active science at GCSE

Full list of topics and activities

Links > 4science: home | 4science: products | 4science: active science at GCSE

BIOLOGY

Applying biology workbook one

Topic: fit and well

•  How are you?

•  Fitness

•  VO2 max

•  Health workers

Topic: heart, blood and blood vessels

•  The heart of the matter

•  Blood vessels

•  Circulation

•  What is blood?

Topic: lungs and respiration

•  How often do you breathe?

•  Breathe in, breathe out!

•  Gas exchange

•  Aerobic respiration

•  Health, food and diet

Topic: nerves and hormones

•  Responding to our surroundings

•  Reflex arcs

•  Hot body? Cold body?

•  Glucose in urine

Topic: cells

•  What are cells?

•  Inside a cell

•  Transport in and out of cells

Topic: the body under attack

•  Micro-organisms

•  Bacterial cultures

•  Micro-organisms blown up

Topics: germs and disease

•  Germs and disease

•  Blood defences

•  Vaccinations

•  Protection against micro-organisms

Topic: drugs – helpful and harmful

•  Useful drugs and testing new drugs

•  Antibiotics

•  Fact not fiction – recreational drugs

•  Detecting drugs

Applying biology workbook two

Topic: growing plants

•  The importance of plants

•  Plants making oxygen

•  Plants store starch

•  Plants need minerals

•  Plants in greenhouses

Topic: surviving on our planet

•  Interdependent organisms

•  Ecosystems

•  Upsetting the balance

•  Humans affecting nature

•  Natural selection

Topic: products from living things

•  Useful products from plants and animals

•  Putting a micro-organism to work

•  The baking industry

Topic: manipulating nature

•  Farming

•  Selective breeding

•  Genetic engineering

Topic: the genetic code

•  The genetic code

•  Dividing cells

•  Genetics and the environment

•  Cells, chromosomes and genes

Topic: inheritance

•  Genetic fate

•  Inheriting disease

•  Gene therapy

•  Designer babies

Topic: monitoring living organisms

•  Introduction to the investigation

•  Investigating plants

•  Investigating human activity

•  Investigating micro-organisms

CHEMISTRY

Applying chemistry workbook one

Topic: raw materials

•  Quarrying, mining and drilling

•  Pure salt from rock salt

•  Fractional distillation

•  Elements, compounds and mixtures

Topic: building blocks

•  Atoms

•  Atoms and elements

•  Atoms and compounds

•  Chemical equations

Topic: metals from rocks

•  Metals from their ores

•  Reduction and oxidation

•  Identifying rocks

•  Analysing copper ore

Topic: putting chemical reactions to work

•  Neutralisation

•  Precipitation

•  Investigating limestone

Topic: made-to-measure mixtures

•  Solutions

•  Custard, hair gel and other stuff

•  Colloids

•  Analysing ORT solution

Topic: bonding and structure

•  Electrons in atoms

•  Ionic bonding

•  Covalent bonding

•  Metallic bonds

•  Structures

Topic: light but strong

•  Light and strong

•  Density

•  Tensile strength

Topic: conductors and insulators

•  Who needs conduction?

•  Conduct or resist?

•  Investigating the resistance of metal wires

•  Controlling currents

•  Thermal conductors and insulators

Topic: polymers, ceramics and composites

•  Fit for purpose

•  Polymers

•  Ceramics

•  Composites

Topic: choosing materials

•  The beach café

Applying chemistry workbook two

Topic: monitoring chemical change

•  Monitoring heat changes

•  Monitoring reaction rate

•  Fast or slow?

Topic: competing for crude

•  Fractional distillation and after

•  Alkenes

•  Making organic compounds

•  Testing for sugars

Topic: monitoring the environment

•  Monitoring water

•  Monitoring the atmosphere

Topic: the chemical industry

•  Manufacturing processes

•  Manufacture and the environment

Topic: making inorganic compounds

•  Making magnesium oxide

•  Making calcium carbonate

•  Making zinc oxide

•  Making ammonium sulfate

Topic: reacting masses

•  Relative masses

•  Reacting quantities

•  Yields

Topic: making zinc compounds

•  Why make zinc compounds?

•  Making zinc sulfate

•  Making zinc oxide

Topic: making chemicals from malachite

•  What can we make from malachite?

•  Copper oxide from malachite

•  Copper from malachite

•  Copper salts from malachite

Topic: making compounds from waste

•  Recycling aluminium

PHYSICS

Applying physics workbook one

Topic: fossil fuels

•  Let there be heat

•  The right fuel for the job

•  Comparing the energy content of fuels

•  Incomplete combustion

Topic: nuclear fuels

•  Atoms falling apart

•  Using nuclear energy

•  Nuclear fusion – power for the future?

Topic: renewable energy

•  Renewable and non-renewable

•  Electricity from moving magnets

•  Electricity from the Sun

•  Energy from wind, water and biomass

•  Review

Topic: power stations and distribution

•  Pumping water

•  Generating ideas

•  Supplying the electricity

Topic: sources of energy

•  Different energy forms

•  Electrical energy

•  Cells and batteries

Topic: energy changes

•  Measuring energy

•  Changing energy

•  Sankey diagrams

•  Moving heat energy

Topic: minimising heat losses

•  Heat loss and insulation

•  U-values

•  Heat exchangers

Topic: efficiency

•  Investigating electric motors

•  Investigating lighting

Topic: using mains electrical appliances

•  The cost of power

•  Electrical safety

Topic: starting and stopping

•  Speed and speeding

•  Determining speed

•  Speeding up and slowing down

•  Stopping a vehicle

•  Improving road safety

Applying physics workbook two

Topic: electromagnetic radiation

•  Introducing waves

•  Frequency

•  Electromagnetic spectrum

•  Using waves

Topic: communicating with waves

•  Communication technology

•  Astronomers and electromagnetic radiation

•  Moving stuff invisibly

Topic: exploring the universe

•  The Big Bang

•  Looking up

•  The Earth and the solar system

•  Light-years

•  Space travel

Topic: planet earth

•  Planet earth quiz

•  The story of the Earth

Topic: electronic measuring

•  Measuring

•  Monitoring

•  Controlling

•  Making a measuring device

Topic: machines at work

•  Levers

•  The humble wheelbarrow

•  Machines in the workplace

Topic: windmills

•  Investigating wind power

•  Making a simple windmill

• Wind speed
• Lifting a load
• Generating electricity
• Changing speed
• Your report

Topic: magnifying under water

•  Performing lenses

•  Making an underwater magnifying glass

•  More research

•  Explaining how it works