Appendix 3
Undergraduate Special Projects
Elise Coole – University of Surrey - BSc Mathematics with Business Studies
Elise was requested by her teacher to put together a brief module revision guide for five Year 11
students who had previously obtained U grades in their first attempt at the module. The failure of
the module had left the students lacking in confidence and motivation and past exam papers were
not proving to be a sufficient revision tool. Elise’s aim was to design the revision guide that
provided logical steps for learning the material and to help improve their revision techniques.
Reviewing the material currently available Elise found that although there were revision guides
available for the GCSE as a whole there were no individual module guides. After consulting both
students and her teacher she produced a guide which broke the module down into specific
sections, allowing the students to easily and quickly access those areas they were particularly
struggling with. She produced revision worksheets containing exam style questions on specific
topics to improve the students’ topic identification skills and to help her identify the problem areas
that needed further attention. The revision guide was well received by the students and teacher
alike. The students’ confidence increased by being able to work systematically through the
worksheets and removed the ‘fear-factor’ often associated with revision by making the subject more
manageable and providing logical pathways for learning.
Mark Kueres - University of Bristol - BSc Physics
For his Special Project Mark decided to combine library work with a practical session. He decided
to combine research on a famous scientist with a practical lesson in which the children were given
the opportunity to ‘repeat’ the scientist’s work. Electromagnetism featured in both Year 9 and Year
10 syllabus, and discussion with the Year 9 pupils with whom he did the project led to him
focussing on three scientists - Archimedes, Faraday and Lenz. The aims of his project were to:
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Produce a learning resource that would promote the use of the library for Science studies –
a questionnaire showed that 17% of the pupils never used the library.
Help to foster an appreciation in the pupils of the need for research into scientific theories
from an early stage.
Prevent the pupils from becoming too reliant on one source of information and to
understand the benefits of looking at a variety of sources.
Having spent a lesson researching Faraday the pupils spent the next lesson doing experiments.
After a PowerPoint presentation by Mark reviewing the research they had done on Faraday’s
experiments the pupils were split into two groups to perform it for themselves. There were four
different variations of the experiment they had to perform and they were asked to predict the
outcome and to record their observations for each experiment. The variations allowed Mark to
accommodate the different abilities within the class and to provide different worksheets with more
in-depth questions for high ability students and ones with fewer questions and more explicit
instructions for pupils of lower ability. Research with the pupils revealed that as a result of the
project only 6% of the class said that they didn’t find the library research useful whilst all of the
children said that they now understood how important it was to conduct some background research
before performing an experiment.
Mark is studying for a PGCE at the University of Manchester.
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Kate Ireland – University of Southampton - BSc Physics
For her Special Project, Kate decided to work with a two groups - one in Year 7 and one in Year 11.
Physics was disliked by the Year 7 group so Kate wanted to create some lessons that made it fun
as well as educational. She decided to make rockets with the Year 7 pupils, using film containers
filled with Alka-Seltzer tablets and water. They really enjoyed the experiment and soon began to
adapt it, changing the order in which the items were placed into the rocket and taking off the rocket
body to see what difference that made to the rocket launch. Kate used the experiment to explain
Newton’s Third Law in a practical way to the class. Kate also provided a lesson on radioactivity for
the Year 11 pupils using research beforehand to assess their level of knowledge on the subject.
Using written, oral and practical elements Kate was able to maintain interest, and therefore
discipline, in what was usually a disruptive group and was able to involve some of the quieter
pupils. The result of her efforts was an increased attendance at the school science club which Kate
felt was due to making the lessons fun and interactive.
Helen Shanks – University of Southampton - BSc Oceanography with Physical Geography
Helen worked with high achieving Year 10 triple science pupils on their Aqueous and Organic
Chemistry Unit. The aim of Charlotte’s Special Project was twofold:
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to create an innovative task to aid revision of topic
to introduce pupils to a different way of learning and to encourage independent study
Working in groups of three the pupils were asked to pick an aspect of the syllabus that they had
already covered. They were set the task of creating a five minute micro lesson which could be
used to teach the rest of their class about the topic. The pupils carried out peer assessment on
each others lesson. In doing this the pupils were encouraged to think about such things as:
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Which aspect of the syllabus they could turn into a short presentation
What use they could make of the resources available
The assessment criteria they would use for their peer and self assessment
The Special Project provided valuable public speaking experience for the girls and all of the groups
managed to cover the aspects successfully. They found it very useful as a method of learning and
one group asked if they could do the task again for another unit.
