Category Archive: Miscellaneous

May 19

Revision techniques – the good, the OK and the useless

Revision techniques – the good, the OK and the useless..

It turns out that many students are still trying to revise with the wrong techniques.

The full paper is here by Prof Dulovsky and talks about how many things we do are simply wrong and the funny thing is that they are not just wrong for some but EVERYONE! So students who try and claim it works for them are simply lying to themselves.

The list the research came up was this….

  • Elaborative interrogation - being able to explain a point or fact - MODERATE
  • Self-explanation - how a problem was solved -MODERATE
  • Summarising - writing summaries of texts -LOW
  • Highlighting/underlining - LOW
  • Keyword mnemonics - choosing a word to associate with information - LOW
  • Imagery - forming mental pictures while reading or listening - LOW
  • Re-reading LOW
  • Practice testing - Self-testing to check knowledge – especially using flash cards - HIGH
  • Distributed practice - spreading out study over time - HIGH
  • Interleaved practice - switching between different kinds of problems - MODERATE

It is interesting really as I would also agree that the best way of revising is to re-test yourself using flash cards, doing revision on a regular basis (not just homework sheets!), also cramming a short amount before an exam of what you previously revised and teaching others as this like re-learning it.

Revision techniques – the good, the OK and the useless http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22565912

 

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2013/revision-techniques-the-good-the-ok-and-the-useless

May 10

Students trust in ‘lucky exam pants’

Students trust in ‘lucky exam pants’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22465114

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2013/students-trust-in-lucky-exam-pants

Apr 14

New Scientist: Kidney breakthrough: complete lab-grown organ works in rats

New Scientist: Kidney breakthrough: complete lab-grown organ works in rats. http://goo.gl/mag/TMKym3F

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2013/new-scientist-kidney-breakthrough-complete-lab-grown-organ-works-in-rats

Mar 21

Princess Leia hologram could become reality

Princess Leia hologram could become reality

http://gu.com/p/3et7j

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2013/princess-leia-hologram-could-become-reality

Feb 19

Cosmos may be ‘inherently unstable’

Cosmos may be ‘inherently unstable’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21499765

This idea is really cool…

A concept known as vacuum instability could result, billions of years from now, in a new universe opening up in the present one and replacing it. It all depends on some precise numbers related to the Higgs that researchers are currently trying to pin down.

Certainly this is something which really puts a fly in the ointment of religious groups. Not sure how they can explain that one!

Maybe it is time to start to revise religion as some ideas which were written down about 2000 years ago by people who actually could hardly spell their own names or add up. What is the truth or relevance to the universe now in these ideas?

We are now actually starting to understand how it all fits together and the real truth. I certainly think we need to think more about the facts in front of us and not just “something we might believe”. I believe that I am the world’s best golfer but in fact, the reality that Tiger Woods does not lose games to me every week is the “evidence” that this is not the case!  Anyway I can be happy in my ignorance…..That is as long as it does not start to effect society or that I impose this view on others, especially impressionable minds!

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2013/cosmos-may-be-inherently-unstable

Feb 18

Pioneering Skin Treatments

Pioneering Skin Treatments (Source: BBC News)

It is extraordinary that doctors were able to do anything for Todd Nelson.

The former US Army master sergeant’s injuries were so bad the medics thought he would not survive.

“I was on my 300th-plus convoy across Kabul, Afghanistan,” he recalls.

“We were headed home for the night when we passed next to a typical yellow and white sedan. When they saw us getting ready to pass, they flipped the switch.

“The blast came in my side of the truck; I was on the passenger side.

“It flipped the truck through a brick wall and put shrapnel through my right eye, into my sinus cavity.

“Both my upper and lower jawbones were crushed, as was my right orbital rim, and it crushed my forehead.

“It burned my right arm over the top of my head, [and] took my right ear off.”

Nelson went through more than 40 operations to reconstruct his face. The scars are evident but what is not so apparent to someone just talking to him is the pain he still feels over large portions of his body.

