Table of contents

Honorary Editor

Neither. But what exactly is Physics Education? What is its role? Such questions exercised the combined wit and wisdom of the Editorial Board at its recent meeting in October.

Some facts. Among the core readership of the journal are teachers of physics in UK secondary schools, nearly all of whom teach A-level physics. Many of these who are not already Institute of Physics members benefit from a reduced subscription via membership of the Institute of Physics Schools and Colleges Affiliation Scheme or the Association for Science Education. But some readers worldwide subscribe at the full annual individual rate. In addition the journal is bought by over a thousand institutions (colleges, universities, schools) - and most of these are abroad, in North America especially.

A typical issue shows a broad geographical spread of authors. Less than half of the papers submitted for publication come from the UK, the rest come from our foreign readership, with the USA in the lead. Each issue contains about eleven papers - currently we receive an average of ten articles a month, of which about 60% are ultimately published. This creditable figure hides the fact that 90% of UK submissions are accepted, whilst two thirds of 'foreign' articles are rejected by the referees. Linguistic fluency is significant here, of course. But some are rejected because they are seen as too limited in their appeal to our readers; often there is too much physics and not enough education.

These decisions are made by the referees, who are all members of the Editorial Board. The main topic of discussion at the October Board meeting was whether the journal does satisfy the needs of its readership. It was generally agreed that the main question referees and editors should ask themselves is: Will this article/issue help to improve the teaching and learning of physics?

We were worried that there is not enough in the journal that

• teachers can use in their everyday tasks of planning or delivering lessons

• encourages teachers to evaluate or re-evaluate their approach to teaching physics.

In this issue the articles by Jon Ogborn and Brian Davies should give us all quite a lot to think about. Pursuing this theme, in 1998 we intend to publish a special issue (November) entitled Physics from the classroom. This will be edited by real schoolteachers! They will welcome contributions. (Also look out for details of the IoP Education Group's Annual Conference (3 - 5 July 1998) on Keeping the stars in their eyes.)

The UK Institute of Physics has set up an initiative to revitalize the post-16 physics curriculum; the initiative is under the direction of Professor Jon Ogborn.

One of its tasks is to collect and disseminate examples of good practice. Teachers of post-16 physics are invited to send - on one or two pages of A4 - brief accounts of innovative work they have done. These might be for example: new ways to teach a topic; ways to teach a new topic; ways to attract students to physics or to interest them in it; ways to broaden what 'doing physics' is like.

It is planned to make such examples of innovative, imaginative good practice widely available, perhaps through the Internet.

Please write to: Evelyn van Dyk, Project Administrator, 16 - 19 Physics Initiative, The Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London W1N 3DH.

Students in Scotland have been given a unique opportunity to become expert in predicting the weather, thanks to a new CD-ROM which has been issued to all schools. Jointly produced by the Scottish Office and the Scottish Council for Educational Technology (SCET), the CD-ROM aims to provide support for geography lessons via data from ten weather stations presented in a format with which both teachers and students can interact. Exercises permit the analysis of satellite images, weather statistics (in spreadsheet format) and weather reports, and the disk can be used for classwork or as an investigative activity.

The study of weather is a key feature within the 5 - 14 Environmental Studies guidelines undertaken in S1 and S2, as well as within the S3/S4 Standard grade geography course, the S5/S6 Higher grade course and the new Higher Still geography units and courses.

A unique opportunity to discover more about the National Maritime Museum's 28-inch refracting telescope at the Old Royal Observatory will be provided at a one-day course entitled 'Telescopes and stars' on Saturday 29 November 1997.

Built by Sir Howard Grubb of Dublin in 1893 when William Christie was Astronomer Royal, the telescope is the largest working instrument of its type in the UK and the seventh largest refractor in the world. Besides the basics of telescope optics, there will be a special Planetarium programme and an early evening viewing through the telescope (weather permitting!). Among the speakers is Tony Sizer, science teacher and amateur astronomer. Further information may be obtained from Caroline Tilbrook (tel: 0181 312 6747) or the NMM web site, http://www.nmm.ac.uk.

Saturday 13 September 1997 saw the award presentation for the ninth European Union Contest for Young Scientists, held in Milan. The three first prizes went to seven students from Germany, Ireland and Switzerland, who had proved that the pursuit of science and technology can be a highly creative and exciting activity.

