Lessons from Marie Curie
Inspired by and derived from the lessons Marie Curie gave in 1907 and 1908 to her children and the children of her friends, discover 10 lessons for students from elementary to middle school.
These hands-on activities encourage questioning and understanding of some fundamental laws and phenomena of elementary physics through the use of simple and accessible scientific instruments.
For the Year of Physics 2023-2024, the La main à la pâte Foundation and the Maison des Sciences of Chatenay-Malabry have partnered with the CNRS and the Curie and Joliot-Curie Association to offer a kit and an educational box consisting of 10 lessons inspired by those given by Marie Curie.
This project will be tested by over 140 primary and middle school classes during the 2023-2024 school year, and will be available on this page for the 2024 school year.
The 10 lessons consist of a booklet for students, a teaching guide, and scientific insights for the teacher, and are structured around 4 levels of experiments: the original experiment from Marie Curie’s lessons, a second experiment “for better understanding” that approaches the studied phenomenon differently, a challenge where children will apply what they have understood and observed in the first two experiments, and finally a “go further” experiment that explores extensions of the studied phenomena.
As an example, we invite you to discover the first lesson on demonstrating the presence of air:
Lesson 1: How to demonstrate the presence of air? (Elementary level) – In testing phase
Skills developed:
> Engage, with the help of teachers, in parts of an investigative approach: questioning, observation, experimentation, description, reasoning, conclusion.
> Present the results of observations in oral or various written forms (notes, lists, drawings, or even tables).
Exploring the world (matter):
Conduct simple experiments involving air.