Resources

  • Food for Life Curriculum Packs for Ks1&2

    The pack is divided into five topics which cover food production from the 'plough to the plate' and includes work on being a consumer and making choices about food (topic five). Lively activity sheets and colour teaching resources accompany the topics. Download from:

    http://www.farmtrails.org.uk/fflcurrpack/index.htm

  • The British Potato Council

    British Potato Council

    The British Potato Council teacher's centre includes lesson ideas to support the children's activities; grow it, cook it, play it and colour it. There is also a whole range of worksheets available which cover science and other areas of the curriculum. The image library has sequences of images that can be used as part of a wide range of activities.

    http://www.potatoesforschools.org.uk/

  • Science and Plants for Schools

    Science and Plants for Schools

    An excellent range of materials to support science curriculum work for KS2 – 4.

    http://www-saps.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/

  • Espresso Education

    Espresso Education

    Espresso Education have produced ICT resources for datalogging in both KS1 and KS2, centred on the Eat-a-Metre Project. These are available to schools subscribing to Espresso.

Information and activity sheets

Simulations for seeds and plant growth

  • http://www.explorelearning.com/

    American site called Explorelearning has ‘Gizmos’ for science and maths. I really like this one - it gives data in the form of graphs and data sets which can be downloaded to Excel. Limited access allowed or you can get a thirty day free trial or subscribe.

  • http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/software/simulations/

    Useful ICT information and links to a range of simulations. Note that the plant grow simulation link doesn’t work. Highly recommended.

  • http://www2.bgfl.org/

    Birmingham Grid for Learning. Seed growth simulation, dispersal, parts of a plant, identification keys and worksheets. Very useful site with attractive and engaging materials suitable KS2-3. Highly recommended.

  • http://www.mathsonline.co.uk/

    Mathsonline have produced Alien plants. Maths and data handling from growth simulations top end of KS2 into KS3. Excellent links to datahandling strands. Does not require subscription but data can be downloaded if you do subscribe. Highly recommended.

  • http://puzzling.caret.cam.ac.uk/

    Cambridge University produced online simulation for growing vegetables. Simulation of plant growth linked to commercial growing. Good maths –KS3. Highly recommended.

  • http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/

    BBC simulation for plant growth – KS1-2. Fairly basic.

  • http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/whri/research/seedscience/simulation/

    Warwick University downloadable simulation for plant growth. Aimed at able KS3/4.

  • http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/climatechange/

    Climate change simulation – KS2.

  • International Links

    Using ICT to project manage builds important skills in pupils and teachers, and brings the schools thousands of miles away into the classroom, but it is also a brilliant way to bring the curriculum into ICT. A series of online conferences or forums, or a simple email link is an ideal way to build up to a school trip or exchange visit, or to support a topic elsewhere in the curriculum.

    1. Use your online provision to chat and dialogue — even use webcams and podcasting.
    2. Set up email links with partner schools
    3. Add the Global Dimension to maths and science by comparing data worldwide and confronting global issues such as climate change.
    4. Share viewpoints on current world events, on aspects of history and culture, on democracy, trade and conflict.

    Using the Eat-a-Metre project and database, why not share growing information between groups of schools. All that is required is registration on the database. Where can you go from there…

    1. Climate data
    2. Weather data
    3. Eating preferences and diets
    4. Recipes
    5. Pests and diseases affecting growing
    6. Soils
    7. Agriculture, farms and farming

    Visit the Teachernet website to start looking for links.

    Global Gateway offers a range of information for schools wishing to develop international Eco-school or Education for Sustainable Development links.

  • Podcasting

    Purpose of the Program

    Podcasting makes a significant contribution to the Sharing Information strand of the ICT Curriculum, plus the Speaking and Listening objectives of the NLS.

    Curriculum Relevance

    Podcasting allows students to cover the Sharing Information strand of the ICT Curriculum in an exciting and innovative way that is relevant to children's interests. It is also a good tool for encouraging children to develop their speaking and listening skills.

    Podcasting raising achievement

    Watch Teachers TV clip (15 mins) from Weston Point Community Primary School, Cheshire.

    Radio in Schools

    Radio in Schools is a really easy to use podcasting platform that lets you create and store podcasts, and share them with pupils and teachers in school. You can showcase the best podcasts on your very own Radio in Schools home page, link these to your school website and engage childrens’ enthusiasm In a worldwide first, users can create content online through the easy to use Virtual Studio and share it via the web. There is no need to download and install software and no technical knowledge is required. The Virtual Studio uses AudioEnabled technology, developed by Nomos Media. Radio in Schools is aimed at infant, primary & secondary schools across the UK, colleges, universities and youth organisations.