The winners were involved in projects concerning the remains of victims of ritual sacrifice, discerning the tastebuds of selective carnivorous plants, and the development of a new super self-conducting polymer. There were also three second prizes and six third prizes.

An estimated 30000 students took part in the contest across Europe and beyond, and 80 finalists represented some of the best scientific achievements from our next generation of scientists. The contest forms part of the Training and Mobility of Researchers (TMR) programme, and through it the European Commission aims to encourage and highlight young people's interest in science by inviting them to play an active part in the great adventure that is research.

All finalists displayed their projects covering a wide spectrum of scientific activity at the Science Fair held at the Fondazione Stelline in Milan. Here an international panel of 12 eminent scientists interviewed them and evaluated the projects. The first prizes amounted to ECU 5000 each, and the 1998 contest will be held in Porto, Portugal on 21 - 26 September. Further details may be obtained from Graham Blythe, EU Contest for Young Scientists, DG XII/G3 (tel: +322-2955822, fax: +322-2963270, email: graham.blythe@ dg12.cec.be).

Help is at hand for disabled gardeners trying to tend their gardens from a wheelchair: a revolutionary pair of shears developed by 18 year-old Robert Thorpe, which won him the title of 'Young Engineer for Britain 1997' in September. The photograph (below) shows Robert demonstrating the shears, which can be operated with one hand and which incorporate a range of innovative design concepts aimed at overcoming the ergonomic problems of gardening for people with disabilities ranging from paraplegia to arthritis.

Figure 1. Shear power - a shearing device for the disabled.

As the overall winner of the Young Engineer competition, Robert received a cash prize of £1000 plus a further £1500 for his school, Eckington School in Sheffield, in addition to other awards. The national final involved over 60 students from the 13 regional finals held earlier in the year. Projects were judged on their originality, imaginative use of engineering and scientific principles and the quality of visual, oral and written presentation. Among the other prizewinners were three girls from Ilkley Grammar School, West Yorkshire, who took the Women into Science and Engineering (WISE) award of £800 and a trophy. Hazel Acomb, Kristen McKeown and Alice Campbell were recognized for their 'Fire hose dryer', a method of drying an area of hose internally in preparation for repair.

'Young engineers for Britain' is a joint venture of the Engineering Council and the Standing Conference on Schools Science and Technology (SCSST) Young Engineers Clubs. More details of the competition are available from the Engineering Council, 10 Maltravers Street, London WC2R 3ER (tel: 0171 240 7891).

The customary collection of excellent photographs from around the world has been combined in the 1998 Meteorological Calendar which is now available from the Royal Meteorological Society.

Among the stunning images is a snowstorm over Snowdonia National Park, primary and secondary rainbows above Welton in Lincolnshire, the setting sun behind a stone circle on Orkney, a cloudscape over Monument Valley in the USA and a tropical sunset in the West Indies.

The calendar can be obtained from the Society's Executive Secretary at 104 Oxford Road, Reading, Berks RG1 7LL at £5.30 each or £21.80 for five, post paid and inclusive of VAT.

14 - 17 January Olympia, London BETT 98 - The Educational Technology Show Info: Emap Education, Greater London House, Hampstead Road, London NW1 7QZ, UK

5 - 7 March NEC Birmingham The Education Show Info: Emap Education, Greater London House, Hampstead Road, London NW1 7QZ, UK

10 - 14 March Washington, USA 9th International Conference of the Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education Info: see http://www.aace.org/conf/site

17 - 18 June New Frontiers in Science Exhibition Info: Science Promotion Section, Royal Society, 6 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG, UK

All the Letters to the Editor in this issue are in the same PostScript or PDF file.

Contents

Enjoying physics Elizabeth Swinbank The Salters Advanced Physics Project, University of York, UK

Energy exchange Chris Parton 40 Bellshill Road, Uddingston, Glasgow G71 7LZ, UK

Teachers often report that their A-level pupils are unwilling to read physics-related material. What is it about physics texts that deters pupils from reading them? Are they just too difficult for 16 - 18 year olds, or is it that pupils lack specific reading skills? This article describes some of the results from my research into pupils' reading of physics-related texts and tries to clarify the situation.

A tutorial type problem examining the focusing performance of the human eye in air and in water is solved by two different approaches. Calculations show that light can be effectively focused on the retina when the eye is in air but not underwater, even with the usual accommodation. We then examine how some vertebrates have accommodation processes that permit them to see effectively both above and below water.

