Video clip – Muriel Wheldale and complex gene interactions
This video clip from the BBC TV series Botany: A Blooming History looks at how geneticists in the early 20th century investigated the puzzle of the inheritance of characteristics.
This video clip from the BBC TV series Botany: A Blooming History looks at how geneticists in the early 20th century investigated the puzzle of the inheritance of characteristics.
In this practical activity, students use magnification to examine leaves showing symptoms of a common plant disease, and produce labelled drawings of the fungal spores....
In this activity, students act as detectives, piecing together information from the sources provided to identify common plant diseases, including the type of pathogen causing it, ways in which the...
This collection of 10 activities supports students in developing the key skills they need to carry out a successful EPQ.
...shows that plants slam their stomata shut against invading bacteria.But when and how did this complex ability evolve? In this 5 minute talk, Professor Alistair Hetherington of Bristol University discusses...
Watching gas bubble up from a pondweed as it photosynthesises can be a great demonstration or student practical. Our video demonstrates how best to use this protocol with your students in the lab, which species of pondweed can be used, how to care for pondweeds and a short explanation on the physiology that allows pondweed to bubble.
This practical activity aims to develop students' understanding of primary, secondary and tertiary structure of proteins through computer protein modelling....
This glossary includes definitions of horticultural and botanical words regularly used in our resources
Here you will find a selection of resources that have been carefully selected with your students in mind. The resources contain a mixture of videos, animations, practicals and some which are intended for learning outside where possible. Grouped by the anticipated age of the students, we have tried to be mindful of availability of equipment in order to undertake these activities.
In the lab, spider plants are a useful, cheap and reliable resource for investigating photosynthesis, asexual reproduction and the role of plant hormones, and great for stomatal peels
This protocol offers an alternative technique for measuring starch production in plants, based on the popular 'leaf disc' technique.
Online ecology practical using random sampling to measure species abundance. Helps students develop skills and plant ID techniques before going out into the field.
Our 'Plant Biology' animation shows three key processes in plant biology - respiration and photosynthesis, cell growth and differentiation, and the transport of sugar and water - within the context of a whole organism.
Holly trees are well known for their spiny leaves. In this investigation, students consider whether there is a relationship between the number of spines on a leaf and its height above the ground.
The ability to accurately observe, dissect and record an organism is a key skill for biology students. This resource is designed to meet the specifications for the A-level practical endorsement in England (CPAC). However, it will make a valuable guide to dissection and scientific drawing of a flower for those following a variety of different specifications.
In this activity, students investigate a selection of plant leaves to discover how they are adapted to deter herbivores, looking specifically at stinging nettles and docks.
This resource asks pupils to investigate the prickles on holly with opportunities for cross-curricular links.
This series of activities gives pupils an opportunity to explore different aspects of fruits and seeds and to understand how (and why) they are dispersed.
This fun and reliable practical makes investigating photosynthesis easy, with a technique that can be used with students from KS3 to post-16, and offering quantifiable and replicable results.
In this worksheet and case study, for post-16 students, students develop their understanding of communicable plant disease and how plants respond to infection....
An arsenal of carnivorous plants makes for a fascinating, environmentally safe, insect control regime in your greenhouse or school lab
One of the SAPS 'Star Plants' for your lab, showing an extreme form of adaptation to get your students thinking
Known as the 'sensitive plant', these plants are famous for their reaction to touch, collapsing their leaflets when brushed with a finger
Most current theories of adaptation and evolution are based on an organism’s inflexible genetic inheritance, where variation depends on chance mutations to the DNA sequence. Now, biologists studying epigenetics are trying to uncover the roles of this more flexible system.