Destructive wounds

The veteran is now working with Colonel Robert Hale from the US Army Institute for Surgical Research, sitting on his advisory panel.

The pair came to speak to reporters here in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Col Hale is trying to develop new techniques that will give wounded soldiers better outcomes.

Nelson’s injuries destroyed all three main skin layers – the epidermis, dermis and hypodermis (the top, middle and bottom), in some places right down to the periosteum, the membrane overlying the bone.

“The way we treat Todd’s condition has been around for 30-some-odd years. It hasn’t evolved much,” said Col Hale.

“We basically removed the dead tissue, we conditioned the wound-bed as best we could, and then we covered it with split-thickness skin grafts taken from his thigh or somewhere that wasn’t burned on his body.

“It is a successful way to close the wound, but it leaves lots of fibrosis and scarring that the face simply cannot tolerate. If you have a lot of scarring and fibrosis, the face doesn’t work like it should – the eyelids can’t close, the nose won’t work, and the mouth won’t work.”

Near-term developments

One of the great innovations in recent years has been negative pressure wound therapy. This involves sealing a foam deep in an open wound under suction to help condition the base tissues to get them ready to receive a graft. Patients greatly appreciate the therapy because it reduces the number of painful dressing changes.

“It has revolutionised our care of open wounds,” said Col Hale, “but we can’t use it on the face because there are too many areas of the face that will leak around the silicon seal – the eyelids, the nose, the mouth.”

The US Army doctor is therefore trying to develop a special mask that would do the same job.

Instead of using a foam, it would rely on microchannels in the mask to take away wound fluids. He then wants to take moulded sheets of artificial skin to build up the intermediate layer, the dermis, before adding the outer epithelium graft employing new approaches that lift thin, 20-cell-thick slices from elsewhere on the body.

For the deepest layer, the hypodermis, he is looking at taking fat from the abdomen and injecting under the healing wound.

“All the technologies I’m exploiting currently in my lab and what I’m funding in other research labs are things that are close at hand,” said Col Hale.

“In maybe five, six, and seven years, we should have products and strategies that we can apply to soldiers who have been injured in war, and all of this should be translatable to the general public.”

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21480652

 

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2013/pioneering-skin-treatments

Jul 04

Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC)

This is a fantastic article I wanted to share…

Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), a state of matter in which separate atoms or subatomic particles, cooled to near absolute zero (0 K, − 273.15 °C, or − 459.67 °F; K = kelvin), coalesce into a single quantum mechanical entity—that is, one that can be described by a wave function—on a near-macroscopic scale. This form of matter was predicted in 1924 by Albert Einstein on the basis of the quantum formulations of the Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose.

Although it had been predicted for decades, the first atomic BEC was made only in 1995, when Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman of JILA, a research institution jointly operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder, cooled a gas of rubidium atoms to 1.7 × 10−7 K above absolute zero. Along with Wolfgang Ketterle of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who created a BEC with sodium atoms, these researchers received the 2001 Nobel Prize for Physics. Research on BECs has expanded the understanding of quantum physics and has led to the discovery of new physical effects.

BEC theory traces back to 1924, when Bose considered how groups of photons behave. Photons belong to one of the two great classes of elementary or submicroscopic particles defined by whether their quantum spin is a nonnegative integer (0, 1, 2, …) or an odd half integer (1/2, 3/2, …). The former type, called bosons, includes photons, whose spin is 1. The latter type, called fermions, includes electrons, whose spin is 1/2.

As Bose noted, the two classes behave differently (see Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics). According to the Pauli exclusion principle, fermions tend to avoid each other, for which reason each electron in a group occupies a separate quantum state (indicated by different quantum numbers, such as the electron’s energy). In contrast, an unlimited number of bosons can have the same energy state and share a single quantum state.