Simulation-based activities provide students with an opportunity to compare their physical intuition with the behaviour of the model and can sometimes offer unique advantages over other methods. This article presents various approaches to the development of qualitative simulation- based activities and describes how these activities can be addressed to students' common difficulties in basic electricity.

The importance of using non-inertial reference systems in some problems of translational dynamics is addressed. For this, a problem is presented with its detailed solution. Typical misconceptions and preconceptions of students in this subject are discussed.

A simple kinematic problem is solved by using three different techniques - analysis, graphs and approximations. Using three different techniques is pedagogically sound for it leads the student to the realization that the physics of a problem rather than the solution technique is the more important for understanding. The approximation technique is a modification of the Newton - Raphson method but is considerably simpler, avoiding calculation of derivatives. It also offers an opportunity to introduce approximation techniques at the very beginning of physics study.

Microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) tools have been developed which interface with a great variety of computers. Students use these tools to collect physical data in real time which can later be manipulated and analysed. This new investigative method together with a high standard of precision enables students to investigate many principles of physics that have not previously been feasible. In this article we describe some examples of experiments designed for high-school students with the help of the MBL Explorer. We mainly analyse power, work and effective (RMS) values in an AC resistive circuit.

A unique and amusing piece of laser art is proposed for use in physics education. It is shown that a dynamic and beautiful interference fringe can be produced when a He - Ne laser beam illuminates a droplet, which is called Brandy's tear, on a glass surface. This interference fringe can be explained in terms of the interference of multiple spherical waves scattered by the droplet. This kind of demonstration experiment is very helpful for exciting students' curiosity.

Readers may be aware that the Institute of Physics is embarking on a major curriculum initiative aiming for a radical review of post-16 physics in Great Britain, supported by a fund of £1 million. The September 1996 special issue of Physics Education was a contribution to the debate about what such an initiative might have to consider.

In January 1997 a group of twenty or so Institute of Physics members with an interest in curriculum development and a wide experience of physics teaching at school, college and university level, including members of the Institute's Education Group and the Education and Public Affairs committee, met to discuss with the President and Chief Executive both what kind of physics might be appropriate for the 21st century, and how a development might be managed.

The meeting began with a contribution from Brian Davies, the Institute's Director of Education and Public Affairs. The following article is based on the text of that contribution.

The aims of the Institute of Physics 16 - 19 Physics Initiative are explained here by its Director.

Sir Arnold Wolfendale was born on 25 June 1927, the son of Arnold and Doris Wolfendale. His BSc in Physics with First Class honours from the University of Manchester in 1948 was followed by a PhD in 1953 and a DSc in 1970. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1977, and of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1973. In 1951 he married Audrey Darby, and they have twin sons. Sir Arnold's career has included lecturing posts at the Universities of Manchester, Durham, Ceylon and Hong Kong, and he was head of department at Durham. He retired from teaching in 1992 and was knighted in 1995. From 1991 to 1995 he was Astronomer Royal. Since 1996 he has been Professor of Experimental Physics with the Royal Institution of Great Britain. He has given lectures in many countries and in many places, and has had several books published on the subject of cosmic rays and astrophysics. He lives in Durham.

This excellent book is a thoroughly revised version of one which first appeared 15 years ago. Apart from the updated data, the freshly rewritten text reflects the way in which the world's energy preoccupations have moved on from the early 1980s to the late 1990s.

At face value, the book delivers a mass of useful facts and figures about the world's use of energy and associated technologies. But it offers much more besides. The supporting commentary rolls along at cracking pace, and the author's clear and highly readable style will be appreciated by a wide range of interested readers.

The book is in three main parts. Section One gives a global view of energy resources and patterns of consumption - with particular reference to Britain, Switzerland, India and the USA. Section Two deals with fuels and the various technologies of energy conversion - with lots of basic science thrown in for good measure. Section Three is about the future - the environmental cost of energy consumption, possible energy scenarios and the hazards of trying to make predictions.

The book has many strong features, but there are two I would especially highlight. First, accessibility. Students and teachers who want a clear exposition of the second law of thermodynamics, the technicalities of tidal schemes or the economics of power stations will not be disappointed, nor will youngsters who need help with more basic terms such as primary energy, biofuels and terawatts. Second, there is a sub-plot of clear scientific explanation: how molecules behave, why fission releases energy, why engines waste energy, how to make informed judgements about the validity of statistics.

