A is for Atom

| 0 Comments

This animated film from 1953 is charming. It’s an unashamedly didactic film, but done with wit and style. It contains a lot of material that students are required to learn at GCSE. In may ways, it’s better than some of the more recent films that cover this material and I feel it’s worth showing for the historical content alone (something that is often missing from modern textbook treatments).

If your students can get over giggling at the 1950s narration, I think they’ll find this a really interesting and useful film to watch. At about 15 minutes long, it’s a little long, but a question sheet would help ensure that it would be time well-spent. I’d recommend a film like this for use in an end of topic summary lesson.

Leave a comment

Blog posts

BBC iScience films for GCSE Science
A few years ago, I helped make a bunch of films intended for use in GCSE Science lessons. I was…
Physics Demonstration Videos
Thanks to the generosity and support of The National STEM Centre and the Institute of Physics, Jonathan Sanderson and I,…
Science vs Magic - a work in progress
It’s a few days since I came back from the Cheltenham Science Festival and I’m still buzzing. My live science…
King of the Universe
This is a piece I wrote for The Times Science Blog back in March 2010. The Times no longer allow…
The Danger of Science Denial
I’ve recently been marking GCSE “case studies” - coursework where students get to “research a science related question” e.g., Should…