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Browse teaching resources that explore the topics of our videos. All of these resources have been reviewed and approved by secondary science teachers.

Using your science to reveal how much rain fell on the dinosaurs
Tuesday 11th Feb 2020, 09.00am

Using your science to reveal how much rain fell on the dinosaurs

During the Cretaceous period (145 to 66 million years ago), the world was very different! It was hotter, with more rainfall, and dinosaurs would have roamed the lush wetlands and forests that existed in the UK....

Using these resources - created in collaboration with University of Oxford scientists - students can explore how the science they learn at school can be applied to real life research questions. This set of resources focuses on the work of Ricky Sengupta, a palaeo-climatologist who investigates past rainfall patterns. In these lessons, students will explore the adaptations of plants and animals to their environment (KS2/ages 7-11), learn about isotopes and the structure of the atom (KS3/ages 11-14), and take a deeper dive into how isotopes can help us to explore our planet's past (KS5/ages 17-18).
KS2 (UK) ages 7-11 - Rainfall Now and Then
KS3 (UK) ages 11-14 - Heavy Water
KS5 (UK) ages 17-18 - Isotopes
In this lesson, students will follow Ricky, a researcher, to learn about how our planet’s climate has changed over time and explore the features that make plants and animals well-adapted to their environment.
In this lesson, students will learn about isotopes, subatomic particles and the structure of the atom, linking it to concepts of weight and density.
In this lesson, students will take an in-depth dive into the techniques used by researchers to make new discoveries and learn about how isotopes can tell us about the history of our planet’s climate.
Using your science to explore the climate history of Mars
Tuesday 11th Feb 2020, 09.00am

Using your science to explore the climate history of Mars

Mars today is colder than Antarctica and drier than the Sahara — but scratch just beneath its dusty red coating and tales of a different planet emerge. The young Mars of three billion years ago was an Earth-like place of rain, rivers, and perhaps even oceans. Though long-gone, the rocks remember...

In these resources, students can explore how the science they learn at school can be applied to real life research questions, in this case about the possible watery past of Mars. In these lessons students will test for carbontes (KS3/ages 11-14), make soluble salts (KS4/ages 14-16) and apply Le Châtelier’s Principle to atmospheric conditions on early Mars (KS5/ages 17-18).
KS3 (UK) ages 11-14 - Carbonate Conundrum
KS4 (UK) ages 14-16 - Mars Rocks
KS5 (UK) ages 17-18 - Equilibrium on Mars
In this activity students are asked to design a chemical test that could be used to see if a rock from Mars contains carbonates. In doing so they learn about the acid-carbonate reaction and how to carry out gas tests.
This activity is a suggestion about how a GCSE required practical (making a soluble salt) can be incorporated into a real-life context. Students will explore how the reaction between metal oxides and acids create salts, before applying this to a reaction that may have happened in Martian lakes billions of years ago.
In this activity students carry out an investigation using Le Châtelier’s principle before applying this to explaining how changes in atmospheric conditions on early Mars would have affected the equilibrium of reactions happening in the lakes on its surface.
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