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Science Academy 2019 Student Podcasts

Wednesday, October 2nd, 2019 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

Exploring  effective techniques for communicating science to a public audience is a key component of Science Academy (OUASSA). Every year our students undertake a project under one of four science communication streams:- Interpretive Science Talks, Science Film Making with your cell phone or Ipad, Museum Science Communication, Science Radio Podcasting.

This year Shannon Colbert and Domi Angelo-Laloli from Community Access Radio’s OAR  105.4FM Dunedin mentored eight of our students  through the process of constructing a short science podcast by means of interactive workshops in the studio and on-line  support throughout the year.

Below is a list  of the topics they covered

Physicists on the Pitch
by Abdul Ahmadi from Mangere College

Discover the science behind Soccer! From Newton’s Laws of Physics, to the Magnus Effect and the use of `Cleats’.

Operation: Space-cial Exploration
by Jessica Marshall from Opihi College

Billions of stars, hundreds of planets, a black hole or two, but how do we know this? What feats of engineering were needed to bring us this knowledge and what will be needed to further understand the world around us?

The Periodic Podcast
by Niamh Frizzell from Awaptapu College

This podcast is about history of the periodic table, the `International Year of the Periodic Table’ and the celebrations that surround it.

Error 1387 Gene Unavoidable
by Seruwaia Matairavula from Wesley College

In this podcast I discuss Genetics at Otago University and how the study can benefit humanity. I am accompanied by Sean, a Masters student studying genetics, and Science Academy attendee, Cameron Bergin from John Paul II High School in Greymouth.

The Extra-terrestrial Podcast
by Corban Taylor from Opotiki College

If you want to listen in to a good friend and I talk about aliens and all that jazz then listen in, as we discuss our views on alien beliefs.

Are We Living in a Simulation?
by Maddison Ridder from Verdon College & Cameron Bergin from John Paul II High

Have you ever felt like you have no control, like your whole life is set out for you? Have you ever thought that maybe you’re living in a simulation? Well, it’s more possible than you’d think. This podcast is going to investigate the reasons why we could be part of a simulation.

Lost in Translation
by Gemma Marnane from Central Southland College

If you are willing to deny convention, it becomes more worthy of attention. For all the knowledge, all the fear, we forget to speak of the meaning, which is hidden. Take this, imagine a world in words. It forms languages and societies, stipulates mutations, natural selection and forms gene pools and populations. It’s the world. We are all just a little lost in translation.

Becoming a Midwife
by Tamel Robertson from Aurora College

My podcast is based on the life of a midwife and the duties in her role. I will be interviewing midwife Margaret Gardner to gather information for the listener as well as myself as I plan on beginning my study to become a midwife next year, in 2020.

Have a listen here at   https://oar.org.nz/event/science-academy-chat/

Happy Listening!

I’ve been thinking….

Friday, August 30th, 2019 | Wendy Dunn | No Comments

Actually it starts with listening, thinking, reading and then some more thinking. The nature of Science learning! This year I have had the luxury of having the opportunity to listen to the radio while I am working. I find my ears prick up and I tune in when an interesting science item comes on. Radio New Zealand is my frequency of choice. Even if it’s not yours it is well worth dipping into for anyone with an interest in keeping up with the latest Science news. They are easy listening and many of the programmes and interviews are available as podcasts (see below). The RNZ website is easy to search and there is a RNZ App if you like to listen while on the move.
Here are a few recent items that you might find interesting.

A very ugly lamb

A rare lamb was born in Rotorua that is basically bald – a lamb without wool. What would happen to this genetic rarity in the wild?bald lamb

 

 

 

 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018710142/woolless-lamb-one-of-the-ugliest-lambs-i-ve-ever-seen

The Mosquito.  Our deadliest predator and a fascinating discussion about Sickle cell.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018709821/the-mosquito-our-deadliest-predator

Professor Timothy Winegard of Colorado Mesa University talks about the impact of the mosquito – the deadly diseases it carries have killed as many as 50 million people. One such disease is malaria. Individuals with the genetic condition sickle cell anaemia have resistance to malaria.
I found the section on American Football players who had sickle cell anaemia dying, or, coming close to dying, after pushing their body to the limit, particularly interesting. The deformed cells cannot carry enough oxygen and clog the blood supply to the muscles and tissue leading to tissue death and potentially a heart attack. Those of you who follow sport know that playing sport at high altitude, where there is less oxygen, is difficult and when players with sickle cell take to the field they are particularly vulnerable. This happens when the American Football players with sickle cell play at high altitude meaning they have to take precautions.
How did such a harmful condition end up being selected for?
Since the average age of a person with sickle cell is 23, there is enough opportunity for this trait to have been passed on before the person succumbs to the condition. It persists too because this mutant gene gave an evolutionary advantage against malaria (which must have been a strong selection pressure).