Helen is studying for a PGCE at the University of Portsmouth.
Tim Boxall – University of Bristol - BSc Physics and Philosophy
Tim worked with Year 12 pupils on their Astronomy unit and decided to do his Special Project on
the Faulkes telescope. In order to prepare himself for taking these lessons he gave a presentation
on the history of electricity, tying it into the local area to make it more relevant to the pupils. He
prepared a presentation and handout on the key scientists and inventors involved in the
development of electricity and supplemented these with demonstrations on electricity that the pupils
did not normally have the chance to see. For his Special Project he booked time for the class with
the Faulkes Telescopes in Hawaii and Australia which allowed them to control the telescopes for a
specified time using the internet. The project was used to fulfil part of the A level syllabus on the
Hertzspring Russell diagram by obtaining images of planets and galaxies and producing colourmagnitude diagrams. By controlling the telescopes themselves the class were able to take photos
of the planet Jupiter.
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Leon Caine – University of Bristol - BSc Physics
Leon decided that for his Special Project he would create a website for his pupils based on a range
of activities he carried out with them. The first of his activities involved a discarded globe from the
Geography department which had no stand. Leon used it to demonstrate to his pupils how the
seasons worked by fixing it onto an axis, using a motor to make it spin and a lamp to represent the
sun. He also worked with two groups of pupils entering the Paperclip Physics Competition for the
first time; the aim being to demonstrate to a non-scientist an application or fundamental principle of
physics using only items that could be found in a typical home. Finally he produced a series of
PowerPoint presentations for various year groups including Renewable Energy Sources for years
8,9 and 10, and Particle Detections for year 13. Leon then created a website for the pupils
containing all of the presentations, online revision questions and useful links to other websites. The
online revision questions were emailed through to Leon for marking and proved a popular way of
completing the exercise for his pupils. His teacher is planning to re-use both the presentations and
the globe when teaching Astronomy to younger age groups.
Chris Connelly – University of Bristol - BSc Physics
Chris worked with pupils in years 9 to 11 and decided to do his Special Project on light. A couple of
preparatory lessons looked at reflections and angles, giving the pupils practice in determining the
path of light due to multiple reflections. Chris then presented the pupils with an experiment in the
form of his Laser Maze game. Working in teams the pupils had to use the knowledge they had
gained in the previous lessons to correctly position a number of mirrors in order to bounce a laser
off them to hit pre-positioned targets. Pupils were given points depending upon how many targets
they hit and how many mirrors they had to use to do it. Having a new and exciting piece of
equipment in the classroom resulted in enthusing the pupils so that they gave the experiment their
full attention. It allowed the pupils to ‘see’ science at work and the competitive nature of the game
both encouraged teamwork and motivated pupils to think hard in order to win. By the end of the
game all groups were proficient at judging the angles of incidence and reflection.
Pupils playing the Laser Game
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Sam Cook – University of Bristol - BSc Physics
Sam worked in a junior school with years 3-6 and decided that he wanted to create a re-useable
resource that focused on an area of Physics not usually covered by the class. His pupils had
covered circuits and had some basic electricity knowledge so Sam decided to take their knowledge
further by teaching them about lightning and in particular static electricity. In his 2 hour lesson on
the subject he included a range of activities for the pupils. Sam started with a PowerPoint
presentation on static electricity as the pupils had never seen this form of presentation before so he
felt it would hold their attention. Using equipment from Sam’s Physics department the pupils
carried out three experiments:
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Sticky balloons: pupils rubbed balloons with different materials to see how long they would
stick to the wall, learning about the different charges that different materials have.
Having ‘charged’ the balloons, the pupils carried out an experiment to see how strong the
charge was by picking up materials of different weights with the balloons i.e. rice crispies
and bits of card.
Use of electroscopes to ‘bend water’.
To finish the lesson Sam used a Van de Graaff to make sparks through which he was able to
demonstrate how lightning worked. To accompany the experiments Sam produced a booklet for
the pupils containing: instructions on carrying out the experiment, a section for recording their
results, questions about the experiment and a crib sheet with all of the new information they had
learnt. Upon completion of the experiments Sam marked all of the booklets so that pupils could
see the progress they had made. To ensure that the experiments could be performed again by
future years, Sam produced easy to use instructions for each of them. The pupils greatly enjoyed
the lesson and Sam has been given funding by the Institute of Physics to take the experiments out
to a ‘classroom roadshow’ at other schools for pupils to enjoy and learn from.