    Podcasts are easy to create, just requiring a microphone and some software. There are specialist podcasting programs available such as Garageband (Mac) and Podium or you can use Audacity (free download for Mac or PC).

  • Datalogging

    What is datalogging?

    The lines drawn year after year on a wall by parents marking the height of their children as they grow is an example of datalogging. We often use datalogging to enable us to study things that are obscured by the passage of time.

    A car smashing into a wall as part of its crash-testing routine is an example of an event that happens too quickly for us to study without using datalogging of some kind. Using a high speed video camera to record the event is an example of videologging.

    When cashiers scan your groceries with a barcode reader, they are using datalogging to ensure your goods are accurately identified, priced, and removed from the store’s stock list.

    However, in this paper we will be referring to datalogging as the capture and storage of variables as they change over time, and experiment as the context in which the datalogging takes place.

    Source: Becta Technical paper 2003

    The following table outlines where datalogging can be used to deliver the National Curriculum for both ICT and science during Key Stages 1 to 4

    Age/KS In ICT pupils will need to: In science pupils will need to: Datalogging in practice
    5–7 KS1   Know that there are many kinds of sound and sources of sound (Sc4/3c). Use sensors to detect and compare sounds.
    7–11 KS2 Create, test, improve and refine sequences of instructions to make things happen and to monitor events and respond to them (ICT/2b). Make systematic observations and measurements, including the use of ICT for datalogging (Sc1/2f). Show that some materials are better thermal insulators than others (Sc3/1b). Know how to change the pitch and loudness of sounds produced by some vibrating objects [for example, a drum skin, a plucked string] (Sc4/3f). Use sensors to record temperature changes, compare sounds made under different conditions, and compare the amount of light reflected by a range of materials.
    11-14 KS3 Use ICT to measure, record, respond to and control events by planning, testing and modifying sequences of instructions (ICT/2b). Make observations and measurements, including the use of ICT for datalogging [for example, variables changing over time] to an appropriate degree of precision (Sc1/2g). Use diagrams, tables, charts and graphs, including lines of best fit, to identify and describe patterns or relationships in data (Sc1/2j). Know that plants need carbon dioxide, water and light for photosynthesis, and produce biomass and oxygen (Sc2/3a). Show that when physical changes [for example, changes of state, formation of solutions] take place, mass is conserved (Sc3/2a). Use automatic weather stations; use datalogging in fieldwork and experiments, such as using sensors to record factors that affect photosynthesis; and use data loggers to collect, analyse and evaluate changes of state, temperature and mass. Use light gates to determine the average speed of a vehicle along a slope and study the effect of changing the slope and vehicle mass.
    14-16 KS4 Apply, as appropriate, the concepts and techniques of using ICT to measure, record, respond to, control and automate events (ICT/2c). Make observations and measurements, including the use of ICT for datalogging [for example, to monitor several variables at the same time] to a degree of precision appropriate to the context (Sc1/2g). Understand the great variation in the rates at which different reactions take place and how the rates of reactions can be altered by varying temperature or concentration, or by changing the surface area of a solid reactant, or by adding a catalyst (Sc3/3h,3i). The quantitative relationship between resistance, voltage and current, and how current varies with voltage in a range of devices [for example, resistors, filament bulbs, diodes, light dependent resistors (LDRs) and thermistors] (Sc4/1c,1d). How distance, time and speed can be determined and represented graphically (Sc4 double/2a). Use data loggers to analyse and evaluate reaction data, such as pH during a neutralisation reaction, and relationships between resistance, current and voltage. Use sensors to measure the current in a circuit with a lamp as the voltage changes continuously. Use data loggers to plot a live displacement versus time graph as a pupil moves towards a motion sensor.

  • Digital microscopes

    Digital Blue microscope

    Digital Blue microscope

    This digital microscope is robust piece of equipment that can be used from Foundation to well into the Secondary phase. It can be used in its stand to view small objects but also taken out of the stand and used handheld for 10x magnification. Connected to a laptop via USB lead, it is a fantastic piece of fieldwork apparatus. It is extremely versatile and can be used to look at anything nearby.

    It can be used to take photo images, video something as it moves or record small changes over a period of time in time lapse mode.

    Janine Lambourne, Sutton at Hone Primary (Kent Education) has produced a fantastic range of uses for the microscopes ranging from Foundation to Y6. Just click here.