Tag Archives: resources

Fiendishlyclever resources hit record downloads

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I received a spreadsheet from the TES showing my download count for the past six weeks.  I was amazed to discover my resources between them total 18996 downloads in the past six weeks alone.

I checked my blog (for which the statistics are slightly less accurate) and in the same period of time visitors to my blog downloaded approximately 13000 resources from the resource section.

That equates to over 31000 downloads in the last six weeks alone.  I haven’t charged for any of these resources (although I have recently added adverts to my website to cover the web hosting costs).  If you imagine that the average resource takes five minutes to create (a rather conservative estimate) that means I’ve saved teachers over 2600 hours (or 109 days) of planning in the last six weeks alone.

Of course the primary reason I share my resources is to share my ideas and improve the quality of science education for all (just as I ruthlessly steal any good ideas from other people that I come across).  But I couldn’t let this landmark statistic go unmarked, so thanks to you all for downloading!

My favourite resources on the TES resources site (Post 2 of 2)

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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.

My favourite resources on the TES resources site (Post 1 of 2)

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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).

Digestive system game for all abilities and EAL

This is a simple game that can be adapted to suit any topic or ability (could even be used with symbols if necessary).  Students have matching grids and both have words missing.  Students have to identify the missing word by asking their partner yes/no questions.  Potentially great for boosting literacy and communication skills.

Mendelian Genetics with the Simpsons

An excellent set of resources to tackle the difficult concept of inheritance.  The resources consist of a PowerPoint and worksheets which use the Simpsons characters instantly guaranteeing engagement from students.  The students complete ‘Punnett diamonds’ to demonstrate their understanding of the genetics involved on one of the differentiated worksheets supplied.

BTEC Applied Science Unit 13 Forensics

This resource takes the form of a PowerPoint with a forensics theme, focusing on a real crime from the news.  The PowerPoint leads us through the evidence the police collected and the reasoning behind the collection of evidence.  A great example of the application of science to everyday life and jobs.

Unit-less treasure hunt

A great resource from our own Alessio at the TES.  Clear instructions are provided in case my description doesn’t do the resource justice.  Students are taken on a treasure hunt in which the units are not given/ambiguous so that students learn the importance of units in scientific research.

blankety blank game

Perhaps more interesting to those of us who are old enough to remember watching this TV programme in its heyday, this resource is based around the TV game show if Blankety Blank.  The resource consists of a PowerPoint presentation and sound files from the popular quiz, and is a multiple choice quiz with a twist.  The powerpoints could be edited to change the topic or to make it suitable for students of differing ability.

Exchange in other organisms game

A card based activity in which students have to collect a set of facts relating to exchange in living organisms.  They do this by collecting a set of cards that relate to an organism (there are several cards for each organism) and extracting facts from the set to complete a worksheet.  This activity could be completed in groups of varying size or individually with only minor modification.

activity based on upd8 on MMR

This activity draws on printed material from the up8 site about the controversy surrounding the MMR vaccine and alleged links to autism.  Students carry out analysis of data using terms such as reliable to look at the issue of the MMR jab.  Useful to back up work on immunity or just the how science works (HSW) skills contained within it.

NIMBY – not in my back yard

A card sort activity for environment topics in which students have to match activities, effects and solutions.  This could be used in groups of varying size or individually depending on the group.  A useful resource for a topic lacking in commercial resources.

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.

What makes a resource worth sharing?

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I’ve spend the last few weeks downloading and reviewing materials from the TES resources section.  For those of you who haven’t come across it before, it is an online repository (free to access) for teachers to upload their own resources and share them with other teachers.  Other teachers can also leave feedback, allowing authors to refine and improve their work if they wish.

People who know me and visit my site know that I regularly upload and share resources and ideas from my own classroom, however looking through the TES resources gave me an insight into what might be happening across a range of other teachers’ classrooms.

First of all I was impressed by the altruism of the teachers who had chosen to share resources, with some teachers having  uploaded and categorised dozens of individual resources.  Most of the resources I saw (over 75%) of them were useful or better, and I found many examples that I thought were worth highlighting (and will form the basis of later blog posts).  However as I looked through the resources some nuggets of advice began to form in my head for those who want to share resources.

Explanation.  When looking at some resources it was not obvious how the resource could be used.  A lesson plan or even brief notes of explanation really help someone else see what the author had in mind when they created the resources.

Presentation.  Something as simple as changing font size and line spacing can change how a resource is received by students (and other teachers).  There isn’t really any excuse for a resource that uses half a side of tiny text and lots of empty white space.  Are there any royalty free clipart images you could include to make your worksheets look more appealing to low ability or low literacy students?

Differentiation.  Perhaps you differentiated your lesson or perhaps you changed the activity for a particular group.  Either an included lesson plan or a few lines of text about what you might like to change can make the world of difference to teachers looking to download.

Assessment. Unfortunately we live in a data driven education system.  While this might not be my preferred way of working, we have to play the game by the existing rules.  Adding levels to your learning objectives or outcomes (if you have them) can be a life saver for your time pressed or newly qualified colleagues.

Categorisation.  You created a resource for a specific group and topic.  Make sure when you upload your resources you chose the right categories for your material – that will help others find your resource and increase your audience.

Is it a time saver? It takes a couple of minutes to create a table and put in some headings.  Unless a table (for example a results sheet) is part of another activity, think carefully about if you need to upload it at all.  You don’t have to upload everything you create!

Consider the learning. Ultimately we want to see students learn and make progress.  Does an activity or resource allow a student to demonstrate this progress?  If it doesn’t should you be sharing it as good practice?

I’ve uploaded lots of resources to my own site, and allowed my resources to be uploaded to the TES site.  Perhaps in future I need to eat my own dog food and consider how I might improve the quality of my own resources or the accompanying description to make them more useful to my teaching colleagues.