Archive for October, 2006

Plotting scientific data with MS Excel

Tuesday, October 31st, 2006

MS Excel has powerful data plotting functions but the default settings are for illustrative graphs for presentations rather than printed graphs of scientific data. This handout suggests some settings that might produce better quality graphs.

How much can you remember?

Sunday, October 29th, 2006

Half term break provides a gap long enough to forget some bits of Maths, and this worksheet is designed to jog memories.

Darwin Online

Friday, October 20th, 2006

Cambridge University and the Darwin family have presented all of Darwin’s writings on a Web site. Text is searchable. Superb resource, and perhaps the way forward for history?

Leverage fractions

Saturday, October 14th, 2006

By spending extra lesson time on fractions – front loading in the jargon – I can save time on percentages and ratios. This kind of teaching needs trust from students; as I teach adults, I’m upfront about what I am doing.

Press Gang

Monday, October 9th, 2006

Press Gang is a 300,000 word history of national newspapers in the UK from 1945, with a bias towards the London newspapers. Roy Greenslade has written a brick of a book coming in around 300,000 words. The Birmingham Rep is producing Pravda by Howard Brenton and David Hare and we have tickets for this Friday.

Shop signs

Sunday, October 8th, 2006

The shop signs in the Stratford road show recent changes in ownership, and advertise the new approaches to retail provided by the Internet.

Flash fractions

Thursday, October 5th, 2006

Very handy web site has flash animations of basic fractions processes complete with fla files for further customisation.

Fractions, tables

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006

‘Spot the common factors’ approach works well for equivalent fractions puzzles. The kind of puzzle with unknowns on the bottom provokes thought!