Are you bored in class?

Look at that: scientific proof for something every teacher knows and struggles with.

"Also important, especially for parents and teachers, is the fact that this study demonstrates that the same response – namely, disinterest or boredom – may result from two different, entirely opposite mechanisms. Children are likely to become disinterested if the learning material is either too simple, because the material is either already known or may be picked up and understood quickly; however, they'll also show that same response of disinterest if the material is overly complex, likely because such material is just too overwhelming."

The study from the University of Rochester (Kidd, Piantadosi, Aslin; 2012) tries to quantify which amount of stimulus is exactly right. As teachers we can only guess after the fact.
They also made a video discussing this so-called Goldilocks Effect.

Via Boing Boing. Quote taken from there.

The Alom Shaha Motor

Why I loved electricity when studying physics at secondary school:

Protons for Breakfast explains how it works. Science teacher/writer/blogger/tweep Alom Shaha must be proud of his little educational invention.