Get out of the lab! Free teaching resources, CPD, grants and news.
Plus - why do bees need their caffeine fix?
Spring's here at last, and with it the chance to get out of the lab - both with and without your students.
We've got suggestions and resources for strengthening your students' understanding of biology by getting them outside. There's a great CPD opportunity for post-16 biology teachers, plus a new SAPS grant scheme.
In our news round up, find out how plants slam the door on germs, how dates could keep your car running longer, and why bees need their caffeine fix.
Inspiring contemporary biology CPD opportunity
Once again, the Science Summer School will be offering inspiring CPD for post-16 biology teachers. This is your chance to hear some of the UK's leading scientists talk about their work, take part in inspiring practicals and exchange ideas with colleagues, all funded by a generous ENTHUSE bursary for eligible schools.
Find out more
Grants of £500 for resource development
If you've got a great teaching resource or an idea you'd like to expand, we can offer grants of up to £500 to help you develop them for our website. Plus we'll offer grants of £100 for teacher and technician-led CPD.
To find out more, take a look at the Awards page.
Using your environment to strengthen learning in biology
Plant science practicals can offer a great opportunity to put a biological principle into a broader context. Why not get your students to gather the plant material needed for the lab practical, for example? By seeing the plant within its setting, students have an opportunity for them to think about the whole organism, its environment and its adaptations, before returning to the lab for detailed study.
We've picked out a collection of biology practicals that offer scope for outdoor-indoor work, plus ideas from other schools and colleges:
"I've sent my students out to collect leaves of different types and colours to then analyse the pigments using the SAPS TLC (thin layer chromatography) method. Afterwards I regretted not getting the students to try and identify the plants they were collecting from. Getting them to identify them from scratch might be too tough, but the teacher could identify a few plants in the school grounds in advance and give 'clues' e.g. leaf form, growth habit etc. to lead them to the right one." Sarah McClusky, Newcastle College
Why do nettles sting? Looking at adaptation (11-14)
Here’s a new resource by SAPS Associate Lynn Nickerson, looking at the way that leaves have adapted for defence. You can either gather the leaves in advance, or get your students involved in finding the leaves, taking a photo of them in context, and so on. A great activity for 11-14 students or for a school science club.
View the resource
Stomata and leaf surface temperature (14-16 & post-16)
This lively practical introduces the topic of transport in plants, using infra-red thermometers to measure the temperature of leaves when transpiration is prevented. You can try this with basil plants in the lab at any time of year, but its great to take your thermometers outside, and do some hands-on investigations. (See our news story below for the latest research on how stomata fight off pathogens.)
View the resource
Photosynthesis in sun & shade plants (14-16 & post-16)
Students collect leaves from plants growing in different situations around the school grounds, and compare the rate of photosynthesis in plants from different habitats.
View the resource
Comparing habitat diversity (14-16)
Students carry out a practical activity in the school grounds or other green space, comparing the diversity of habitats using Cairns' sequential comparison index. Part of the SAPS Careers in Science series, this includes a case study of a professional scientist. (14-16 students)
View the resource
"Our biology students go outside to study other living organisms throughout the year, including using quadrats, marking and recapture of woodlice, going outside to compare the compost heap and the compost bin, collecting dandelion roots to show it will regenerate from a piece of root (a useful adaptation) and ecological surveys. The science department has its own small pond which we dug specially to have easy access to pond water." Science department staff, Didcot Girls School
"We are keen to get out on to the field to use quadrats and look at differences in distribution of species – mown versus unmown, football pitch versus picnic area etc. We use hula hoops for this - since they are significantly cheaper than quadrats, we can have more of them and so we can have smaller groups." Jacqui Gaiser-Porter, Cambridge
Your ideas wanted!
How do you use plants to teach mathematical skills, whether calculating surface area:volume ratios or rate changes, or using inverse proportion or percentiles? We are keen to hear how you combine mathematics and plant biology in engaging ways!
Plus, if you've got more suggestions about how to get students learning outdoors as part of your biology lessons, please let us know. Just send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
News Round up
Why bees need their caffeine fix
We think of caffeine as being a plant defence mechanism - a chemical compound produced to deter possible insect predators. And as we sip our morning cup of coffee, feeling our brains become more alert and our memory better, most of us assume it's just a lucky chance that causes caffeine to have such beneficial effects on us humans.
So why, a team of plant scientists asked, do flowers produce caffeine in their nectar? Could bees be feeling the same stimulant effects that humans do?
Find out why bees need their caffeine fix
Slamming the door on pathogens
Unlike animals, which breathe through airways lined with pathogen-trapping defenses, plants get air through stomata, an easy way for bacteria to sneak in. So how do plants keep pathogens out? They slam their pores shut.
Stomata are flanked by guard cells that swell when triggered by bacteria, closing off the pores. New research shows this is triggered by an enzyme within the guard cells. Besides being fascinating in its own right, this defense response has implications for human health – stomata have recently been shown to block some, but not all, types of the fecal bacteria that can cause food poisoning outbreaks.
Read more on the Annals of Botany blog
How dates can keep your car running longer
Engineers are constantly searching for ways to cut down corrosion, while using less toxic chemicals. Increasingly, they're turning to plant extracts to do the job. New research has shown that juice from date palms inhibits the corrosion of certain aluminium alloys used in the motor and aerospace industries.
Read more on the Annals of Botany blog
£15,000 to improve your students' learning
Teachers with ideas to raise students' attainment in science can win up to £15,000 each to make their project a reality. The competition, launched by education charity SHINE, will give up to 10 teachers funding so they can pilot their own project for a year in their own school. If any of those projects prove particularly successful, they may then receive further, long-term funding to helped them expand.
Find out more
Best wishes from the SAPS team
The Administratort, Elizabeth McDonald, Dan Jenkins and Ginny Page
