Friday 28 January 2011

Revels, other sweets & particle physics - Stewart Feather/Waverley lesson (28th January 2011)

Stewart used a packet of Revels to get over the point of some particles being fundamental (the pure chocolate revel) and other particles being non-fundamental (e.g. the orange centred revel)
Other activities with sweets included a model containing three small sweets wrapped in aluminium foil. This represented the three quarks in a neutron and proton. The students were given a task where they had to predict the charge on the two different types of quark for a neutron and a proton.

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Matthew Whitaker (Beaumont Leys School, Leicester)

Hello Philip

The P3 EDEXCEL Physics course I attended at the Physics Factory in November was incredibly helpful. The students find the resources useful and they have enabled me to focus on doing good lessons.

I recently had a lesson observation by our Headteacher as part of our internal review process and used some of your ideas and resources - I got my first ever Outstanding! Thank you!
Matthew Whitaker (Beaumont Leys School, Leicester)

Thursday 20 January 2011

Lordswood Girls EDEXCEL P1 Series 5 IAA Day (protractor investigation) - Monday 24th January 2011

Exit Questionnaire Headlines - cohort of 26 students
Are student pleased with their examination grades?
16/26 (62%) of students said they were very pleased with their Physics grades
26/26 (100%) of students said they were either pleased or very pleased with their Physics grades

GCSE examination data (26 students have all taken 5 different Physics modules and a grade has been awarded for each module). Data is from 130 module grades.
47% of grades (61/130) were A/A*
92% of grades (120/130) were A* - C
77% of grades (100/130) were at target or above
43% of grades (56/130) were above target grade

Has students confidence in their ability improved?
Before attending the Physics Factory
1/26 (4%) said they were very confident in their ability in Physics
13/26 (50%) said they had very low confidence in their ability in Physics
After being taught Physics at the Physics Factory
18/26 (69%) said they were now very confident in their ability in Physics
0/26 (0%) now said they had very low confidence in Physics
100% of students said their confidence in their ability had improved in the subject

Do the students want to study Physics at A Level?
Before attending the Physics Factory
0/26 (0%) said they definitely wanted to study Physics at A Level
3/26 (12%) said they were considering studying Physics at A Level
23/26 (88%) said they had no intention of even considering studying Physics at A Level
After being taught Physics at the Physics Factory
5/26 (19%) say they are definitely going to study Physics at A Level
8/26 (31%) say they are considering studying Physics at A Level
13/26 (50%) say they have no intention of studying Physics at A Level

Birmingham University Biology PGCE students 'enthuse' course - Friday 21st January 2011

Great fun and very insightful. I feel far more confident and excited about teaching Physics. Delegate

The whole day was brilliant. I've learnt a lot. Delegate

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Al-Hijrah School (Yr 11 girls group) - first lesson at the Physics Factory - Wed 19th Jan 2011











After just one day of teaching at the Physics Factory our confidence has improved so much! Al-Hijrah student

Monday 17 January 2011

BTEC Unit 2 Physics Training - 18th January 2011




Fantastic training! Julia Allbutt, Heartlands Academy.

Very useful teaching strategies! Jane Henson, Selly Park.




Very informative and very useful! Tim Cory, Beaumont Leys, Leicester.

Wednesday 12 January 2011

Lordswood Girls November 2010 EDEXCEL GCSE grades - 12th January 2011

Headline 1:
15 students resat either their P1a or P1b examinations in November 2010 because they had not met their target grades in June 2010
15 improved their grade from last time (100%)
14 achieved their target grade or higher (93%)
8 achieved a grade higher than their predicted grade (53%)

Headline 2:
P2 structured examination (26 students)
18 students (69%) achieved their target grade or higher
6 students (42%) achieved a higher than predicted grade

P2 multiple choice examination (26 students)
15 students (58%) achieved their target grade or higher
6 students (23%) achieved a higher than predicted grade

Well done to all the students who worked hard!

Al-Hijrah School (Yr 11 boys group) - first lesson at the Physics Factory - Wed 12th Jan 2011

Al-Hijrah's Year 11 boys group attended the Physics Factory all day today. They were taught all the Gases section from EDEXCEL P3 Topic 5 Particles in Action. The students worked really hard and were a real credit to their school!

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Bordesley Green Girls (Yr10) EDEXCEL P1a Master Class - Tuesday 11th January 2011

For the first time I can say I understand Physics! Bordesley Green Girls student