A Bank of Links for Teaching Physics

February 26, 2022February 26, 2022 by science4youngpeople ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Each with a few words to tell you what they are good for. This is mostly a notes-for-self kind of document, but maybe it can help you too?

In short, the following are mostly links that appeared either from presenters or from the (virtual) room during IOP Winter School that ran 21-23/2 (including the twosday Tuesday). I thought it would be nice to have a bunch of them together, with descriptions, and you can just ctrl+f to see if there is anything useful at any given time.

NB Personally, I find that it is all too easy to get overwhelmed when there are so many resources, so I recommend to maybe pick one or two at a time, and come back for more later.

For showing the difference between correlation and causality (a.k.a. is one reeeally connected to the other? Or to academics, “citation needed”): https://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

For anybody wanting to get into the FIFA method of solving physics problems that feature equations (perhaps especially those who want to/have been told by their maths department to get away from equation triangles): https://physicsteacher.blog/tag/fifa-calculation/#:~:text=The%20FIFA%20acronym%20stands%20for,equates%20to%20rearranging%20the%20formula

A direct link to BEST booster lessons for KS3. A bit old (2002), but resources are resources: https://www.stem.org.uk/resources/elibrary/resource/31015/booster-lessons-guidance-and-training-materials

A direct link to BEST resources (“miniboosters”) on science skills (as opposed to science content – think disciplinary versus substantive): https://www.stem.org.uk/elibrary/resource/31705

(General reminder to look around BEST for cool things.)

A reminder that thermochromic sheets exist (no obligation to purchase from link, or affiliation to link), and can be used to demonstrate the heat energy cause by friction from e.g. a bouncy ball: https://www.scichem.com/product/thermochromic-sheet-150-x-150mm-xsm040010

History of science time! Yuss. Here is a piece about the past of energy and thermal of physics. This is just an example – more of the same elsewhere at IOP. https://spark.iop.org/stories-physics-6-energy-and-thermal-physics

Old but legit musings on the most efficient way of boiling water: https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-2452,00.html

Not forgetting the In Our Time will have episodes about history of science too, this one on the Second Law of Thermodynamics: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004y2bm

(In fact, here’s a direct link to the science-related back catalogue of In Our Time: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01gyd7j)

For lesson resources (starters and demos) on sound science: http://salfordacoustics.co.uk/lesson-starters

BEST also have concept maps, good for stitching together your spiral learning plans/schemes of work: https://www.stem.org.uk/sites/default/files/pages/downloads/BEST-Physics-map_2021-09.pdf

Reminder the IOP’s Classroom Physics magazine can be found online: https://spark.iop.org/classroom-physics

Here’s an interactive ear, although I have heard that it works best on tablets: https://www.amplifon.com/uk/interactive-ear/index.html (screenshots here https://www.elearningsuperstars.com/project/the-interactive-ear-by-amplifon/)

On the maps front… here is a lightning map: https://www.lightningmaps.org/?lang=en#m=oss;t=3;s=0;o=0;b=;ts=0;z=10;y=54.8083;x=-1.4185;d=2;dl=2;dc=0;

… and (not from the Winter School, but from an old undergrad-physics friend) a visualisation of low-orbit objects around the earth: https://platform.leolabs.space/visualization (If said friend finds this, please excuse my colloquial description.)

Here is a place where one may purchase a wave machine kit, if needed (as before, no obligation and no affiliation): https://extkits.co.uk/product/wave-machine/

Gifs, explanations, and more, about longitudinal waves: https://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/Demos/waves/wavemotion.html (Don’t forget that a duck bobbing on a pond is a good example here too.)

A couple of virtual oscilloscopes. The former has a nice UI, but unfortunately depends on the now-longer-in-use Shockwave plugin (I remember the Shockwave heydays…). However, it does have a handy guide for all the buttons: https://www.virtual-oscilloscope.com/

This second has a more straightforward interface, and works: https://academo.org/demos/virtual-oscilloscope/ (There are probably more out there, but here are two.)

Ray simulation time! This is a nice, old-school (in a good way) looking tool: https://ricktu288.github.io/ray-optics/simulator_old/

How to make a DIY spectroscope: https://www.instructables.com/DIY-Spectroscope/ , and DIY spectroscope 2: https://edu.rsc.org/resources/make-your-own-spectroscope/1289.article

Colour vision and displays: https://opto.org.uk/index.php?module=static&id=72 (So basically, we are still looking at rays, just coloured ones now. Here is a shop that sells colour-mixing torches: https://www.tts-group.co.uk/led-colour-mixing-torches/1007128.html . Still no affiliation.)

Colour vision simulation at phet: https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/color-vision

(Reminder that phet has all kinds of good simulators.)