Andrew Crosby – University of Southampton - BSc Physics
Andrew worked with Year 10 pupils approaching exams and wanted to provide a revision aid for his
pupils. However, he wanted to provide something different to the usual revision worksheets and so
created a game based on the different topics the pupils were revising within their topic area of
space waves. His reasons for the choosing a game were:
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Images can often aid visualisation of concepts
The ‘skill challenges’ in the game allowed the pupils to practise core skills that were weak
The questions allowed him to focus on precise points within the syllabus
The game was a cheap and re-usable resource, made using A4 paper, lamination pouches,
dice and counters
The game proved to be an immensely useful revision tool as it was something different that caught
the pupils’ attention and meant that questions (and therefore answers) were repeated during the
game which allowed the pupils to properly absorb the information. The competitiveness of the
pupils meant that they paid attention to the answers, trying to remember them in case they came up
again. It also provided an easy way of identifying the topics that the class was having problems
with. The pupils all enjoyed the game and felt it had committed a lot more of the key information to
memory than worksheets would have done; so much so that they requested copies of the questions
in the game as revision aids. The class teacher has kept the game to re-use next year and is
considering developing her own games for different parts of the syllabus.
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Charlotte Main – University of Southampton - BSc Oceanography
Charlotte wanted her Special Project to look at themes of Equatic Ecology and for it to be fun and
educational whilst allowing the pupils to work independently. The school at which she did her
placement had recently been re-landscaped resulting in the loss of the school pond. As this was a
valuable resource for the Biology staff Charlotte planned to rebuild it and based her Special Project
around this, tying it in with the National Curriculum topic on ‘Living Things in their Environment’
which her Year 8 class was studying. Working with ten able pupils from the group the first thing
that needed to be done was some practical planning and calculations and so the pupils worked in
teams, using simple formulae to calculate such things as the size of liner needed. They also did
research into native species and which plants would be best to put in the pond.
Following their planning exercise the pupils played the Pond Game which looked at the ecological
relationships in a pond. The pupils had ten minutes to research a species of plant or animal and
then presented their information to the rest of the group, gaining points for providing correct
information. They made a 3D food web and a spatial representation of the habitat.
The pupils finished with a PowerPoint presentation to communicate their experience. This helped
them to
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Communicate an experience coherently
Direct their own learning, with supervision
Work as a group to plan the presentation which was given to the rest of the class and the
Head of Science
To evaluate how much the pupils had learnt as a result of her Special Project, Charlotte carried out
an Ecology quiz at the beginning and the end of it and found that there was almost a doubling of
correct answers in the final quiz. For homework the pupils wrote a personal review of the
experience. Feedback from the pupils showed that they had enjoyed the Special Project a great
deal and at the end of term Charlotte went back into school to help build the school pond for the
pupils.
Matt Saunders – University of Bristol - BSc Physics and Philosophy
Matt wanted to bring something new to the class of Year 7 pupils that he was teaching and having
looked at their syllabus decided to focus on the topic of electricity. Having taken an animation
course during the summer he produced a short 5 minute film based on the popular TV series ‘Little
Britain’ as he knew this was something most of his pupils watched and enjoyed. The character
Andy asked questions which his counterpart character Lou gave the answer to. The school were
very keen for pupils to use the proper scientific terms in order to prepare them thoroughly for their
exams and Matt felt this would be an entertaining way of helping them to do so. Before showing
the film Matt used the electronic whiteboard to list all of the words that the pupils needed to look out
for whilst they were watching it and then asked them to complete a quiz whilst watching the film.
After the film Matt handed out batteries and bulbs to talk more about electricity and how various
things worked. The film provided an excellent launch pad for the subject and the teacher will be
using it again next year to introduce the subject to his pupils.