Read more here:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2716677-footballs-silent-killer-forces-players-and-teams-to-make-tough-choices

Ernest Rutherford

Head shot of Ernest Rutherford

Source: Wikimedia Commons

 

NZ Biography of the Kiwi who split the atom 100 years ago. This book was written by Dr John Campbell, a NZ physicist himself. This link takes you to the written and audio version of the interview with Dr Campbell. . A must for physics and chemistry students!

 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018709863/nz-biography-ernest-rutherford

Tales from the Periodic Table

If you haven’t been following this series check it out!  Different angles on the periodic table.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/elemental/story/2018683167/tales-from-the-periodic-table

and `Elemental’

https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/elemental 

The `most boring chemical element’  is a great article that highlights some of the quirky sides of the periodic table.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/elemental/story/2018706628/the-most-boring-chemical-element

Lord of the Rings Fans

Peter Jackson was inspired by the black tunnel web spider of NZ when creating the spider Shelob in the movie trilogy.

close up of black tunnel web spider

Source: Te Papa

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018710092/critter-of-the-week-black-tunnelweb-spider

Nicola Toki of DOC has a weekly RNZ radio spot  `Critter of the Week’ that focuses on a NZ species.

Podcasts on the other species can be found here:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/collections/critter-of-the-week

 

Video killed the radio star??

Thursday, April 7th, 2016 | EMILY HALL | No Comments

flatscreenThe other day, looking for a quick video on the Science of Sport to show a Physics class as a little starter, I went to the Veritasium website to look for some inspiration. I found these two videos which I think have been posted before but are definitely worth a re visit for Science Teachers.

This is going to REVOLUTIONIZE education! 

Effectiveness of Science Videos 

Just as an aside, I ended up going with this video: Bungy Jumping What I did was show the video to the students as a starter. They watched, I paused it when you need to select an answer. No one was keen to volunteer their answer to the question so I just un paused the video and let it finish. What they didn’t know was that no answer is actually given in the video! So, when the video was over, they HAD to discuss and work it out and talk with each other because they really really wanted to know the answer. SO we ended up having a great discussion on forces in the fall, what is that rope actually doing, we talked about transfer of energy and all kinds of good stuff. I’m definitely going to check out some of the other little starter videos and try and sneak one in again 🙂

 

 

Let there be light – part II!

Thursday, July 2nd, 2015 | EMILY HALL | No Comments

Logo_small

The photography competition mentioned in the last post (see poster below) has been extended to Wednesday the 8th of July – perhaps something to work on those first few days of the school holiday??

Additionally there are some cool public lectures coming up as part of Luminescence: The Spectrum of Science – a schedule can be found here: Luminescence Lectures

photo comp poster - X

 

Let there be light!!!

Monday, June 15th, 2015 | EMILY HALL | 1 Comment

Here are a couple of links to some events in honour of 2015, International Year of Light. There is a photo competition and a Year of Light expo suitable for all ages. These are being run by students from the Physics department including OUASSA alumni! Great to see alumni getting into science!!

quantum.otago.ac.nz/luminescence2015
quantum.otago.ac.nz/photocomp2015

The future of airline travel??

Monday, March 16th, 2015 | EMILY HALL | No Comments

Round-the-World-Solar-Powered-Flight-Will-Likely-Happen-in-2015

Air travel and the continuous increase of numbers of passengers and planes in the sky has long been cited as one of the contributing factors to global warming. Airplanes fly high in the sky meaning that any greenhouse gases they are producing are immediately sent into the upper layers of the atmosphere, potentially increasing their harmful effects.

