The Physics Teaching Podcast

Latest Podcasts

  • Season 3 Finale!

    Season 3 Finale!

    Well, we made it. What. A. Year. Robin and Thomas hook up with Patrick Kaplo to hear about how he has been getting on in the North Eastern USA and, as usual, get somewhat distracted. Thomas nobly tries to steer the whimsical chat towards physics teaching with limited success.

    Patrick had to cancel his extraordinary trebuchet competition because of the pandemic (see video below) and has also been suffering under incredible heat. This leads to him crushing another of Thomas’ stereotypes about the USA and for Thomas to explain how he used his Physics teaching knowledge to save some money by investing in an inverter.

    Thomas thanks David Cotton (@newmanphysics on twitter) for a gift he sent of a vintage textbook of practicals and a tiny triple LED light demonstrator.

    We drift in to chatting about how relevant our Physics specs are to everyday life. Thomas asserts that he only used his knowledge of a vernier scale but Patrick quicly points out all the other ways. Robin is adamant (look away now CLEAPPS) that a basic knowledge of electricity is enough to do DIY electricity*.

    We then talk about the difficult year and Thomas reflects on his failures with Year 7 – making the same mistakes he made in his first years of teaching. We talk about what we are going to take forward from the pandemic and really hope that CPD will be better! No more drawing a “perfect teacher” or “perfect student”…

    Patrick and Robin both have a new start next year and Thomas is expecting a huge uptick in students at A-Level. We talk through the changes we’ll face. If you teach a huge class of A-Level students PLEASE get in touch and come on the podcast to tell us your strategies. Patrick has itchy feet and wants to avoid James de Winter’s “velvet lined rut”.

    Finally some thank yous, Thank you to everyone who has listened, we couldn’t do it without your support and kind words. Thank you to all the guests; so many wonderful people who have freely given their time. Thank you to Robin for being the brains of the operation, bringing some credibility and always doing the show notes (and nearly always on time). This is my least favourite task but I have muddled through ~ Thomas

    +And thank you Thomas for all the heavy lifting ~ Robin

    Patrick Kaplo’s trebuchet competition.

    *in the UK all DIY electrical work should be checked by a qualified electrician ?.

    Join in!

    Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions by messaging us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/physicstp.bsky.social .  You can also message us via our website contact form on every page of the web site at  the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, or email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember). We are moving away from X but can be found there as @physicstp.

    Music

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

  • We ❤️ the Vernier Scale

    We ❤️ the Vernier Scale

    Thomas has received a shiny new Travelling Microscope with a 0.01 mm precision vernier scale. There is only one thing he wants to talk about.

    First Thomas talks briefly avbout his 205 mile (329km) ride for Education Support (the only UK charity dedicated to the mental health and wellbeing of education staff in schools, colleges and universities). He’s raised over £1,300 so far, and the donation page is still open.

    We then thank Tim Browett for getting in touch. Tim is going to be our guest for Ways to teach… Space, so if you have any ideas please share them with us in the usual ways (@physicstp on twitter and a contact form on the web site).

    Then on to the vernier scale, which was invented in 1631 by Pierre Vernier and is a simple way of taking high precision measurements. Thomas describes how he introduces it in class by making a large 1 cm scale vernier that can measure mm. This was the way Thomas taught himself to use it when he was doing A-Level and he thinks nothing beats the experience of working it out with a large scale where you can see things happening in front of you.

    Links

    charlie and Thomas

    Join in!

    Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions by messaging us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/physicstp.bsky.social .  You can also message us via our website contact form on every page of the web site at  the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, or email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember). We are moving away from X but can be found there as @physicstp.

    Music

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

  • (Why) We Love Physics (Teaching)

    100 not out! Thomas and Robin salute the balcony with a good old-fashioned ramble about what excites them about physics teaching, making the subject live if you’re not a specialist and the challenges of teaching science in a ‘post-truth’ world.

    Image
    Thomas — Robin

    We go round ALL the houses, and talk about where our love from physics comes from, but we’ve distilled out the most eclectic links list we have ever produced! Here it is…

    Links

    Join in!

    Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions by messaging us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/physicstp.bsky.social .  You can also message us via our website contact form on every page of the web site at  the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, or email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember). We are moving away from X but can be found there as @physicstp.

    Music

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

  • Bad Movies for Good Lessons

    Bad Movies for Good Lessons

    We talk through bad movies to support good Physics Teaching. the aim is to talk through ones people suggest that are actually usable in lessons. As usual we get excited and make a few mistakes. Thomas is pretty sure that aeroplanes are made of aluminium, not steel and there were a few mentioned (Ant Man, Hulk) that we forgot to cover.

    Links are below.

    Sorry for the brief notes. Like you, we have a billion papers to mark for the TAGs/CAGs.

    Links

    Join in!

    Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions by messaging us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/physicstp.bsky.social .  You can also message us via our website contact form on every page of the web site at  the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, or email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember). We are moving away from X but can be found there as @physicstp.

    Music

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

  • Techognition

    Techognition

    We meet Paul Cook stellar technician, Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics and tireless promoter of professional recognition for technicians. Paul is the senior lead technician at Ark Burlington Danes Academy and lead technician for the Ark Academy network.

    He has worked as a senior/head technician for many years in various schools in Essex and across London covering all three sciences to A-level but with a specialism in physics.

    He is an Association for Science Education (ASE) technician committee member and registrant champion for the Science Council and was The Ogden Trust’s first technician fellow.

    Read more about his honorary fellowship here, or see his LinkedIn profile here.

    Paul’s advice is straightforward in getting the most out of your relationship with your technician colleague

    • talk to your colleague. Discuss how you can help each other. Your technician colleague will often have built up years of experience and your teaching can benefit from their expertise.
    • include your technician colleague in your planning. Involve them in your teaching: can they help you with demos? Can they help students overcome technical difficulties?
    • ensure CPD for technicians. It’s easy to focus CPD sessions on your teaching staff, but Paul stresses the importance of allowing technicians to build their expertise through practical, hands-on training.

    … and with CPD in mind, Technognition’s annual celebration and showcase for school science technicians is happening on June 11th (link below!). For those that don’t know, Techognition is an organisation that Paul is heavily involved with. It celebrates the work of school and FE college technicians and promotes their professional recognition.

    Thanks so much to Paul for dealing with some dodgy data links and persevering anyway.

    Links

    Join in!

    Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions by messaging us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/physicstp.bsky.social .  You can also message us via our website contact form on every page of the web site at  the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, or email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember). We are moving away from X but can be found there as @physicstp.

    Music

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

  • The Joy of Simple Things (Colour and Light)

    The Joy of Simple Things (Colour and Light)

    A short chat about the joy of teaching classic ideas with simple props like light boxes, mirrors and lenses.

    Light boxes

    Now we’d better get back to that CAG marking.

    Links

    Join in!

    Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions by messaging us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/physicstp.bsky.social .  You can also message us via our website contact form on every page of the web site at  the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, or email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember). We are moving away from X but can be found there as @physicstp.

    Music

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

  • TAG, Mass and Weight

    TAG, Mass and Weight

    The teacher assessed grade plan has thrown a curveball at the profession, leaving teachers scratching their head on what exactly is needed as ‘evidence’ to support the grade that they award. Of course, we are particularly worried about those teachers who wouldn’t call themselves physics specialists but are assessing grades anyway. Thomas and Robin discuss a few strategies you might use.

    Once again, the profession is being asked to go above and beyond, and as always, we will rise to the challenge, but make sure you take care of yourselves and remember the maxim: good enough is good enough.

    Mass and Weight are a perennial source of confusion for students, and it would seem national newspapers (see the Guardian article below). Thomas appeals for advice on how to untangle this confusion. Please do get in touch if you have any insights.

    Meanwhile, as we home in on our 100th episode, we are once again asking YOU to get involved. Teachers learn the most from other teachers, so please put your experience out there by getting in touch and guesting on the podcast… it’s either that or you’ll have to listen to more from us two, so that should be incentive enough.

    Links

    Join in!

    Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions by messaging us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/physicstp.bsky.social .  You can also message us via our website contact form on every page of the web site at  the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, or email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember). We are moving away from X but can be found there as @physicstp.

