Physics and the earth sciences for middle schools

Physics and the Earth Sciences for Middle Schools is one of the titles in the series of ASE Lab Books that were published in the early 1970s for the Association for Science Education by John Murray. Each title covered one or two topics and brought together the best of the teaching notes and experimental ideas from members of the association that had appeared in the ASE journal, School Science Review.

The sections of this resource and the topics are as follows.

The earth sciences
* The teaching of astronomy in Middle Schools
* A use for series and parallel circuits in. the teaching of astronomy
* Introduction to the concept of time, with the second as a standard unit
* Polishing and varnishing rock specimens for use in school
* Artificial rain making

Light
* Experiments on the eye
* Daylight smoke chamber
* Adjustable focal length converging mirrors
* Pinhole camera without a dark room

Heat
* Land and sea breezes
* Black objects absorb radiant heat more readily than shiny' bodies
* A model to illustrate the kinetic theory of solids, liquids and gases
* Is heat heavy?
* Polyethylene as a material for showing thermal expansion effects
* Calorimetry of the hand
* A beam engine for use in junior work on air pressure
* A pure heat engine

Mechanics
* Force, weight and mass
* 'Jet propulsion'
* Simple illustration of Newton's third law
* The densities of aniline and water
* 'Blowing up' a girl
* Some elementary demonstrations of pressure phenomena
* Low pressure in a 'mini-chamber'
* Vacuum at the top
* A 'squeeze pump' from plastics bottles
* Experiments on surface tension
* A direct Illustration of Hooke's law
* Aeroplane wings: a simple laboratory demonstration

Electromagnetics
* Some simple experiments in electricity
* Uses for the overhead projector in the teaching of electrostatics
* A simple Leyden jar
* Mr Coulomb
* Resistances in series and parallel
* A simple voltameter for class use
* Electrolysis
* First lessons in magnetism
* Combined magnetizer and demagnetizer for use on alternating current light mains
* The disappearance of magnetism
* Demonstration of a magnetic field pattern in three dimensions
* Three-dimensional magnetic fields
* The magnetic 'gun'
* A model motor

Miscellaneous
* Experiments with balloons
* Activated graphs
* Middle School field work: the physical science of a stream