A floor seems to just be. How such a passive object can provide an upward force is indeed a puzzle.

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

This misconception appears in two forms. The first holds that friction happens only when things move (slipping). This idea is...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

For many learners air is seen as nothing. Comparing the mass of air in a small domestic room to the mass of a child might help...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

Distinguishing–eliciting–connecting. How to:

Teaching Guidance 11-14

Pupils' everyday experiences of magnets are likely to focus on situations where the force of attraction is important: For...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

The problem here is that pupils confuse the charge story of electric forces with the pole story of magnetic forces. This is...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

One of the great achievements of 19 th century physics is attributed to James Clerk Maxwell, who explained the link between...

Teaching Guidance 11-14

Mixing up gravity and magnetism is a common confusion. Both magnetic and gravitational forces act at a distance and both are...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

Orbiting astronauts are seen to float about in their spacecraft. This is often attributed, incorrectly, to there being no...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

This is held as being so obvious that most people wouldn't even bother to check it out. A heavy block of wood, mass 2 kilogram...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

Before setting pupils up to drop objects, invite them to articulate their predictions and their reasons. Return to these...

Teaching Guidance 11-14

If a pupil made this kind of statement, you might think that they were starting to go along the Right Lines with their...

Teaching Guidance 11-14