Schools and teachers: Key Stage 3
The sessions offer students the opportunity to handle Museum specimens and take part in a range of object-based activities involving group-work and discussion.
In addition to the workshops listed below we are happy to tailor sessions for your students and curriculum needs. Please contact us on education@oum.ox.ac.uk.
Sessions can be combined with a visit to the Botanic Garden or the Museum of the History of Science
The Age of the Earth
How old is the Earth and how do we know? Students compare the work of geologists, physicists, chemists and biologists and find out how all have made a contribution to our understanding of geological time and the processes that have shaped the landscape and life on the planet.
Dinosaur Day: ideas and evidence
How do scientists use evidence to explore the unknown? Students handle a variety of types of fossil evidence and use a range of skills to find out how scientists build up an accurate idea of the prehistoric world and how this idea changes as new evidence is discovered. ‘Ideas and Evidence’ teacher sheet
The Colour of Nature
Why are there so many colours in the natural world? This practical workshop links Key Stage 3 Biology and Physics and encourages students to consider what colour is, the different ways colour is produced and how colour is an adaptation in the natural world. ‘The Colour of Nature’ teacher sheet
Museum Maths
Why do we see so much pattern in nature? This cross-curricular session considers the significance of symmetry in the natural world and links with a session at the Museum of the History of Science.
Online resources: in the learning zone
- The living animal
Discover the life processes of humans and other animals in the 'Living animal'. - Classifying animals
'Animal I.D.' provides an introduction to animal classification with a series of sorting games. - Extinct and endangered animals
Students can use these resources for their own research and explore how animals become extinct and endangered. - The chemistry of minerals
'What is a mineral?' introduces students to the concepts and chemistry behind these spectacular crystals. - The rock cycle
'Rocky' escorts you around the rock cycle, introduces the three rock types and tests students with fun games. - Browse the learning zone
The learning zone provides a range of different of articles for younger students on science topics linked to the national curriculum.
Online resources: image banks
- Grouping animals
Challenges students to classify animals; can they identify birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates? - The human skeleton
Can students identify the bones of the human body? This series of photographs provides a useful resource in the classroom. - Rock types
A photographic introduction to igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks; sort them and discuss the processes that form each type of rock.
The image banks are PDF format and are all 800kB or less in size.
To read these files you will need to download Adobe Reader