Matt is currently doing a Graduate Teaching Programme at Ravenswood School where he
completed his placement
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Heidi Pardoe and Nicke Edge – University of Southampton
BSc Marine Biology and Oceanography and BSc Oceanography
Heidi and Nicke worked together on a Special Project aimed at identifying why lower ability pupils
find it difficult to transfer Maths skills to Science. They did this by focusing on one problem area:
graph skills. Heidi worked with Year 8 Science set and Nicke with a Year 8 Maths set. Working
with a small group of pupils they taught them how to construct bar graphs, line graphs and pie
charts concentrating on key problem areas such as choosing a suitable graph, using appropriate
scales, labeling axes and lines of best fit. Using three lessons for teaching and one lesson for
evaluation they tried to use real life situations that the pupils could identify with, for example bar
graphs on the amount of nutrients per 100g of food product and pie charts on the coverage of
different plant species on the school field. To evaluate their work the pupils in the two sets were
asked to construct one of each graph type. The sets contained four groups of pupils:
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4 taught by both girls in Maths and Science
5 taught by Nicke in Maths
13 taught by Heidi in Science
12 not taught by either of the girls
The aim of the graph construction was to evaluate whether:
(i) pupils taught by both of the undergraduates were more able to construct graphs than those who
had been taught by one or neither of them.
(ii) there were any differences in ability between those who had been taught graphs in the different
subjects.
The test resulted in the highest scores being obtained by those pupils taught by both Nicke and
Heidi in their Maths and Science lesson, suggesting that if pupils are able to see how skills overlap
between subjects they are better able to transfer those skills. The difference in scores between
those who were taught in Maths only and those taught in Science only raised questions about how
the different ways of teaching these skills in the two subject areas affects the pupils understanding
and mastering of the skills. The school was left with a report on the Special Project which may help
them to teach more effectively in future across different subjects.
Heidi is studying for a PGCE at Bath Spa University and Nicke is studying for a PGCE at the
University of Southampton.
Ashley Prestidge – University of Loughborough - BSc Physics
Ashley worked with four different groups of Year 7 pupils and chose to run an investigation into
energy and forces for his Special Project. He began his topic using a PowerPoint presentation to
introduce the concept of energy storage in solids and the effects of temperature on gases. Ashley
gave the whole class a worksheet he had prepared and they discussed what they could change
and what they could measure when investigating how temperature affects the height that a squash
ball bounces. They looked at what they needed to keep the same to ensure that the experiment
was a fair test. The class then worked in groups to predict what would happen if they increased or
decreased the temperature. The pupils carried out the experiment for 3 different temperatures and
recorded the height that the ball bounced – they did this 3 times and worked out the average before
plotting the results on a graph and drawing a line of best fit. The pupils then considered and
evaluated their results and discussed ways in which they could have improved what they did. The
pupils had a great time experimenting and the teacher is going to use the same experiment and
worksheet with future year groups.
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Martin Bennett – University of Southampton - MChem
Martin decided to run an after school club for 14 Year 8 pupils as his Special Project. Choosing the
topic of ‘Light and Luminescence’ Martin provided six sequential sessions for the pupils on different
aspects of the topic. The introductory session began with the pupils carrying out a range of
activities: working in pairs to produce an introductory poster on light; carrying out experiments on
prisms and filters; introducing the properties of light and completing a worksheet on what they had
learnt. Pupils then moved on to study different aspects of the topic:
(i) ‘Fluorescent lights and UV – Investigating how good sun creams are at blocking out UV’
Pupils were asked to bring in any fluorescent items from home and old sun tan lotions. Using black
light tubes Martin gave a demonstration of natural and man made phosphors using fluorescent
rocks, highlighter pens and dyes. The pupils looked at the dangers of overexposure to the sun and
carried out experiments to explore the blocking ability of varying SPF creams.
(ii) ‘Phosphorescence – Making glow-in-the-dark slime’
Using glow-in-the-dark toys brought in by pupils plus phosphorescent rocks, Martin gave a practical
demonstration of the differences and similarities of fluorescence and phosphorescent materials.
After a brief introduction on polymers the pupils set about a practical to make glow-in-the-dark and
fluorescent slime which they greatly enjoyed.
(iii) ‘Chemical luminescence – How do glow sticks work’.
Martin used flame tests as an example of ‘heat excitation’ to excite various metal ions to produce
varying flame colours. The demonstration helped explain the principle that different atoms when
excited produced different wavelengths of light corresponding to the different flame colours. He
then described the principles behind glow stick luminescence as another form of excitation:
"chemical excitation". The pupils performed a series of chemical reactions using a range of
household chemicals to imitate the luminescence seen in a glow sticks. Further experiments were
performed which involved heating and cooling the glow sticks to see how the light intensity and rate
of the reactions could be affected by heat. The pupils then went on to perform a series of
endothermic and exothermic reactions using bags of ice, lemon juice, bicarbonate of soda and
calcium chloride to give comparisons and similarities with the glow stick reaction.
