Category: Podcast

  • PhET

    PhET

    Thomas and Robin meet outside, at an appropriate social distance, to remember Tim Hardingham and introduce an interview with the PhET Head of Development Ariel Paul (@DrArielPaul). Surely all physics teachers have heard of this outstanding free source of simulations and demos provided by the University of Colorado Boulder.

  • A-Level RP: Specific Heat Capacity

    A-Level RP: Specific Heat Capacity

    Robin and Thomas are joined by Rajani Nair (@NairPhysics), (who before answering our tweet had not heard of the podcast) and who shares her ideas about teaching Specific Heat Capacity at A-Level. She also has a wonderful memorable practical which involves throwing eggs. We are then joined by James de Winter in a (hopefully) regular…

  • IoP Domains

    IoP Domains

    The Nobel Prize is still the ultimate accolade and viewed with envy by the fields that don’t have a Nobel Prize (in your face, maths!). This week we start by congratulating the three winners of the 2020 physics prize: Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, and Andrea Ghez, before talking to FoTP, Carole Kenrick about Domains and…

  • Ways To Teach… Under Covid Restrictions

    Ways To Teach… Under Covid Restrictions

    Thank you so much for making such a great job of teaching with the Covid restrictions! Given the circumstances, schools have done an extraordinary job, and this episode shows how teachers will always find a silver lining. We get a raft of ideas from folk turning the situation to their advantage; for example using visualisers…

  • From Darkest Peru

    From Darkest Peru

    Way back at the beginning of series one we were thrilled to hear from an international school teacher named Matt who had just landed in Lima. Fast forward two years and we have finally managed to organise a chat with the fabulous Matt Bowman.

  • James de Winter is Electric

    James de Winter is Electric

    Season 3 continues to deliver physics royalty as James de Winter joins us. James is the physics tutor on the Cambridge PGCE course and has seen generations of physics teachers through their training. Having met a fair sample I can say that all of them hold James in the sort of reverence that Luke reserved…

  • First Thoughts on Covid “Secure” Teaching

    First Thoughts on Covid “Secure” Teaching

    Robin and Thomas reflect on a first week back under the new covid guidelines and find time to talk through a simple required practical – timing a trolley rolling down a ramp.

  • Let’s Brock and Roll

    Let’s Brock and Roll

    Thomas and Robin look forward to a new – albeit different – school year with some reflections on “the new normal” and an interview with physics-teaching Royalty.

  • A Couple More Nuggets

    A Couple More Nuggets

    Thomas doesn’t know which week it is; thinking there is one more week of term he drags Robin to his garage to test some vacuum cannon upgrades. Thomas and Robin also look backwards and forwards though the podcast’s second season. A Tight Collar Thomas has been experimenting with the collars that are used to join…

  • Spend spend spend!

    Spend spend spend!

    What will the well-dressed physics lab be wearing this year? Jonathan Shaw secured £53,000 of funding to kit out his physics department and asked Thomas and Robin to throw this over to the physics-teaching hive mind, and you did not disappoint! We had some fantastic suggestions, and some surprises.