The definitive GCSE core practical guide…


We are so privileged this week to be joined by Christina Astin (@ChristinaAstin). She wears so many hats she would keep a division of milliners employed, but she kindly talks us through some of her most recent and most important work. She makes a passionate case for school partnerships, not just in physics but across all aspects of school life, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

We start off chatting through some really helpful work that Christina has done assembling a collection of free resources (or at least currently free in some cases) to support teaching the required practcials online. We’ve all been there, searching through YouTube videos for the perfect demo of F=ma… and then it’s in French. Well fret no more! Christina has done the legwork for you – see the links section for more. There’s also a link to your favourite podcast’s foray into resources. If you are aware of some resources that you feel could be included, don’t hesitate – get in touch.

Christina has been involved in Physics Partners for a long time, and is a champion of their work, building links between local teachers to help teach physics. Due to the concentration of physics teachers in private schools, this has often resulted in state-private partnerships, but PP are adamant that this must be a supportive and equal partnership, and stress the professional collaboration and the genuine desire of all teachers to help their colleagues.

Another of Christina’s accomplishments is some very slick videos she did with friend-of-the-podcast Alom Shaha and we have taken the opportunity to links to these videos and more below.

If you are wondering about enrichment during these difficult times, Christin has also let us know about the Young Scientists Journal. What a great opportunity this is for your students to explore and area of science and build their confidence. It reminded Robin of the IRIS project that he had seen during their exhibition at the Royal Society: another way of involving students in the scientific process.

Christina is a dedicated and seasoned campaigner for physics and for school partnership. If you would like to know more, or to get in touch, pop by her website.

Links

Thomas’ shuttling ball video

Join in!

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), you could even email us an autio file if you are feeling really keen.

Music

The music is used under the Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License