Simon has been teaching Physics for over 27 years in British state schools and international school around the world. He specializes in International Baccalaureate, A level and IGCSE. He is now head of the secondary school at the British School of Tashkent, a Nord Anglia school and in August he will become International Principal of NAS Guangzhou Panyu. He is a regular contributor to the Times Educational Supplement and is one of their "Subject geniuses" for Science.
Simon has been teaching Physics for over 27 years in British state schools and international school around the world. He specializes in International Baccalaureate, A level and IGCSE. He is now head of the secondary school at the British School of Tashkent, a Nord Anglia school and in August he will become International Principal of NAS Guangzhou Panyu. He is a regular contributor to the Times Educational Supplement and is one of their "Subject geniuses" for Science.
IB Internal assessment presentation and sheets for students explaining what they are assessed on. I do one practice assessment and the Powerpoint refers to that. Slides go over the different criteria as does the student sheet. Student sheet also contains many suggested experiments (this is written for Physics, but most of it applies to Biology and Chemistry too).
"Who wants to be a Millionaire" style revision PowerPoint complete with music! Don't forget to give them their 3 lifelines! (50/50, ask the audience and phone a friend). I always do this in the style of the actual show, getting one student at a time to come to the front. We do a little interview too! A good 30/40 minutes of discussion and revision! Suitable for GCSE lower groups too.
Starts with an activity seeing whether meditation affects reaction time. Then everything they need to know about the CNS, reflex arc etc. Even includes instructions on how to get the class to meditate! Written by a Physicist so easy to follow and understand. Warning - use of humour.
Genes, DNA bases, mitosis, miosis genetic engineering IGCSE. Everything they need to know with some revision of earlier work on Punnett squares etc too.
Digestion PowerPoint featuring all stages of digestion with humour too! "Draw the sentence" exercise to finish. Students have to "Draw" 8 sentences about digestion - ideally no more than one word per drawing. get them to divide a page into 8 boxes to do this. This is an excellent assessment technique to demonstrate their understanding of the Powerpoint. Suitable for KS3 and lower groups in KS4.
You can’t beat an easy lung dissection to get students interested and possibly a little nauseous! Hopefully at the time of writing there are still some actual butchers shops surviving out there and you have no problem getting your hands on some sheep or pigs lungs, especially if you have an obliging laboratory technician to help. Try to get some with oesophagus and trachea attached.
I usually set the lab up beforehand to look as much like an operating room as possible. A table at the centre covered in white sheets, stage lighting if available, and if you can get hold of some scrubs even better (although a lab coat and a stethoscope will do). Teaching is partly a theatrical performance after all! I normally have stools arranged around a central bench – “in the round” so to speak.
Start by bringing attention to the smooth surface of the lungs and discuss how this helps, along with the pleural fluid, the lungs to move in relation to the rib cage. Remind the class of the role of the diaphragm contracting beneath the lungs and the intercostal muscles expanding the rib cage. Show where approximately the diaphragm is in relation to your rib-cage – it’s much higher than most people imagine. Being a good physicist I will explain how the air is PUSHED into the lungs by the surrounding air pressure - “In Physics, there is no such thing as suck!”
Contrast the flexible cilia-lined trachea made of cartilage with the muscular lined oesophagus. You can remind them of peristalsis by squeezing a Smarty down the esophagus with your fingers (it’s when it appears at the other end you might see a few green faces). Discuss the role of cilia in keeping dirt particles out of the lungs and how smoking can affect their action.
Before cutting the lung itself, inflate it using a blower (cue a couple more green faces). Then cut down the trachea with scissors, branching off into the bronchi, remembering also to discuss the role of surface area in the functioning of the alveoli. Cut a piece of lung and put it on water to show how light it is compared with a piece of meat, which sinks. You can ask “What would happen if the sheep/lung had drowned?” I normally finish by cutting a cross-section across a whole lung horizontally to show the lung riddled with cartilage bronchioles, explaining that’s why we don’t normally eat lungs!
I will usually then get the students to do a “Draw the sentence” exercise (my favourite) where they convert 8 simple sentences about the action of the lungs into drawings.
Perfect for putting on a screen during Science open evenings or assemblies. A presentation containing animated gifs showing the wonder (and humour) of science. Always a big hit, especially with young audiences.
EVERYTHING you need to teach IB Physics (Options sold separately) for Standard and Higher level. PowerPoints (world famous!), activities, worksheets the lot. Produced by experienced IB teacher. Save 46 pounds by buying the bundle.
PleasThese are PowerPoints and sheets I use in lessons and will need some adaption to your classes. Most lessons start with a "Do now" that students do as they enter. I should mention that there are running jokes about my dislike of dogs (sorry!
I used this as a competition whilst working at a school in Peru/ Can be used as an introduction to writing a scientific method or just as a fun little competition at the end of term etc. Students have to do exactly what the instructions say using a piece of paper.
