Ideas and evidence were everywhere at the Association for Science Education’s annual meeting in Liverpool from January 3-5. Now that students are assessed on their understanding of how scientific ideas are presented and evaluated, and of the way controversies arise from different methods of interpreting evidence, the demand for materials that reflect contentious and topical issues is growing.

Tony Sherborne, project leader of the Pupil Researcher Initiative (PRI) at Sheffield Hallam University, welcomes the opportunity to “introduce issues pupils could actually care about, like whether mobile phones are safe or not”. A common complaint at key stage 4, he said, is that students aren’t given the chance to discuss and express an opinion. The ideas and evidence strand is developed in teaching materials available free on the PRI website: www.shu.ac.ukpri

Collins, working with PRI, has produced Ideas and Evidence, a CD-Rom with more than 25 units, including investigations into air pollution, biological warfare, BSE, energy, cloning, evolution, and vaccines. Ideas and Evidence CD-Rom from Collins, pound;34.99.

The ideas and evidence strand also engages with the history of science and the way scientific work is affected by social and historical contexts. Kar2ouche’s innovative software for key stages 3 and 4, People in Science, explores the relationship between empirical questions, evidence and scientific explanations through interactive storyboards and animations, and shows how scientific knowledge changes. The first three CDs (Elements and Atoms, Earth and the Universe, and Natural Selection and Genetics) will be available from Longman in March. (Single user licence pound;65 plus VAT. Tel: 0800 579 579.) Visit www.peopleinscience.co.uk for sample storyboards.

The new secondary science TV-Roms from 4Learning feature forces and motion; electricity and magnetism; electromagnetic spectrum; solids, liquids and gases; and plants and photosynthesis. Each TV-Rom offers 30 to 40 minutes of video clips (with background data, glossary, images and links), lesson plans, activities, text and images that can be copied and pasted into students’ own presentations.

There’s still time to catch the last two programmes in Channel 4‘s series, Big Questions - the nature of scientific inquiry, presented by Adam Hart-Davis. (Mendeleev’s Dream will be broadcast on January 29 and Hubble’s Expanding Universe on February 5). If you miss them, all five programmes (the first three are on Faraday, Darwin and Mendel) will be available on video (pound;19.99) together with free online resources on www.channel4.comlearningsecondary

The programmes have been linked to the new edition of Nelson Science. Nelson Thornes has also produced a 4Learning support pack to help teachers and students get the most out of the series (pound;25 for packs of 10). See www.nelsonthornes.com

The Society for General Microbiology’s The World of Microbes pack for key stage 2 looks at the effects of microbes on everyday life. Topics include infectious diseases, antibiotics and vaccination, tooth decay, and the use of microbes in food production (pound;15 with six topic books, a teacher’s guide, poster and planning sheet). See www.sgm.ac.uk The society has also launched a careers website at www.biocareers.org.uk The Centre for the Advancement of Thinking at King’s College London has been infiltrating science teaching with remarkable results since 1984, when the first Case (Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education) activities were trialled at key stage 3. Thinking through Science is a new key stage 3 course from John Murray that draws directly on the Case project, integrating thinking skills with the QCA scheme of work. Pupil book 1 (pound;9.99), written by Case trainers, will be available in June. See www.johnmurray.co.uk

At key stage 1, NfER Nelson has produced Let’s Think, a bag of 30 activities designed to stretch the minds of five and six-year-olds. Intelligence, or “good information processing”, can be improved, said Philip Adey, director of CAT, when children are given challenging material. Case activities, developed with the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, are designed for use in small groups and encourage social learning as much as problem-solving. Let’s Think (teacher’s guide, resource pack and 3-D materials) is available at a special introductory offer of pound;99 until January 31, then pound;135. NfER-Nelson at www. nfer-nelson.co.uk

Mary Cruickshank