A Clone of Your Own?, By Arlene Judith Klotzko
June 12, 2007 | Issue 5To clone or not to clone? That is the question that the book A Clone of Your Own? sets out to investigate.
INSPIRE
ChemMatters CD-ROM
June 12, 2007 | Issue 5ChemMatters is an award-winning magazine published quarterly by the American Chemical Society for secondary-school students.
The Selfish Gene and Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think, By Richard Dawkins
June 12, 2007 | Issue 5“If you are not interested in how evolution came about, and cannot conceive how anyone could be seriously concerned about anything other than human affairs, then do not read it: it will only make you needlessly angry,” wrote John Maynard Smith about The Selfish Gene.
Second European Science Festival: WONDERS 2007
June 12, 2007 | Issue 5Peter Rebernik from the WONDERS project describes a ride in the Carousel of Science from Moscow to Lisbon, Reykjavik to Jerusalem. Perhaps even in your town!
Awards, rewards – and onwards!
June 12, 2007 | Issue 5At Science on Stage 2, the European Science Teaching Awards 2007 were presented for the 12 best projects. Eleanor Hayes, editor of Science in School, describes how the jury made their difficult decisions
Science teaching flies high at Science on Stage 2
June 12, 2007 | Issue 5Science on Stage 2 took place during the first week of April and brought together some of the best science teachers in Europe. Montserrat Capellas describes some memorable moments.
Science Learning Centres: training for teachers
June 12, 2007 | Issue 5Anna Gawthorp describes the creation of the ambitious Science Learning Centres network to help UK teachers, technicians and classroom assistants to make UK science education world-class.
Making dark matter a little brighter
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5Jenny List, a young particle physicist working at DESY in Germany, leads her own research group to find out how the Universe works. She talks to Barbara Warmbein.
Launching ideas
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5Isabel Plantier teaches biology and geology to 15-year-old students in Portugal. She has been teaching for 25 years and tells Sai Pathmanathan that time really does fly when you’re having fun.
Inspirational lessons in the science class
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5Naheed Alizadeh from Imperial College, London, UK, explains how and why the INSPIRE project is trying to make inspirational science lessons, clubs, and master classes regular features of the state school timetable in the UK.
School students Catch a Star! in an astronomical competition
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5In Issue 3 of Science in School we invited you to join an international competition for school students and Catch a Star! Later, some of you helped to select winners by voting online for your favourite pictures. Douglas Pierce-Price from ESO reports on the results.
Twenty First Century Science: developing a new science curriculum
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5In September 2006, after a pilot phase, a new national curriculum for science was introduced for students aged 14-16 in England and Wales. Jenifer Burden explains how the new curriculum seeks to address both the scientific needs of all citizens, and the additional needs of future scientists.
UNDERSTAND
Down to Earth: interview with Thomas Reiter
June 12, 2007 | Issue 5Shortly before Christmas 2006, German ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter returned from the International Space Station. A month later, Barbara Warmbein asked him about his trip, the experiments he did – and how to become an astronaut.
Taking the stress out of engineering
June 12, 2007 | Issue 5Darren Hughes from the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France takes a look at stress. How can it be manipulated to make safer rails for trains or more efficient wind turbines – and what can we learn from neutron- and X-ray analysis?
Plastics, naturally
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5We sit on them, wear them and cook with them: plastics are everywhere. Yet this very versatility makes it difficult to produce and dispose of plastics in environmentally friendly ways. David Bradley explains how researchers at the University of Manchester, UK, are working on a solution.
Developing a teaching resource on peer review
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5Ellen Raphael from the charity Sense About Science explains why peer review is so important in science, and describes how an existing guide is being adapted to meet the needs of science teachers.
Synchrotron light illuminates the orang-utan’s obscure origins
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5Paul Tafforeau from the University of Poitiers and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, explains what synchrotron X-ray studies of fossil teeth can tell us about the evolution of orang-utans – and our own origins.
Fusion in the Universe: where your jewellery comes from
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5Does alchemy sound too good to be true? Paola Rebusco, Henri Boffin and Douglas Pierce-Price, from ESO in Garching, Germany, describe how creating gold – and other heavy metals – is possible, though sadly not in the laboratory.
Damn lies
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5Do you have more than the average number of ears? Is your salary lower than average? When will the next bus arrive? Ben Parker attempts to convince us of the value of statistics – when used correctly.
TEACH
Travel wisely: the globe is warming!
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5Elisabeth Schepers from the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, introduces a school programme linking climate change and the future of traffic technology.
Using music in the science classroom
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5Caroline Molyneux, from Balshaw’s Church of England High School, UK, explains how she kick-starts her classes and helps her students remember certain lessons, facts or concepts.
Fun with genomes: the Mycomuncher DNA Puzzle
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5Fed up with explaining genomes, genes and proteins? Why not get your students to figure it out for themselves using Johan Leveau’s DNA puzzle?
CyberMentor: e-mentoring to strengthen interest and participation of girls in STEM
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5Germany, like many other European countries, has difficulties attracting women into science. Diana Schimke from the University of Ulm, is working improve matters by putting schoolgirls directly in contact with women scientists.
EDITORIAL
Welcome to the fifth issue of Science in School
June 6, 2007 | Issue 5The most exciting recent education event for me was Science on Stage, EIROforum’s international teaching festival. I enjoyed meeting many of the 500 teachers attending from 28 countries – listening to their suggestions, hearing about their experience and marvelling at their innovative teaching…