Emissions from aircrafts are not only harmful for our planet but also have some in your face side effects that impact us more directly. A report published in the science journal Nature Climate Change forecasts that increasing CO2 levels will result in a significant increase in in-flight turbulence experienced by trans-Atlantic airline flights the middle of the 21st century. A 50% increase in fact. Now that is a very real and scary prospect indeed.

Enter Solar Impulse II – at this very moment, the world’s first ever Earth circumnavigation by a solar plane is taking place. The Solar Impulse II, a fully solar powered aircraft took off from Abu Dhabi on March 9th. Solar Impulse II has the wingspan of a 747 to support the 17,000 solar cells that it uses for energy. Despite this, it weighs only the size of an average car. The plane can fly night or day as, during the day, the solar panels charge rechargeable lithium batteries. Not a single drop of fossil fuel is required.

It is making several stops on its journey around the world and is currently in Ahmedabad, India. You can keep up with the progress of Solar Impulse II here:

http://www.solarimpulse.com/

This website allows anyone around the world to read updates from the crew, watch live take off and landings and check out where the plane is in real time. In addition, the crew post updates and information about other solar projects happening in the countries that they visit. For example, when I looked today, there was a post about solar wells in India. Another amazing idea!

Of course, at the moment, the Solar Impulse II is one of a kind, and a fair way from being a production ready commercial airliner. The concept though, that we could potentially use solar power to travel in the future, is an exciting one.

Maths-o-Magic!!!

Wednesday, October 1st, 2014 | EMILY HALL | No Comments

invisibleNumberAt morning tea the other day, our IT wizard mentioned this website which is an amazing collection of mathematical goodness.

You can type in any equation and get it solved with steps here:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Or if you go to the examples, you can pick something you would like to learn about (to study for example hint hint) and have a play with changing up the numbers in the example questions.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/Math.html

There’s even a spot where you can get them to generate problems for you to practise online with feedback – this is not free but you can get a 7 day trial, just in time for exam study.

So sit back, relax and play with Maths this holiday!!!

Cool resource for Physics and Chemistry

Monday, March 31st, 2014 | EMILY HALL | Comments Off on Cool resource for Physics and Chemistry

websiteI ran across this website a couple of years ago but for some reason didn’t use it at all.

http://www.gpb.org/chemistry-physics

On the site is a complete course in Chemistry and a complete course in Physics for high school level in Georgia, USA. They consist of a series of videos, one on each topic listed with note taking guides and study guides. The videos are only about half an hour long and come with a problem set based on the video.

I am going to trial one of these in class today and also show the girls the link in the hopes that they might use the videos at home for their own revision. I was thinking too it might be a good activity for them if I am away so they can still move forward with their learning even when I am not there. We have a set of netbooks they can use and watch the material on their own if the reliever doesn’t have a laptop to show the whole class at once.

Happy Birthday Alessandro Volta!

Tuesday, February 18th, 2014 | EMILY HALL | No Comments

VoltaHappy Birthday Alessandro Volta!! Who the heck was he you ask?  Well, the clue is in the name. The unit for electric potential, electric potential difference and emf are all Volts which comes from Volta. Volta made the Voltaic pile which in an improved form is known today as the battery!! Watch this cool movie from some lads at MIT to find out more about how he made this discovery.

Alessandro Volta Video

Once you’ve seen the video, look online for some pictures of the modern battery which, on the inside, all look much the same as the voltaic pile.

Finally, You can make your own voltaic pile at home using some copper/zinc coins alternated with some paper towel soaked in vinegar or lemon juice. You will need to use non NZ coins or old coins though as the current 10 cent piece is copper and steel! Also give the coins a sand to expose the zinc insides to the weak acid. Attaching your pile of 7 or so coins to an LED should bring forth light!! Of course you can always go the other route and get yourself a handy potato clock – same principle!

potatoClockpotatoClock2 

Fight Like a Physicist

Wednesday, September 25th, 2013 | EMILY HALL | No Comments

I have spent much of my spare time of late preparing for a presentation at the New Zealand Institute of Physics biennial conference coming up later this week. The presentation that I am giving is called “Fight Like a Physicist” and will detail a project that I am working on about learning mechanics through karate.

