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Month: April 2012

World Book Night

It’s Shakespeare’s Birthday today, a date which has been chosen by the organisers of World Book Night for “a celebration of reading and books which sees tens of thousands of passionate volunteers gift books in their communities to share their love of reading”. The project is not just about celebrating reading but about reaching out to those who “have never discovered the value or pleasure of reading”. The video below is one of a series of “Lessons from the Young Atheist’s Handbook” I intended to release around the time of… Read more World Book Night

Revision Videos

It’s the Easter holidays and I’m hoping my A-level students are using at least some of the time to revise. I’ve been sending them regular emails reminding them to study and including useful web links when I find them. I’ve recently come across a whole series of A-level Physics Revision Videos on YouTube as well as a single 15 minute video that claims to cover all the electricity in the AS syllabus for the AQA course. I’m impressed by the guys who made these videos – the videos are clear… Read more Revision Videos

The Use of Demonstrations in Science Teaching

A couple of weeks ago, I took part in a live recording of the Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast which was also filmed for the Royal Institution’s Ri Channel. My friend and former teacher Dr Michael de Podesta has written a kind of review of the podcast which prompted me to put up this blog post in which I want to share some notes I made on doing science demonstrations as part of my work as a Nuffield Education Fellow last year: Demonstrations, like whole class practicals, are an “activity which… Read more The Use of Demonstrations in Science Teaching