Free Resources for Science Teachers

Software for UK schools

On this site are a handful of resources that might assist with classroom teaching. In order to use them a teacher would have to have access to equipment for projecting a computer screen - either an active whiteboard or a computer projector

From this webpage you can find out who wrote the resources and find out how free they are but you are probably more interested in the resources themselves:

Photosynthesis
a plant

An animated picture of a plant that shows the basic processes of photosynthesis, for example the little chap in the top left of this page (a water drop) walks up from the roots, through the stem to the leaves. It was designed to provide a backdrop while you explain to the class what is happening.

For older students a cross section of a leaf can be shown and students can be asked to label things like guard cells, chloroplasts and spongy mesophyll cells

There is also a set of worksheets that tie in with the animated plant.

Click here for more info.

Radioactivity
A symbolic picture of radioactive decay

This demo can be useful when explaining half-life. A group of atoms are shown slowly decaying (both the number and the half life can be configured). A graph is drawn showing the number of parent (or child) nuclei against time.

Click here for more info.

Quiztastic

A very simple program that can be used to revise knowledge on any subject very quickly. The program displays multiple choice questions and I normally ask for a volunteer to come up and play in front of the class. The whole class is involved as the volunteer has options like "Ask a friend" and "Ask the class" as well as "50:50"

The program comes with example questions connected with the year 11, Earth in Space module but it quick and simple to create your own questions.

Click here for more info.

 
Credit where credit is due: Some of the animated gifs on this site come from gifsnow.com. Thanks guys!