True Physics Project
Making Physics more relevant with hands-on shows and online courses.
The True Physics Project was created in 2001 by Declan Holmes and Anthony Caldwell. The objective of the project was to make physics more relavent and to increase the numbers taking physics for the Leaving Certificate (Ireland secondary school state examination).
The initial proposal was to create a website to teach physics in an exciting way. We also decided to create interactive science shows to help make physics come alive for students. We had watched the Royal Institute Christmas Lecture series on TV ever year and thought this is a great way to teach science. Could we create something similar for schools in Ireland. The process took two years to create shows that were both educational and entertaining.
We have been presenting interactive science shows for the last nine years to over 40,000 students in 500 schools around Ireland. In that time, we have developed our main website http://www.physics.ie to become a useful tool for both students and teachers. Physics.ie is now based on a content management system which allows us to update the site easily and to include the latest technology such as video and facebook. We developed a heat section which forms part of Anthony Caldwell’s research into students attitudes to online physics education based in Queens University Belfast.
In 2008 we rebranded the company and it is now trading as Science Ireland, the reason for this rebranding was that we expanded to perform shows in primary schools, where the word physics is not used.
What are the plans for The True Physics Project?
- May 2010 – Sept 2010 : Create an online Junior Certificate Physics course on www.physics.ie
- Sept 2010 – Nov 2010: Development of an interactive show on Nanotechnology called The Nano Show.
- Sept 2010 – Dec 2010 : Create an online Leaving Certificate Physics course on www.physics.ie
- Nov 2010 – Mar 2011 : Review of online courses and redevelopment.
