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22/08/2010

The Nature of Science and the STEM e-library

In the late 80's the ASE published some excellent small booklets in their Nature of Science sseries. They looked at five areas of science and took a narrative/historical/context based approach. Telling the stories of those involved in how these ideas developed.

I have been wathcing some of the BBC Normans series recently and this reinforced my belief that good storytelling is a key component of teaching and remembered these booklets.

They seem to be long out of print although some do crop up on Amazon marketplace but I thought it'd be a while before I got them all, as it turns out. No.. you can download free, PDF versions of all five of them from the shiny new National Stem Centre e-library. And load more besides. I'll be plundering their goodies sometime soon but in the meantime here is link to page at STEM centre e-library with all 5 booklets HERE

The set consists of

Benjamin Franklin: His life story with some great inventions along the way
Discovering the Cure for Scurvy: How the cure was found
Louis Pasteur: Microbes and all the fun that comes with them
Stars and Forces: The history of astronomy
The Big Squeeze. Atmospheric pressure and fluids

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12/08/2010

CSI, Murder and Science Education

There was an interesting article in the Guardian this week about Murder Mystery type activities in schools and whether this is a good thing. Worth a read, whatever side of the fence about these kind of things you are on.

CSI

Guardian Link

I generally avoid the "we want your views" comments parts of newspaper sites (or indeed anywhere) but there are some relevant and sensible issues raised in some of the correspondence added even if it does degenerate into a degree slagging off conversation later on.

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28/07/2010

Ferrofluid, fun. Messy but fun

Ever wish that you could teach that field around a bar magnet stuff in 3D. Well if you get some ferrofluid then you can. Below are some of my attempts at playing with a petri dish of ferrofluid and a strong magnet

And now a much cooler Video

Youtube Ferrofluid

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15/07/2010

Aeroplanes and how they fly (or don't)

I was on a trip to the excellent Imperial War Museum at Duxford earlier this week. Great day out BTW.

In getting ready for this I did some more reading about flight and all that stuff, particularly as there had been some discussion on the PTNC physics teachers mailing list recently about how much of what we are told about flying is wrong or at least misleading. After all, if it is only about wing shape (curved on top, flat below) then how can planes fly upside down....

Anyway, there are some well written and accessible sources of enlightenment out there. The best two I found were Simple Science of Flight by Hank Tennekes

hal flight

and this site http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/

and in particular this document which seemed to be the best one that had both simple and then more complex

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30/06/2010

Neuromyths Update

I've been doing some reading after finishing the Skeptic magazine on neuromyths.

Usha Goswami at the University of Cambridge has done some excellent work in this area. HERE is a link to a really interesting article about this area, you might be able to give it to your A level biologists as some extra reading but worth a read yourself to find out more.

A few years ago, my eldest daughter was involved in a realated project (Brainwaves) at the Cambridge neurosciecne labs. She had a great time!

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20/06/2010

Skeptic Magazine

I get this one shipped from the US and haven't seen it here in the UK but a really good read is Skeptic magazine.

Whilst the religion/god/science debate can appear quite often in the book review/update page this magazine and it's excellent free podcast Skepticality are well worth checking out. It take a skeptical look at issues in science and provides well researched and refrenced discussions (and often debunking) of areas underscruting. The latest issue focussed on mind myths.

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14/06/2010

They Might be Giants in Cambridge (and London)

They are playing a show in london on 26th June DETAILS HERE but also a special show just for me in Cambridge (well not quite) on the afternoon of 27th June - fun for all the family - DETAILS HERE

And it'll be a HERE COMES SCIENCE show!

EDIT: And fun was had by all, much more entertaining than the England/Germany football game going on at the same time. Rubbish photo below.

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24/05/2010

Hammond's Invisible Worlds

Now available on DVD is the recent BBC show with Richard Hammond looking at small things and things we cannot see. There was some really great stuff here, particully to help with the teaching of the electromagnetic spectrum. A well thought out and explained sequence with a piano keyboard that helps to get students to visualise the size and scale of the EMS. lots of good

microscopy stuff also

Well worth it.

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12/05/2010

NASA, Saturn's Moons and Packman

Here is a nice image to start a lesson with

Full story here

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01/05/2010

Physicist turns all natural history

I think I have mentioned that I've gone all a bit natural history/biology in recent months. Reading the wonderful Roger Deakin and other stuff. Well this path continues and I take up an interest in birdsong now. (old before my time someone said the other day).

BUT - this book is great and does a kind of 'this is the sonic/physics of bird song' and so analyses the time/frequency patterns of bird song. Some good content here for that physics/sound/audacity lesson.

Sound approach

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