Giving an Effective Presentation
How to make a lasting impression when giving a presentation, for instance when attempting to complete the EXCEPTIONAL End of Topic Task about any aspect fo the topic you thought was particularly interesting, click here.
To find out what kinds of things will make a good presentation better (this is a marking scheme that is based on the IB Theory of Knowledge course, but simplified for use with iGCSE classes), click here.
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Topic 1 Particulate Nature of Matter
For a video explaining Brownian motion, click here, for an extension video that goes beyond the syllabus, click here.
For a video explaining diffusion in gases, click here, for diffusion in liquids, click here
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Topic 2 Basic Experimental Techniques - Exceptional Information
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To learn about the world's first recorded chemist, Tapputi, a Babylonian woman who lived 3300 years ago, click here.
Learning about sciencey by reading newspapers, journals, and popular science magazines. Not all of these magazines can be accessed everywhere, but it is important that you understand and read as widely as you can, especially about the subject you are interested in pursuing at A levels and beyond. You may need to buy a subscription, but the school library also has an excellent selection of current magazines and newspapers.
To give you a sample of the kinds of articles and things you could be reading I’ve downloaded selected articles that relate to this topic, which is about experiments. If you find the language challenging, which is likely, instead of reading for meaning you could instead try reading for vocabulary, print out an article and translate any words you may find. One way to learn another language if you are already very confident in that language is to explain the meaning of new words in English, rather than simply translate them.
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The Atlantic (for the Science section, click here) -an article which helped to introduce the idea that medicine and chemistry might be a new direction in healthcare, back in 1909)
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The Economist (for the Science section, click here), possibly the most-read newspaper by CEOs and corporate executives, as well as politicians and academics, interviewed a famous astronomer about how science can save the world, listen to the podcast
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The Smithsonian (for their Distance Learning Page, click here) has an article about the most famous failed experiment in science
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The New York Times (for the Science Section click here) looked at the 10 most beautiful experiments
Some of the most popular online (and sometimes offline) sources for news aimed at an educated general audience include​
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National Institute of Health: https://kids.niehs.nih.gov/
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Smithsonian website: https://ssec.si.edu/ and https://www.si.edu/kids
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And especially Wikipedia, which also has a Simple English version: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Academic Journals
This is where new science and discoveries is reported to the scientific community, and then the world. They follow a very specific set of rules and try to explain exactly what they did in their experiments and what they think their results mean. Normally, even after finishing a degree, it is difficult to understand what is going on in these articles (usually you just the read the abstract, which tells you roughly what they found out, and sometimes the conclusions, which tells you in more detail why their study matters) The two most famous journals are: “Nature” and “Science”.
You are unlikely to understand anything about these, but two famous experiments are included if you go to the iGCSE Additional Resources webpage.
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Topic 3 Atoms, elements and compounds
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Topic 3 an online simulation investigating the properties of various molecules, as well as introducing some of the features of MS Word, using the excellent BioModal website, which can be accessed here.
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Topic 7.1 and 7.2 Chemical Reactions and Rates of Reaction - Exceptional Information
For additional information on Noble Metals, the least reactive metals, click here. For information on the Universe's least reactive element, Helium, click here.
For additional information about Enzymes click here (Wikipedia link here), and click here and to find out about artificial enzymes, click here.
For information about Flash Photolysis (very, very hard to understand, but potentially interesting to explore!), click here
Topic 8.1 and 8.2 Acids and bases - Exceptional Information
To find out about the strongest acid known, click here. To learn about Aqua Regia, an acid mixture that can dissolve gold, click here. To learn more about this special liquid click here.
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Topic 9 Periodic table - Exceptional Information
For alternative designs on the periodic table, click here.
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Topic 11.3 Haber Process
Audio and factsheet from the Royal Society of Chemistry about Fritz Haber's life and contributions, click here
For a financial report on Sulfuric Acid from 2018 Click here (very technical, but if you are interested in economics later at university, possibly of interest!)
For a wide variety of articles that go well beyond the syllabus but should be accessible and could be of interest click here
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Biology Extension Material
For students interested in reading more about biology, here's an article explaining Darwin's book On the Origin of Species, which helped to create the subject in its modern sense. And here's the original paper published by Darwin and Wallace. Other useful books worth reading include The Double Helix, by James Watson, and The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins.
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