All this karate mechanics made me think. I know that all sports have huge amounts of Physics in them – but have you really stopped to think about what the Physics applications are in your favourite sports. You can start with the Level 1 basics like conservation of Energy and Newton’s Laws of motion and move all the way up through the mechanics curriculum to the level 3 concepts of rotational motion. As well, depending on the sport, there are all kinds of other fun Physics concepts to be unearthed.

So go out and find out what is the Physics behind your favourite sport. I have listed some cool websites to help you search!

The Science Learning Hub: Sporting Edge

The Science Learning Hub: Cycling

 

And finally some good resources on the Physics of Karate!

KarateChop – Physics– the physics of breaking boards

KinematicsAnalysisofTechniquesHSScience: A program in Italy where a physics teacher and karate teacher work together to provide workshops for students of mechanics.

scientificamerican0479-150: I really like this article not just for its karate content but it is 34 years old and I found the techniques they used to analyse without the equipment we have available currently really cool!!

Phun Physics Phriday resource…

Friday, April 5th, 2013 | EMILY HALL | No Comments

Quickie post to share this resource from IOP. Every day this term I have been writing on the whiteboard in my classroom a “Tody in Physics” that I found from the IOP website. (http://www.iop.org/resources/day/index.html) The students enjoy seeing what has happened “on this day” and the couple of times I haven’t gotten around to updating it they complain!! We’ve also had some good discussion come from them asking questions about what exactly the discovery means or who that person is or why would anyone want to know that? 🙂

If you have some time – make sure you take a look at the rest of the IOP website – there is a lot of good stuff there about teaching/promoting Physics.

Hope the short week was good to you!

Emily

Friday – Fall Further down the rabbit hole…

Friday, February 22nd, 2013 | EMILY HALL | No Comments

I ran across these little Physics related videos the other day. Each one is only about a minute long so a nice little break. They are also aimed at presenting ideas rather than answering questions so could be a good way to stimulate a discussion or a starting point for more research. Cute and accessible for many year levels. Access the videos here.

Have an explore of the site while you are there – they have some other resources online mostly related to quantum physics. I also liked this one which explains some “big ideas” in an accessible way.

Have a great weekend!

 

I had to get up anyway…

Tuesday, February 12th, 2013 | EMILY HALL | 1 Comment

This morning my lovely 11 year old nieces woke me up from a dead slumber with a 5am facetime request. I can forgive them because they live in Canada and don’t really have a handle on time differences. Of course their first question was “why is it so dark?” since for them it was 10am and daylight…

Anyway – I have been thinking about sleep lately because the latest issue of New Scientist covers the issue of sleep in depth. Recommended reading if you can get your hands on it. While thinking about sleep I also spent some time here warning though there are so many interesting interactive things to play with you could end up spending more time than you planned!

Finally nothing to do with sleep but I recently received an email with a link to the Quantum World song from this website. I watched a couple of the other ones and thought they were pretty neat. The planets one is good, and not just because Neil de Grasse Tyson is wearing a super funky tie in it. I have put the link to the Climate Change one on Knowledge Forum under the Climate Change question. They’re all worth a look though if you have a spare few minutes – maybe some soothing science music if you’re having trouble sleeping?

Follow your `Curiosity’

Friday, August 3rd, 2012 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

Here’s one for all you fans of  extra-terrestrial science

NASA’s most ambitious mission to Mars is landing August 5, 2012.

“The rover, nicknamed Curiosity, has a greater range than any rover before and it carries an impressive array of science instruments. It will explore terrain on Mars where water once flowed, searching for evidence of life.”

Check  out this cool 5 min video from The Futures Channel website
http://www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/realworld/mars_science_lab/

Tune into the landing on August 5th
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/

Physics at the University of Otago & Physics World

Friday, July 13th, 2012 | hamvi58p | No Comments

For those of you interested, here is the link to the physics outreach page at the University of Otago.  There are useful links aimed at teachers but these links will also be useful to many of our OUASSA students also.  http://www.physics.otago.ac.nz/node/89 –

Physics World has published its Physics and Sport issue in the run-up to the Olympics. It can be downloaded for free for a limited (but unspecified) time from http://physicsworld.com/cws/download/jul2012.

 

Solar Landfills: The future?

Friday, May 25th, 2012 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

An innovative  approach to alternative energy
Using landfills to generate solar power.
Mark Roberts of HDR Engineering is working on two of these solar landfill projects in Texas and Georgia.

