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…
A Love Letter to Science
This Catalyst article describes a film which has been made to provide a range of reasons for students to study science. During the film high profile scientists, writers and teachers describe how science provides the technologies which are used in everyday life, how it can protect the environment and how it protects humans through…
Intensive Crop Production Systems
A Catalyst article explaining how much of the food that humans consume comes from systems in which large numbers of plants or animals are grown under closely controlled conditions, designed to maximise production. When they grow plants as crops farmers intervene in various ways to optimise growth, so that the food is produced as…
Skill 5.3 Copycat
This activity, produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, challenges students to consider what plagiarism is and why it is wrong. Students are shown that plagiarism is passing off somebody else’s work as their own. It can include getting another person to write their work, cutting and pasting from the internet or…
Radiography - Careers
A Catalyst article about careers using radiography in medical procedures. The article looks at a typical working day for a radiographer, the types of radiography used, how to become a radiographer and the qualifications available. This article is from GCSE Science Review 2006, Volume 16, Issue 3. Catalyst is a science magazine…
Do Mobile Phone Signals Harm Our Health?
A Catalyst article about people who believe that their health is affected by mobile phone radiation. The World Health Organisation has labelled this condition Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance with attribution to Electromagnetic Fields (IEI-EMF). Idiopathic describes a disease with no known cause. The article reports on some tests…
Skill 2.8 Watching a Film
Produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, this activity guides students through two viewings of a scientific film to help them to focus on specific areas of learning. After an initial viewing of the film, students formulate questions that will help to enhance their understanding during a second viewing. This helps students…
Skill 5.11 Evaluating Scientific Writing
This activity, produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, challenges students to assess their scientific writing according to set assessment criteria. Students are encouraged to: • formulate criteria for evaluating written work • discuss the concept of weighting different categories of criteria • carry…
Go with the Flow CD-ROM
This multimedia package was developed by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme to help students understand the interesting and unusual properties of a range of fluids, semi-solids and solids. Published originally as a CD-ROM, the materials contain a collection of videos, animations and worksheets that are available as editable…
Nanotechnology
A Catalyst article about nanotechnology, the science of building tiny devices. Opinions differ on the use of nanotechnology, one school of thought is that it will be the answer to many of the biggest challenges in medicine, electronics and defence, another is that it will lead to opening up a dangerous world of technologies which…
5/5- Publication year: 2000 - 2009
- Article
Drink Driving
A Catalyst article about preventing drink driving. Since 1980, the UK's government estimates it has saved over 20,000 lives by its campaign to reduce drink driving. The article looks at how this result is achieved and how the body copes with alcohol and how it breaks alcohol down. This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science…
Using Shape Memory Alloys
A Catalyst article describing the use of smart materials to help people with disabilities. Many more people with physical and mental disabilities are leading independent lives at home, thanks in part to recent technological developments. The article focuses on one project which makes use of smart materials to help people with dementia. This…
It's a Material World
A Catalyst article about working in materials science and engineering, the process of deciding which material is best for each application. The structure of materials, processing them and working in jobs and careers with them are explained. This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2007, Volume 17, Issue 3. Catalyst…
Dr Gillian Lockwood
A Catalyst article about the working life of Dr Gillian Lockwood, a reproductive biologist who specialises in IVF. The article looks at the ethical issues surrounding fertility treatments for problems such as polycystic ovary syndrome. This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2007, Volume 17, Issue 4. Catalyst is…
LEDs - Lighting Up a Brighter Future
A Catalyst article about devising better, more energy-efficient lighting. In particular the article focuses on LEDs. Like food, water, clothing and shelter, light is essential to daily life and is needed by most people for most of their waking hours. The article explains how LEDs work and how they are made. This article is from…
Skill 3.3 Understanding the Value of Titles
Produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, this activity helps students to consider how useful and informative article titles are. During the activity, students: • browse a scientific article. • look for information such as the author, publication date and content of the abstract. • look for key words…
Tiny Particle, Giant Detector - Neutrinos
A Catalyst article about neutrinos. Neutrinos are fundamental particles. They are tiny, a neutrino has a mass about one-millionth of the mass of an electron, and they have no electric charge. This article looks at the detection of these elusive particles which requires the use a giant detector. The one described is from the Katrin…
