Last year, according to the American Physical Society, there were over a hundred thousand articles published in physics journals
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Teaching research
Over the last week or so I have, amongst other things, been doing some preparation for two summer scholarship students that will be working with me from December to February. The summer scholarships are a great opportunity for undergraduate students to experience what research is like. The University of Waikato, like several other universities, offers […]
Continue readingAll your favourite science blogs
The amazing people at the Science Media Centre in Wellington have put together www.sciblogs.co.nz , all your favourite NZ science blogs in one easy to access site. Physicsstop is there, along with a host of others. The only downside is that with such a great collection of items to read, when am I going to find […]
Continue readingAll those strange physics symbols
If ever you thought reading a physics textbook was like reading a page of Tolkein, this one is for you. (Thanks due to University of Nottingham). Each symbol has a short video behind it.
Continue readingScholarship physics questions
I’ve just been putting together a presentation for final year school children on the NZ scholarship physics exam. NZ Scholarship is awarded to the top 3% or so of students in a particular subject in a particular year, and there is some big money up for grabs. But the exam questions for scholarship are hard. Really. […]
Continue readingPeer review
Recently I was asked by a scientific journal to review an article that had been sent to them. This is pretty standard procedure for journals, and every scientist will know what I am talking about. For those non-scientists, peer review is a way of ensuring (or rather, trying to ensure) quality in scientific publication. If […]
Continue readingThe scientific method
This morning we had a school group visit us from Whakatane – about 30 year 10 students (14 and 15 year olds) – they carried out some activities in Chemistry, Earth Sciences and Physics. I led them (as two groups) in a physics activity involving catapults. After doing the boring bit (talking about how energy […]
Continue readingScience Fair
For those in easy reach of Hamilton Gardens, the NIWA Science Fair is well worth a visit. I spent a considerable portion of yesterday looking over the exhibits – which mostly consist of posters describing children’s science projects. It is wonderful to see that, despite the perpetual moanings in the media, there are children out there who are interested […]
Continue readingSophie’s law of gravitation
With reference to my entry last week, here is the bit in Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World about gravity. Spot the misconception. Sophie is talking to Alberto: ‘Well, if the moon was drawn to the earth with the same foce that causes the apple to fall, one day the moon would come crashing to earth instead […]
Continue readingAre children more science-literate than their parents?
I came across this article on the BBC website yesterday. It talked about how parents feel that they are being routinely baffled by science questions their children asked. Apparently, the top three questions that parents don’t like to hear are: "Where do babies come from?", "What makes a rainbow?" and "Why is the sky blue?" […]
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