We have been focusing quite a bit on our Biology and History but I am now starting to get more geared up for Physics because we are planning on writing that in a years time, so there are probably going to be a few more posts on IGCSE Physics resources. To start with I thought I would write about one of GCSE Physics Packs from Oaka Books. If you have read our blog in the past you probably would have read about the Oaka Books topic packs that we used in our KS3 Science, my daughter always loved them so I was naturally interested in their GCSE Physics Packs. We decided to give their Momentum and Collision pack a try.

Format wise the GCSE Science Packs are very similar to the normal Oaka Books Topic Packs with just a few small changes. In the Pack you get your Topic Booklet (which are your notes), a Write Your own Notes booklet, which is a booklet where the kids need to write in key words and phrases and this booklet is slightly different to the other Write Your Own Notes because there are NO key words at the top of the page (in the KS3 Science Topic Packs they include the key words at the top of each page), now the key words are on a separate sheet, the idea being your kids can choose to use this sheet or ignore the sheet and complete the notes on their own (this is a small change but one that we really like). And the other change is instead of a learning game (in the KS3 topic pack there is normally a mini version of board game include) now you get question cards.

The actual format of the pages is the same as in all the Oaka Packs. The pages in the topic booklet and the Write Your Own Notes are identical, except there are some gapes in the Write Your Own Notes.

The pages are summarized into blocks of information. This makes it very easy to read and helps the kids focus on the Key Facts (we love this format).

They also always include some sort of graphic in each of the blocks, which is always a great help for kids who are visual learners.

Content Wise what exactly is included in this pack?

• The difference between speed and velocity (ie scalar vs vector).
• Momentum, mass and velocity and how to calculate both momentum and velocity.
• How momentum and mass affect collisions.
• Elastic and inelastic collisions
• Kinetic energy and collisions and kinetic energy and explosions.
• Conservation of momentum including some great examples (loved that they included these examples).
• Newton’s Third law (action and reaction).
• Calculation unbalanced forces, mass, velocity change, contact time and rate of momentum change.
• Safety features and collisions
• Stopping time and unbalanced force.
• The unbalanced force acting during a collision.

So Our thoughts? We love the format of the topic books, they do a great job in summarizing the information and highlighting the key points. We like the Write Your Own Notes as it tests if the kiddo has understood what she read and the question cards are a bonus.

As always Oaka Books have done a great job.