    Music

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

  • Playing with Beats

    Playing with Beats

    Thomas was interested in how the brain makes its own beat, and put together this little two minute sound test. You’ll need headphones to appreciate it properly, but it is interesting to listen to on speakers as well.

    Join in!

    Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions by messaging us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/physicstp.bsky.social .  You can also message us via our website contact form on every page of the web site at  the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, or email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember). We are moving away from X but can be found there as @physicstp.

    Music

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

  • Ways to teach… Sound (ish)

    Ways to teach… Sound (ish)

    The marvellous David Cotton (@Newmanphysics) joins us to enthuse about teaching sound. We sailed down the river of KS3 Sound, but couldn’t help exploring up the sides of the valley to see what we could extract from David’s vast experience of teaching.

    Thank you so much wonderful physics teaching community for all the tips tricks and techniques that you use to make sound live for your students. It is clear that there are dozens of ways to engage them in this topic. You’ll find links to the myriad ideas discussed at the bottom of this page, but don’t forget to listen as well. David’s enthusiasm is more infectious than… than… Oh, if only there was a fitting simile for something infectious in the national consciousness.

    We tried to stick to KS3 but couldn’t resist a little journey into other levels too! Marvin and Milo will help you if you are a primary teacher; a discussion of beats is probably focused more on stretch and challenge at A-level. Who says the podcast doesn’t give you full value for money? Oh yes, free, and worth every penny.

    Have a great Easter break!

    Links

    Making beats with audacity

    1. Install audacity, it is free (and there are versions for Windows, Apple and Linux).
    2. Make tones with the Generate menu:
      1. Generate >> Tone… (Set to 400 Hz and Amplitude to 0.3*)
      2. Deselect the wave you made by clicking underneath it in the grey area
      3. Generate >> Tone… (Set to 401 Hz and Amplitude to 0.3)
    3. You can zoom in to see the waves with the magnifying glass (1)
    4. You can Play the tones individually using the Mute and Solo buttons (2)
    5. You can force them to left and right channels too if you want to try headphones (3)
    6. To mix them to a new track:
      1. CTRL+A to select both the tracks (they will go white)
      2. Tracks >> Mix and render to new track

    *if it is above 0.5 then the combined wave will be higher than the maximum of 1.0 and very very loud.

    Note the visual beat (moiré) in the pictures which is caused (we think) by the resolution of the monitor on which this screen grab was taken.

    Join in!

    Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions by messaging us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/physicstp.bsky.social .  You can also message us via our website contact form on every page of the web site at  the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, or email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember). We are moving away from X but can be found there as @physicstp.

    Music

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

  • GCSE Long Answers and MyMarkingMachine.com

    GCSE Long Answers and MyMarkingMachine.com

    We first met tonight’s podcast guest in a different world. A time of handshakes, going to places like offices and restaurants (places to work and eat in case you’ve forgotten). Back then, he was just setting out on his journey investigating how AI can help with student assessment. We were excited, and so we are delighted to be joined by Mark Robinson (@mark_robo) of mymarkingmachine.com.

    Mark has been developing his AI marking system for two years now, so he has though more deeply than most about, assessment and how students construct a good answer to a written question, so when he heard our discussion with Carole Kenrick a couple of weeks ago, he got in touch to talk us through some of the methods he uses to put Carole’s recommendations into practice. Check out the FIFA method in the links section below. If you want to know more, you can catch up with Mark at the IOP online teaching CPD which we’ve linked to below.

    Mark’s AI marking machine is now online, so check out the links below and sign up to try it – you’ll be impressed! Mark has added something new to the mix: the ability to provide students with instant feedback, on demand, but leaving the teacher free to target their support where it is most needed.

    Oh, and anyone fancy seeing a floating tanker? Some nice physics for our class with a discussion of a “superior mirage” that caused an oil tanker to appear to float above the horizon.

    Links

    Interactives

    Join in!

    Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions by messaging us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/physicstp.bsky.social .  You can also message us via our website contact form on every page of the web site at  the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, or email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember). We are moving away from X but can be found there as @physicstp.

    Music

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