all picks
Make models of space exploration craft. Rated easy to challenging, some are even edible.
Use this video to explore the risk of aateroid impact, comets and what we learnt from the Cassini mission. There are suggestions for experiments or demonstrations and additional teaching notes about why the sky is blue that can be downloaded.
An online lesson plan, supported by video clips, which includes frost shattering and the formation of igneous rocks.
Chemical weathering or: my breath and rock chippings from the car park. Practical exercise from excellent RSC JESEI site with teachers' and pupils' notes.
Worksheets and details of practical work to illustrate many aspects of rocks, weathering, rock cycle and carbon cycle.
A pack of lesson plans that can be downloaded, together with video clips from the BBC children's science show that are linked to each lesson. The pack has worksheets and suggested activities for KS3 and 4.
Detailed climate change resource page, with facts and figures and links to many other resources and web sites.
Worksheets and details of practical work to illustrate many aspects of rocks, weathering, rock cycle and carbon cycle.
An outline of a fun activity. Pupils design and launch a water powered plastic soft drinks bottle with an egg attached. there are points for length of time in the air and survival of the egg. You could use the
2 videos that can be analysed frame by frame to study how falling is independent of mass.
Useful background material as well as info on the Solar System, planets, phases of the moon... presented in an entertaining and accessible style.
A Blockbusters quiz about the Earth and Solar System.
Get pupils to play around with this interactive demo to see how the Earth moves around the Sun. Can they describe what is going on with the Moon?
An interactive activity to help children learn about the Earth, Sun and Moon.
A Blockbusters quiz about the Sun, Moon, Earth.
An excellent animation that shows the scale of the Universe
A wealth of resources about the Earth, Moon, Solar System and Universe
Details of different types of rocks, weathering and rock cycle. Also activity (video) and test.
Lovely Flash animation of the rock cycle; each section provides clickable links to further animations and information.
An interactive game based on key words that could be played in pairs or small groups, or on an interactive whiteboard.
Students site with many resources from the US Environmental Protection Agency kids' site. Includes videos, quizes and interactive activities.
Details of different types of rocks, weathering and rock cycle. Also activity (video) and test.
Attractive site with teacher resources, games, videos and many other sources of information on climate change, greenhouse effect and more.
2 animated slides showing oil formation and trapping.
A thought provoking exercise about gravity. Useful as a starter to a lesson.
Information page on the difference between mass and weight. Nice exercise to calculate pupils' weight on different planets. Reference to 'other worlds' could lead to misconceptions.
A wealth of information and some great interactive simulations about gravity.
Three short videos on gravity. Quicktime required.
Two simple activities to help in the understanding of gravity.
An interactive experiment simulating Galileo's Pisa Experiment. Click on the picture to get started.
Complete a number of tasks by controlling the thrust and angle of a rocket launch.
An interactive activity that explains how playing sports on the Moon would be different.
A page explaining the difference between mass and weight.
Use this video to explore the science behind our solar system, and how astronomers are exploring its boundaries. There are suggestions for experiments or demonstrations and additional teaching notes about eclipses that can be downloaded.
In this investigation, students observe how atmospheric conditions effect the corrosion of a range of metals. Airtight containers are set up containing dry air, moist air, and air polluted by sulfur dioxide. The corrosion of each metal is observed over a number of days and students are then challenged to consider possible ways of preventing corrosion. Teacher notes, apparatus list, student guidance and safety points are included.
This practical activity gives students an opportunity to sample and identify life in a pond. The investigation looks at the effect of water pH on the organisms that live in the pond. A presentation and short video clip introduces the topic and sets the scene for the investigation. Instructions and teacher guidance for carrying out the practical work are included.
A very good animation that explains how eclipses happen
A range of activities for teaching Earth in Space, seismology, and the structure of the Earth.
An excellent interactive animation that show the effect of impact angle, speed and type of material on the size of an impact crater.
Multiple choice quiz with random questions from Doc Brown chemistry website.
Linked word fill quiz on rocks and weathering.
Quiz for matching rock types to descriptions with little animated images.
Random multiple choice quiz covering the rock cycle.
Linked word fills covering the rock cycle material.
Crossword on the rock cycle from Doc Brown's chemistry site; larger harder version also available.
British Geological Society resource. Interactive world and UK maps showing recent earthquakes, worksheets and information about earthquakes and seismology.
Simple, nicely illustrated explanation on the greenhouse effect.
Students' site from the US Environment Protection Agency on the causes and prevention of acid rain, with information, slideshown and other resources including quizes and crosswords.
UK archive of information about air pollution in different locations, including background information and up to date figures.
The New Economics Foundation's Democs are card games illustrating how information is used to make decisions. Sets are free to download.
Random multiple choice quiz covering environmental chemistry from Doc Brown's chemistry site.
Crossword on environmental chemistry. There is a larger harder version available.
A game of consequences illustrating how our activities impact the environment, particularly relating to climate change from the BBC
Games, activities and stories (some more suitable for younger children) designed to underline the causes and prevention of acid rain, from the US EPA's site.
