I was considering doing some kind of "physics resource Advent calendar" for December to motivate me to make a proper start to the KS4 project. Probably won't have capacity to do a sheet a day, but here's a sheet on significant figures and standard form. sciencedoctor.school.blog/ks4-project/

I'm in between projects so tentatively looking at what's next. I've been bowled away by the success of my KS3 books so looking at doing the same for Physics GCSE. Some sample sheets can be found here: sciencedoctor.school.blog/ks4-project/ Feedback welcome!

Been a while since I've uploaded anything new to the site. I recently needed to make a new sheet on scalars on vectors, so have uploaded that here: sciencedoctor.school.blog/physics-ks4/...

Schools are *not* ready for this: -Open homework in google chrome -Right click and go to "search with google lens" -Google lens pops up on the right side and answers the question Massive implications for homework. This was an Isaac physics "A level challenge 2" question.

This is the question that I was hinting there were issues with. It's from this years AQA astro paper. In my opinion there is no correct answer. Prof. Lintott has very kindly spent time writing to AQA about this. It's a poor error. Check if any of your students are on mark below a boundary...

Does anybody do the Astro option for AQA A level? If so, I recommend taking a look at question 3.3 of the most recent years exam. When you have, let me know your thoughts....

***BOOK RELEASE DAY*** The book I've always wanted for AQA A level physics is out. It has: -A page of notes, a page of questions *and* a QR code to a video lesson on each topic -A page on each required practical, with example calculations -A full set of exam papers -Answers

🚨🚨Out next week🚨🚨 I'll be very excited to finally see the physical product

This has been a massive help to me over the years ... #SciTeachUK #ITeachPhysics

My annual reminder that sciencedoctor.school.blog is there to help with your back to school planning. Over 500 freely downloadable worksheets, booklets and resources across KS3 science to KS5 physics. Worth sharing with new teachers/colleagues?

AQA A level physics teachers - how we feeling on results day?

The slow decline of sciencedoctor.school.blog traffic over the summer term! Have a good summer all!

“Have I read anything you’ve written?” “Probably not unless you’re taking AQA A level physics”

Harper Collins author party this evening. Very out of my comfort zone but very enjoyable!

Annual reminder that sitting down and answering the exam papers that your students have just sat is *excellent* CPD

Looking for things to spend the department budget on before the end of the year? I've just found out that my KS3 science workbook is on sale on Amazon! Some schools have found it useful for easy cover etc. (or just as class sets for classwork/homework) amzn.to/4emz9Jk

Haven’t had a chance to speak to many of my lot - how did people find AQA A level paper 2 in physics?

Coming soon

Hope the first day back went well for all. Finally had a look at the AQA A level physics paper 1 - it’s very reasonable. I wish the last few years had been like it. I usually answer them myself afterwards but won’t bother this year as we’ve changed board.

Just finished the last of 73 video lessons to accompany my AQA A level physics revision guide with Collins. More on this soon - but out in September. I know the AQA spec like the back of my hand so I’m really hopeful that it will be useful!

AQA A level physics paper 1…. Sounds okay!

I had my annual meeting with other heads of physics with a group of schools today. Two years ago 7 of the schools taught AQA A level physics. Now, only 3 teach AQA. This year is our last entry to AQA A level physics - I really hope the students have a more positive experience tomorrow.

Hello BlueSky! As my A level work with Collins comes to an end (more on this soon), I'm considering what the next project will be. Considering making my KS4 physics booklets more "professional" and doing a workbook similar to the KS3 science one. Thoughts welcome on the format of a sample sheet.

We have a lovely class set of little ripple tanks that allow them to play around and observe wave behaviour

Put a fork in me because I’m done (with the first draft). Not entirely sure how I’ve written an entire A level revision guide in 3 months, but I’m really pleased with how it’s turning out.

Hi Bluesky, is it the Hipparcos scale (spelt like AQA do in their specification)? Or the Hipparchus scale?

