For teachers and families
Good questions.
Careful conclusions.
These tools give children something to change, evidence to examine, and an explanation to discuss.
Explore first. Then investigate.
Open any investigation directly. Try the controls, make a prediction, and change one thing at a time. The challenges offer a starting point; they are not a test of general ability. Support younger children with reading, measuring, and comparing evidence.
Use the notebook to record a prediction and explanation. Download measurements as CSV, or choose Print summary to keep the scene, tables, and notes. A CSV labels how its data were obtained. Simulations describe the model's behaviour; measurements describe an observation with equipment or manual entry.
Equipment is optional
Download the hardware setup guides and reference firmware for micro:bit, Arduino sensors, and the RFID reader. The download names the reference boards, wiring, dependencies, and checks still needed before using actual equipment.
Reaction Lab, Discovery Objects, Habitat Mapper, Light Explorers, Cool Down, Roll Timer, and Shake Table include manual or browser-based paths. USB serial connection appears only on compatible browsers and needs an explicit choice. On platforms without serial, use the ordinary controls. Hardware reference firmware and setup instructions are supplied with the source. The precise classroom equipment and physical compatibility have not yet been tested.
Use suitable low-voltage classroom battery circuits. Follow your school's practical science guidance. Cooling investigations use warm water, adult supervision, and a protected external probe; keep boards dry. Return living things carefully to where they were found.
Privacy and local storage
No accounts, advertising, tracking, or cloud database are included. This app does not upload microphone audio, observations, photographs, tag mappings, or notebook text. Hosting providers receive ordinary web requests. Do not enter pupil names, sensitive information, or precise home locations.
Notebook notes are saved on this device only when Save notes is selected. Some investigations offer their own local photo or mapping storage. Use their clear controls to remove saved information. Reset investigation restarts the experiment; Clear saved notes removes the notebook. Your browser's site-data controls remove all local data for this site. When storage is unavailable, the investigations remain usable during the visit; export important evidence before leaving.
Microphone permission is requested only after choosing the microphone. Stop it with the app control; leaving the page also releases it. No audio is saved by default. Device permission is requested only after choosing Connect.
Accessibility and classroom use
Controls have labels, visible keyboard focus, and generous touch targets. Diagrams include text descriptions; graphs have tables. Use the sliders and buttons as alternatives to dragging. Reduced-motion preferences are respected. Presentation view enlarges the workspace, with a page-based fallback when fullscreen is unavailable.
Testing notes in the source describe what has been checked. Formal accessibility conformance and compatibility with every assistive technology are not claimed. If an essential interaction is difficult, the paired table, manual entry, and teacher guidance may provide another route while it is reviewed.
Curriculum and sources
The teacher notes connect enquiry, evidence, and subject ideas with the Curriculum for Wales Science and Technology guidance. These are reasoned teaching suggestions, with no official endorsement. Ages are guidance rather than fixed progression-step assignments. Detailed app mappings, scientific sources, access records, and model assumptions are included in the project's documentation.
- Statements of what matters: curiosity, enquiry, living things, matter, and forces.
- Designing your curriculum: planning purposeful investigations and evaluating evidence.
- micro:bit sensors: capabilities and the limits of relative measurements.
- Browser serial documentation: hardware connection and compatibility.
Credits and model limits
The mark, Bricolage Grotesque typeface, Atkinson Hyperlegible Next typeface, and colour conventions are reused from the existing Learning Spark Studio maths project. Both fonts use the SIL Open Font Licence. The main website and its published styles were checked through the authenticated hosting connection on 5 November 2026, confirming the mark, primary colours, and both typefaces. Design tokens are kept in one replaceable stylesheet.
Science illustrations and procedural creature models are authored locally for this collection. Creature models emphasise visible body structure, legs, and broad classification. They simplify shape, scale, and fine anatomy, and should be compared with real specimens and photographs. No external model download or WebGL support is required.
All simulations include deliberate simplifications. Open For teachers in each investigation before drawing conclusions beyond the scene. Real observations may differ because the model omits influences found in a classroom or habitat.