Patrick, Thomas and Robin try out zoom to hear how Patrick has been getting on, and then talk through plans for the week. Emma Brown gives us her tips from Shanghai.
Israeli (not Spanish!) mum lets rip about the work set.
Summary
Patrick, Thomas and Robin try out zoom. Patrick tells us his successes and failures and gives Thomas the top tip of zoom breakout rooms. Thomas is clueless about what to do with Year 7 and asks for advice. Thomas then chats with Emma Brown in Shanghai who has to teach classes of 70+ online. She has some good advice about using video and ways of checking the kids are engaged. Finally Thomas and Robin report back about how they got on and Thomas gives an update on his collaboration with Helen Reynolds making a resource site for Physics teachers.
Thomas and Robin summarise the advice they have been given about teaching remotely.
Content
So much has happened in such a short time, Thomas and Robin decide to talk to some experts about how to support their students remotely. YouTube is a great resource, but also Physics teachers all over the World are cooperating and sharing. The podcast scrapes the surface of this but we get some good advice along the way.
Fabio Di Salvo joins us to talk about Chat Physics, Physics chat on Twitter. Robin asks for advice about the photoelectric effect.
Content
Covid-19 dominates the news and the podcast is no exception. We got in to and then had cancelled the NSTA talk in the same week. Thomas cheered himself up by redoing the web site with a new archive and a new World map of all the listener locations. Before we talk to Fabio, Robin also
Fabio started Chat Physics for the same reasons as we started the Physics Teaching podcast. A lone physics teacher, he wanted to share ideas with other Physics Teachers. Chat Physics was born, four questions asked and teachers all over the World answering.
Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions – on our Facebook Page: https://fb.me/physicstp . You can also message us via our website contact form at the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, Twitter @physicstp, email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember) or by leaving a voice memo using WhatsApp or Telegram to the phone number in our Twitter profile, +44 7898 814716 (don’t call the number, nobody will answer, just hold down the microphone icon and speak your message or upload an mp3 or ogg). Don’t forget to tell us your name because we may use your audio in a future episode.
David Buckley joins us to talk about Isaac Physics, the free web-based question bank.
Content
David (@physwithmrb), who started as a Biology teacher, is now head of Physics and uses Isaac weekly to support and challenge his students. Isaac is a rich resource of challenging questions for students and teachers alike.
From speaking to many teachers at #Speed2019 it appears many teachers are unaware of a FREE resource on Isaac Physics. The link below is your HW for every GCSE Physics topic, self marked and differentiated! Its also on Isaac's home page! https://t.co/S3VjaGfN5x#TeachPhysics
Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions – on our Facebook Page: https://fb.me/physicstp . You can also message us via our website contact form at the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, Twitter @physicstp, email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember) or by leaving a voice memo using WhatsApp or Telegram to the phone number in our Twitter profile, +44 7898 814716 (don’t call the number, nobody will answer, just hold down the microphone icon and speak your message or upload an mp3 or ogg). Don’t forget to tell us your name because we may use your audio in a future episode.
Keeta tells us about the way that the ASA are supporting the Year of Sound with a resource pack for teachers and a competition for kids. She also describes the myriad of places that acousticians are found in the workplace.
Thomas and Robin follow up by discussing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and a recent experiment to explore the sound of the windpipe in an ancient mummy.
Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions – on our Facebook Page: https://fb.me/physicstp . You can also message us via our website contact form at the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, Twitter @physicstp, email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember) or by leaving a voice memo using WhatsApp or Telegram to the phone number in our Twitter profile, +44 7898 814716 (don’t call the number, nobody will answer, just hold down the microphone icon and speak your message or upload an mp3 or ogg). Don’t forget to tell us your name because we may use your audio in a future episode.
Dr Dave introduces momentum by putting his body on the line (see below). The main themes are increasing collision time to reduce force, momentum as the quantity of motion, colliding students together and doing experiments.
Love it when the TAs help out with demonstrations (Yr 10 momentum). I've still got a headache. pic.twitter.com/tkKsSxAPqF
Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions – on our Facebook Page: https://fb.me/physicstp . You can also message us via our website contact form at the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, Twitter @physicstp, email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember) or by leaving a voice memo using WhatsApp or Telegram to the phone number in our Twitter profile, +44 7898 814716 (don’t call the number, nobody will answer, just hold down the microphone icon and speak your message or upload an mp3 or ogg). Don’t forget to tell us your name because we may use your audio in a future episode.
Thomas and Robin chat about another required practical in UK GCSEs, measuring the density of regular and irregular objects. They run down the rabbit hole of accuracy vs precision before chatting about crazy ways of measuring everyday values.