You get all of the above, and more, in a book about the size of a medium-length paperback novel. At just under nine pounds, it represents excellent value for money. I confidently predict that it will be one of the most well-thumbed volumes on my bookshelf.

This is a resource book of activity sheets to photocopy. If you are faced with low ability pupils trying to achieve their potential at Key Stage 4, you can immediately integrate these into a work scheme. Nothing in this 108 page book is dressed up in fancy graphics or presented in contrived contexts - it is all straight physics with which the pupils are able to interact. So there is lots of labelling to sort out, ticker timer data to interpret and comprehensions where any limitations of literacy are minimized.

The author's advice on the use of these materials emphasizes that few instructions are provided on these pages because of the poor literacy skills of the intended users. It is assumed, for instance, that any points about safe practical work are best given verbally and not via the written page. These materials are intended for the reinforcement and repetition needed for learning and as such cannot be given `cold', i.e. without some preparation on the topic. The exception is the linkword sheets (a sort of concept mapping) that could be used as diagnostic tools once pupils are familiar with the technique.

The alphabetically listed word sheets are useful for revision, as spelling guides and/or for speaking the words out loud, and they work for students of any ability. (This reviewer did not know she had two 'pinnas' until reading the list for Waves and Radiation.) They are a great help for coordinating work with special needs/support teachers and for a quick check for gaps in the vocabulary of students not studying in their native language.

It was good to note that a Hertfordshire Science Teaching Scholarship provided the opportunity for the author to begin this work.

Einstein's Mirror is a companion to the authors' highly successful book, The Quantum Universe. In it Hey and Walters have adopted a similar approach with the clear intention of providing a broadly accessible survey of relativistic physics. The book is well illustrated with photographs and line drawings and covers the development, experimental tests and implications of both the special and general theories.

The book divides roughly into three parts: the first four chapters deal with the relativity of space-time and motion (time dilation, length contraction, velocity addition etc); the next three explore the consequences of mass - energy equivalence (E = mc², fission and fusion etc) with a lengthy digression on how Dirac's relativistic quantum theory of the electron led to the prediction of antimatter and the theoretical description of spin; and the next three chapters discuss the equivalence principle, the development of general relativity and its implications for cosmology. There is also a final chapter on 'Relativity and Science Fiction' which is interesting, but to my mind slightly uncomfortable in the context of the rest of the book. The appendix includes simple derivations of time dilation, velocity addition and mass increase with velocity and there is also a chronology and useful glossary.

This book differs from The Quantum Universe in two major ways: whereas quantum theory was developed by the pantheon of twentieth century physicists, relativity (especially the general theory) was created almost single-handedly by Einstein; and where quantum theory is directly relevant to our everyday lives through electronic technology, relativity has few applications outside the rather esoteric worlds of particle physics and cosmology. Einstein's central role means that the book is partly biographical although every opportunity is taken to link Einstein's own ideas to those of his predecessors and contemporaries. This works well, although sometimes the historical context is developed to such an extent that you could forget you are reading a book about relativity. The chapter on E = mc², for example, begins by discussing caloric, phlogiston and the early development of thermodynamics before considering mass - energy equivalence through an interesting thought experiment that is analysed more carefully in the appendix.

The lack of everyday examples of relativistic effects is more of a problem because it was the emphasis on applications that helped distinguish The Quantum Universe from other popular books about quantum mechanics. For this reason Einstein's Mirror is not so distinct, reminding me of earlier books like Einstein's Universe by Nigel Calder, although it is better illustrated and includes an excellent selection of quotes and anecdotes. There are also some informative 'boxes' explaining particular topics such as the Michelson - Morley experiment, the Global Positioning System and radio astronomy. Most of the quotes used were already familiar but it is good to see so many of the best ones collected here.

The book is aimed at final-year students in school, undergraduates in science subjects and general readers with an interest in science, and it is certainly accessible to them. It is well-paced, logically structured and an easy and interesting read, although there are a few passages where rather a lot is assumed on behalf of the reader - for example, I doubt whether the following passage, about the Higgs mechanism, will mean a great deal to most sixth formers:

'The key to understanding these interactions was a symmetry known as 'gauge invariance'. A better name for this symmetry would be 'phase invariance', since the symmetry arises because of the freedom for all the matter fields in these theories to be multiplied by an arbitrary space-time dependent phase with no change in the resulting physics.'

