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Monthly Archives: December 2009
Christmas Quiz results
For some of the groups I teach I begin each lesson with a very quick ten-question quiz. The last quiz of the term was a bit different. Question 1 Who would win in a fight between Batman and Superman? I was disappointed … Continue reading
Tagged christmas, quiz
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What’s inside a Ferrero Rocher?
I love Ferrero Rocher; I wanted to know what was inside one. Layer 1 is shiny gold foil. Do not eat this layer, it does not taste good. Layer 2 is made of chocolate and crushed hazelnuts. This is my favourite … Continue reading
Tagged sweets, whatsinside
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“The Year in Nonsense”
Ben Goldacre’s end of year roundup of Bad Science should be compulsory reading for everyone.
Tagged badscience
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How to make a revision timetable
If you’re interested in this post, you might also be interested in my post about exam technique in physics. There’s a running joke amongst teachers about the pupil who spends so much time preparing a revision timetable that they never … Continue reading
Tagged exam, revision
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Fairtrade is not Freetrade
Fairtrade products are heavily promoted in my school’s canteen, but Fairtrade is not without it’s faults. For example: Most of the farmers helped by Fairtrade are in Mexico (HDI: 0.854), a relatively well developed country, rather than in developing countries like … Continue reading
Tagged fairtrade, freetrade
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Experiments That Actually Work: Latent heat of fusion
There used to be a sign outside my physics classroom: If it’s green and wriggles, it’s biology. If it’s green and bubbles, it’s chemistry. If it’s green and doesn’t work, it’s physics. This is unfortunately very true. Many classroom experiments end … Continue reading
Tagged ETAW, experiment, practical
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The best thing about teaching optics…
… is the way the room looks with a dozen rayboxes in use.
Operation Paul Bunyan
Update: Video from the talk (also includes final thanks). This is the slide deck from my talk at Ignite London. My information came from a number of sources: Imjim Scout and VFW Post 7591 were very useful and the paper on … Continue reading
Tagged igniteLDN
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Following instructions
One of the key skills that a scientist needs is the ability to write accurate, unambiguous instructions. I gave one of my classes an exercise to improve their instruction writing skills. Each person got a card with a symbol on … Continue reading
Tagged lesson
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