Image: Jon Candy @Flickr The story The flame that will burn during the London Olympic Games was lit at Olympia, the birthplace of the Ancient Olympics, last Thursday. The torch is lit using the same method as it was at the ancient Olympic Games, a parabolic mirror.

A simple starter I often used when introducing the topic of light with year 8 was to give them a problem to solve:

With Halloween falling at the end of half-term week this year a spooky science lesson is a great way of celebrating the end of (half) term or the beginning of a new one. Teaching idea I have found lots of great ideas from the web but my favourite collection is from Arbour Scientific (weblink below) […]

The video above shows the amazing gravity-defying optical illusion that won the 2010 Best Illusion of the Year Contest earlier this week. Using optical illusions in science lessons never fails to amaze students.  This particular one could be used as an engaging starter to any lesson on forces.