all picks
A selection of short, engaging practical demonstrations on various biology, chemistry and physics topics. The page also leads to many other useful resources. You will need to join TES in order to download the demonstrations but it is free and only takes 30 seconds!
A cross-curricular 'Triple Crossed' activity. Working in teams, pupils identify which food group is lacking in 4 food diaries, then compare past and present food miles. A discussion on the environmental impact of the food transportation can be developed. Good for 11-14 or extension/ enrichment at ages 8-11.
A ' Bang Goes the Theory' lesson plan and video clip, aimed at 11-14 year olds, though has useful elements for 10-11 year olds too.
A selection of short, engaging practical demonstrations on various biology, chemistry and physics topics. The page also leads to many other useful resources. You will need to join TES in order to download the demonstrations but it is free and only takes 30 seconds!
Direct your pupils to the 'Genes and inheritance' section of the Science Museum website for some excellent material to show inherited features.
In this Powerpoint you see the effects of cross breeding the popular cartoon characters of the Mr Men and the Little Misses. Six children are seen and the pupils have to work out who the parents are. Useful to initiate characteristics both inherited and environmental. File is compressed for ease of download.
A worksheet looking at characterisitics in five cows and five bulls. Students answer the questions by selecting the correct pair from their description.
A list of questions related to variation and inheriatnce based on the Simpsons' family tree. Includes a reference sheet showing the Simpsons' family tree. Can be used with KS3 or lower ability KS4. Can be done in class or as a homework activity.
A simple laboratory based activity. Extract DNA from bananas using ingredients that can be found in the home and basic lab equipment.
'Climbing the Tree of Life' has teacher's notes and a worksheet with links to the video to help to get your students thinking about evolution and the relationships between different organisms both today and in the past.
Click the links on the left to find out about fertilization and growing in the womb
Interactive puberty demo. Facts and features from the BBC. Breasts, Erections, Growth spurt, Boys' growth, Girls' growth, Hair and Sweat, Periods, Sexual changes, Sleep, Spots, Voice breaking. Please check suitability before directing your pupils here.
Bitesize revision of the unit leading to a self test.
A BBC bitesize interactive activity to demonstrate 4 food tests.
A game looking at how lifestyle, gender and age affects what diet we require. Could be done as individuals or as a whole class.
An informative tour through the digestive system. American spellings.
Two pages including detail of how digested food is absorbed into the blood. Complex but clear - useful
Bitesize looks at what food types are needed, how they are digested (leading to a self test).
An introduction to the bodies need for fuel.
Three pages to describe the organs of the digestive system, uses of enzymes and uses of the products of digestion.
Slides to show the action of amylase on starch using the visking tubing experiment. Good for scientific investigation.
Healthy eating tools to see if you are eating a balanced diet
A prettyintroduction to the digestive system.
Great games for exploring a healthy diet
The activity covers the types of food needed by the body including vitamins, minerals, carbohydrate, protein, fat, fibre and water needed each day.
Simple drag and drop exercise identifying parts of the respiratory system.
Lung anatomy and an interactive feature on asthma.
Digestion results in the formation of molecules small enough to be absorbed in the gut. This classic experiment allows students to investigate the movement of large molecules (starch) compared to small molecules (glucose) through a differentially permeable membrane. Students can be challenged to consider the advantages and disadvantages of using Visking tubing as a model for the investigation of absorption in the gut. Teacher notes, apparatus list and student guidance are included.
A quiz on human reproduction.
A range of activities related to puberty and reproduction.
A SCIENCE-biology random m/c quiz. May be a little hard for some 11-14 year olds.
Word games on the lungs and the respiratory system (as well as some information pages). Some puzzles and fun activities.
Students choose to answer the same questions in a football penalty shootout, basketball hoop shoot, or deal or no deal set up. All questions are about structure and function. Good fun and students can modify their goal keeper to a variety of famous players and celebrities.
Complete a drag and drop exercise the label the heart and the key features of arteries and veins.
Q's on inherited characteristics, effect of environment on characteristics, variation in offspring, selective breeding for particular character, cloning
A multiple choice quiz on 'Variation, classification, inheritance and selection'.
Students have 7 minutes to fill in the blanks using a list of options.
Game in which you have to identify the adaptations of four different animals before the time runs out.
NOVA producer Sarah Holt tells how surprised she was to learn that there are 18 ways to make a baby. Please check suitability before using with your class.
In this interactive feature, explore the past, present, and future of your fertility as you may never have explored it before. Please review this site before directing your pupils to it.
An interactive timeline to show what happens week by week in the uterus with nice photos of a developing fetus. Please check suitability before directing your pupils here.
Nice detail of the menstrual cycle for the more able. Please check suitability before directing your pupils here.
An detailed comparison of barrier and chemical contraception written for teen-agers
An interactive that breaks IVF into 7 steps. Each interactive has a text description and an animation that illustrates the related anatomy and procedures.
