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Following on from his first two articles focusing on the British political system, John Davis provides a historical perspective on international affairs and their global impact.

Use this guide to the basics of Britain's political system to fire children's interest in government, how it operates and how it impacts their lives and local communities.

Begin to engage pupils with politics by exploring the meaning of the word itself, before moving on to an understanding of democracy and its national institutions.

In the final article in this series about the fundamental importance of number in mathematics, John Davis focuses on special number families and their applications.

John Davis continues his series exploring the fundamental importance of number in maths, focusing here on the operations we use when working with them.

Unlock the way that different number systems developed worldwide and help pupils understand how the use of the zero digit became essential for counting and calculation.

Ignite children's curiosity about the solar system by exploring the theories of Ptolemy, Alhazen and Copernicus. Set them on the road to their own observations and research.

John Davis outlines the lives and achievements of pioneers Mary Anning, Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace, placing them in the context of the time they lived in.

John Davis focuses on the work of Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton, outlining what pupils need to understand about gravity, motion, dynamics and the action of forces.

Help pupils to understand and master different approaches to squaring and cubing numbers, using these activities from Hopscotch book, Cosmic Maths Year 5.

It is official – all pupils leaving primary schools will be required to know their times tables up to 12 × 12 by heart. John Davis provides some strategies to address this.

The Olympics provide a fantastic focus for cross-curricular study with opportunities to explore geography, history, physical education and more. John Davis gets you started.

Use these activities with key stage 2 pupils to explore the rules of 2D shapes and carry out simple tests on shape and rigidity following John Davis' diagrams.

Develop pupils' ability to glean information from maps, plans and diagrams and use them in conjunction with detailed text to solve geographical problems.

With the season for holidays and travel fast approaching, journeys can provide an exciting context for calculations about flight durations, currencies and time zones.

Inspirational number work can be achieved if pupils are given the opportunity to design, construct – and then use – their own mathematical equipment and games.

Increasing popularity of the Tour has boosted sales of bikes and children's interest in cycling. Find out how to link the race to geography, history, science, maths and more.

Explore your school grounds for plants which can provide a starting point for scientific enquiry into growing requirements, pollination and seed dispersal.

A wide range of activities, events and resources will roll out in August to commemorate the Great War. Use these activities to fuel children's engagement and understanding.

John Davis is here to help you plan for the geographical skills and fieldwork element of the new curriculum at key stage 2, from basic sketch maps to six-figure coordinates.

Support pupils to practise using a range of measuring equipment and give them experience of recording measurements taken in a variety of different ways.

John Davis suggests a fascinating programme of study to enable pupils to understand time-zones, the 24-hour clock and the movement of the Earth in relation to the Sun.

Here we look at ways in which the work of Mary Anning, Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace can be followed up with practical enquiries and activities in class.

John Davies outlines the theories which are fundamental to basic scientific understanding and suggests practical activities to test how they work.

Evaporation, condensation, cooling, dissolving, filtering and melting are all key scientific words which can be demonstrated with simple, practical experiments.

John Davis kicks off a new series focusing on key scientific figures, starting with Marie Curie. Help pupils to understand both her achievements and the science behind them.

Try these year 3 activities to help children understand fractions in context and become more confident in carrying out calculations involving division.

It is a competition which provides an opportunity to explore the history of the game, study the geography of its participating countries and understand scores.

Pupils who are introduced to algebra before year 6 will show more confidence and intrinsic enjoyment of playing about with numbers, says John Davis.

Stonehenge is a compelling subject for prehistory studies and is supported by a new visitors' centre with a wealth of resources for schools. John Davis provides a guide.

Try these activities, taken from the Hopscotch Book, Cosmic Maths, to help year 3 students understand numbers written as digits and as words, up to 1,000.

Help your pupils to understand the properties of 3D shapes with these games and puzzles that involve exploring cubes, cuboids, prisms, cylinders and pyramids.

Bring prehistory to life by copying ancient crafts. Try painting by candlelight, weaving paper and drawing Celtic designs, and exploring their mystical meanings.

Find out about the materials created by Macintosh, Dunlop and McAdam. Two of these became new words in the dictionary while the other became a global brand.

The Tudor ship was raised from the Solent in 1982, and today visitors to its futuristic museum can come face to face with the crew who died 470 years ago.

What significance does this document have for society today? Spark debate by using John Davis' lesson plan to understand an important turning point in history.

National Science and Engineering Week (NSEW), which takes place this year between 9 and 18 March, has been coordinated by the British Science Association since it first began in 1994. In 2006, the Association was joined by EngineeringUK and both organisations continue to have government endorsement and support through the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. During the week, events are organised throughout the UK by a large and diverse range of organisations and individuals, varying from hospitals, schools, museums and industries. One of the prime aims of the week is to engage and inspire people of all ages with science and technology and their implications. The event aims to promote discussion and understanding of what science, engineering and technology can and cannot achieve. Above all, organisers want to make people more knowledgeable about the scientific method – the way scientists go about their work and reach their conclusions. In more practical terms it is hoped NSEW will also help to encourage scientific, engineering and technological studies beyond the age of 16 and promote such activities as positive career options.

In the final part of this series that provides opportunities for pupils to acquire the skills to present text in different formats, John Davis focuses on the comic strip.

John Davis concludes his reading to learn series by investigating bridge construction and asking children to create models, and comic strips to describe the process.

This is the third pair of articles in a series that provides opportunities for pupils to acquire the skills to interpret, organise and understand text in various formats.

Once your pupils have mastered the art of learning to read, you can help them to acquire the skills of reading to understand different visual representations.

The tasks outlined here use games and sport as a way of improving pupils' reading and text interpretation skills while extending their capabilities to solve problems.

This is the first of a four-part series, which provides opportunities for pupils to learn the skills involved in analysing text and data presented in visual formats.

Work with a range of patterns to learn about the value and properties of numbers, while at the same time sharpening problem solving and investigational skills.

Key stage 1 pupils can start to develop their knowledge of place by exploring areas close to home. They can then apply the same principles to exploring further afield.

Did your pupils know that children as young as 12 fought in the battle against the Spanish Armada? Fire their imaginations with fascinating facts about this event.

John Davis continues to explore of ideas for teaching the new curriculum with planning suggestions for key stage 1 history lessons, comparing the lives of two trailblazers.

John Davis turns to the key stage 2 section of the new history curriculum and explores some of the less familiar people and places that now need to be covered.

Historians differ over who was the first person to perfect a petrol driven internal combustion engine robust enough to power the first cars. Foremost among them, though, would be the German engineer Karl Benz, who is the subject of the fourth article in this series featuring the contribution made to our everyday lives by ground-breaking inventors.