Einstein soon extended Bose’s work to show that at extremely low temperatures “bosonic atoms” with even spins would coalesce into a shared quantum state at the lowest available energy. The requisite methods to produce temperatures low enough to test Einstein’s prediction did not become attainable, however, until the 1990s. One of the breakthroughs depended on the novel technique of laser cooling and trapping, in which the radiation pressure of a laser beam cools and localizes atoms by slowing them down. (For this work, French physicist Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and American physicists Steven Chu and William D. Phillips shared the 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics.) The second breakthrough depended on improvements in magnetic confinement in order to hold the atoms in place without a material container. Using these techniques, Cornell and Wieman succeeded in merging about 2,000 individual atoms into a “superatom,” a condensate large enough to observe with a microscope, that displayed distinct quantum properties. As Wieman described the achievement, “We brought it to an almost human scale. We can poke it and prod it and look at this stuff in a way no one has been able to before.”

BECs are related to two remarkable low-temperature phenomena: superfluidity, in which each of the helium isotopes 3He and 4He forms a liquid that flows with zero friction; and superconductivity, in which electrons move through a material with zero electrical resistance. 4He atoms are bosons, and although 3He atoms and electrons are fermions, they can also undergo Bose condensation if they pair up with opposite spins to form bosonlike states with zero net spin. In 2003 Deborah Jin and her colleagues at JILA used paired fermions to create the first atomic fermionic condensate.

BEC research has yielded new atomic and optical physics, such as the atom laser Ketterle demonstrated in 1996. A conventional light laser emits a beam of coherent photons; they are all exactly in phase and can be focused to an extremely small, bright spot. Similarly, an atom laser produces a coherent beam of atoms that can be focused at high intensity. Potential applications include more-accurate atomic clocks and enhanced techniques to make electronic chips, or integrated circuits.

The most intriguing property of BECs is that they can slow down light. In 1998 Lene Hau of Harvard University and her colleagues slowed light traveling through a BEC from its speed in vacuum of 3 × 108 metres per second to a mere 17 metres per second, or about 38 miles per hour. Since then, Hau and others have completely halted and stored a light pulse within a BEC, later releasing the light unchanged or sending it to a second BEC. These manipulations hold promise for new types of light-based telecommunications, optical storage of data, and quantum computing, though the low-temperature requirements of BECs offer practical difficulties.

Sidney Perkowitz

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2012/bose-einstein-condensate-bec

Jun 30

‘Leap second’ lengthens weekend

‘Leap second’ Lengthens Weekend  (30th Jun 2012)

11:59
Wait a second: on Saturday night atomic clocks will read 23 hours, 59 minutes and 60 seconds.

The world is about to get a well-earned long weekend but don’t make big plans because it will only last an extra second. A so-called “leap second” will be added to the world’s atomic clocks as they undergo a rare adjustment to keep them in step with the slowing rotation of the Earth.

To achieve the adjustment, on Saturday night atomic clocks will read 23 hours, 59 minutes and 60 seconds before moving on to midnight Greenwich Mean Time.

Super-accurate atomic clocks are the ultimate reference point by which the world sets its wristwatches. But their precise regularity – which is much more constant than the shifting movement of the Earth around the sun that marks out our days and nights – brings problems of its own.

If no adjustments were made, the clocks would move further ahead and after many years the sun would set at midday. Leap seconds perform a similar function to the extra day in each leap year which keeps the calendar in sync with the seasons. The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) based in Paris, is responsible for keeping track of the gap between atomic and planetary time and issuing international edicts on the addition of leap seconds.

“We want to have both times close together and it’s not possible to adjust the Earth’s rotation,” Daniel Gambis, head of the Earth Orientation Centre of the IERS, told Reuters.

Gambis said the turning of the Earth and its movement around the sun were far from constant.

In recent years, a leap second has been added every few years, slightly more infrequent than in the 1970s, despite the long-term slowdown in the Earth’s rotation caused by tides, earthquakes and a host of other natural phenomena.

Adjustments to atomic clocks are more than a technical curiosity.

A collection of the highly accurate devices are used to set Coordinated Universal Time, which governs time standards on the worldwide web, satellite navigation, banking computer networks and international air traffic systems.

