My messy desk

At the start of the course I always spend several lessons introducing my students to the different bits of software that they are going to be using over the coming two years. This starts with an introduction to data studio, heating different masses of water in a electric kettle, then processing of the data with Excel and plotting a graph with LoggerPro (you have to subscribe to get all of these worksheets). This all takes time but it's time well spent. As a moderator I have seen several samples from schools that clearly don't teach students how to use software or even suggest which software to use, this can result in a lot of inappropriate usage. Once all students have gone through the introduction then they do another 4 practicals on motion which have fairly full instructions. After that they are on their own but of course can refer back to these early practicals whenever they want to.

When I looked at the photo it made me realise how messy my front table is.  The wiring for my new SMARTboard still hasn't been finished so my computer is behind me on the sink, this leaves plenty of space for storing things on the table. It's an interesting collection. Left to right we have duct tape and blutac (of course) some drinking straws, the TOK bell, the cable that is supposed to be connecting my computer to the SMARTboard, a pepper shaker filled with iron filings from when I did "my hairy hand". A box that contained something I bought from eBay and a pile of tests for students who weren't in class when I handed them back.