Have a listen to the 7 min audio clip below from Radio NZ National’s ` This Way Up’ programme.  ( Scroll down to `Solar Landfill’)
 http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thiswayup/20120519

 and check out the detail on this website
http://www.waste-management-world.com/index/display/article-display/0438199780/articles/waste-management-world/volume-11/issue-6/features/solar-landfills-the-future.html

Why don’t parts of standing waves form in open pipes?

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012 | EMILY HALL | No Comments

At school today we were looking at the different harmonics and how they set up in strings, open and closed pipes. One of the students asked a cool question. He could see the closed pipe and string examples where there was “something” at the end of the length to reflect the wave, but didn’t understand why the waves would set up in the open pipe since it was open at both ends. Why didn’t the wave “fall out” the ends of the pipe? Or set up only partly in the tube and partly in the air or whatever medium was outside? Well, the answer is to do with the fact that although in the Year 13 book we are using at my school, and in most texts, the wave is represented as transverse, it is actually a longitudinal wave. This means that it is compressing and rarefacting in the pipe. The pressure at the ends of the pipe come in to play because the wave is setting up between these two areas of pressure which kind of act like the ends of the string. This is a pretty easy to read explanation of what is going on here. Also there’s a whole course of Physics lectures from MIT on waves online here. video 9 is where he goes into fundementals, harmonics and relates it to musical instruments.

Scholarship Opportunity – Engineering Technology 2013

Friday, May 18th, 2012 | hamvi58p | No Comments

As part of the Maintenance Engineering Society of New Zealand’s objective to encourage New Zealand students into tertiary education in the field of engineering technology, a MESNZ Engineering Scholarship worth up to $5,000 is being offered for the specific purpose of covering tuition fees in 2013.  This scholarship is available to assist students commencing study towards an IPENZ accredited engineering degree, diploma or certificate from any year level through a New Zealand University, Polytechnic or Industry Training Organisation.  Exemplar qualifications include Bachelor of Engineering or Bachelor of Engineering Technology degrees, National or New Zealand Diplomas in Engineering and the National Certificate in Mechanical Engineering (Maintenance Engineering).
Applications are now being sought from candidates interested in maintenance engineering as a career.
Please would you forward the attached information sheet and application form to any final year students at your school who may be considering, or you think may be interested in, study towards a relevant engineering qualification.  Please note that applications close on 31 August 2011.
Further details are available on the MESNZ website http://www.mesnz.org.nz/scholarship/

Knowledge Forum: Synthesis of Project A Discussion Views

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

 Hi  All
Your task is a simple one:
You are each to make to a New Note that pulls together the knowledge you have gained from the knowledge building discussion on your Project A View (Maths, Physics, Marine Science or Zoology). 

We have added a new set of scaffolds entitled ‘My Synthesis’ to help you do this.

Use these scaffolds to help you synthesise what you have learned from your Project A discussion and to highlight the ideas, posts and links that helped your knowledge building most. 

Post your synthesis as a New Note titled `My Synthesis’ within your Project view.

This task should take you no more than 30 minutes.

Date Due:  Fri 25th of May

We look forward to reading your ‘My Synthesis’ post. 

Don’t forget if you have ANY technical problems using Knowledge Forum let us know right away.  For those of you who haven’t been in for a while, have forgotten how to use the software or have lost the starter guide given you at the January camp, we are happy to  email you another copy and/or run a short refresher on-line using OtagoConnect.

Soon we will be posting the Project B views (Chemistry, Biochemistry/Genetics, Computer Science and Geography) to create an on-line discussion and to synthesize ideas generated between now and the July camp. 

May we take this opportunity to remind you that we expect you to access Knowledge Forum at least once a week to read the posts of others and to make a new note. This is your contribution to the Academy between camps and is part of  the  commitment  you undertook when you applied to The OUASSA.

Don’t forget the Curriculum Views are there  to post questions asking for advice or assistance with internals and externals etc. We will gladly help where we can!

101Science.com

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 | hamvi58p | No Comments

http://101science.com/

This website has a huge quantity of resources and links to some really fasinating sites.  This site would be a good go-to site for background science reading, information gathering and for studying just some of what you will be covering in your classes.