Circadian Rhythms
This Catalyst article looks at how an internal biological clock within every cell of the human body helps to co-ordinate and organise human behaviour and metabolism into approximately 24-hour rhythms – allowing organisms to synchronise with, and anticipate, day and night. When the body clock is disrupted in humans it can have…
Fireworks: an Explosive Business
This Catalyst article looks at fireworks and their history, how they are made and set off, and what gives them their colours and effects. The basic chemistry used in fireworks is looked at and how they work once the fuse is ignited. This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2002, Volume 13, Issue 2. Catalyst is a science…
Make Your Own Lava Lamp
This Catalyst article describes how to make a lava lamp by using three simple ingredients: vegetable oil, food colouring and fizzing tablets. The article also explains the processes taking place inside a real lava lamp and why they happen. This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1. Catalyst…
Skill 4.3 Understanding Cross-sections
These activities, produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, help students to interpret diagrams and visual representations that are drawn in cross-section. This is a skill that is often taken for granted but often used in scientific representations, such as when drawing apparatus. This activity helps students to be able…
Skill 1.7 Questioning Information
Produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, in this activity students identify potentially misleading statistics and explain some of the issues involved in using data to inform policy making. The activity is split into two sections: Part 1 - students view a video clip highlighting the fallibility of the use of statistics.…
Fire: Flames and Chemical Change
These downloadable videos and animations are part of the multimedia package Stuff and Substance, developed by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). They can be used to develop ideas relating to flames, from hydrogen to candle wax. A flame is a chemical reaction between two substances in a gaseous mixture. Normally,…
Skill 2.1 Taking Notes from a Presentation
This activity, produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, helps students to refine their skills in summarising information in a presentation in a way that makes sense to them. In doing so, students are more able to assimilate the key points. The aim is to embed good practice that students can use every time they listen to…
Cool Chemistry
A Catalyst article about the work of a scientist from the British Antarctic Survey, gathering data about climate change by studying ice cores from Antarctica. One of the areas of research was to find out whether it is possible to learn how much sea ice there was around Antarctica in the past by measuring how much sea salt is in ice…
QTC: A Remarkable New Material to Control Electricity
This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). QTC (Quantum Tunnelling Composite) looks rather ordinary, but this rubbery black material shows remarkable properties. When squeezed its electrical resistance drops, and this unique property…
Do U Wan2 Tlk> ;-)
A Catalyst article about mobile phones. This article looks at the science behind this popular piece of technology, such as the use of radio waves, aerials and cells. The article also explains how mobile phones are able to use short aerials. This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1. Catalyst…
Skill 5.2 Appropriate Levels of Communication
Produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, this activity requires students to pick out what makes a science story accessible and learn how to write at an appropriate level for a particular audience. Students analyse a piece of writing to look at how easy to read and understandable it is. They also use the Gunning Fog index…
H2O: Hot Ice and the Mysteries of Water
This Catalyst article looks at some of the unusual features of water and especially the way it behaves when it is frozen. The article explains the properties of water and how it behaves at different temperatures with the aid of illustrations showing its molecular structure. Some unusual scientific ideas are also investigated. This…
Composites: Designing Materials for the Future
This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). Composites are made by physically combining two or more materials. Many composite materials are used to provide strength and rigidity while using thinner, lighter components. However, they are…
Physical Science Subject Knowledge and Pedagogy
These resources, produced by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme in partnership with the PhySEP Project at the University of Birmingham, are aimed at Initial Teacher Training (ITT) mentors and Advanced Skills Teachers (ASTs), acting as coaches to teacher colleagues. Originally published as a CD-ROM, the materials are intended…
Artificial Photosynthesis
This Catalyst article explains how artificial photosynthesis could provide a useful energy supply and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Experiments are underway in labs around the world. The aim is to use the basis of Photosynthesis to recycle the huge amounts of Carbon Dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere…
Filter results by...
Subject
- Science (485)
- Biology (176)
- Chemistry (185)
- Physics (170)
- Earth science (39)
- How science works (44)
- Practical work (23)
- Enquiries & investigations (23)
- Technology (36)
- Control systems (3)
- Electronics (5)
- Food technology (8)
- Product design (10)
- Resistant materials (8)
- Textiles (1)
- Design skills (1)
- Engineering (5)
- Careers (24)