Ella has picked my wife’s birthday as the day to do her first steps ❤️

Spent a great CPD day with @jillberry102.bsky.social on “preparing for senior leadership”. Lots of practical advice & came out with clear action points for the future. Words on resilience were appreciated too, so thanks!

As part of the revision guide I’m making, there will be accompanying video lessons delivered by me. I just made a couple and good lord it took like 1000 takes.

Haven't used the other place for a while, but changing my profile info to indicate that I have no intention to return. I should deactivate but will leave it dormant unless things change.

Hi BlueSky - I'm doing a mock interview for a student applying for biomedical engineering at Imperial. This is outside of my expertise so would appreciate ideas/inspiration/questions. Any idea what the interview would focus on?

Sciencedoctor.school.blog is back up and running. Hope we’ve all had a good start to the term!

I’m never entirely sure how I manage to write on top of everything else, but I’m 2/3 of the way through this revision guide. I’m trying to write a mix of accessible and slightly more challenging questions. I’ve learnt that writing hard questions is really really difficult. No idea how AQA do it!

Bless this bloke. Spending time in a NICU is so hard. Ella spent the first 45 days of life in hospital and underwent countless procedures. The stress of each one. The noises of the machines. The stress other babies there went through. It’s a really hard experience. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Need a last last minute educational Christmas present for an 11-14 year old? The Science Doctor KS3 Science workbook can still be delivered tomorrow! www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0DH...

I’ve recently changed A level board from AQA (bloody awful exams) to CAIE. In the process of doing so, I’ve become radicalised against required practicals. Without them being RPs, I can *teach* while students are doing practicals instead of constantly assessing. One day I’ll write a thing on this.

Hi Bluesky - I'm writing a revision guide & there's a line on the AQA A level physics spec where I *still* don't really know what it means. I once asked AQA but they never replied... What on Earth does "Appreciation of momentum conservation issues in the context of ethical transport design" mean?

In a sign of how long it’s been since I last got a haircut & beard trim, my daughter is suspicious that it might not really be me…

With the death of Twitter, I worried that traffic to sciencedoctor.school.blog would die too. However, 2024 has beaten previous annual traffic already and has been the year it has hit a *million* total downloads. Glad it seems to be surviving.

Really fed up of seeing LinkedIn posts of head teachers thanking their staff for working “evenings, weekends and during holidays”. Can we normalise doing teaching jobs well during our allocated working hours? I don’t care if your school gets good results, this is managing your staff poorly.

I’m really not a teacher that’s a fan of playing a video for a whole lesson, *but* I will make an exception for the last episode of Chernobyl (the episode with the trial). Just finished nuclear physics with my year 13s & watched it with them. It’s *such* a good explanation of what went wrong.

Optimist: The cup is half full Pessimist: The cup is half empty Science Teacher: Put the cup away, you’re in a science lab

Daughter is able to say four words now, in the order she learnt them: -Mama -Dada -No -Cat And if you say snake to her, she will hiss. 🐍 She is also an absolute expert block builder.

The first few pages of this have now been typeset and it looks *good*. Really wish I could show you all some examples. Nibbling away at this in evenings & when I can during the weekend.

I’ve been teaching about a critical mass for nuclear fission recently. And I think we might have reached a critical mass for education discussion on here. Hopeful that this platform will really take off now.

I joined EduTwitter in 2017 when I was a trainee teacher. I miss the times of prolific resource sharing over there. I'm going to make a starter pack of "Science teaching resource sharing". If you've shared resources & want to be on it then please comment below (with a link to where resources are)

I don't know if we're doing drama on here, but out of 20 people on the Institute of Physics curriculum committee guess how many are listed as working in a school. I'm picking through it at the moment and am...underwhelmed...

There are encouraging noises coming from AQA - their retrospective changes to paper 2 are an improvement. Shows that they’re listening (and feeling the pressure). After the terrible last few years of exams, we’ve already changed board for our year 12s. Hopefully our year 13s benefit this yr though.

Every time I sign up for something like this, I worry how I’ll manage to complete it. 😬 In a routine now of writing an hour or so each evening after my daughter has gone to bed.