The Physics Teaching Podcast

Latest Podcasts

  • @MissNeutrino, a Physics NQT

    @MissNeutrino, a Physics NQT

    In an almost covid free podcast, Thomas and Robin meet Alexia, a newly qualified teacher (NQT) in Physics.

    Summary

    Alexia has a Physics degree from Imperial (which made Robin happy) and a PGCE from the London Institute of Education (which made Thomas happy). She has many strings to her bow. In addition to being a physics teacher, Alexia is a LaTeX guru, has a fascinaton with neutrinos and tweets as @MissNeutrino.

    Alexia tells us about her NQT year and how she is faring in her first year as a Teacher.

    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

  • Lockdown Lessons Learned

    Lockdown Lessons Learned

    Thomas and Robin hook up for a quick catch up after the Easter holidays. They talk about what they have heard, what they have learned and what they miss about being in school.

    Summary

    Thomas and Robin have heard some strange tales of what is going on in different schools. Virtual learning walks sounds like unnecessary stress at this strange time and what about detentions for the kids if they don’t turn up on-line?

    They have had some success with Teams and discuss how they are trying to set work for the children that is practical rather than more worksheets. Thomas is missing equipment for teaching and Robin is missing his colleagues.

    On we go in this strange time…

    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

  • Learning about remote learning…

    Learning about remote learning…

    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.

    Links

    https://twitter.com/katierosman/status/1240663251387645952?s=20
    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.

    Robin likes to give his students a break

    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 Physics… Remotely

    Ways to teach Physics… Remotely

    Summary

    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.

    YouTube Channels:

    Web sites:

    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

  • #ChatPhysics

    #ChatPhysics

    Summary

    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.

    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

  • Isaac Physics

    Isaac Physics

    Summary

    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.

    https://twitter.com/physwithmrb/status/1180769488003878913

    Links

    David’s 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 International Year of Sound (Good Vibrations)

    The International Year of Sound (Good Vibrations)

    Summary

    Keeta Jones from the Acoustical Society of America joins us to talk about the International Year of sound.

    Content

    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.

    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

  • Ways To Teach… Momentum

    Ways To Teach… Momentum

    Summary

    Dr Dave Farmer joins the podcast to talk about ways to teach Momentum. Thank you for all your input dear listener!

    giphy.com

    Content

    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.

    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

  • Density Required Practical, Accuracy and Precision (Two Dense Objects)

    Density Required Practical, Accuracy and Precision (Two Dense Objects)
    Photograph: Jane Ni (see below for link)

    Summary

    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.

    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

  • Meeting the AAPT

    Meeting the AAPT

    Thomas and Robin meet Mark Hannum from the AAPT (American Association of Physics Teachers).

    Summary

    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.

    Links

    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) 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.

    The music we use remains One legged equilibrist polka by Circus Homunculus. The music before and after James is Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith.

    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