Einstein's Mirror gives an excellent background to Einstein's life and ideas, and special and general relativity are set in a human and historical context. It will certainly appeal to its intended readers but will be of most value to those who already have some idea about the concepts involved.

In his preface the author sets out the goals of the book: 'to assist students to see science in everyday life; learn that science is not frightening...'. He has succeeded admirably in producing a book which introduces a wide range of physical concepts in a thought-provoking, non-rigorous way using a huge variety of everyday applications. The book will not be specific to any course taught in schools, perhaps coming closer to the material covered in a University course on Physics for non-Physicists!, but it would provide teachers/lecturers with source material for introductory discussions with students at various stages in their study of Physics.

The book has 19 chapters, ranging from 'The Laws of Motion', which looks at falling balls, ramps, see-saws and wheels, to 'Optics' of cameras, telescopes, microscopes and CD players and 'Electronics' of audio amplifiers and computers. Each chapter begins with questions to think about and experiments to do, contains appropriately placed questions which test the readers' understanding of what has been read and short problems which require the development of a feel for the numerical implications of the physics introduced. At the end of each chapter is an extensive summary including important equations and physics principles and also solutions to the questions posed in the chapter. Following this is a glossary of terms introduced and then an extensive set of 'Review Questions', 'Problems' and 'Exercises'. The 'Exercises' test the understanding of the student in a way which will require descriptive answers developing the use of scientific language, and as such they are a very good resource.

The rate at which the reader is expected to progress is challenging, from basic definitions of speed in Chapter 1 to angular motion including the vector quantity Torque by Chapter 3. Quantities such as moment of inertia are introduced without mathematical rigour: 'An object's moment of inertia depends both on its mass and how it is distributed'; yet the relationship between torque, moment of inertia and angular acceleration is then explored. Despite this, each part of the book makes a good contribution to that elusive goal 'developing and expanding physical intuition'.

This book doesn't claim to be all-encompassing or have the mathematical rigour of many other textbooks covering concepts up to senior school or first-year university level. It does, however, tackle vitally important and topical issues such as how to motivate young people to study physics, develop their understanding of concepts relating to the world around them and improve their ability to communicate what they understand. As such, many educators could gain a great deal from using the book as a source of ideas for presenting physics lessons in a thought-provoking, relevant way. In particular teachers could refer to the 'Check your Understanding' and 'Exercise' questions to initiate discussions with students to improve the often underemphasized ability to verbalize their ideas. The breadth and range of depth of treatment means that the book could be an excellent reference book for physics classrooms/tutorial rooms. One could imagine within one school day referring an able 13 year-old to read a page on 'Elastic Balloons', an S-grade/GSCE Science pupil to a chapter on 'Electric Power Distribution' and a post-16 Physics student to use any part of the text for revision and extension of ideas in areas such as 'Fluids', 'Resonance' or 'Electromagnetic Waves'.

I found the book eminently readable, educational and well presented though the absence of colour illustrations and the occasional reference to United States terminology let it down slightly. It could make an excellent addition to a school or physics departmental library for use by both teachers and students.

This is a 72 page book organized in seven major sections covering the present GCSE physics syllabuses and the physics component of the present GCSE double-award science syllabuses. Each page consists of several boxed features covering the key aspects of a single topic within each section. Each feature box contains one or more diagrams and related text. The diagrams are labelled and make use of shades of grey as they are not in colour. Most of the diagrams are straightforward and easy to take in visually. Within each box, the diagrams accompany relevant text which sets out the key points and provides an explanation of the diagrams. Bold print is used to highlight key points in the text and bold headings and bullet points are used to provide structure to the text. Worked examples are provided at intervals as part of appropriate box features.

The frst section comprises 10 pages on energy and energy resources, followed by 6 pages on thermal physics and gases. The next section comprises 11 pages on motion and forces, including momentum and equilibrium, and is followed by a short 2 page section on pressure. The book continues with a 12 page section on waves, sound and seismic waves and optics. The next section on electricity, magnetism and electronics is covered in 14 pages, followed by a 10 page section on the kinetic theory, atomic structure, radioactivity and nuclear power. The final section covers the astronomy topics of Key Stage 4 and ends with a page on floating and flying. A 2 page index is provided at the end of the book.