On the subject of banks of resources, do not forget e.chalk. Link goes to physics: https://www.echalk.co.uk/science/physics.html

One for teachers! Physics-teaching podcast: https://the.physicsteachingpodcast.com/2021/04/29/the-joy-of-simple-things-colour-and-light/

Now for some book recommendations about science, that are not textbooks:

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/50489364-the-light-ages

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3417529-from-falling-bodies-to-radio-waves

…and related to these, a piece on why scientists should study history (I have done this – can recommend): https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/PT.3.3235

Now some video content:

First, a rather vintage-looking video about Robert Hooke, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOl_PE1z9QU&ab_channel=mrcotton333

Secondly, misconceptions about electricity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHIhgxav9LY

On the subject of misconceptions, BEST has a bank of misconceptions that students may have. I also like this searchable misconceptions page at IOP Spark: https://spark.iop.org/misconceptions

I am sneakily going to straight-up link to this document with links to further electricity resources (as presented at IOP Winter School): https://docs.google.com/document/d/18BbJ42Z4R1Yq1zKykNFbAvfYYiD6hC-aisGWoO9t3KY/edit

From the above document, a personal fave is this phet (yes, again) simulator that both shows a circuit, and the letters in V=IR changing in size, together with some funky 70s-sci-fi noises. Funky. (And a great visual cue.) https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/ohms-law/latest/ohms-law_en.html

Finally, some reflections about careers in physics:

https://www.iop.org/strategy/productivity-programme/workforce-skills-project#gref

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p053ln9f (This is a short listen from More or Less – a great programme – asking “Have 65% of Future Jobs Not Yet Been Invented?”)

And lastly, the limitless project: https://www.iop.org/strategy/limit-less. As a WOC with physics specialism, I am excited to get a wider variety of people hyped about physics.

A different kind of entry

May 10, 2013 by science4youngpeople ♥ 1 Comment

First, a spot of news.

For two weeks starting Monday, I will finally be at the Science Museum in London, learning the ropes and hopefully doing some preliminary work ahead of my fieldwork. I will attempt to do a daily journal podcast entry, which will mostly be for my own benefit, but you are welcome to join the ride.

Secondly, working with science communication in museums, and despite not being directly linked to Wellcome (for now at least – one is allowed future aims), I take an active interest in the connections between arts and sciences, and how these can encourage more peoples’ interest in the sciences. Alejandro Guijarro has, since 2010, been photographing the blackboards of quantum physicists from around the world. Here are some of the photographs, borrowed from his website.

As an exercise in communicating research – the process of creating science – these boards provide the following at face value:

dents from years in service/chalk marks deep enough to not rub out completely – showing that science is a process aiming for gains in the long term
parts that are rubbed out and re-started – even professionals get it wrong sometimes
doodles – we all get restless
pristine work – the final QED moment

Exhibited together, perhaps they can counteract the idea that science is still an elitist domain only for a certain type of mind, while demonstrating that perseverance to undertake the trial-and-improvement work will go the furthest.

“Email me at batmanfly@…”

March 25, 2013March 25, 2013 by science4youngpeople ♥ 1 Comment

It is this old nugget about self-presentation again. Whilst browsing for contact details for an academic, I passed by this intro on an “official website” of a colleague of theirs. Never mind that further down the page was an extensive publishing record and many scholarship awards – and I know, “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” – but, batmanfly?

Thoughts on writing about science 100 years or so ago…

November 1, 2012November 1, 2012 by science4youngpeople ♥ 1 Comment

I have been reading Benjamin Elman’s “A Cultural History of Modern Science in China”. Or rather, in researcher style, I have read the parts of it that are of use to my research right now, and filed the rest of it mentally away to read when there is more time for casual reading. The book treats the cultural history of modern science, medicine, and technology from c. 1550 – 1900. Covering the Qing dynasty from its thriving heights to its near-end, it places scientific development in the context of a changing China, as it slowly absorbs Western science. The West – i.e. Europe – were more than happy to oblige, having been in the throes of colonialisation [of other countries] at the time anyway.

I happily dived in at the end of the story, close to the 1900 mark of the book. Please bear in mind that this is actually the second half of the book, and that it is not a case of each-year-gets-an-equal-share, and I was not being massively lazy. Elman describes China at odds with itself despite the country’s earlier prowess in both scientific discoveries and technological inventions – we felt that the West was developing faster than ourselves. This evolved into large translation missions of Western texts, headed by John Fryer and Li Shanlan; essay competitions based on these translated texts; and, as usual, a wildly opinionated public debate on whether Western or classical Chinese medicine was better.

Things that struck me:

1) One of the translators, Joseph Edkins, who belonged to the league of “confused” gentlemen (yes, I subscribe to Darwinism, so quote me), was put in charge of rendering some evolutionary texts available to Chinese scholars, but wished to retain the protestant state of mind. He therefore modified Darwin’s catchphrase “survival of the fittest” to “survival of the fittest as selected by the heavenly beings [sic]”. I am amused that he got away with this. Strike one for peer review.

2) The essays of the prize essay competitions. These were based on the aforementioned translated texts (“Science Outline Series”, 1882-1898; Primers for Science Studies, 1886; and more). Due to the sometimes-modified editions of Western scientific knowledge, persons such as Darwin and Huxley have even been placed in the wrong fields of scientific study. Strike two for peer review.

3) Inter- or cross-disciplinary studies are not so new after all. Perhaps they have recently resurged, just like 1980s fashion. In the appendices of the book are lists of contents for the topics covered in the Science Primers and Science Outline Series. They demonstrate the vast interests of a developing nation, but also some interesting tastes in defining science: among usual suspects such as astronomy, botany, chemistry, and algebra (the Chinese have long been more algebraic in their mathematical methods than the more geometrical Westerners – “you’re so square, har har” -), one can discover Political Economy, Greek History, Roman History, European History, and, err, Folklore.

4) The competition between Western and Classical Chinese medicine that continues to this day. To that, I only have this to say:

. (This came from here, but was uncredited. If you know the source, let me know, and I’ll add credit. Otherwise, no copyright infringement intended.)

Finally, it was a really good book. I now know more about the naval equipment used in the Sino-Japanese war than I know to do with, but it was a fascinating and easy read.