There have been calls to abandon leap seconds but a meeting of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the UN agency responsible for international communications standards, failed to reach a consensus in January.

“They decided not to decide anything,” said Gambis, adding that another attempt would be made in 2015.

Opponents of the leap second want a simpler system that avoids the costs and margin for error in making manual changes to thousands of computer networks. Supporters argue it needs to stay to preserve the precision of systems in areas such as navigation.

Britain’s Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) says the leap second should be retained until there is a much broader debate on the change.

“This is something that affects not just the telecom industry,” said RAS spokesman Robert Massey. “It would decouple timekeeping from the position of the sun in the sky and so a broad debate is needed.”

Time standards are important in professional astronomy for pointing telescopes in the right direction but critical systems in other areas, not least defence, would also be affected by the change. “To argue that it would be pain-free is not quite true,” Massey said.

In the meantime, Massey plans to use his extra second wisely this weekend. “I’ll enjoy it with an extra second in bed,” he said.

Taken from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jun/29/leap-second-lengthens-saturday-time

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2012/leap-second-lengthens-weekend

Jan 09

What to eat for exam success….

If you are going through the stresses of exams or are doing GCSEs, A levels or a degree, you will want to do all you can to boost your chances. What and when you eat and drink can be important in helping to keep you alert, focused and able to deal with the day-to-day pressure of exams.

It is an old rule but a golden one: during periods of intensive study, breakfast really is vital. Numerous studies have indicated that skipping it affects the ability to concentrate later: those who eat breakfast have better recall, better problem-solving skills and improved scores in maths tests.

The explanation for this is probably that your brain has high glucose requirements yet can store only small amounts of this crucial source of energy. It was always assumed that the body kept the brain optimally supplied with glucose (sugar) at the expense of almost every other organ. But this idea is challenged by the finding that boosting blood sugar after a nights fast aids mental performance.

The precise mechanisms by which blood sugar affects memory are not fully understood, but glucose is certainly needed to raise production of a nerve transmitter called acetylcholine. When drugs block production of acetylcholine, memory is disrupted, with the ability to remember new information being particularly affected.

While a sugary breakfast cereal and white toast, or a pain au chocolat or muffin will certainly give you a sugar rush, it is less likely to keep your blood sugar stable for the morning ahead than the slowly digested carbohydrates that are found in, for example, wholegrain cereals such as porridge and sugar-free muesli, granary toast or some fruit with a yoghurt or fromage frais.

Wholegrain cereals also give you a dose of B vitamins, including the B1 that is needed, along with blood sugar, to make acetylcholine. Meanwhile, the milk that you add to your muesli provides protein, which helps to keep you full and aids concentration.

For mid-morning snacks try to avoid quickly digested refined carbohydrates such as biscuits, cereal bars, fizzy drinks and squash or sweets. A sugar burst followed by a debilitating, energy-draining low can result, which is enough to throw your concentration off kilter in exams or make revision more difficult.

It is also vital to keep well hydrated. Even a small dip in fluid levels can affect our ability to focus and may impair mental agility. During revision, it is better to make frequent trips to the loo than to sit and stare blankly because, deprived of fluids, you can’t absorb information properly. During the exam it is a good idea to keep taking small sips of liquid, provided you have been to the loo before you begin.

While coffee, tea and energy drinks such as Red Bull might seem to help in staving off sleepiness during late-night revision sessions, overdoing these beverages can overstimulate the nervous system, elevating blood pressure and heart rate and putting you more on edge. Stick to no more than five or six caffeine-containing drinks each day. To get the most out of caffine’s short-term ability to improve concentration, it is worth cutting down your daily intake and saving such a drink until just before you really need the boost.

Lunch is as important as breakfast. The last thing you want, however, is the feeling that a rich meal is sitting uncomfortably in your stomach all afternoon. Avoiding fat-laden, mayonnaise-based sandwiches, pizzas and chips is therefore wise.

