Some examples from ECLIPSE of what students have said relating to atomic structure:
An atom is the smallest amount of matter you can get
Do the forces from the outer shells push the protons and the neutrons together?
Electrons repel each other, keeping them out of the nucleus
If you take all of the electrons off an atom, then you would stop having matter
The cell nucleus is probably bigger than an atomic nucleus
The electron on the outer shell of an atom of sodium will fall out
The nucleus is like the sun in our universe - the thing everything orbits around
The smallest thing you can ever have is an atom
Smith is like an atom: an example of a student-generated simile from the ASCEND enrichment project.
A nucleus is like the brain: an example of a student-generated analogy from the ASCEND enrichment project.
This is just one of a wide range of science topics that learners have talked about in ECLIPSE projects.
Return to ECLIPSE homepage
List of science topics
Dr Keith S Taber kst24@cam.ac.uk
University of Cambridge Faculty of Education
© Keith S Taber