Testing Water

 In GCSE Chemistry, water samples from Rivers, rainwater, and the sea were tested for pH. Rainwater had the lowest pH, and seawater had the salt extracted and desalinized. In biology, the same water was tested for bugs. River water won having the most colonies of bacteria—but it was from the Thames, so there was no surprise here.

Paper 2 Practice

 The students are now working hard on GCSE Maths Paper 2 Practice and A Level Paper 1 Practice, so they are ready for next week's exams. It may be a holiday for some, but the students are working hard, perhaps harder than they have worked before.

How an Oscilloscope works

 There was a time when students had met CRT screens but now with LED this and LED that they have little experience of seeing these let alone knowing how they work. when I showed them a valve they had no idea.

Proteins and Evolution

 Why do some proteins and reactions work the way they do? RuBisCO was probably created when Oxygen levels were lower and Carbon Dioxide Levels were higher, and there were not strong enough evolutionary pressures to create something better.

Changing Standards

 We looked at how standards in computing have changed, how Serial and Parallel came and went, and how firewire was a thing. We also looked at how cards for cameras and others have changed and adapted over the years.

Titrations

Students are getting lots of practice on how to do titrations. They are attempting to get single drops and very similar values on each repeat.

 

Spirometer

 

Completing one of the A-Level PAGs investigating breathing using a @pascoscientific spirometer. Measuring the vital capacity as well as the tidal volume. Trying this out before, during, and after running on a treadmill.

Online Maths Revision

 1:1 online Maths Revision hits the spot. The student comes in not being able to do something and, in the end, can do it. Soon, the students run out of things they can't do and have to get a good grade. So far, all the students have told me how easy the exams are!

Determining Density

 Going through all the physics practicals as revision just before the exam. How many can be done in a session? All 4 in an hour running concurrently. Determining density was one of the quickest.

Low Power is best

Low-power microscopes scored much better than high-power microscopes for viewing all types of biological specimens. Sometimes, more magnification isn't better, especially for viewing insects and some pond organisms
 

A level computing 12 Mark questions

Practice planning the 12-mark A-level computing questions. It is not just about getting the facts down but also about organizing them effectively and using relevant examples.
 

Revision for Chemistry 1 done

 All the Chemistry Revision for Paper 1 is now done. All the required practicals have been gone over, and lots of past papers have been practised. Now, it's over to the students to show what they can do.

Momentum

 It's easy to understand how to stack the near-frictionless @pascoscientific trollies on top of one another to increase the mass two or three times and use the magnetic bumpers to create fully elastic collisions or the Velcro to create inelastic ones.

Tracing Paper

 Tracing paper, often overlooked, is one of the most vital tools for a math exam. Its versatility in helping visualize transformations, reflections, and rotations can significantly improve problem-solving efficiency. Remember to bring it! #MathExamEssentials

Water Turbine

 The water turbine shows a set of energy conversions that the students are quite familiar with. Gravitational potential energy is converted to Kinetic to Electrical in the generator and from there into light. I am not so sure about the Coloured Wheel, but it is interesting and gives rise to lots of interesting Physics discussions.

The Brain

 Looking at the Brain and revision, try juggling for 5 minutes between 20 revision sessions. Juggling lets some of the brain relax while working on the hand-eye coordination centre. After juggling, learning is better, and memory recall is more effective.

Inside a Laptop

 A laptop hard disk upgrade gave many students their first look inside a laptop, allowing them to find and identify the parts and compare them to the desktop version. Changing to an SSD improved the boot time of the laptop, making it usable again as well as gaining an extra TB of storage.

Testing for chemicals

 Putting on their detective hats, the students tried to determine the mystery chemical. A good, fun experiment, with the students discovering that a negative test was almost as good as a positive one in detective work. I just wish I had a Mass Spectrometer - even more fun.

Energy Conversions

Energy conversions: the Steam Engine. Chemical energy in the fuel is turned into thermal energy and then into kinetic energy. Passing down a pully for gear reduction to change from spinning to a vertical motion and powering several different devices from one. One device: so much Physics.

A level Math

 Students working out just what formulae are and are not in the exam sheet. Then, the panic can begin to memorise the formulae that are not given.

Fun with Electrostatics

 I'm having some fun with the students investigating Electrostatics. We are deflecting water, moving suspended rods, charging hair, fixing balloons to walls and ceilings, and fixing plastic and paper to windows with no glue, just some charge. Then, using amber to clean a PC fan of dust.

Elodea photosynthesis

 Finding out the best aquatic plant to demonstrate the effect of light intensity on the rate of photosynthesis using a few different plants. I have been getting the best results from Ceratophyllum demersum 

Online Maths Tuition

 Online Maths Tuition goes through some tricky bits that students find difficult - reading the question and asking themselves - what is this question about, and where do I start?

Vela

 Found my Vela when searching through the loft. 40 years ago, it was a great tool in the science lab, grabbing data from some experiments and squirting it into a BBC microcomputer. 

Orbitals

GCSE Chemistry: Trying to work out how those electrons are arranged in the orbitals and if any pattern can be seen. Working from a periodic table, it takes a while for a pattern to be seen, and the word spreads around.

online determination of acceleration due to gravity

 This is an online lesson that shows acceleration due to gravity using the @pascoscientific light gate and a picket fence. It works very accurately and is easy to demonstrate so that the students can see and understand what is happening.

Exam Practice

 Running out of exam questions. Some students have been improving their skills by doing loads of exam questions, but what happens when you run out as many do. Look at other exam boards - the format isn't the same but Science and Maths doesn't change.