Secondary Science

Chemical Anniversaries – 1817: 3 Elements

The discovery of a new chemical element is a rare event now. In fact, new elements are not discovered, they are made by smashing smaller nuclei of atoms together. The most recent new element to be recognised and named is Oganesson, atomic number 118. It is the new bottom member… Read More

Cranking up the challenge

A crucial question to explore as teachers of science is: what will an examiner do to assess whether students are working at the top grades? What does he or she reach for to test whether a candidate can access the marks that would correspond to Grades 8 or 9?  It’s… Read More

We’re in here for the long haul

One of the issues that’s exercising quite a few minds in science education at the moment is how to cover the content in the new GCSE specifications in the time available. Many people are, very understandably, flipping through not only the amount but thinking about the depth of the material… Read More

Chemical Anniversaries: 1867 the birth of Marie Curie

Marie Curie is France’s most famous scientist and probably the most well-known female scientist in the world. Except she wasn’t French and Marie was not the name she given at her birth in 1867. She was born Maria Sklodowska in Warsaw, now the capital of Poland, but Poland didn’t exist… Read More

Ed Walsh: Name the Prequel

One of the games I used to play with my children was suggesting the (imaginary) movie prequel. As they got older, and better, we had to give points and you got more for being less obvious.  ‘Prince Kong’ wouldn’t do well, for example but ‘Reservoir Puppies’ was better and ‘Humming… Read More

Chemical Anniversaries: The Death of Michael Faraday, 1867

Michael Faraday. Source: see below. Michael Faraday, one of the UK’s greatest scientists, died in 1867 at the age of 76. That was at the peak of the Steam Age.  Railways linked cities, towns and many villages; steam engines powered factories and steamships crossed the oceans. The Electric Age… Read More

A-level Biology: Understanding Cladistics

Classification Blues? Try New Clades Controversially, for a writer, I’m starting by warning you about reading.  The fact is clades, or to give the study a proper title, “Cladistics” is a bit of a bore to learn about, but there is a spin-off – aside from the obvious one that… Read More