Author: St John's College Access

The Access and Outreach team at St John's College, Oxford.

Population genetics

Darwin’s Origin of Species still provides the best single account of evolution, but modern discoveries allow us to fill in some details and make some additions. Learn about some of these here!

Quiz: Why does evolution matter?

So you think you know some things about evolution… Now’s your chance to test yourself – take this short quiz to see how much you know!

How has music evolved?

While some principles of evolution, like natural selection, do not work quite the same in music as in biological evolution, this is still a useful metaphor for examining changes in the history of music itself, as well as changes in the role of music in society.

Language Evolution

Evolution occurs in culture as well as in the natural world. One example of this is language evolution.

Is your computer more intelligent than you?

We have so far been looking at evolution from the perspective of Biology and Geology, but the principles of evolution can help us understand other kinds of change as well. For example, evolution can tell us a lot about how computers and artificial intelligence are developing now, and where they may be going in the future.

Fossils

Fossils record the history of life on Earth in rocks. But how can we learn about evolution, origination of new species and mass extinctions from fossils?

Evolution: Making sense of life

“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” This was famously said by Theodore Dhobzhansky, one of the most eminent biologists of the 20th century, and practically every biologist in the world agrees with him. But what does such a sweeping claim mean?

Inspire Year 10 and 11 Launch

St John’s College, as part of Oxford for South East, is excited to announce the Year 10 and 11 Inspire Programme for 2020-21!

Year 10 Class 1: Competition results

We’re delighted to announce the winners of this year’s first Pre-GCSE Inspire competitions! Click here to explore the fantastic entries we received…

Access and Admissions – summer update

Despite the suspension of all face-to-face access and admissions activity at St John’s in March 2020, the Access and Admissions team has continued to work hard throughout the lockdown, providing information, advice and dedicated digital resources to students and teachers across the UK.

Inspire Virtual Summer Schools in review

Following last week’s Virtual Summer Schools on the Inspire Programme, we are excited to announce the winners of last week’s Year 9 and Year 12 competitions!

Biodiversity and Conservation for Year 9, Day 1

There is a huge variety of wildlife found locally, in our gardens and local green spaces. It is important to monitor this diversity, to see whether it changes seasonally, or over time as our green spaces in Britain become more urbanised.

Post-GCSE Study Skills

Welcome to the St John’s Post-GCSE Study Skills Session. In this session you will learn to develop your skills and study with maximum effectiveness.

UK Parliament for Year 11: Day 2

Today, you’ll be able to put your learning to the test with some interactive online games put together by the UK Parliament outreach team!

UK Parliament for Year 9: Day 2

Today, you’ll be able to put your learning to the test with some interactive online games put together by the UK Parliament outreach team!

Medieval journeys

What drove people in Medieval times to journey from their homes? During this lecture you will see examples of the travel people undertook for a variety of reasons.

Pitt Rivers Museum

Welcome to the Pitt Rivers Museum! Take a virtual tour of the museum and practice your observation skills with the Museum’s collection of masks.

Disease modelling

During this lecture, you will see how two different areas of maths can be used to model the spread of diseases through a population.

Biodiversity and Conservation for Year 11, Day 1

There is a huge variety of wildlife found locally, in our gardens and local green spaces. It is important to monitor this diversity, to see whether it changes seasonally, or over time as our green spaces in Britain become more urbanised.

Natural Disasters

Define a natural disaster and describe one way in which natural disasters have impacted on human civilisation, using an example.