM Knowledge Networks
This booklet provides twelve case studies from STEM Knowledge Networks. These were projects supported by the National STEM Centre in partnership with the National Centre for the Excellence in Teaching Mathematics (NCETM). Schools were required to enable at least two or more STEM departments to work collaboratively by releasing teachers…
Wellcome Trust Monitor
The Wellcome Trust Monitor is a unique survey of UK adults' and young people's views of science, biomedical research and science education. • Wave 1 (the baseline survey) was conducted in 2009 by the National Centre for Social Research who interviewed 1,179 adults and 374 young people. • Wave 2 was conducted…
Model Cells
The cell is the smallest unit of life and for many millennia single celled organisms were the only form of life on Earth. It’s this type of life that astrobiologists are looking for elsewhere in the solar system. In this activity, wallpaper paste is used to build model cells Curriculum areas covered: • Cell biology • Cell…
Martian Death Rays
Could there be life on Mars? Perhaps so, although the high intensity of UV light means that it is unlikely to be found on the surface. The experiment demonstrates how bacteria grown on agar plates can be killed off by UV exposure. Curriculum areas covered: • Microbiology • Cell biology • Aseptic technique The…
What's Your Limit?
Conditions on other planets are unlikely to be within the same ranges as that experienced by Earth. However, a degree of variance from ‘ideal’ ranges may be tolerable for a small number of organisms known as extremophiles. This investigation looks at the effects of subjecting a living organism (yeast) to some extreme…
Rates of Reaction and Activation Empathy
High levels of ultraviolet radiation out in space drive reactions that can turn white beads into their coloured form. Students investigate how temperature affects the rate at which the beads turn back to white. At Key Stage Five, students can use the results sheet template to find the activation enthalpy. In the video, Judith…
Molecules of Life
This resource includes a suite of games designed to promote thinking, learning and understanding as well as being enjoyable and engaging. They are all based around molecules that play key roles in life on Earth. In the MolyMod video, Steve Althorpe explains how, in the Building Molecules game, students can use Molymod to link…
Life in the Freezer
If there is life elsewhere in our solar system it’s likely to live in a pretty cold environment. In this resource, students investigate the effect of antifreeze on the freezing point of water and how it can allow fragile cells to survive extreme cold. In the video, Judith Green explains how students can plan an experiment…
Is There Life In There?
All life forms on Earth are based on organic biochemistry. This activity requires students to analyse an unknown soil sample (just recovered from a space mission to another planet!) and look for signs of possible indicators for life. Curriculum areas covered: • Cell biology • Food tests, including starch, sugar, protein…
Exo-planets
Finding exoplanets Exoplanets are planets outside our own solar system. Find out how scientists use ingenious methods to spot them. Goldilocks zone Finding the right conditions to support life is a delicate balance, and scientists are on the look out for exoplanets in the ‘Goldilocks zone’ – Not too hot, and…
Life in Our Solar System
Life in the extremes Microbes can survive in the most hostile and inhospitable environments. Might similar places in our solar system be able to support them too? Why are scientists interested in Mars? Why are scientists interested in Mars? Four scientists talk about why they are interested in the red planet, and how they plan…
Are We Alone?