Photograph: NSO/AURA/NSF
Physics in the news this week is the recent close up photograph of the surface of the Sun, or “golden nuggets” as Thomas called it. Each pixel is 30km, meaning that if this were the whole sun the photo would be metres across.
The next topic is the everyday required practical in the UK of measuring density. What are the pitfalls? Who doesn’t love a Eureka can? It turns out that Robin is not a fan, and Thomas finds them a tricky proposition too.
A quick foray in to Accuracy vs Precision where Thomas reminisces about WWI (he’s not that old) and tells a story from his past to illustrate the difference.
The final part of the podcast has Thomas telling Robin about how he measured the diameter of ball bearings by dropping them in glycerol as an analogue for the Millikan experiment.
Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions – on our Facebook Page: https://fb.me/physicstp . You can also message us via our website contact form at the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, Twitter @physicstp, email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember) or by leaving a voice memo using WhatsApp or Telegram to the phone number in our Twitter profile, +44 7898 814716 (don’t call the number, nobody will answer, just hold down the microphone icon and speak your message or upload an mp3 or ogg). Don’t forget to tell us your name because we may use your audio in a future episode.
Robin is fascinated to meet Mark Hannum from AAPT. AAPT support teachers in the USA, much the same role that Robin played when he was leading Teacher Support for the IoP. Mark tells us how the AAPT works and also shares his favourite pracitcal – projectiles.
Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions – on our Facebook Page: https://fb.me/physicstp . You can also message us via our website contact form at the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, Twitter @physicstp, email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember) or by leaving a voice memo using WhatsApp or Telegram to the phone number in our Twitter profile, +44 7898 814716 (don’t call the number, nobody will answer, just hold down the microphone icon and speak your message or upload an mp3 or ogg). Don’t forget to tell us your name because we may use your audio in a future episode.
Thomas and Robin chat about mocks and how they use them. The podcast ends on a sad note as Thomas talks about a recent family bereavement and asks for donations to Brain research.
For reasons that are explained late in the podcast, Thomas has been feeling very low, and travels to Robin’s house (aka Studio 13) for a chat about Mocks. When and what do we set for the exams and how do we use them?
Robin hurts Thomas’ brain with some entanglement Physics in the News. Thomas then explains his choice of papers for A-Level mocks (the previous Year’s AS paper) and the two teachers discuss using practical work in revision.
Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions – on our Facebook Page: https://fb.me/physicstp . You can also message us via our website contact form at the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, Twitter @physicstp, email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember) or by leaving a voice memo using WhatsApp or Telegram to the phone number in our Twitter profile, +44 7898 814716 (don’t call the number, nobody will answer, just hold down the microphone icon and speak your message or upload an mp3 or ogg). Don’t forget to tell us your name because we may use your audio in a future episode.
Robin and Thomas busk through teaching Sound and Waves to 11-year-olds and the Ripple Tank GCSE Required Practical.
Summary
“Physics in the News” this week looked at a story that casts doubt on the idea of dark energy. It’s a good illustration of how the scientific method and peer review is used to challenge ideas and present evidence.
Thomas and Robin chat about teaching KS3 waves and how we would introduce concepts. Robin likes Thomas’s approach of using sound vibrations to introduce wave concepts. Both love slinky springs and oscilloscopes – and don’t forget there’s a whole podcast on “Ways to Teach… waves” here. See the Summary for links to the Virtual Oscilloscope and Virtual Ripple Tank.
The core practical we discuss is measuring wave speed using a ripple tank and Thomas and Robin give the following recommendations…
get to know your ripple tank. Time spent getting to know your individual tank’s idiosyncrasies will not be wasted. Pick your technician’s brains!
Go slow. Try and get the ripples as slow as you can.
Look to the heavens. Try and illuminate the tank from underneath to project the ripples on the ceiling if possible.
Use the simulation ripple tank / wave simulation (see summary) to give students the chance to develop some familiarity (albeit simulated) with waves and ripples.
Good luck rippling!
We’re also doing a “Ways to Teach… Momentum” and a “Ways to Teach… Physics GCSE Revision” episode soon so send all the tips you can think of to us using the contact form below.
Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions – on our Facebook Page: https://fb.me/physicstp . You can also message us via our website contact form at the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, Twitter @physicstp, email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember) or by leaving a voice memo using WhatsApp or Telegram to the phone number in our Twitter profile, +44 7898 814716 (don’t call the number, nobody will answer, just hold down the microphone icon and speak your message or upload an mp3 or ogg). Don’t forget to tell us your name because we may use your audio in a future episode.