Frank US teen magazine dedicated to sex education. Preview before showing to your class
Inner Body - Human Anatomy Online. Teacher resource with systems overlaid on a body outline suitable for projecting on an IWB. Diagrams are detailed so choose with caution
Podcasts, articles, interviews, answers to your questions on a wide variety of topics.
Answer to this question from a cool FAQ site for kids, relating it to the need for oxygen
Photos and descriptive text of how fish and water animals breath. Lacks much interactivity, but is advert free. A good follow up resource.
Bitesize revision of respiration, leading to an activity and a short test.
Bitesize revision of the respiratory system, leading to an activity and a short test.
There are 8 pages in this electronic resource including information about: * Gas exchange * The respiratory system * Breathing * Asthma * Treating asthma * Artifical lung Interactive features include a glossary, quiz questions and diagrams. Could also be used in year 9 unit 9B.
Respiration in an Accent of Everest Context. Diagrams and text of the respiratory system. Some overlap with the cardiovascular system.
Set of handouts, lesson objectives and web links for an activity on hay fever and its effect on the respiratory system.
Teachers page with graded definitions and lots of links to further site (these have not all been checked).
Bitesize revision of gas exchange, leading to an activity and a short test.
Information on lungs, including the role they play in our respiratory system and how to keep your lungs healthy.
Information on the heart and circulatory system, including how to keep your heart healthy.
A diagram, some information and links to further websites.
A site with sections on reactions, elements, light, electricity, plants and the body.
The respiratory system, breathing and gas exchange all feature in this interactive web resource. The resource also looks at what happens when the respiratory system does not work as it should - for example when someone has asthma.
Good background information on different organ systems.
A short simple summary of anaerobic respiration on a GCSE site but suitable for 11-14 year olds.
Students can use this resource to learn about lung structure and function. Split into sections, processes such as gas exchange, exercise and breathing rate, effects of smoking and other lung disorders. Asthma, its causes and treatment, are described in detail. Aimed at more able students, there is a lot of information and good diagrams, as well as self-test questions.
A fairly in-depth page with a nice data collecting activity at the end.
A range of information on genes and inheritance, including: what are genes? What do genes do? Information on cloning and inheritance and what happens when things go wrong. Some information is more advanced than required at this stage.
A teaching resource with worksheets, links and pupil activities relating to recent media stories including the Human Genome Project.
Making use of an interactive slide show, this lesson provides students with an opportunity to consider the concept of heredity in the context of the periodical cicadas
Information on the Human Genome Project from the ABPI schools site.
A lot deeper than needed at this level but some interesting activities and information none the less. Variation occurs in al living things and this can be used as a basis of classification
Podcasts, articles, interviews, answers to your questions on a wide variety of topics.
Lots of info/advice aimed at new mums and mums to be, with a particularly useful glossary. Please check suitability before directing your pupils here.
A fun activity looking at the effect of various lifestyle choices on sperm activity. You will need to register with ASE's UPD8 scheme (fast and free) to download this resource.
A spreadsheet activity using nutritional data from food labels.
Animation of absorption of small molecules into the blood. Apparent odd error in colour scheme - surely proteins are pink, not green?
Good site for research and project work with information on a healthy diet and food labels. From the Food Standards Agency
A quiz, drag and drop activity, worksheets and revision summary. One word file (amylase) seems to be corrupted. Indophenol is the blue indicator referred to in the 'testing for vitamin' C worksheet.
Animations to show enzymes breaking down long chains into smaller molecules. No words of explanation!
Short animation to show the passage of food through the body, focussing on specific areas where food is broken down and absorbed.
A really fun cartton of what happens to food in the digestive system and how it is used.
A video to show what happens inside the human body when food is digested.
Lesson plan describing a hands on approach to discovering how the digestive system works.
An activity to introduce the organs and systems of the body and what their functions are.
4 digestive system word games. The matching pairs and word search lend themselves particularly well to interactive white board use.
Activity to find out how much food is needed to provide the energy for various activities. Worksheets available.
This free trial animation shows your pupils how the chambers and valves of the heart function in order to pump blood around the body. This resource includes an animated schematic of the circulatory system. The interactive labels provide you with a number of class activities for teaching your pupils the structure of the heart. It does however have the word preview over the picture.
A GCSE revision page but nice clear format makes the content accessible to 11-14 years olds too.
A nice animation summary of the plant respiration word equation.
Unlabeled diagram to add the structure labels. Terms defined below diagram. Could easily be projected and used as a class activity with matching copy for students.
An activity that allows students to use DNA profiles and other forms of evidence to solve a fictional murder.
A set of 3 worksheets, suitable for Key Stage 3 or 4 (ages 11-16) that explore the science and surprises behind plant DNA. What it is How it works How we put it to use