Curriculum
Teach Exciting Physics Practicals
Make air pressure, inertia and static click for KS3 and KS4 pupils, with demonstrations that have them arguing about what happens next.
- 55 minutes
- 11 modules
- 1 CPD hour
- Certificate
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What you'll learn
- Run 11 physics demonstrations safely, including when to use goggles and screens
- Use a competition or prediction to turn watching into thinking
- Model convection and the Earth's structure with soup and toast
- Get reliable sparks from a Van de Graaff generator
- Head off the misconception that sound is a transverse wave
About this course
Pupils struggle with ideas they can't see, like air pressure pushing a drink up a straw or inertia keeping a plate still. A good demonstration turns the idea into something they've watched happen, and ideally something that surprised them.
There are 11 physics practicals here, filmed step by step with the safety points for each. Challenge a pupil to blow up a balloon in a bottle, then beat them with a bottle that has a hole they can't see. Pull a tablecloth from under a plate of baked beans. Boil water in a paper box, launch a burning teabag, and pick up tips for coaxing sparks out of a temperamental Van de Graaff.
Each one comes with the physics behind it, and the odd trap to avoid, such as an oscilloscope making sound look like a transverse wave.
- For early career teachers and teachers. Secondary.
11 modules
Open in order
- 10 min
Bottled Balloons
- 2 min
Magic Tablecloth
- 3 min
Paper Kettle
- 4 min
Bobble Bombs
- 4 min
Van de Graaff
- 2 min
The Earth Crust
- 3 min
Magnetic Powers
- 11 min
Confusing Mirrors
- 3 min
Cathode Ray Oscilloscope
- 17 min
Liquids Under Pressure
- 2 min
Flying Teabag