The book could prove useful for those students in need of a summarized account of each topic as part of their preparation for GCSE examinations.

After the first couple of pages I thought that I was not going to like this book. By the time I was halfway through I was enjoying it immensely. Once I had reached the end, however, I was rather more confused about it. Perhaps this reflects three different moods that I was in as I made my way through the book, but I do not think so. I think that it is more to do with the book dividing into three sections.

The first, short, section of the book lays down the history of ideas from the early Greeks to the time of Newton. The longest middle section explores the six 'roads' of the title - six paths that physics has taken since the time of Newton that have led us from the world view of Newtonian Physics. The final section discusses some modern physics (fundamental particles, nuclear physics and cosmology), outlines the author's critique of quantum mechanics and summarizes where we have got to in the modern world view.

The middle section of the book is beautifully written. The author explores his six roads (wave theory, fields, probability and thermodynamics, special relativity, quantum theory and general relativity) with enthusiasm and a convincing grasp of the ideas. The occasional Americanism or reference that might be obscure (how many readers these days will know what an IBM punch card was?) merely add to the character of the book. I especially liked the chapters on waves and probability which were authoritative and stimulating. The author's many years of studying and teaching physics were evident in this section. It had the feel of having been polished by years in the classroom. The basic ideas were laid out clearly, the details explored slowly and the occasional hint dropped of more difficult things, to keep the most interested happy. There is a very nice discussion of the twins paradox that many people could read with profit.

I was not so convinced by the start of the book and the final couple of chapters. Subjectively I found the language used in these sections harder to follow - as if the author was feeling his way through with rather less conviction. Chapter 8 rather rushes through nuclear and particle physics. It gave the impression of having been trimmed to get the book down in size. As a result some of the ideas were not as well presented. The same was true in Chapter 10 on cosmology. Occasionally I was not sure what the author was talking about. For example, on the dominance of matter over antimatter in the universe today he says:

'The implication is that atomic matter was formed only once, or at most a few times. Matter won the toss over antimatter, supposedly in the first second after the Big Bang, and that settled it. If matter and antimatter had been created from electromagnetic energy many times, half the time antimatter would have won out (equipartition). The great prevalence of one form over the other today is evidence for a single Big Bang'.

If he means what I think he means, then he is wrong. Modern GUT theories will always have matter winning out over antimatter due to a complex process taking place as the universe expands.

I'm afraid that I did not understand the view of quantum theory that the author was trying to explain. At one point, referring to the De Broglie relationship he says that real waves have velocities dependent on the medium through which they are moving but quantum waves have velocities dependent on the velocity of the particle, and so they cannot be 'true' waves. Quite. Wave packets are complicated things and the component probability waves travel faster than light. I do not know what to make of the comment that 'the compression of the energy in an electromagnetic wave [presumably a photon] might also occur in other ways ... by piling up on itself, when it encounters certain types of obstacles' either.

These are two examples that stick out. The author is obviously trying to built a critique of quantum theory and suggest a different way of looking at it based on information theory. Having read the middle section of the book, I was very keen to see what this would be. However, it came across as a confused mish-mash of ideas that I could not pick my way through. Again this felt like a section that had been edited to length.

My overall impression is of a book which is strangely unfocused. I am not sure what audience the author is aiming for. The middle section is highly recommended and would make a good introduction to areas of physics for the interested reader. Some of the points raised are used in the last section to develop the critique of QM, making it seem that this is the real aim of the book. If so, that part should have been developed more thoroughly. If the aim of the book was to be a development of ideas since Newton (and a very good book like that it could have been) then the personal critique of QM should have been missed out.

I'm going to read it again, which has to be some sort of recommendation. I think.

As labour-savers go, spreadsheets take some beating. Take the 'Fill Down' command in Microsoft Excel for instance: masses of data generated at the click of a button. All that hard work done automatically: what joy! A further strength of IT is the capacity for slick graphical presentation. Graphs linked to a spreadsheet can give instant display of the selected data.

Spreadsheets are particularly suitable for representing systems which involve inter-related variables. Science is full of such systems. More or less all of the content of school physics and much of chemistry and biology fall into this category. This is borne out by the variety of examples to be found in the Warwick Spreadsheet System Science Collection (WSSSC) CD-ROM. Over 50 science topics are included from across the science curriculum. ranging from first-year GCSE level to second-year A-level. The package also prepares the way for users to write their own spreadsheet representations of scientific models. It could fairly be said, therefore, that the list of potential applications in science teaching is endless.