The site covers Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths, Electronics and even Photography.

An Introduction to Practical Electronics: Resource

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

Thanks to Lynne Newell from FutureIntech for this link

http://www.techideas.co.nz/ 

An introduction to Practical Electronics, Microcontrollers and Software Design is a PDF book (800 pages+ and growing)  written by  Bill Collis from Mount Roskill Grammar School for students  who are starting out in electronics. It is based around the PCB CAD software Eagle, the ATMEL AVR microcontroller and the BASCOM-AVR cross compiler. It aims to help students use software like Eagle and Sketchup for their chosen projects, and how to write and plan successful code using statechart principles. There are many examples of block diagrams, circuits, layouts, flowcharts, statecharts and code in the book for many different interfaces and products.

http://www.techideas.co.nz/

Studyit!

Friday, March 16th, 2012 | hamvi58p | No Comments

New Zealand’s most popular student website turned eight on 1st March. Studyit www.studyit.org.nz began supporting NCEA students on March 1 2004. Studyit is a free, safe and successful online support site developed and managed by CWA New Media, a business unit of Learning Media.
Studyit has everything needed to get achieve, merit and excellence, written in student
terms, as well as fourteen very active forums where expert teachers answer student questions at night, in the weekends and during holidays.
Recent feedback from Studyit students includes:
  • I got straight E’s in maths, thank you very much for all your help on this website, it really helped me
  • I just wanted to say a huge thanks for all the help I received from Studyit for my level 1 papers last year (I got 100% excellence!)
  • Studyit made a huge difference to the way I approached the exam! I tried to make my answers biologically detailed but concise even though I was really stressed for time.
  • Seems that all us Studyit users found the exam went incredibly well even though 3 News said it was really hard. I think this just goes to show the positive impact of Studyit on our performance
  • I went into the exam feeling a lot more confident knowing that I had prepared as well as I could – and a great deal of that preparation could not have been done without Studyit. It was so great to have such quick replies to all my questions, even on weekends and holidays.
Studyit gives students more confidence!

www.studyit.org.nz for NCEA maths, science and English students.

Studyit facebook
Winner of the 2008, 2009 & 2010 Net Guide People’s
Choice Award for Best Education Site
and
2011 Best Student Site
Winner of the 2006 TUANZ Education Innovation of
the Year Award
Finalist 2011 Australia and New Zealand Internet
Awards

CWA – a business unit of
Learning Media Ltd.
Email: ashley@cwa.co.nz
Mobile: 027 227 8603
Fax: +64 4 382 6509
Web: www.cwa.co.nz
Postal: PO Box 19090, Wellington, New
Zealand

Excellent Revision Site for Chemistry, Physics & Biology!

Monday, March 12th, 2012 | hamvi58p | 1 Comment

Many of you may already be using this site, but it you are not, then I thoroughlly recommend taking the time to have a look around and print off some of the useful resources within.

Site:  http://www.nobraintoosmall.co.nz/

There are flash cards, revision activities/notes, test yourself activities and powerpoint presentations etc.  The site has been created and is maintained by a group of NZ high school teachers with knowledge and expertise in the NZ curriculum as well as NCEA.

You could even recommend this site to your subject teachers as they too would find it useful.

Revision website ‘S-cool’

Monday, February 20th, 2012 | hamvi58p | No Comments

http://www.s-cool.co.uk/a-level

High quality revision materials using S-cool’s straight forward 3 steps to success process.  This site is from the UK and has a sepcific section for A-level revision (Senior Science).  Each of your classroom subjects will be found on this website.

1. Revise it

Check you know the main principles by reviewing the list of different topic areas, either click on the topic heading to quick learn the whole topic or pick individual principles to brush up.

2. Test it

Now you have learnt the main principles, test yourself with these sample questions. If you get stuck, go back and review the principle again.

Exam style questions

3.  Remember it

Print these out and carry them with you!

