KS4

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Scibermonkey

This is a pretty nifty, colourful little collection of resources.

Resources are separated into different age ranges: 5-7, 7-11, 11-14, 14-16 and teachers with all of the ranges having different topics to select.

Sciber Monkey

For example, using the teacher section, there are 3 drop down menus for age of student, theme and then topic. This is the same structure if you went on the 11-14 page, but far less colourful!

Scibermonkey itself is very colourful and fun looking, especially to entice those younger into having a look, but then all of the resources are links to elsewhere – games, animations, BBC Bitesize information, diagrams to label. They are all interesting and useful, but each resource could be from a different website that isn’t quite as fun and colourful as the Sciber Monkey site. It is very easily searchable by keywords though, which is always a good positive!

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Animation – Transport of Water and Sugar in Plants

Animation – Transport of Water and Sugar in Plants.

This is perfect for KS4, specifically unit B4e, an animation regarding the key processes of plant transport in xylem and phloem. As it is from saps, there is also a selection of downloadable notes including teacher notes and an A-level student revision guide, which might be suitable for GCSE, too.

Some of this goes perfectly with the “at home” science I’ve been finding recently!

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Lammas Science – YouTube

Lammas Science – YouTube.

I’ve just been sent the link to this YouTube page and… Oh… My… God. I once spent an entire summer recording all of our VHS tapes onto the computer so that we had a digital copy. It took forever and although I didn’t actively watch them, I had to keep the sound on so I could catch the end of each episode. From the looks of this YouTube account, I needn’t have bothered!

If you look under Lammas Science playlists, you get collections of videos divided into different KS4 units (B2, C4, etc), there are Bitesize collections, other BBC show colelctions (Wonders of, for example) and broader topics (like forensics, pyrotechnics).

Easily an important site to bookmark, and view whenever needed. The fact that videos are labelled with relevant titles, especially linking them to specific KS4 units is what is most helpful!

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Isaac Physics

Isaac Physics. Run by Cambridge University for the top of years 11-13, this is a physics and maths “quiz” site. You start by choosing your questions, their difficulty and can filter by concept. Level 1 is pre AS, level 6 is post A2 level. Then you generate the questions which appear in hexagons of topics, colour coded according to maths or physics and they go grey when you answer them correctly.

Each hexagon can have either one or a few questions all linked to that topic and they can be answered in any order (I did wonder if it was a bit of  a Blockbusters type game, sadly no). Some of the questions I have tried have been multiple choice, some have been fill in your own answer. Now, on the few I have tried, the fill in answer is really clever. It wants you to put the numerical answer – to the correct number of significant figures (not sure how accurate this is) – and the unit of measurement. There are also hints for each question.

When you go into a hint where it lists the topics the question covers, they are links to that topic, with extra information being provided under the 6 levels the site uses.

Very useful, if you can sort through the “concepts” and only have relevant questions.

 

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Video Entries | UK Space Design Competition

Video Entries | UK Space Design Competition.

Closing Date: Friday 19th Decemeber 2014 at 23:59

Age Range: Years 10-13

The 2014-15 Request for Proposal for the Video Competition is as follows:

15 September 2035
Garden-A-Go-Go, a manufacturer of portable hydroponic eco-systems, is looking to expand beyond hydroponics and has requested designs for a new type of self contained eco-system. These eco-systems are intended to support outpost settlements of up to 50 people with oxygen, and food. The only requirement of their composition is that they not be hydroponic.

Proposals should include full details of how the eco-system will function, with a full breakdown of included organisms and their functions, the expected cycles in the system, and the infrastructure required to support the system at full capacity.

Designs should be presented in the form of a three minute video overview. The company understands that recent solar activity has damaged computer systems throughout the inner solar system, and would therefore like to reassure affected firms that hand-drawn designs will not be penalised in any way.