Science websearch (open access)
Issue 394 | Page 86 | Published Jul 2025
Description
Jon Tarrant shares and reviews various science websites that may be of interest to SSR readers. If you are an enthusiastic user of online resources and would like to contribute to future Science websearch columns, particularly covering biology and/or chemistry topics, then please contact Publications Coordinator, Will Hoole, at willhoole@ase.org.uk.
Understanding Science
There is a danger that promoting a range of resources collated under the banner Understanding Science to a readership of high-quality science teachers may be ill-advised, but this initiative from the University of California’s Museum of Paleontology has much to recommend it.
The website follows previous work on evolutionary biology (https://evolution.berkeley.edu) and is now part of a trio that also includes a website devoted to understanding global changes (https://ugc.berkeley.edu). Both the additional websites are worth exploring in their own right but Understanding Science has more general appeal as it is designed to support teaching and learning across a wider range of science content. The accompanying online course, Understanding Science 101, features materials that identify the benefits of science to society in general, but there is also much that is aimed specifically at classroom use.
For example, there is an entire section of the website devoted exclusively to flowcharts that visualise the scientific method in both simple and sophisticated forms. There is also an interactive journaling tool that 'allows students and educators to document, annotate, and reflect on the non-linear, dynamic process of science in their own investigation, an article, or video': this is available at https://undsci.berkeley.edu/for-educators/find-lessons-and-tools/how-science-works-interactive.
The content is all downloadable and there is an appealing range of supporting activities and videos under the Science Stories tab. These focus on the process of science and the importance of testable hypotheses in contexts ranging from animal psychology to the structure of the atom. Off-beat subjects such as ESP and cold fusion are also included.
Retrieval Practice
Pooja Agarwal is a cognitive scientist and author whose website offers a wealth of free resources to deliver 'powerful teaching'. Her approach is nicely summarised by the question on her homepage: ‘When we think about learning, we typically focus on getting information into students’ heads. What if we focus on getting information out of students’ heads?’
Although none of the resources viewed use sciences for their examples, the intention is clear in all cases and they are easy to adapt. A certain amount of editing may be needed to give a neat format on A4 paper but that is easily done. For maximum effectiveness, it would be helpful to have Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning at hand, but the resources stand on their own. In fact, it was precisely because I found the free resources so useful that I subsequently purchased and read Agarwal’s book.
One minor niggle is the multiple routes to downloads scattered across the website, with some showing only a subset of the available resources. It is therefore best to visit the index at www.retrievalpractice.org/library to locate everything from one page. Documents are stored on Google Drive and the download option is available only for logged-in users – but the chances are that everyone has a Google log-in these days.
Timstar Resource Hub
Improbable though it sounds, there is no record of Timstar’s resources having been reviewed in Science websearch within the last eight years, so a reminder about the equipment supplier’s range of free information sheets is clearly long overdue. Many of the resources are aimed at teachers or technicians and link to products sold by Timstar, but this does not make them any less useful. For example, the explanation of infrared thermometers includes useful information about emissivity, which is often overlooked. Other resources date back to lockdown days and include science-at-home videos (www.timstar.co.uk/resource-hub/science-whizz.html), but many are bare-bones worksheets or information to support classroom activities, such as the comprehensive list of colours seen in common flame tests (www.timstar.co.uk/resource-hub/Your%20guide%20to%20flame%20testing.html). Sadly, the blank microscope diagram for students to label, alongside the tips for maintenance (www.timstar.co.uk/resource-hub/tips-for-maintaining-your-microscope.html), is a broken link.
Science Questions with Surprising Answers
Some of the questions Christopher Baird has answered are typical of those that curious students ask, such as ‘Do poppy seeds contain narcotics?’ ‘Can one bit of light bounce off another bit of light?’ and ‘Can you light a diamond on fire?’ Although the questions use student terminology, Dr Baird’s answers are detailed and often include appropriate references. The response to the light question immediately introduces photons and links to another question that asks ‘As light from a star spreads out and weakens, do gaps form between the photons?’
Despite being a University of Texas physics lecturer, Dr Baird tackles a range of subject areas and offers some really useful and interesting answers in the sections covering health, earth science and society. Some of the posts date back to 2012, and a selection of questions and answers appeared in print in 2024. New posts are added relatively infrequently but the archive remains a great source of inspiration for background information and lesson starters.
ARC Prize
The ARC Prize is a non-profit foundation dedicated to accelerating the development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). It offers a database of patterns presented as worked examples, comprising input and output pairs, accompanied by a fresh puzzle that will be solved by applying the same method. Challenges of this type test skills acquisition rather than simple adherence to pre-programmed rules and are intended to drive ‘a fundamental shift towards systems capable of genuine fluid intelligence, the ability to adapt to novel challenges and solve problems efficiently, much like humans do’.
The last phrase explains why ARC Prize belongs in a round-up of science websites: the same puzzles that can be used to test AGI engines can also be set as challenges to develop students’ problem-solving skills. Be warned, some of the puzzles are really quite tough and are best suited to older and more-able students. In one case, I found the rules I deduced didn’t give the correct answer when applied to the test puzzle, even though I could fully justify my answer. Fortunately, when I posted the troublesome task online (https://physbang.com/2025/04/08/am-i-dumber-than-a-machine), one of my top students came to the rescue and revealed the correct method. Surely this must be one of the best examples of student–teacher collaborative learning, even though it is not the sort of thing we are likely to see in A-level physics papers any time soon.
NESO: Balancing the Grid
NESO is the UK’s National Energy Supply Operator: it was established in response to the 2023 Energy Act as ‘an independent system planner and operator to help accelerate Great Britain’s energy transition’. This sounds rather dry but the interactive game offered on NESO’s website is quite the opposite. Players are tasked with maintaining a balance between energy demand and supply, avoiding both deficits and excesses by activating different resources and selecting options that include import/export and charging or discharging storage systems. Messages at the bottom of the screen provide updates about the current status and impending demand so that the player can avoid severe frequency fluctuations and critical failure of the supply grid. At the end of the game, players are given three scores, covering frequency stability, environmental impact and expenditure. I can imagine this would be a great task to set in an IT lesson or as a homework, with students screen-grabbing and submitting their totals to see who did best in each category and to launch (or reinforce) discussions about energy options.
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