The Physics Teaching Podcast

Tag: careers

  • The Doctor Will Teach You Now

    The Doctor Will Teach You Now

    Friend of the podcast and 40 year old NQT @Jo_Moore_Sci joins us to talk about her winding path to Physics teaching.

    Jo is a career-changer from a medical background who kindly agreed to join us to chat about her experience of teaching physics. Jo is really enjoying teaching the subject despite it being deemed ‘out of specialism’ for her. Jo is an inspirational example for teachers who may be new to physics, and her message: enjoy it! Don’t worry about your mistakes, and take advantage of the support provided by the IOP, Ogden Trust, Physics Partners… oh, and the podcast, of course! There are some links below to helpful sites for non-specialists.

    If you stumble across this podcast and you are considering teaching as a career, we’ve included some useful links below.

    Links

    TalkPhysics – IOP forums with a vast range of discussion topics and helpful specialists on hand to answer questons

    Ogden Trust – Supporting physics teaching in schools via partnerships, resources and promoting teaching and learning

    Physics Partners – partnerships of schools in England aimed at supporting physics teaching

    Get Into Teaching – The government’s site promoting teaching with information about routes into the classroom

    The Brilliant Club – The “Researchers in Schools” programme offers a unique route into teaching for those with a PhD

    Now Teach – aims to help career changes into teaching.

    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

  • NUSTEM – helping you find context for the physics

    NUSTEM – helping you find context for the physics

    With Robin back from holiday we meet a non-specialist hero, setting off to teach Physics and have a long interview with Carol Davenport from NUStem who are working to encourage young people to choose science as their future careers including their website nustem.uk/primarycareers/ that links KS3 topics with real careers.

    Timestamps

    • Intros @ 00:23
    • Charlie the non-specialist’s audio diary @ 1:50
    • nustem and Carol Davenport @ 05:24
      • Post interview chat @ 17:00
    • First lesson redux @ 19:20
      • Thomas made Patrick’s Black Box @ 20:10
      • Chatting about Science never being definite @20:44
    • Robin’s teaching this year @ 22:20
    • Contact the podcast @ 25:36

    Summary

    Patrick Kaplo is unavailable this week but sleep-deprived Robin is back from Canada! Robin is now delighted to be back in the classroom after two years at the IoP. We kick off with bold PE teacher Charlie Gilbank who is setting off on his Physics teaching journey. He listened to Episode 30 – Teaching Forces to 11 Year Olds before planning his first couple of lessons. Watch this space and we will reveal the highs and further highs of Charlie’s year ahead.

    We’re delighted to welcome Dr Carol Davenport from NUSTEM to the podcast this week. Carol is a seasoned physics teacher and academic with an incisive grasp of what makes for good physics teaching. We’re so grateful that she made time to talk to us.

    ” NUSTEM aims to support children, young people, and their key influencers, to help them make informed choices about STEM careers. We do this by helping them to experience the fascination and enjoyment to be found in STEM, and by working to increase their science capital. ”

    https://nustem.uk/about/
    Black box

    NUSTEM does a wide variety of things both in the Primary and Secondary sectors. One of them is something Thomas asked for after hearing from Jessica Rowson in Episode 4 – Why don’t more Girls choose Physics?, namely a web site to match (KS3) Physics topics with careers.

    Finally Thomas reveals he made Patrick Kaplo’s black box and plans to use it in his first lesson.

    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

  • Working Abroad

    Working Abroad

    Thomas shows Robin his package… A montage of chats he’s had with teachers who have worked abroad. The Rev (Episode 21), regular co-host Patrick Kaplo and one of Thomas’ old student teachers all give their thoughts on this adventure.

    Timestamps

    • Introductions @ 00:15
    • Physics in the News @ 01:18
    • Working Abroad @ 03:17
      • How did it happen? @ 05:39
      • What about the kids? 09:08
      • Anecdotes @ 11:48
      • The value of working abroad @ 14:17
    • Post Package Chat @ 17:47
    • Ruben’s Practical in Memoriam @ 24:35

    Summary

    Physics in the news is another atom imaging breakthrough using a combination of a scanning tunnelling microscope and MRI. The main body of the podcast is a “package” of conversations about working abroad. Thomas was interested in this having worked in New Zealand in 2010. The Rev Tim Hardingham worked in Hong Kong, Patrick Kaplo in India and we meet Ruben Calverd who is currently working in Malaysia. Patrick went out to India through the Fulbright Scholarship Program (USA). They do offer projects for other nationalities too.

    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