Phew – thank goodness that is over!

By the time this post gets ‘out there’, the IB exams are likely to be finished. And the DP students will be away from school and relaxing … and so they should. But is it all really over?

The year 1 students are continuing of course. And also, there are the final year students who are planning to continue into Higher Education in your subject – for me, those aiming at Physics or Engineering – they are waiting for results, but they should still be encouraged to do ‘something’ academic in their free time … because this is partly how we help them to (possibly) find their passion.

With your support, they could try the following:

1. YouTube. They could find some interesting articles about the areas of physics they enjoy. If that fails, suggest that the students consider looking at people like Sean Carroll, Lawrence Krauss, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens. In all cases, the students will find someone who, despite being atheists, have strong views and have a huge number of debates and arguments available to watch. Watching these, does relate very strongly to aspects of the scientific method.
2. Watch the BBC website – particularly the radio part. There are some amazing episodes of In Our Time.
3. Read, read, read. If the student does not know what to read, try any of the Oxford University Press’ “Very Short Introductions”. Or maybe the New Scientist books like “How Long is Now?”.

Overall we are trying to push the idea that the learning process is not limited to a process that takes place in school – it is a life long process and we should all … never stop.