This resource provides a set of videos and a practical investigation aimed at supporting working scientifically in the classroom and relating science to real world experiences. In the first video Professor Brian Cox joins a teacher to find out how to set up and run an investigation to find out how to turn dirty...

This video introduces common misconceptions about radiation.  It then discusses the types of radiation that exists and considers how harmful they might be to us.  Our exposure to background radiation is discussed.

This video shows how collaboration between physicists and biologists has solved the mystery of how a chameleon changes its colour. The colour changes are due to light diffraction and interference patterns. Nano-sized particles in the chameleon’s skin can be distributed so selectively reflect different wavelengths...

This video compares the language used by classical computers (0 and 1) with that used by quantum computers (qubits).  Qubits can be photons, nuclei or electrons.  In this video the use of electrons is explained as follows.  To be able to measure something it must change and for electrons their ability to occupy...

This video explains how n-type and p-type semiconductors can be used to create a transistor.

The explanation

n-type semiconductors are made from silicon that has been doped with phosphorous.  The additional electron from the P can be used to form a current. P-type semiconductors are...

This video begins by showing how Bernoulli’s law can explain wing lift.  It then introduces ideas that cannot easily be explained using the law, for example, why can planes fly upside down?  Why do flat winged planes fly?

Newton’s 3rd law is used to offer a different explanation, i.e., as long as air is...

This video introduces the idea of inertia by using a large globe suspended by water. It shows that acceleration requires an unbalanced force and then explains that an objects inertia is its tendency to maintain its motion unless it is acted upon by an unbalanced force. 

This video models the distance between the Earth and moon using a basketball and tennis ball. It shows that often diagrams we use are not to scale and so can be misleading.

This video highlights the misconceptions people have about earth orbiting the sun. 30% of Australians think it is one day.

This video discusses how data is coded and stored. It takes a look at the genetic code in humans and shows how it could be stored as 1.5Gb of data.

This video shows people’s misconceptions regarding the age of the Earth. It shows how imagining the difference between a million and billion is very difficult for people to do.

The video uses an arm span to model the age of the Earth and shows how recent in the Earth’s history the evolution of more complex...

This video shows how electromagnetism can be explained using either models of magnetism or of electric fields, induced by length contraction caused by special relativity. Length contraction (Lorentz contraction) occurs to anything that is moving – relative to something moving...