So, too, is steering clear of meals that are too rich in carbohydrate. Large pasta-based dishes and oversized baguettes will deliver a big dollop of carbohydrate, which can make you sleepy in the hours ahead so that you feel more like a siesta than hard mental work.

Protein, on the other hand, seems to help us to concentrate. Tuna, chicken, turkey, lean beef or ham and eggs make ideal bases for lunch and can be accompanied by slowly digested carbohydrates such as a small pitta bread, tortilla wrap or a slice of rye, sourdough or granary bread.

Surveys of British teenagers show that girls, particularly, are lacking in iron, consuming only about half the recommended daily intake between the ages of 11 and 18. A general lack of B vitamins can strain the nervous system, while too little folic acid (a specific type of vitamin B) can, like insufficient iron, trigger low moods.

Quick tips for smart candidates

  • Boost your omega3s. Omega3 essential fats are vital for optimum brain functioning, helping messages to reach nerve endings effectively. Two servings a week of oily fish such as salmon, mackerel or anchovies, plus regular intakes of flax seeds and omega-3-enriched eggs, orange juice and milk are worth eating.
  • Avoid junk food, cakes, biscuits, pies and ready meals that contain trans fats (labelled as partially hydrogenated oils/ vegetable fats) in the ingredients list. It is believed that these can block the passage of messages between nerve endings in our brains.
  • Have plenty of citrus fruits, berries and vegetables, which are great for vitamin C. Our adrenal glands, which pump out adrenalin when we are stressed, need good supplies to keep our bodies in balance. As vitamin C is needed for a robust immune system as well, these fruits and vegetables may also help to reduce the risk of being laid low with a summer cold that could upset your revision and exam performance.
  • Replace some of your caffeine-rich, sugary drinks with camomile tea: the active plant constituents can help to reduce stress.

(Source: Times Online)

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2012/what-to-eat-for-exam-success

Jan 07

2011 Animated Science Yearly Review

Hi,

It has been a fantastic year for Animated Science with lots of new content being added for KS5 Physics and also some older items repurposed in our new blog. We have certainly gone worldwide with the appeal of the site with users across the globe accessing all the resources. The Charcuterie Section is also shaping up nicely with our top worldwide google ranking for “Pork and Sage Sausage”. I will be adding more as I have a new android phone so I will be adding some cool videos as well as images to this section.

Looking through the statistics it has been amazing; we have served pages to over 60,000 unique visitors, who have viewed 401,896 pages. In total we have had over 2 million hits and users have downloaded over 192GB of data through the site.

It seems that mobile use is now building and the site is now fully optimised for Android/iPhone or the newer smart phones. We have a full menu system with icons and able to rotate and scale for every modern phone or tablet on the market.

The most exciting launch is our Kindle venture with notes of nearly 10,000 words for Unit 1 AQA Revision in the Amazon store. We will see how this goes but more will follow when time allows and the price has fallen due to dollar / pound exchange rates so good news there!

Thanks for all the support and please come back!

Daniel Powell

(Animated Science Admin)

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2012/2011-animated-science-yearly-review

Aug 26

Bananas

This is interesting.   After Reading this, you’ll never  look at a banana in the same way again.

Bananas. Containing three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber, a banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world’s leading athletes.

But energy isn’t the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills – eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it the perfect to beat blood pressure.  So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit’s ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils
more alert.

Constipation:High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and  re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs.

The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a “cooling” fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers
because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6,B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body’s water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can  be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes: According to research in “The New England Journal of Medicine,”eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare  it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around. So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we  say, “A banana a day keeps the doctor away!”

Also Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy all the time!

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2011/bananas

Jul 05

Police Fingerprint Form (UK)

If you are doing a forensic style lesson then here is a real fingerprint form which I have scanned in. This is a real UK form which is now not really used as they do it by scanning but it is our heritage!

Fingerprint Form

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2011/police-fingerprint-form-uk

Jun 22

Website Design…

My site was nominated for Outstanding School Website of the Year

I am proud to annouce now that as the creator of Animated Science I have just setup another website for educational purposes. This new site is called http://learningfootsteps.co.uk/ and will be used for Maths and Pychology.

