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Andy Darvill's TES stuff

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I've been teaching science/physics for quite a while, and written lots of stuff along the way. Much of what I've written is for Nelson Thornes, OUP and SamLearning, but here are some things that are properly mine and I can publish here. Hope you find them useful. At www.darvill.clara.net you'll find some more items, and minisites about gcse radioactivity, energy resources and the electromagnetic spectrum which can occupy a class for a whole lesson and more.

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I've been teaching science/physics for quite a while, and written lots of stuff along the way. Much of what I've written is for Nelson Thornes, OUP and SamLearning, but here are some things that are properly mine and I can publish here. Hope you find them useful. At www.darvill.clara.net you'll find some more items, and minisites about gcse radioactivity, energy resources and the electromagnetic spectrum which can occupy a class for a whole lesson and more.
Force and acceleration - quick quiz
andydarvillandydarvill

Force and acceleration - quick quiz

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A quick lesson plenary with a couple of on-screen questions about F=ma, in an “underline the correct answer” format. The first slide is the questions only, you could give that to students either on paper or electronically, the second slide animates the answers once they’ve had a go.
Half life lesson
andydarvillandydarvill

Half life lesson

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This is pretty much an whole lesson, but you’ll need to insert your own half life calculations worksheet (I have one that I like, but i didn’t write it so can’t include it here). The lesson centres around eating chocolate M&Ms. Or Skittles if you prefer or if anyone in the room has a peanut allergy. The idea is to have something that gives you ‘heads’ or ‘tails’ when tipped out onto the desk.
The Pi-endulum
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The Pi-endulum

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Use a simple pendulum and a known value of g to measure Pi. A puzzle for KS5 students, presented as ‘confirm that our region of spacetime can be considered locally flat’. Let them wonder for a bit, then tell them they’ll be given a lump of metal, a ruler, stopwatch and a bit of string, and see where the discussion takes you. Opportunity to really go for those uncertainties - if you don’t get a result that you can believe in to 3 or 4 sig figs then you haven’t really tried! Original idea from Matt Parker https://twitter.com/standupmaths who has an unhealthy fascination with Pi.
Using a microwave oven and chocolate to measure the speed of light
andydarvillandydarvill

Using a microwave oven and chocolate to measure the speed of light

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Remove the turntable from the microwave oven, place a large bar of chocolate in there (maybe raise it a bit on a plastic plate). Run the microwave oven, with luck and skill you can get melted chocolate spots at the antinodes. Measure the distance between the spots, double it and you have the wavelength. Look up the frequency on the back of the microwave oven, use the wave equation and calculate c. Then eat the chocolate.
What is RMS?
andydarvillandydarvill

What is RMS?

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A short powerpoint to introduce the idea of rms speeds of molecules and rms potential difference.
Misconceptions about forces
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Misconceptions about forces

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Do your students have the mistaken idea that a force is needed in order to keep something moving? Find out, along with some other misconceptions, with this quick powerpoint.
GCSE electricity interactive pdf
andydarvillandydarvill

GCSE electricity interactive pdf

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A multiple-choice quiz written in PowerPoint with hyperlinks, then exported as a pdf. Formatted so it’ll fit nicely on a phone screen. A simple idea which I came across on [The Physics Teaching Podcast]https://the.physicsteachingpodcast.com/). I’ve included the PowerPoint file so you can edit or adapt it if you feel the urge.
Gcse forces and motion - interactive pdf quiz
andydarvillandydarvill

Gcse forces and motion - interactive pdf quiz

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A multiple-choice quiz written in PowerPoint with hyperlinks, then exported as a pdf. Formatted so it’ll fit nicely on a phone screen. A simple idea which I came across on [The Physics Teaching Podcast]https://the.physicsteachingpodcast.com/). I’ve included the PowerPoint file so you can edit or adapt it if you feel the urge.
Particle Physics interactive pdf quiz
andydarvillandydarvill

Particle Physics interactive pdf quiz

(0)
A multiple-choice quiz written in PowerPoint with hyperlinks, then exported as a pdf. Formatted so it’ll fit nicely on a phone screen. A simple idea which I came across on The Physics Teaching Podcast. I’ve included the PowerPoint file so you can edit or adapt it if you feel the urge.
Resistance and length quick quiz
andydarvillandydarvill

Resistance and length quick quiz

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A quick lesson plenary with a couple of on-screen questions about the relationship between electrical resistance and the length of a wire, in an “underline the correct answer” format. The first slide is the questions only, you could give that to students either on paper or electronically, the second slide animates the answers once they’ve had a go.
SHC - Specific Heat Capacity quick quiz
andydarvillandydarvill

SHC - Specific Heat Capacity quick quiz

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A quick lesson plenary with a couple of on-screen questions about SHC, in an “underline the correct answer” format. The first 2 slides are the questions only, you could give those to students either on paper or electronically, the other slides animate the answers once they’ve had a go.
GCSE waves and EM waves - interactive pdf quiz
andydarvillandydarvill

GCSE waves and EM waves - interactive pdf quiz

(0)
A multiple-choice quiz written in PowerPoint with hyperlinks, then exported as a pdf. Formatted so it’ll fit nicely on a phone screen. A simple idea which I came across on [The Physics Teaching Podcast]https://the.physicsteachingpodcast.com/). I’ve included the PowerPoint file so you can edit or adapt it if you feel the urge.