This is a fantastic clip from an American version of “Dragon’s Den” which I think would make an excellent starting point for a discussion on “how science works”. It’s so good it could have been made for this very purpose: Some obvious questions to get the discussion going: Are the Dragons right or are they just being rude by refusing to allow the guy to show them more of his “research”? (He claims to have lots more he can show them) What, if anything, is wrong with the salesman’s research?… Read more Selling Snake Oil →
“How Science Works” is now a major part of the national curriculum in England and Wales. Its introduction was controversial and its implementation has, as I wrote recently, gone awry. Despite my concerns about the problems of teaching and assessing HSW as suggested by certain GCSE course, I believe it is a crucial part of the science curriculum and deserves to be taught well. I think this film might help you do just that:
October is Black History Month in the UK. I’d bet most science teachers would struggle to name a single black scientist from history. Whilst it may be important to make students aware of the historical contributions of black scientists, I think it’s perhaps more important to make children aware of the work that black scientists are doing today, particularly in Africa. The film below is one I made back in 2006. It is a portrait of the winner of the 2006 Royal Society Pfizer Award – for “an outstanding, innovative… Read more Black History Month →
I imagine every school in the country has got at least one copy of An Inconvenient Truth lying around somewhere, but, in my opinion, there are better free films out there for teachers wanting some kind of video resource to help teach about climate change. An Inconvenient Truth is just too long for use in class and, frankly, just too boring. Al Gore’s film is worthy but dull and really only suitable for use if you’ve not bothered to plan your lesson or if you want to send a particularly… Read more An Inconvenient Truth – Al Gore’s film is not very good. →