Practical physics and beyond
“This has blown my mind… I didn’t realise physics was this interesting.”
Published: 15 May 2025
With support from The Ogden Trust, Durham Sixth Form Centre has invested in new A-level physics resources which have now been used for master classes and at open evenings to provide visiting students with an insight into the subject. Over the course of two recent open evenings, approximately 500 students from local schools visited the science labs at the sixth form centre where their team of female physics ambassadors were on hand with some captivating demonstrations.
“This has blown my mind… I didn’t realise physics was this interesting.”
“Our students did a fantastic job promoting physics to our local community,” explains Graham Davison, who teaches physics at Durham Sixth Form Centre. “During two evenings of demonstrations they were able to ‘wow’ our visitors, using our new resources including cathode ray oscilloscopes, vibration generators and a state-of-the-art ripple tank, to name just a few.”
“Our ambassadors provided excellent demonstrations of wave theory, magnetism, electricity, mechanics and even quantum physics. They discussed how theory could be applied and verified using practical links, and they served as valuable role models, challenging any misconceptions that have led to an often male dominated subject,” continues Graham.
“The younger students were able to talk to our sixth form physicists to get a flavour of what physics is like at A-level and where it could lead afterwards. All the ambassadors have either conditional offers at university or apprenticeships in STEM, helping to promote physics as a route to a varied range of vital STEM careers.”