[nffc]

Strange kid.

Originally Posted by jrhnewark

"Master the periodic table"..?

What's there to master at GCSE? You learn the halogens, the alkali metals and the transititions. If you do triple award, you learn more about ionic and covalent compounds, etc.

And so you should- but I did Chem for three years at uni and even then, never learnt the periodic table. You learn the trends and get the blasted table in the exams anyway.

Newtons' Laws. How many people actually know what they are? Few, I should think.

Easy.
- An object will be at rest or move with constant velocity unless an external resultant is applied to it
- The force applied to an object is equal to the rate of change of momentum of the object in unit time
ie F = d/dt (mv)
- For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

Step in the wrong direction, as far as I can see. I emmensly enjoyed the DNA and human genome side of Biology at GCSEs and thought it was very worthwhile, so genetic engineering is fine as far as I can see.

Yes that was interesting- more so after GCSE!

Healthy eating isn't a science, it's something monkeys can do. With all this waste of time with 'Citizenship' and 'PSHE', can't 'healthy eating' be covered in that?

If having some form of "applied science" shows kids that science is relevant and fun, then it might just get them interested in the "core" and then increase the interest in physical sciences and remove some of the aura from it. That can only be a good thing but as I said, it should be AS WELL AS not INSTEAD OF the core.

I can only think this is because of the shortage of science students so there's a resultant shortage of those wanting to train for PGCEs etc, leading to teacher shortages and covering with people with less science qualifications making the subject easier to teach thus lowering the standards: the whole cycle then perpetuates.

Teaching? "Healthy eating" lessons sound more like spoonfeeding to me.

Go Nottm and have a look at how fat the general public, on their diet of Maccy Ds and ready meals, are. Then tell me that healthy eating should be common sense again.
__________________

Originally Posted by Chimaera

Quiz nights?

I suppose it's useful if you are going to study chemistry at a higher level though.

Not really. You can use instinct and you always get the table where you need it.