The BBC's environmental science website covering areas such as climate change, air pollution, biodiversity and energy resources. Includes (hard) quizzes, animations, images and videos.
Website all about global climate change: evidence, causes and effects. Also videos clips and other resources.
Global map depicting possible early warning signs (fingerprints and harbingers) of global warming.
A calculator for your carbon footprint. Pupils can easily work their way through this Flash animation. They will need to access a UK postcode, but an example is given if they don't have one to hand. They may need some guidance about the insulation in their homes. They will probably need to do some research to find out about the appliances in their house for the follow up activities.
Animated slide show on acid rain and the effect on lake organisms.
Activity from Science upd8 in which students research sulphur and pollution.
Add information about your home or school to calculate your carbon footprint.
Interactive activities and quizes on climate change.
Pupils need to select the size and direction of the force to get them back to base. They must take into account the effects of gravity and avoid being blasted.
The BBC's extremely rich solar system site, with lots of info on the sun, planets, asteroids etc., lovely photos and games including a solar system jigsaw
Solar system pages from rich kids' astronomy website. Includes information about our moon and other planets' satellites, also comets and asteroids, also a Make a Solar System game
Homepage of the SETI Research Institute, giving lots of details about the search for extraterrestrial life. The interactive game mentioned in the curriculum notes seems to have disappeared, however.
An excellent, comprehensive and rich astronomy site for children with information, resources and games on a wide variety of topics. Activities for a variety of ages & levels including primary school. Adverts can be annoying.
A series of interactive pages with explanations of how telescopes have developed from the 1600's to the present day, with supporting pages on the underlying science concepts.
Podcasts, articles, interviews, answers to your questions on a wide variety of topics.
A School Physics site with information about comets, eclipses, tides and much more.
This website allows students to learn about the phases of the moon independantly. Students download a Word document and use the embedded video clips and links to answer the questions on the sheet.
Downloadable files with lots of clear background info and pictures about fossils and rock cycle (look down the list) from the UK Fossils Network.
Homepage for Earth Today and Tomorrow gallery at the Natural History Museum, with some information about weathering and soil erosion (also climate change and other topics).
Clear accessible background reading materials on the rock cycle, Earth structure, plate tectonics, atmosphere, etc from Moorlands School. Please note: a few links are broken.
Downloadable files with lots of clear background info and pictures about fossils and rock cycle (look down the list) from the UK Fossils Network.
These pages describe the major fossil groups that are commonly found.
This is a interactive website in which students can investigate the structure of the Earth, and learn how our current continents started as Pangaea. They can also study in detail what happens at the boundaries of tectonic plates, including convergence, divergence and transform boundaries. They can take a quiz at the end to test their new knowledge.
Students can investigate different examples of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and learn how they are formed. They can then specifically look at the how metamorphic rocks are formed from igneous or sedimentary ones. Then they are shown how all that they have learned fits together into the rock cycle. They can take a quiz at the end to test themselves.
A brief summary of the three types of rock.
Web pages that explain different cycles that regulate the Earth and the atmosphere. Cycles covered include: energy, carbon, nitrogen, water, rock cycle, atmosphere and water.
Excellent photographs and explanations about global warming. Photos would make a good presentation lesson
Lots of information on water pollution. Some of the pages are quite wordy.
Clear accessible background reading materials on the rock cycle, Earth structure, plate tectonics, atmosphere, etc from Moorlands School. Please note: a few links are broken.
Effects of energy use on the environment and global warming explained.
A website devoted to the life and work of Galileo, and his contributions to the development of scientific thought particularly the heliocentric model of the Solar System. Very interesting, but not very accessible for KS3 pupils.
Relatively simple explanation of how GPS receivers work, from the excellent Howstuffworks site. Much too complex for most KS3 pupils, but teachers will find it useful background.
NASA site for kids and the public about living in space, including videos and simulations. Some material is quite complicated. Kids may well be most interested in the space toilet...
An introduction to the ideas of Aristotle on motion and how Galileo's ideas laid the foundation for their overthrow.
An fun animation about falling objects set in Pisa. Would be good for extension work as some of the explanations are at quite a high level e.g. Equations.
Java based animation explaining the phases of the Moon.
Pick your nearest world city (or one that takes your fancy) to create a customisable sky map at that location.
Interesting and accessibly written site from the US public TV programme NOVA about the origin of the moon, giving the main theories considered.
An animation of day and night
An animation that shows the phases of the Moon and why we see them
Information and video clips about fossils and fossil formation from BBC nature.
An animated page showing convection currents in the Earth's mantle.
Observe an animation of convection currents in the Earth's mantle.
Video archive from BBC News Online, showing Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin on the moon, with other archive info
Interesting and accessibly written site from the US public TV programme NOVA about the origin of the moon, giving the main theories considered.
An animation to show a ball falling under gravity on the Earth and the Moon