 

ESA Study Guides and Revision Books

Friday, February 17th, 2012 | hamvi58p | No Comments

Below is the link to the ESA Publications website.  Hopefully all of you will be focussed on achieving to the very best of your ability at the end of the year and during your internal assessments.  These books offer great support for a vast number of subjects at Y13 level.   They are useful for end of topic tests also and have full vocab lists for all of that tricky terminology (especially useful for Bio!). I highly reccommend these books as a useful support tool.

http://www.esa.co.nz/?type=catalogue-books&page=61&where_type=0&where_year=13&where_subject=all

Scholarship support material

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011 | hamvi58p | No Comments

Hi there,

We hope everything is going well and that you are gearing up for your externals in November.  If you are after scholarship support material in Bio/Chem/Physics and Math we can arrange access to the support material provided through Otagonet.  You can access this material whenever you want and can work through a vast array of very useful resources/activities/readings and questions.  Simply email me (Kate) at ouassa@otago.ac.nz and she will sort your log in and password details.

We are also in the process of arranging on-line tutorials for those of you after some extra support using OtagoConnect software.  We will email you with details soon, alternatively email me and let me know if you are interested.

Keep up the good work,

Kate

Kahn Academy

Friday, September 16th, 2011 | hamvi58p | No Comments

This site has a vast number of resources covering much of your Y13 curriculum content… Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths (Calc and Stats) etc.  Useful tutorials to watch when you are sick of writing out your own study notes etc and just want to keep learning….

http://www.khanacademy.org/

`Optogenetics’: The Stuff of Science Fiction?

Thursday, July 7th, 2011 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

When  I was  a wee lad back in Scotland  one of my favourite films  was  a movie called  `Fantastic Voyage’.
Based on an Issac Asimov novel it’s about a group of scientists who, along with their hi-tech sub are  miniaturised  and injected into the body of an emminent scientist. Their  mission:-  to  perform some very targeted brain surgery from within using lasers.
(The film is often most remembered by film reviewers for a  scene where our hero has to rip ‘giant’ (to them) `phagocytosing’ white blood cells from a wetsuit-clad Raquel Welsh.  At the time I was way too young to understand why `that scene’ was so appealing to grown-ups!   Especially when there were so many other cool scenes of them travelling  through the blood stream, lungs, inner ear and finally in the brain surrounded by  hanging  neurones!).
Anyway, when I read this article on `Optogenetics’ -a new technology that  potentially allows scientists to switch  individual neurones on and off by means of light –  the movie leapt into my mind and I  became intrigued to read on.

 It’s  a  facinatating concept  and another example of 21st century ingenuity from   the rapidly expanding world of nanotechnology.

Check it out here:-

http://the-scientist.com/2011/07/01/optogenetics-a-light-switch-for-neurons/

or read full article here

http://the-scientist.com/2011/07/01/the-birth-of-optogenetics/

P.S. For all the film buffs out there, a remake of ‘Fantastic Voyage’ in rumoured to be one of James Cameron’s latest projects.

Capacitor Charging-Discharging

Friday, July 1st, 2011 | KEV KNOWLES | No Comments

I’ve set up a virtual lab for you to investigate how a capacitor charges and discharges.

  1. Download this file : Capacitor
  2. Open the AC&DC circuit construction kit here
  3. Load the capacitor file. It will display a capacitor circuit.
  4. Add the voltage chart with the connections across the capacitor [red to the left, black to the right]
  5. Add the current chart with the connection beside the red V connector.
  6. The capacitor charges through the top loop [and switch]
  7. It discharges through the bottom loop.
  8. You can investigate the following
    1. Change the supply voltage Vs [initial 10V]
    2. Change the capacitance [initial 0.1F]
    3. Change the charge resistance [initial 10 ohm]
    4. Change the discharge resistance [initial 5 ohm]
  9. You could also use the built in stopwatch to investigate the time constant

LRC Circuit Simulator

Monday, May 30th, 2011 | KEV KNOWLES | No Comments

All singing and dancing LRC applet.

You can control all basic values L, R, C , V0 [peak V] &  f [omega].

The applet will display the voltage traces for resistor, inductor and capacitor, plus the current in the circuit. It also calculates the reactances and impedance [showing the vector sum as well] showing them as phasors for good measure.

All you need to know.

http://www.ngsir.netfirms.com/englishhtm/RLC.htm

Into ‘Chaos Theory’ ?

