Mount Etna - Europe's Biggest Volcano
This Catalyst article takes a look at Mount Etna on the Italian island of Sicily, the biggest and tallest active volcano in Europe and one of the most active in the world. The article explores the geology of the volcano, its history and the local habitat surrounding it including how the volcanic conditions create rich fertile soil.
Skill 2.2 Invite an Expert
Produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, in this activity students are given the opportunity to choose, organise and benefit from outside expert speakers. Throughout, there is an emphasis on treating the speaker courteously. When an external speaker has been invited to address the group, the students are made responsible…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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,…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Building Materials
This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). Building materials and construction methods provide an interesting context in which students can develop their understanding of basic ideas relating to forces, energy transfer and properties…
Skill 5.4 Recognising a Scientific Report
Produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, this activity gets students to recognise a scientific report, which has a uniform structure standardised throughout the scientific community. Following the activity, students should be able to recognise that a scientific report will: • have a title, abstract, clear study…
Olympic Alloys
This Catalyst article looks at metals and alloys which play an important role in construction at the Olympic site, both in sports equipment and in medals. Designers must consider the properties of the materials used to make both sports equipment and buildings. These include strength, density, toughness, ductility and resistance to…
Gas and Pressure
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 the ideas relating to the pressure of the gas state and dependence of the boiling point on external pressure. The pressure of a substance in the…
Dorothy Hodgkin - a Life in Science
A Catalyst article about Dorothy Hodgkin who was a pioneering scientist, a peace activist, a mother of three and a Nobel Prize winner. The article looks at her life and work in science. She did valuable work as an X-ray crystallographer and in finding the structure of biologically important molecules such as antibiotic penicillin…
Skill 6.3 Presenting a Review Using PhotoStory
This activity, produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, looks at the use of slideshow-movies of photographic images as a powerful means for students to create presentations. PhotoStory, or other similar computer software, can quickly create video presentations by linking together digital still images. Commentary and…
Substances and the Three States
These downloadable animations are part of the multimedia package Stuff and Substance, developed by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). They can be used to emphasize that a substance can be in any of the three states and there is nothing special about room temperature states. The state of a sample of a substance depends…
Food Waste Recycling - Power from Potato Peelings
This Catalyst article describes how food waste can be treated by anaerobic digestion to produce methane and fertiliser. This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1. Catalyst is a science magazine for students aged 14-19 years. Annual subscriptions to print copies of the magazine can be purchased…
Skill 1.5 Speed Survey
Produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, in this activity students look at surveys as an important method of gathering and retrieving information. The activity allows students to evaluate the process of collecting data from short interviews with their peers. It consists of a speed survey game, which is similar to the…
Solubility
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 introduce the idea of solubility. Solubility is the amount of a substance that will dissolve in a certain amount of solvent. Students can confuse solubility…
Catalysts
A Catalyst article about how catalysts affect the rate of reactions and why catalysts are important in nature and in industry. This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2008, Volume 18, Issue 3. Catalyst is a science magazine for students aged 14-19 years. Annual subscriptions to print copies of the magazine can…
Careers in Biochemistry
This Catalyst article looks at young people working in biochemistry, detailing how they got to where they are and what their job involves. This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2. Catalyst is a science magazine for students aged 14-19 years. Annual subscriptions to print copies of the…
Skill 2.7 What's the Evidence?
Produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, this activity helps students to critically evaluate scientific issues as they are portrayed in the media. Whilst in many cases little scientific evidence is presented in articles or television programmes, it does not necessarily follow that they are unreliable. This activity gets…
Skill 2.4 Listening to a Podcast
Produced by Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme, this activity helps students to improve their learning from listening. Podcasts, which can be downloaded onto a computer or portable audio player and listened to at any time, are revolutionising the way programmes and information are being disseminated. In this activity, students…
Careers in the Pharmaceutical Industry
This Catalyst article describes the work of five young people who work in the pharmaceutical industry. The industry employs more than 70 000 people in the UK in a variety of roles including drug development and scientific research, manufacturing and making the medicines, IT, statistics, testing the drugs and clinical trials, human…