This adds to Mill Hill School site  I created last year  www.millhill.derbyshire.sch.uk which has been nominated in the TES Awards 2011. 

I have also created a bespoke VLE solution for Ashfield School at http://www.ashfield.notts.sch.uk/ which is a quite a few years ago now. This site covered every area of the school and pulled in various technologies. Now they have upgraded to add Moodle to their site. 

Finally I setup the Waingroves Primary School site as well http://www.waingroves.derbyshire.sch.uk which is entirely a wordpress blog as my site is!

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2011/website-design

Jun 11

TES Feature Article…

Due to the resources that Animated Science has posted onto the TES Online Resources area the TES have picked us out as one of their top contributors which was a really nice surprise. You can see the article below from the TES and find GCSE Halflife on this site. Also I was even more surprised to get an email telling me that I have been invited to their Gala Awards Ceremony 2011 at the Hilton Park Lane. You can find more resources linked here.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2011/tes-feature-article

Jan 29

GCSE Science A Journey!

 I was thinking recently about the changes we have seen to GCSE science in the past 10 years. I cannot comment before this but for the past 10 years I have taught AQA Core Science and Additional Science for Y11. Also before this the AQA double award which was split into Y10/Y11 so you had two grades.

The first thing that amazed me is when the “How Science Works” agenda came into play AQA changed the science content by mixing half of Y10 with half of Y11 then removing some content and making it the “Triple” part so I would say that pupils after the changes covered less than before unless they did triple science.

This was not the worst part. Take for example Y10 Electricity pupils would have to do a two stage calculation for working out the energy loss in a transformer in the multichoice exam. It was very difficult to get 36/36 in the exam. However, now most of the maths has come out of the exams and they are much easier for pupils (who can read) to access.  What has changed is that there are now a lot of trick questions based more in English tricks than science tricks.

It was very interesting that for the past few years I keep raising the issue within science forums and nobody wanted to admit that things had got easier. However as more changes came in for 2010 Y9 students….

The exams watchdog, Ofqual, said the new papers – designed to address concerns that science exams had become too easy – had “not gone far enough”.

Last year Ofqual said science GCSEs taken in 2007 and 2008 had contained too many multiple choice papers and had failed to challenge the brightest.

Improvements have already been made to this year’s paper, Ofqual said.

Ofqual previously ordered an overhaul of GCSE science qualifications and immediate action was taken to toughen them up for students sitting them last year and this year.

Now the watchdog says the new-look qualifications, due to be introduced in autumn 2011, have been sent back to the exam boards for more work.

A spokesman for the exam board AQA said: “We are addressing the issues that Ofqual has raised, and will be re-submitting our specifications for accreditation, whilst maintaining the innovations that teachers and subject communities have

In view of the issues that Science is having I would appeal to all students and teachers to look for a guide from history. Just thumb though the exams and the textbooks from 20 years ago for Physics, Chemistry and Biology. You will see the standards and what is expected. The gap between GCSE and AS is getting wider and you will need to make sure that if for example you wish to study AS Physics you keep to the old standards. Mathematics is constantly removed from the subject to “make is more accessible” to pupils who cannot access maths as really the subject is dying as it is so hard compared to some others. But in reality Mathematics is the language of Physics and was invented by Physicists trying to understand the world around them. If you cannot express things mathematically Physics simply becomes a talking shop and more like philosophy.

Also why when you look through these is books is so much taken out of the modern AS/A2 exams. I am now teaching about 2/3 of what I did for my A-level 15 years ago so why has it been dropped? Don’t we use op amps, rectifying circuits and transistors in our circuits any more?  Well of course we do but now they are in the 1st year of a Physics or Electronics degree? Draw your own conclusions and remember you can learn more than the exam board wants and better than the rest. Learning about science is not dictated by the exam board and we can do much more than them.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/2011/gcse-science-a-journey

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