Recent posts View all
Home of real teaching & learning
  • Full support for teachers
  • Focus on critical thinking
  • Engaging classroom activities
  • Integrated student eBook
  • Assessed tasks / qBank
  • Practice exam questions

The InThinking Guarantee: Our sites are written by expert practitioners and not by AI

See our AI policy

Disclaimer: InThinking subject sites are neither endorsed by nor connected with the International Baccalaureate Organisation.

Don't miss out, find out!
IB Approved Workshops
Physics
IB DP Category 1

Paris, France, 13 - 15 November 2026

Find out more
Physics: A focus on the experimental programme
IB DP Category 3

Paris, France, 19 - 21 February 2027

Find out more
Physics
IB DP Category 2

Berlin, Germany, 26 - 28 February 2027

Find out more
Virtual Think-Ins

Find all InThinking events at
inthinking.net

IA: Messy but fun

Its IA time again at RCN and my lab is piled high with apparatus. At the start of the process I tried to encourage students to put their equipment away but I lost the battle and am now going with the flow. Luckily I don't share my lab with anyone and second years have finished so it's nt affecting anyone else.

The majority of students are finding the practical stage a lot of fun, enjoying turning their initial vague ideas into concrete reality. There are some very interesting investigations going on. In this photo we have

  • Harald, building a lever arm to launch projectiles.
  • Ayca, interfering sound waves.
  • Jacinto, on the length of pendulums in a pendulum wave
  • Pam, refracting waves in a ripple tank

Not in the photo but same class

  • Nils, rate of cooling and surface area.
  • Oliver, induction braking.
  • Mirian, little balls rolling off big balls
  • Alastair, attenuation and angle of entry of light in an optical fibre.

Tags: IA

Help