Help is at hand

Abstract

Part of an autumn mailing to UK schools from the Institute of Physics Education Department will be a smart glossy booklet for 14 - 15 year-olds entitled ` Smart moves'. This is intended to get appropriate messages and images of physics across to young people, and copies will be supplied for school physics departments and careers areas. Details on how to obtain additional copies will also be included in the mailing. Readers of Physics Education may already be aware of the Flexible Learning Approach to Physics (FLAP) project, designed to help students make the transition from school/college to university and to broaden access to physics courses in higher education. A huge package of high quality supported self-study, student-centred learning materials covering physics and its associated mathematics, from a level just above GCSE to a point within the first year of a degree course in physics or engineering has been developed, and is now available to UK schools and colleges. The materials range from single photocopiable modules (at £5), through specially selected schools physics and maths starter packs (£70 and £50 respectively) to full sets of over 100 items including audio cassettes and videotapes for around £800. Dr Stuart Windsor, FLAP Project Coordinator in the Physics Department at the Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA (tel: 01908 654083 or on the Internet at http://yan.open.ac.uk/flap) is the contact for further information. Support for students and teachers will be the basis for an event to take place at the 1998 Institute of Physics Annual Congress in Brighton next March. It will take the form of a `Physics in action' hands-on exhibition on all three days of the meeting, with activities biased towards Key Stage 3. Mary Wood of the Institute's Education Department is interested in developing resources or activities with teachers and their students for the exhibition, and would be delighted to hear from anyone willing to participate. She can be contacted at the Education Department, The Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London W1N 4AA (tel: 0171 470 4800, fax: 0171 470 4848).