In the penultimate session pupils used the internet and knowledge gained from the course to
prepare a PowerPoint presentation on an aspect of their four-session course.
In the last session pupils presented their PowerPoint presentations to the rest of the class and a
selection of senior teachers. The pupil questionnaires filled in during this lesson reflected their
enjoyment for the course. They awarded the course an average 4/5 with comments such as:
“I now know more, so I can be more confident” and “The course was good and very interesting.”
Martin is now considering a career in teaching after his final Masters year at university.
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Siobhain Dales – University of Southampton - BSc Computer Science
Siobhain worked with the Year 7 after-school ‘Computer Club for Girls’ for her Special Project. To
give them experience of using the latest computer technology she decided to arrange a trip to her
university where they would take part in a range of activities including a T.shirt design competition
and creating ‘computer jewellery’. In order to carry out her project Siobhain had to gain funding to
rent a minibus to transport her thirteen pupils to the university, complete a risk assessment for the
trip, gain permission from the pupils’ parents for the trip and enlist the help of student volunteers
from her department to help with the session. She specifically used female helpers to help serve
as positive role models for the girls. In the School of Electronics and Computer Science the girls
worked on the high-spec computers to create their T.shirt design using a number of different
software packages including Publisher, PowerPoint, Word, Coreldraw and Paint. After this they
moved on to creating ‘computer jewellery’. Siobhain had raided her computer lab for old
computers, fax machines and printers and had dismantled the equipment to collect the small
components inside. The girls were shown the inside of an old computer to show them where the
different components for their jewellery had come from and then set about using wire cutters and
pliers to create a range of pieces including hair slides made from memory modules and earrings
made from resistors. The girls went home at the end of the day very happy with prizes for the best
T.shirt designs, certificates of achievement, university goodie bags and, of course, their very
unusual jewellery! Siobhain is now a research assistant at the Southampton University and hopes
to set up a School’s IT Assistant Scheme in order to send undergraduates from her department to
local schools to help out with similar extra-curricular activities.
Sophie Ladden – University of Leeds - BSc Physics
Sophie initially observed different classes to gain an appreciation of teaching styles and to see the
level of study the year groups were working at. Through talking to and interacting with the
students, Sophie found that they were quite interested in science practicals and less so the science
theory. Therefore, Sophie chose to work with the Year 7s and for her Special Project ran a series
of “hands-on” experiments at the school Science Club with the overall aim of engaging the pupils
and increasing their interest in science. During Sophie’s placement, the children:
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Investigated the speed of light, using a microwave and a bar of chocolate
Looked at the phenomena of white light using the interactive whiteboard, some card and
colouring pens
Experimented with filling an empty egg with hydrogen gas
Made balloon kebabs!
The Science Club ran on Wednesday lunchtimes for 45 minutes and was open to all abilities.
During her placement Sophie built up a regular attendance of 15 pupils who became very
enthusiastic about science and ‘doing experiments’.
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Tim Pollington - University of Nottingham - BSc Mathematical Physics
Tim worked with a Year 9 intermediate Physics set at West Bridgford School, Nottingham. He was
lucky to be able to begin a topic on light at the start of his placement and saw it through to the end
of the topic. Tim began by observing the class and then went on to introduce specific topics and
discussions known as “hotspots”. The school had a theatre area therefore Tim chose to do an
interactive “lightshow” for his special project with the assistance of the sixth form acting as lighting
engineers and the participation of the Year 9’s.
The aims of the project were to give the pupils a chance to consolidate the knowledge gained
during the light topic; to give them a chance to put theory into practice; to help with revision and
most importantly, “to enjoy physics and banish the fear!” The Year 9 pupils were all given t-shirts of
differing colours to wear and through a series of demonstrations and interactive activities answered
the following questions:
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Does my shirt look green in this?
Why can light bend at a boundary?
Can smoke help us see light?
The pupils and teachers worked in groups and had a go at “light acting” to demonstrate the
following:
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A light ray hitting an air particle and scattering
A light ray hitting a boundary; partly reflecting and partly refracting
A light ray hitting a semi-silvered mirror, some reflecting, some passing through
Magenta ray hitting a blue filter and blue light passing through
Light ray hitting a rough surface and scattering
Tim also prepared a booklet to accompany the lightshow and to act as a revision guide for the
pupils. The pupils really enjoyed the show and felt that they really understood some of the key
concepts covered during their light topic. The teachers really enjoyed the show as well and will use
the booklet and some of Tim’s interactive activities with future year 9s!
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