At the start of the pandemic our usual activities were cancelled and we quickly found ourselves plunged into the first lockdown. Whilst HB was not inspired by the glut of programs and online activities aimed at key stage 2 children, we did discover the free online courses from the Open University, OpenLearn.
HB had started a project about atoms and how they are created (inspired by the Lego Particle Physics and My First Quantum Physics books). HB wanted to find out more about how atoms combined and absolutely loved a series of documentaries about material science by Mark Miodownik, the first of which is on metals. These interests combined to inspire HB to try the Level 1 course 'What Is A Metal?'. HB really enjoyed this short course.
Having completed the course on metals, HB wanted to try another. They choose the considerably longer course, 'Discovering Chemistry'. This went into much more detail.
Many of the topics from the course were added to HB's book on atoms.
By the end of the first lockdown HB was half way through the course and had learnt an incredible amount about atoms. HB chose to pause the course at this point and focus on the very important business of playing with friends. They intend to complete the course at some point in the future, but for now it has been a very interesting introduction to high level Chemistry.