Unit 9A. Inheritance and selection

All about selective breeding, and why selective breeding is important to farmers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/genes/ - Gene-related history, health and news from the BBC.

The GM Food Debate: Food under the microscope (from the BBC).

Unit 9B. Fit and healthy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/healthyliving/ - BBC Healthy Living, info about nutrition, weight and lifestyle.

HealthyEating.net: lots of information on nutrition and fitness (good for research).

Lots of links about smoking from Yahooligans.

Lots of links about drugs and alcohol from Yahooligans.

Unit 9C. Plants and photosynthesis

Plants as living things, from the BBC and try a quiz on photosynthesis and plant structure from BBC Bitesize.

Photosynthesis and respiration quiz.

Read all about the history of photosynthesis and chlorophyll.

Unit 9D. Plants for food

What is fertiliser and why do plants need it, from How Stuff Works (good for research) and how organic food works.

Information about Edmund Ruffin; farmer and agricultural reformer whose experiments on his farm convinced him that fertilizers, crop rotation, drainage, and good ploughing could revitalize the declining soil of his native state, Virginia (USA).

The GM Food Debate: Food under the microscope (from the BBC).

Unit 9E. Reactions of metals and metal compounds

Great movies of various (dangerous!) chemical reactions, including several involving metals.

Useful products from metal ores and rocks, from DigitalBrain, also have a look at these pictures of common metal ores.

Unit 9F. Patterns of reactivity

Great movies of various (dangerous!) chemical reactions, including nitrogen triiodide detonation and the reaction of sodium and chlorine. 

Unit 9G. Environmental chemistry

Look at the BBC’s guide to climate change web site, read about the planet under pressure, look at the section on weather and global warming and read about global warming in depth. You can also read what the Open University has to say about climate change.

Watch cartoons and try the quizes about Global Warming and Earth Processes at the Environmental Protection Agency's web site.

http://www.ec.gc.ca/acidrain/ - Lots of info about acid rain from Environment Canada - check out Kids Corner!

How catalytic converters work, from How Stuff Works, also have a look at this information on (ship-source) oil pollution.

Unit 9H. Using chemistry

Chembalancer: balance equations with this interactive tool.

Discover materials - from the Institute of Materials, has info on selecting, using and making different materials.

From How Stuff Works:
batteries
gasoline aka petrol
fuel cells

Detailed information and diagrams about the Fire Triangle (fuel, oxygen, heat).

Unit 9I. Energy and electricity

This interactive house lets you turn on household electrical items and see the immediate effect on your electric bill.

Biography of Michael Faraday (known for his electricity and magnetism experiments)

Info on static electricity and how to generate it and some great images/animations from BBC Bitesize.

Unit 9J. Gravity and space

From Apples to Orbits: site about gravity, its history and its effects.  Includes an interactive lab.

Take a tour of Mars and the stars! Also includes a virtual globe and information on gravity and inertia.

Play with interactive animations to learn how four different space missions used gravity assists to save fuel and gain momentum.  Quite technical but fun.

Check out these beautiful 3D animations of the solar system, you can also zoom in and out and change to different viewing angles.  There’s also a fun activity to build your own planet (planet ‘10’).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/planets/ - BBC’s Planets site, tons of info on all the different planets: history, stats, etc plus jigsaw activities to build the solar system, place all the moons, and identify artificial satellites.

Unit 9K. Speeding up

Learn about Position, Velocity, and Acceleration; a really clear explanation, and an activity which allows you to control position, velocity, and acceleration for two objects at the same time.

Simple explanation of Speed, Distance and Time graphs.

A useful animation of two runners running along a track with an accompanying graph.

Quiz from BBC Bitesize (aimed at GCSE, but have a go if you're aiming for level 7).

Unit 9L. Pressure and moments

Use the KS3 BBC Bitesize website to revise levers (easy) and levers again (harder).
And then try the online tests on Forces and Motion 1 and Forces and Motion 2.

From How Stuff Works:
Brakes
Tyre Pressure Gauges

Force and pressure calculations from BBC Bitesize and a sample page from a text book discussing moments and levers.

Steam Engines activity
Thomas the tour gide at the Didcot Railway Centre (near Oxford) keeps having to explain all about steam engines to all the visitors. So to make his job easier he's asked you to design a leaflet all about steam engines to help him out. Use Publisher to design your leaflet, and include information about:-

 - how steam engines were invented
 - how steam engines work

Note: it's really important you don't just copy/paste chunks of text from the internet - Thomas doesn't want to get into trouble for using someone else's work in the leaflet! So put everything into your own words.

You should also include some pictures and decoration to make your leaflet interesting to look out, but don't forget, the information is the most important thing!

Useful links:
 - Didcot Railway Centre
 - A simple explanation of how steam engines work
 - A particle diagram to show how a steam engine works
 - The History of Steam Engines and How Engines Work
 - How Stuff Works: How Steam Engines Work

Unit 9M. Investigating scientific questions

How to use scientific method to solve any problem.

Find out how DNA profiling can make sense of a crime scene and help I.D. a culprit from a list of suspects.

Collection of links about sceptical enquiry: very interesting!  Sceptical discussion of everything from auras and astrology to UFO abductions and urban legends.

Collection of links about scientists.

Collection of links about the history of science.

Collection of links about measurement and units.

Misc Year 9 module - Health and Disease

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/healthyliving/ - BBC Healthy Living, info about nutrition, weight and lifestyle.
HealthyEating.net: lots of information on nutrition and fitness (good for research).

Lots of links about smoking from Yahooligans.
Lots of links about drugs and alcohol from Yahooligans.

History of medicine timeline - a very nice animated timeline of medicine.

Simple animation of a white blood cell engulfing some bacteria.
Stalking the mysterious microbe!  A great site with lots of info including “microbes in the news” and a careers section.
http://www.microbes.info/ - This is quite a detailed site, but it's definitely worth a look!

http://www.cressbrook.co.uk/eyam/ - Info on Eyam, the famous plague village.
Bread, from How Stuff Works - has lots of activities that you could try at home.

The National Centre for Infectious Diseases - useful for finding out what disease-related issues are in the news at the moment.

Year 9 GCSE Science (after SATs):
Drugs and Society

Click here for the drugs research task.

The lifebytes site has lots of information about smoking, alcohol and drugs. Also check out: these links about smoking from Yahooligans and lots of links about drugs and alcohol.

General SATs Revision

Visit BBC Bitesize
Try some of the activities at freezeray.com

Back to home page
Play some Science games at Kinetic City