I recently promised to pass on details of some gems I had come across in the TES resource section while I was reviewing uploaded materials as part of their Web Panel. These are some of the ones that stood out for me (and the reason they caught my attention).
Project to prepare pupils for new coursework
Originally designed for students taking OCR Gateway Science One but equally useful for other courses where science skills are important. Students are prompted to plan an investigation about fitness and how to measure it using skills that will be involved in GCSE ISAs. There are several parts to this resource including student planning sheet, peer assessment sheet, a terminology card sort and links to other TES resources.
The Effect of Processed Food on Health
A useful internet research task on processed food in which students are given a set of web links to use for their research.
Investigating Saliva
An activity in which students carry out research activities on saliva (amylase) activity. Students work in groups to carry out their investigation on a single variable and then pool their results at the end in a similar way to how professional scientists carry out research and communicate their results. Contains worksheets and supporting PowerPoint.
Elastic Bonds
I found the instructions for this topic confusing to a non-chemist like me, but I liked the concept. Students use elastic bands and their fingers to model how bonds are formed between atoms – a good kinaesthetic activity.
Sorting exercise red cabbage indicators
A card sort for the method of extracting the dye from red cabbage and testing household chemicals. Useful for SEN students and exemplifies an approach to working with SEN and EAL students.
Element bingo – now with 30 chemical elements.
This resource is an interactive bingo game to match the name of common chemical elements to their symbols (or vice versa). Can be used on an interactive board or on individual computers since the resource is an excel spread sheet.
Atomic and electronic structure top trumps
Get your students to make and play top trumps with the first 20 elements from the periodic table. Could be very useful for BTEC science and a good way to get students to present their research from the internet or a periodic table.
Taboo Revision Game – 9F Patterns of Reactivity
Revision game based around the Taboo game in which students have to describe a word to their partner without saying any of the words on their card. Useful for developing communication and literacy skills (especially with the new Ofsted framework).
Beetroot Investigation
A PowerPoint driven activity in which students have to plan an investigation to find out if temperature affects how much dye you can extract from beetroot. Guides students through the whole process with levelled outcomes too. Useful if you want to strengthen coverage of your how science works skills in your schemes of work.
Photosynthesis Game
Starter activity for limiting factors (photosynthesis) in which students take cards from a pile which have a factor on that changes the rate of photosynthesis. Students are then asked to categorise and summarise the limiting factors at the end of the activity. A good engaging activity to get students working collaboratively and discussing the science as they work.
I’ve picked resources that show a different approach or that can easily be modified to suit another topic. They are worth downloading and slotting into your existing schemes of work – I hope you find some of these useful.
Students love catapults. Science teachers love making catapults. What could be better than combining the two. These pictures show the catapults that my students made out of lollypop sticks.
