Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler' Albert Einstein

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Things should be made as simple as possible, but
not any simpler.
Albert Einstein
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Three things to start!

• Im not a boffin!
• Im not selling anything!
• I know very little - I just know a bit about what
  I dont know!

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ICT and science - are you serious?

• Whats wrong with experiments?
• Expensive
• Hostile environment (and thats just the
  teachers!)

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Whats wrong with experiments?

• Absolutely nothing, BUT.
• Lack of equipment
• Lack of time
• Students cant do experiments at home
• And
• Very occasionally we dont get the right
  results!

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It's too expensive!
Use second hand machines - preferably free ones!
Use free software and applets.
Use free technical support - a bag of lollies
goes a long way!
Recycle old machines to re-use components.
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A hostile environment!
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Thames High Physics Lab
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More Thames High Physics Lab!
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If fish could talk..(what would you ask them?)

• Do you enjoy stealing my bait?

Where will you be next weekend?
Dont you mind being surrounded by all that
water?
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The possibilities for learning!

• Experience
• Expertise
• Learning styles
• Experiments
• Varied activities
• SOH
• Interactivity
• etc etc etc

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What is a computer anyway, and how does it work?

• Best to operate on a
• need to know basis,

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EXCEPT THAT computers are

• Mostly empty space
• Pretty bomb proof
• Really easy to recycle

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Building a network
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The shopping list for 8 machines!

• Monitors, keyboards, mice - No Cost!
• Second hand network cards - No cost!
• Second hand hub - No cost!
• Cabling - 100
• Extra RAM - 300

• One decent machine - 1400
• Technician time - 400
• 2 second hand pentium machines 500
• Total cost - 2700

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But what can you do with all this stuff?
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Learning with computers - the boring stuff!

• Measuring speed, acceleration, momentum etc
• Graphing
• Data logging
• Strain gauges
• Chemistry
• Biology - breeding simulations!

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Using the internet

• To search for stuff, go to www.google.com
• Be very specific when searching
• Look for applets
• Look for science webquests
• Join a teachers email list

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Examples of software

• Car crashes - momentum impulse
• Sound waves music - make wave theory real -
  amplitude, frequency, timbre.
• Free body diagrams - resolving forces
• Optics, vectors, molecule shape motion
• Radioactivity, electricity, SHM etc etc
• Projectiles, centripetal force