School teacher resources | ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies

FLEET outreach impact

Over the years, FLEET has conducted a variety of outreach events with schools and the general public. Most of the events were evaluated using recognized pre- and post-evaluation methods to understand the impact of the event relative to our strategic goals. The methods are outlined in the reports below. This page contains the reports for all evaluated events from 2021 ...

Forces and energy: Quantum energy

Checking out Einstein and going quantum Quantum and classical physics both have the concept of energy in common. The conservation of energy still applies in quantum physics the same way it does in classical physics. The difference is in the math used to calculate energy and work. In quantum physics it is all about probability – the energy something has ...

Forces and energy: Electricity and sustainable energy

Electrical energy Electrical energy also has many forms. For example, lightning, is a form of static electricity. You witness static electricity also when you rub a balloon against your hair. One of the most useful forms of electrical energy for humans is when it is generated from a current, which occurs when electrons flow through a circuit. It is the ...

Forces and energy: Kinetic, potential, conservation and transformation

Forms of energy The two broad forms of energy are potential and kinetic and each have different types, which we outline in more detail below. Others energy forms include sound and thermal energy. We will focus on potential and kinetic here. Light could also be considered a form of energy, but it gets interesting because is has both particle and ...

Forces and Energy: Energy and Work

What do we mean by energy? Energy is the capacity of a physical system to do work or cause a change. We will examine what this means in detail below, but to help establish students’ baseline understanding of energy get students to do Activity 1. What is energy? Why is understanding energy important? When we design and build stuff important ...

Ask the Physicists: Inspiring girls in engineering

I got a call from a mother with a daughter in year 10 that is keen on engineering and who wanted some help to find programs/initiatives to help her daughter learn and understand more about engineering and how to become one. Among ideas of seeking work experience with FLEET or getting their school to organize a lab and educational tour ...

Why were flights cancelled in Phoenix Arizona?

Answer: Remember that warmer air has a lower density and therefore lower pressure than cooler air. Remember also what happened to the ball above the hair dryer when you turned the heat on. If the ball was a plane, it would not end well for the plane. When the air is hot as it was in Phoenix, Arizona the air ...

Electricity and magnetism: electromagnetism

Electromagnetism is all about how charges affect each other and how the interaction of electrical and magnetic fields induce the flow of charge. It is still the movement of charge, but in this context, it is the movement of a charge through a circuit. As electrons move through a circuit they induce a magnetic field. Conversely, a moving magnetic field ...

FLEET Schools: Light: reflection, refraction, diffraction

Introduction We observe light all around us in the form of sunlight, from torches or fire, but what actually is light? Light is not actually matter – it has no mass – so in effect it can’t be seen. We can’t hold it or smell it. We can only learn about it by how it interacts with or affects things ...

FLEET Schools

FLEET Schools is a resource for primary and secondary teachers and students to engage with physics and chemistry, and to learn and think about the research problems FLEET is working on. That problem is our ever increasing energy requirements coming from our for rapidly increasing computation demand. Think Internet of Things, AI, driverless cars, smart phones and gaming. To solve ...

FLEET schools: Conductors, insulators and electricity

Introduction From the dawn of time we have witnessed electricity as a primal force of nature in the form of lightning. The ancient Greeks would rub amber with a cloth and get small electric shocks – the same static electricity we experience when we rub our feet along the carpet and then touch something conductive, for example a metal bench ...

FLEET schools: FLEET research and the need for the next generation of electronics

From FLEET schools: Conductors, insulators and electricity FLEET Schools: Light: reflection, refraction, diffraction Digital technologies (anything with a computer chip) consume about 10% of global electricity and this proportion is increasing each year as we demand more and smarter, more powerful computing systems to be integrated into our daily lives. Taking a single photo on your phone requires about 1 ...

How to find a rainbow

Why are there so many songs about rainbows? And how to locate one with a bit of simple physics, maths and home-craft Maunder and Hunt’s Very Fabulous Rainbow Position Locator* There’s something quite fascinating about rainbows, which is why they feature in so many wonderful legends and myths, from the Bifrost bridge of Norse legend, to God’s reassuring post-Flood sign, …

Water Bender

You can be a water bender. All you need is a balloon (and a good head of hair). Download pdf of Water Bender activity Learning Intentions Students get to think, observe and learn about the difference between insulators and conductors and how charged particles (electrons and protons) function to generate static electricity. Materials A dry latex balloon (if you don’t …

Electrified Steel Wool

This is a simple experiment that creates a circuit with steel wool and shows the fiery potential of resistance. The steel wool does actually catch fire so make sure you do it safely. Download activity as a pdf Learning intentions Students get to generate inquiry questions about electrical circuits. The activity will help students recognize the need for a complete …

Under pressure: Heat, airplanes and Bernouli

What does heat and a dude called Bernouli have to do with deciding when it is too dangerous to fly a plane? Be prepared to do some quiz questions. The experiments in this activity relate to what enables a plane to get off the ground and what can make it come crashing down again. And about 150 years before the …

Catapult

Make a simple catapult that can fire small items across rooms. Students can invent games to play and experiment with their catapults and test their understanding of potential and kinetic energy. Learning Intentions Students will use the scientific process identify and understand potential and kinetic energy, their use to do work and how energy can be transferred from one form …

Appearing Coin

Use the science of refraction to make a coin suddenly appear. Download the pdf of complete activity that includes worksheet tables. Learning Intentions The activity investigates refraction and its applications in the real world. By the end of this activity, students should be able to: draw a diagram to show how the light coming from the coin changes direction (refracts) …

Electric Motors: Spinning Wire

The spinning wire experiment is actually an experiment that creates a simple motor, known as a homopolar motor, with the use of just three things. Download pdf of activity, that include samples table to record student observations Learning intentions Students will replicate Faraday’s simple electric motor to build on their understanding of the relationship between magnetism and electricity. Aim To …

Moving Arrows

Watch arrows magically flip direction thanks to refraction of light. Download the pdf of this activity. Learning outcomes Students will recognise the refraction of light at the surfaces of different transparent materials, such as when light travels from air to water or air to glass and be able to apply this understanding to vision and humans’ development of lenses. Materials …

Balloon Rocket

Make a rocket with just a balloon, string, straws and sticky tape. See how far and how high you can go. Learning intentions Students examine and apply Newton’s law of motion (action and reaction). For older and more advanced students they will learn about Newton’s 2nd law and the relationship between force, mass and acceleration: F=m/a. See experiment 2. Download ...

Skittles Rainbow

A little bit of colourful chemistry, a bit of art and a lesson in density and concentration gradients. Yeh, you will need a lot of skittles, but it is all for science. Download the full worksheet including worksheet tables and images. Learning Intentions Students will examine and be able to describe/understand the following: What happens when materials are mixed The ...