The history of IT in school science is, however, littered with good ideas that didn't catch on. Could WSSSC be another? For all its evident comprehensiveness and power there is indeed a danger that this substantial resource will not make a significant impact on science teaching, at least in its current form. What is missing is a link between the package and the novice user: a helping hand at the threshold of use. Too often the interface between the non-expert user and the medium of IT has been neglected by designers, whose creative energies have been focused on the insides of their software. Teachers, whose time-pressed decisions will determine whether or not IT is included in science lessons, will be looking for speedy setting-up, rapid familiarization and minimal risk of embarrassment in front of others. The teacher's initial response is the crucial determinant of the application's success as a classroom resource.

The WSSSC contains so much material that an orienteering guide - preferably along the lines of the popular 'Idiot's Guides' that have proliferated recently - is an absolute must. Ideally it should be written by a non-specialist in IT. The instructions on the CD-ROM sleeve that appear to be addressed to the newcomer are unhelpful and, when followed, tend to have a discouraging and de-skilling effect. The files include a tutorial, a user guide and a reference guide (all tucked away in the main system folder). an example models pack, a 'Demo' folder, and text files called 'Contents' and 'Readnow'. Where would you start? This last file turned out to be the same as the unhelpful pages in the CD-ROM sleeve. There is also a reader application which 'needs installing properly' but must not be copied. Welcome to the package!

I tend to take a 'tortoise' approach with new IT: I look through the documentation before running the application. Fearing this to be outmoded I turned to my 16-year-old, whose 'hare' method is to load and run everything in sight to see what happens. He made some initial progress and then stalled. I plodded on and, as in the fable, eventually arrived, to find that WSSSC has much to offer beneath its surface. The tutorial is a good introduction to Excel and the example worksheets in the Demo folder are interesting. Activities in the subject packs work well; one instance is an alpha scattering simulation in which trajectory parameters and target properties can be varied easily to investigate the effect on scattering. Good use is made of Excel's graphical powers throughout the package. There is also a wealth of photocopiable student worksheets provided.

The Warwick System will run on Excel version 3 to 8, including Office 97. A single CD-ROM is licensed for use on up to 50 computers. Upgrades are available from older versions of the package. There is clearly a great deal in the Warwick Science Collection. It just needs a helping hand to lead it into the classroom.

There are few educational videos which are so well produced that they can be relied upon to provide a structured learning programme on their own. An impressive set of images with full use of photographic techniques, playbacks and sound would be a minimum expectation of a modern educational video. Newton's Three Laws, from Physics Essentials, just about reaches this minimum standard but it offers little else. Opportunities to add explanatory graphics such as vector arrows on appropriate still shots and some simple numerical relationships have been missed. As a result the whole experience leaves the audience with an unresolved understanding of motion. I would need to use some follow-up activity sheets to make the most of my investment.

Where the video does succeed is in the variety of applications that it chooses to illustrate motion. They include satellites, baseballs, volleyballs, drag cars, tennis balls and fairground rides. There is an accompanying narrative via a male American voice. His pronunciation will raise the occasional smile from a UK listener but it does not detract from the message. However, the whole production is heavily dependent on the dialogue, which is one-dimensional. There are no reflective questions or suggestions for experiments.

Meeting motion for the first time, the listener will need to be guided through the ideas with more than just this video as their learning resource. The main physics ideas presented start with frames of reference and progress to speed, inertia and the first law. The second law is stated but not really followed through to support the learner. The third law is well illustrated but I am never happy when the third law is applied to an equilibrium situation such as a rock on the ground. There is no mention of momentum. Terminal velocity and vertical motion are well illustrated through parachutists in free fall. Circular motion and centripetal force are included as a special case of acceleration. The video ends with a section on projectiles which is marred by a confusing statement about two forces acting on a projected ball: the initial force and the force of gravity. I can see this leading only to reinforced misconceptions.

The closing summary refers to four types of motion: horizontal, vertical, circular and projectile. Perhaps this is the way motion is taught in the USA. It is not a way I would choose to present motion but perhaps I am old-fashioned. In conclusion I find it hard to recommend this to you unless you want a stimulus for class discussion or are prepared to use the video pause button with regularity and write your own support notes.