Blog
Revision, Revision, Revision
This time of year, “will you help my child revise?” is the question that I am asked most often. My usual answer is that I will try. For children in years 10 and 12, the obvious response is that they...
Can Brain Cells Regenerate?
Neuroscience is always a popular area of study for A level students. For many years we have thought that the cells of the brain and the nervous system, the neurones, were incapable of replication...
Why I don’t want PPE to be compulsory
I spent almost thirty years of my professional life wearing PPE. Let me explain why it shouldn’t be randomly worn by the general public. Sally Scientist is fresh out of university with the ink still...
Supporting remote tuition – advice for parents
With the Covid pandemic in the UK hopefully past the peak, but with no clear return date for secondary schools, it’s time to reflect back over six weeks or so of remote tuition. Unlike some small...
Is it acceptable to drink alcohol in outpatients?
Twelve years ago, I made a career move from being a biomedical scientist with teaching and training responsibilities to being a teacher. I’ve been sifting through paperwork from my biomedical...
The Chemistry of Death
In the UK, there are several different examination boards. While the core syllabus for A level biology is much the same, each board is slightly different in the style and content of what could be...
Remote Tuition
Just in case anyone has missed the news, we are experiencing a viral pandemic. As an immunologist, I have more than a passing interest in the scientific developments. As a human being, I’m...
An Inspirational Woman – 2020
A few weeks ago, I had to give a short presentation to a group of business women. We were all asked to suggest to the group a woman that we considered inspirational, and that we admired. I chose a...
Scientific Collaborations
The 2019 Nobel Prize for Medicine has been shared between three scientists trying to answer this very question – and is an excellent example for collaborative working. Peter Radcliffe and Gregg...
Every Van Must Run Smoothly
One of the great things about being a private tutor is that I get to see very mixed ability children from a range of schools. These children all bring with them different experience together with...
Balancing equations – a nightmare for many but a chemistry necessity
When I was at school, (ok, I know that it was a long time ago), in one of our very first chemistry lessons in the equivalent of year 7, we were taught to balance equations. In subsequent lessons,...
Tutors who travel – an advantage or a disadvantage?
I’ve been tutoring for twelve years. When I first started up, I had a couple of my own students but I mostly worked through an agency. The benefits the agency sold were that if you asked for a...