If the login form is misbehaving, click here to login the ugly way.
|
A year ago, James, a buddy of mine took a job teaching in Kazakhstan. He’s having a fantastic time. If you’re up for a wee break from all the nonsense, even if it’s just for a couple of years until everyone sorts out assessment in the Nationals, then there are good opportunities for you. Check this out:
INTERNATIONAL TEACHERS REQUIRED FOR AUGUST 2013
In leading educational reform in Kazakhstan, NIS is undergoing rapid expansion with new schools continuing to opening nationwide.
SECONDARY TEACHERS: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, ICT, Economics, English, Global Perspectives, Art
Required: Qualified teacher status, min. 3 years experience with strong record of continuing professional development. Native English speakers only.
Package:
• Salary US$ 5000/mth, 10% tax (US$4000 in Astana)
• Fully furnished accommodation and utilities
• One-way flights – 4 x US$ 2,500
• Settling in allowance US$ 2,000
• Medical insurance, visa costs
• Dependents school fee allowance US$ 4,000
• One year (renewable) contract
Send: short letter of application, CV with recent photograph and 2 referees to:
Caroline Walden (NIS HR Department) walden_c[ at ]nis[ dot ]edu[ dot ]kz; johnzermani[ at ]hotmail[ dot ]com
SKYPE INTERVIEWS HELD IN JUNE & JULY
You might be interested in a little background on Kazakhstan from Wikipedia and the CIA. There is an information document and a facebook page for more information.
We can put you in touch with James, who left the leafy lanes of Fife to go and work in Kazakhstan last year. Drop us a line or use the contact form.
Science Conversations is an online public engagement initiative in the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. These events are an opportunity for members of the public to engage in real scientific research alongside researchers from the Schools of Chemistry, Biological Sciences and Physics and Astronomy.
The conversations will take place between June 17th and June 28th 2013. Each event includes two online conversations,from 7pm to 8pm, plus the opportunity to undertake additional online activities in your own time.
Participation in the events is free and is open to anybody who is interested in taking part.
For further details, including the dates of each conversation and registration information, see www.science-conversations.ph.ed.ac.uk.
Sorry about that. For lovers of the Pixie Puzzle, the server went 9 across: Puts it about (4,2).
We have a new one. A proper one, virtually speaking. To celebrate, we have a wheen of stuff from Martyn Crawshaw at Millburn academy – 72MB of new stuff, in fact, for National 4 and 5 and the Revised Higher. There’s pupil notes, homeworks, powerpoints and all sorts. Find them in the folders named “Millburn” in the obvious folders in Physics.
And if that’s not enough, John Henderson at Arbroath has given us a bunch of tests for the revised Advanced Higher and “more stuff” for the Revised Higher including prelims and unit tests. They’re in folders called “Arbroath tests”. Thanks to John and Martyn for being prepared to share their stuff.
So, what of the new server? It should mean better connect times and less errors. The old one had been creaking along for some time and it was only a matter of time before we had to move. Please let us know if you hit any problems.
Pixie: Do not try and find the plot. That’s impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Pixie: There is no plot.
Neo: There is no plot?
Pixie: Then you’ll see that it is not the plot that is found, it is only yourself.
(Sorry, folks. This is a bit of an “in” joke in response to Iain Carlton’s SPUTNIK post.)
Henry Clements has shared a bunch of material which has been developed by his department at Duncanrig, as part of a larger group of schools working together, including Kenny Slowey from St A & St B who has already shared stuff on sptr.
You can find the Duncanrig resources in Physics~Nat4_Nat5 in the three unit folders (Dynamics and Space, Energy and Electricity, Waves and Radiations). You have to be logged in to see these.
This work is another great example of teachers getting together to tackle the enormous workload in implementing this curriculum. Why? I haven’t asked them all, but I reckon it’s not for the money; it’s not for the fame; it’s not even for recognition. It’s for the common good and it’s for the children.
You have to wonder if the architects of the curriculum share the same vision. You wonder if they have truly appreciated the enormous effort, given for free in unpaid overtime, involved in actually building it from the curriculum definitions which it wouldn’t be unfair to say have been written (by salaried staff) with the mission statement, “espouse obfuscation, eschew elucidation“.
 On a visit to a school in Edinburgh today, an S3 Intermediate 2 class were making electric motors. One group got their kit working in about 25 minutes (including cutting and stripping wire, winding the armature and fitting the bushes), so entertained themselves by fixing red and blue card on either side of the armature faces, predicting a cool purple colour would be seen when the motor ran.
Here it is, in all its purple glory. Click the image for a full sized version.
As one commentator put it, “a proper experiment! there is hope for our children after all…”
Do you know a really inspirational Physics Teacher?
Please consider nominating her or him for the Institute of Physics Teacher of the Year Award.
Further details and nomination forms are available at http://iopscotland.org/about/awards/teachers/page_48690.html
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact Gordon Doig, Education Manager (Scotland), Institute of Physics.
Tel: 01779 841 528
email: gordon [ dot ] doig [ at ] iop [ dot ] org
Well, there had been 100 downloads of Pixie Puzzle number 6 by the time we posted this version, with the answers. There was only one correct solution that we know of, and that was from my 82-year-old mother, who did it in a couple of hours and only needed help with 2 down: “Body gives direction on quality assurance”, 3 letters. Direction? South (S). Quality assurance is “QA”. Answer SQA. My mum had never heard of the SQA. I don’t suppose there’s many of you not a little envious of her, hm?
| Category: | Puzzles |
| Date: | April 11, 2013 |
The Orkney International Science Festival have launched a new online magazine, Frontiers.
 Physics-related topics in this first issue include the story of John Scott Russell and the solitary wave, news of moves to give James Clerk Maxwell his due recognition in 2015 which will be the 150th anniversary of his great paper on electricity and magnetism, the story of Luigi Fantappie and his concept of syntropy, and several stories about astronomy. We also have a feature on one of the new makerspaces, in Moray.
The idea behind the magazine is to show science as a process of exploration and adventure, involving people and ideas.
Take a look – there are some great articles in there. Next issue out in June.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation have announced a new competition for schools, which runs until June 7th. The task is to describe the concept of a circular economy to school students. The message should be easily understood and be highly visual – either a short video, pdf or powerpoint. This task can be completed either by individual students or teachers, or groups of students, teachers or both.
More information here.
|
|