Friday, May 27th, 2011 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

 Ever heard of James Gleick? Fractal

James Gleick is an American author, journalist, and biographer.
His first book, Chaos: Making a New Science (1987) chronicled the development of chaos theory, and his subsequent books include Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything (1999), and biographies of Richard Feynman and Isaac Newton. His new book is The Information: a History, a Theory, a Flood (Fourth Estate, ISBN: 978-0-00-742311-8).
He is being interviewed by Kim Hill on RadioNZ National at 9 am tomorrow
28th May.
and/or
Check him out  at  http://around.com/

Mechanics

Monday, May 23rd, 2011 | KEV KNOWLES | No Comments

This achievement standard involves knowledge and understanding of phenomena, concepts, principles and/or relationships related to translational; circular and rotational; and simple harmonic motion; and the use of appropriate methods to solve related problems.

Translational Motion

  • Centre of mass (1 and 2 dimensions)
  • conservation of momentum and impulse (2 dimensions only)

Circular and Rotational Motion

  • Velocity and acceleration of, and resultant force on, objects moving in a circle under the influence of 2 or more forces, eg banked corners, vertical circles
  • Newton’s Law of gravitation
  • satellite motion
  • Rotational motion with constant angular speed and with constant angular acceleration
  • torque
  • rotational inertia
  • angular momentum
  • rotational kinetic energy
  • conservation of angular momentum
  • conservation of energy

Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM)

  • Displacement; velocity; acceleration
  • time and frequency of a particle undergoing SHM
  • forced SHM
  • resonance
  • the reference circle
  • phasors
  • conservation of energy.

Atomic Physics

Monday, May 23rd, 2011 | KEV KNOWLES | No Comments

This achievement standard involves knowledge and understanding of phenomena, concepts, principles and/or relationships related to atoms, photons and nuclei, and the use of appropriate methods to solve related problems.

  • The Bohr model of the hydrogen atom
  • the photon; the quantisation of energy
  • discrete atomic energy levels; electron transition between energy levels; ionisation; atomic line spectra (infrared, visible and ultraviolet)
  • the photoelectric effect; the electron volt
  • description of the particle/wave duality of light
  • nuclear binding energy and mass deficit; conservation of mass-energy for nuclear reactions.

Waves

Monday, May 23rd, 2011 | KEV KNOWLES | No Comments

This achievement standard involves knowledge and understanding of phenomena, concepts, principles and/or relationships related to wave systems, and the use of appropriate methods to solve related problems.

  • Interference (quantitative) of electromagnetic and sound waves
  • multi-slit interference and diffraction gratings
  • standing waves in strings and pipes
  • harmonics and overtones
  • resonance
  • beats
  • Doppler Effect (stationary observer).

Electro-Magnetism

Monday, May 23rd, 2011 | KEV KNOWLES | No Comments

This achievement standard involves knowledge and understanding of phenomena, concepts, principles and/or relationships related to direct current (DC) circuits, capacitance, electromagnetic induction, alternating current (AC) circuits, and the use of appropriate methods to solve related problems.

DC Circuits and Capacitance

  • Internal resistance; simple application of Kirchhoff’s Laws
  • parallel plate capacitor; capacitance; dielectrics; series and parallel capacitors; charge/discharge characteristics of capacitors in DC RC circuits; voltage/time and current/time graphs for a capacitor; time constant; energy stored in a capacitor.

Electromagnetic Induction and AC Circuits

  • Magnetic flux; magnetic flux density; Faraday’s Law; Lenz’s Law; voltage/time and current/time graphs for an inductor; time constant; self inductance; the inductor; energy stored in an inductor
  • mutual inductance; the transformer
  • the comparison of the energy dissipation in a resistor carrying direct current and alternating current; peak and rms voltage and current; phase
  • phasors in AC; reactance and impedance and their frequency dependence in a series circuit; voltage and current and their phase relationship in LR and CR series circuits; resonance in LCR circuits.

The Physics of Climate Change: A Powerpoint Resource

Saturday, May 14th, 2011 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

This presentation by  Keith Burrows  is designed for teachers to use in schools or with their local community.

Picture1 (Small)

It contains reasonably ‘heavy’ science aimed at senior students or serious adults.

http://www.vicphysics.org/documents/teachers/ClimateSciNov08.ppt#256,1,The Physics of our Climate

A ‘lighter’ version is in the pipeline and will be put on vicphysics.org soon. In the meantime, for younger students some sections of this presentation could be omitted.