Teaching resources
These teaching resources have been developed in conjunction with a Teaching Panel and the University of Oxford Department of Education. The Teaching Panel comprises eight members from a broad range of schools, geographical areas and scientific disciplines. We hope you enjoy them and find them useful.
If you have any comments you can email the team on oxfordsparks AT mpls.ox.ac.uk.
A quick look around the LHC
Key Stage 3
Footprints of the Higgs Boson - teacher notes MS Word · PDF
Footprints of the Higgs Boson - pupil worksheet MS Word · PDF
This activity explains to students that scientists are using the LHC to test scientific theories and models. Students will learn how to describe the particle tracks produced by the Higgs Boson, W Boson, Z Boson and a Black Hole, and identify which particles are present from schematic images.
Key Stage 4
Particle Detectives - teacher notes MS Word · PDF
Particle Detectives - pupil worksheet MS Word · PDF
This activity explains how physicists are trying to learn more about how the Universe started by trying to recreate the conditions immediately after the Big Bang, examining the data thus produced and refining their models of the universe and the Big Bang.
Key Stage 5
Hunting the Higgs - teacher notes MS Word · PDF
Hunting the Higgs - pupil worksheet MS Word · PDF
This activity guides students in researching and presenting information about physicists who have played an important role in the development of particle physics. It covers the nature of their work, including the extent to which it was collaborative, and how it contributed to the development of the scientific theories and models now taught in physics.
Another case of heart trouble
Key Stage 3
Cardiac chaos - teacher notes MS Word · PDF
Cardiac chaos - pupil worksheet MS Word · PDF
Cardiac chaos - podcast WAV · MP3
This activity explains to students that heart muscle cells are specialised, and that if they join together to form tissues in a disorganised way in the heart, they cannot do their job properly.
Key Stage 4
A heartfelt dilemma - teacher notes MS Word · PDF
A heartfelt dilemma - pupil worksheet MS Word · PDF
This activity helps students understand that hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is caused by a faulty gene, which may be inherited. Students explore the issues involved in deciding whether or not to be tested for HCM.
Key Stage 5
Big-hearted briefing - teacher notes MS Word · PDF
Big-hearted briefing - pupil worksheet MS Word · PDF
This activity explains how hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is caused by genetic mutations, and the impacts of these mutations on protein synthesis. Students learn how the structure and function of the heart, and the use of ATP by the heart, are affected by HCM.
Towards absolute zero
Key Stage 3
Colder and colder... - teacher notes MS Word · PDF
Colder and colder... - pupil worksheet MS Word · PDF
This activity helps students understand how the behaviour of collections of particles changes as they cool down and change state.
Key Stage 4
Chemistry of the cosmos - teacher notes MS Word · PDF
Chemistry of the cosmos - pupil worksheet MS Word · PDF
Chemistry of the cosmos - pupil jigsaw MS Word · PDF
This activity helps students understand the nature of interstellar space and explain how the conditions which determine the rates of a chemical reaction in interstellar space are different from those on Earth.
Key Stage 5
Beyond the stars - coming soon!