It really is a small world We live in a global network of diverse communities, sharing resources, ideas and technology. As a species, we have always looked to the sky and asked ‘are we alone?’ A sample of one So are we alone? The simple answer is ‘yes’. Right now, we are alone. Despite all our searching…
Fact Sheets
These fact sheets, from the National Physical Laboratory, are ideal posters for the classroom. They include illustrations and images to accompany the text. The following curriculum areas are covered Acoustics: sound, frequency and ultrasound Einstein: relativity, mass energy relation and speed Electricity: current and voltage Ionising…
The Future of Energy
In this Cambridge University film, three academics look at wind power, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and material efficiency as examples of how we can cut our carbon dioxide emissions. Demand for energy is sky-rocketing and producing enough energy to meet this demand has significant environmental impacts and could cause catastrophic…
Crest Challenges
This Challenge Pack from the British Science Association, aims to give students aged 11-16 and their teachers and educators support to create a science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) project that they can enter into the National Science + Engineering Competition. Through creating a project, young people can explore…
Review of Vocational Education - the Wolf Report
This report, by Dr Alison Wolf and published in March 2011, was commissioned to investigate the state of vocational education for young people aged 14 to 19. It was found that many courses offered very little value, offering no route to further education or prospects for meaningful employment. Many prospective students cannot…
This Icy World
Cambridge University glaciologist Professor Julian Dowdeswell has spent three years of his life in the Polar Regions. As Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, this film follows him to Greenland and the Antarctic as his research reveals the challenges we all face from climate change. He…
The Emotional Computer
Can computers understand emotions? Can computers express emotions? Can they feel emotions? This video, from the University of Cambridge, examines the research of Professor Peter Robinson exploring how emotions can be used to improve interaction between humans and computers. The research team is collaborating closely with Professor…
Seahorses and the Onion World
This video, from Cambridge University, features Dr Amanda Vincent - one of the world's leading experts on seahorses and their relatives – as she spends a year at Cambridge University’s Department of Geography on a sabbatical from the University of British Columbia. Dr Vincent explains the scope of her research and…
Professor Risk
David Spiegelhalter's actual title is Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge. In this Cambridge Ideas video he discusses the relative risks of eating a bacon sandwich or eating a bowl of porridge for breakfast, compares the risks associated with different types of transport and considers…
Meet the Algae
In this film, scientists at Cambridge University take a closer look at algae and examine its potential as a renewable source of energy. In the near future algae could be used as a sustainable, carbon neutral biofuel. Alison Smith, Professor of plant biochemistry, explains that algae make a large contribution to global carbon dioxide…
5/5- Publication year: 2010 to date
- Video
Just Add Water
Rotifers are microscopic animals that survive against all the odds. This film follows Dr Alan Tunnacliffe, award-winning Cambridge researcher at the Institute of Biotechnology, as he tests their super-powers by draining 90% of the water in their microscopic bodies, heats them to boiling point and freezes them in liquid nitrogen. He…
How Many Light Bulbs Does it Take to Change a Man?
This video features Cambridge University physicist, David Mackay, in a passionate, personal analysis of the energy crisis in the UK, in which he comes to some surprising conclusions about the way forward. The film is based on his new book Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air, in which Professor Mackay has calculated the numbers…
Improving Young People's Engagement with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
This paper, published to coincide with Science and Engineering Week 2013, presents evidence from research carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to explore how to encourage further engagement in, and take-up of, STEM subjects. It discusses why STEM education is important and looks at how policymakers,…
Sticky Feet
This video features Chris Clemente, from Cambridge University, who is studying the mechanisms that ants and other insects (especially cockroaches) use to walk down as well as up walls. Ants have incredibly sticky feet. With them they can hang onto ceilings, whilst carrying 100 times their body weight. But if they are stuck…
Tunnelworks: Introductory Video
Tunnelworks is a series of teaching and learning resources linking mathematics and science to the Thames Tideway Tunnel project, a major new sewer that will help protect the River Thames from increasing pollution. Background to the project is given in this introductory video which explains when and how the sewer system, which still…
Tunnelworks: Key Stage Four Science
Tunnelworks is a series of teaching and learning resources linking mathematics and science to the Thames Tideway Tunnel project, a major new sewer that will help protect the River Thames from increasing pollution. Background to the project is given in the introductory video. Lesson one challenges students to think about how ultrasound…
Shut Down or Restart? The Way Forward for Computing in UK Schools
This report is the outcome of a project initiated by the Royal Society in August 2010. The project was prompted by a high degree of concern about aspects of the provision of education in Computing in UK schools. The project was guided by an Advisory Group that brought together individuals and representatives with a wide range of…
Maths and Science Education: the Supply of High Achievers at A Level
This paper, from the Department of Education (DfE), presented a comprehensive set of statistical analyses building up a picture of the production function for the supply of young people in England with good A levels in mathematics and science. In this way, the questions addressed are focused towards high attainers in these subjects,…
Mathematics: Made to Measure
This Ofsted report is based predominantly on evidence from inspections of mathematics between January 2008 and July 2011 in maintained schools in England. Inspectors visited 160 primary and 160 secondary schools and observed more than 470 primary and 1,200 secondary mathematics lessons. The report draws attention to serious inequalities…
A World-class Mathematics Education for All our Young People
This report was the result of a request to Carol Vorderman from David Cameron and Michael Gove for advice on mathematics education at the time the Conservative Party was in opposition. A small voluntary task force was formed and worked with organisations and individuals (including students and parents) in the course of the completion…
Supporting Scotland's STEM Education and Culture: Second Report
This report, published by the Science and Engineering Education Advisory Group in January 2012, addresses many of the challenges and opportunities arising in implementation of the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) as it affects the delivery of STEM education and engagement. It examines the ways in which STEM education may…
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