Super size me
This weekend is confirmation weekend in Norway which means hoist the flag and eat lots of cake. The daughter of one of our neighbours was getting confirmed so Hilary decided to bake a cake. The recipe...
Exam invigilation boredom
Yesterday I did my first exam invigilation of the season. This is probably the most boring aspect of being a teacher. I guess it's not bad being paid for doing absolutely nothing but that doesn't make...
Time for T
A week or two ago my first year students did a design experiment with two strips of meccano. One of them decided to build a T pendulum and investigate the relationship between the time period and the...
Beer and crisps
I like to invent some new practicals every year but when one works so well its worth doing again, the exponential decay of beer is a winner. There aren't so many experiments you can do with radioactive...
Nearly Summer
The sun is shining and I don't have second year classes any more so thoughts turn to the summer holidays which hopefully means climbing and surfing. No surfing in the fjord so I go to magic seaweed...
A close shave
Yesterday I was having my weekly shave when the shaving foam got me thinking. Why is it blue when it comes out of the can but white when up put it on my chin? The blue colour must be caused because the...
Dogs don't like digital marking
If you've ever wondered where those samples for moderation end up well they could be here, piled up on the floor of my study. These are only this years offerings, last years are in my cellar. Only a...
Hard Brain / Soft Brain
My first year student were doing a design practical the other day and some of them needed to use the datalogger to record their measurements. I find this is a time when having a good selection of sensors...
The land divers of Vanuatu
It's getting towards that last lesson ever for my second year classes, I've still not finished the syllabus with the HL so no problem thinking what to do there however I finished ages ago with the...
Anchors away
A week ago the weather was at last good enough to start the Friday rock climbing activity so I took a group of students to the cliff situated a 5 minute walk from the college campus. When we got there...