INSPIRE

Inspire

Virtual labs, real science

March 31, 2021 | Issue 52

Not just for remote teaching: virtual labs really came into their own during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they can generally be a useful addition to the STEM teacher’s toolbox.

Ages: 11-14, 14-16, 16-19
Keywords: Forces, States of matter, Informatics, Teaching resources

 

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UNDERSTAND

Understand

How to understand a COVID-19 test result

March 31, 2021 | Issue 52

A negative result from a medical test means you definitely don’t have the condition, right? Wrong: it depends on the false negative rate of the test and on your individual risk.

Ages: 14-16, 16-19
Keywords: Health, Microbiology, COVID-19, Infectious diseases, Probability, Diagnostics

         

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Understand

Clinical trials count on more than statistics

March 31, 2021 | Issue 52

The rush to find treatments for COVID-19 led to a badly flawed clinical trial influencing medical treatment worldwide. What went wrong?

Ages: 14-16, 16-19
Keywords: Science and society, Medicine, Statistics, Medical research, COVID-19

     

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TEACH

Teach

Fantastic feats: experimenting with water

March 31, 2021 | Issue 52

How can air hold the water in an upturned glass? Why does water stay in a bottle with a hole in its base? Find out with these entertaining experiments.

Ages: <11, 11-14, 14-16
Keywords: Forces, Surface tension, Cohesion, Liquids, Pressure

   

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Teach

Tea-time chemistry

March 31, 2021 | Issue 52

Tea is a refreshing drink – and it can also help students to learn about important chemical reactions, as these simple experiments with infusions demonstrate.

Ages: 14-16, 16-19
Keywords: Indicators, Metal complexes, Redox chemistry, Acid base reactions

     

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Teach

Maths with fruit

March 31, 2021 | Issue 52

Have fun with fruit while helping your students to explore the concepts of area and volume, and learn more about their real-world applications.

Ages: <11, 11-14
Keywords: Surface area, Volume, Geometry, 3D shapes

       

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