The Physics Teaching Podcast

Tag: covid

  • Ways To Teach… Under Covid Restrictions

    Ways To Teach… Under Covid Restrictions

    (aka Elysia and her Magic Box of Physics)

    Robin and Thomas meet Elysia (@PhysicsMumma) who helps them talk through the dear listener’s ideas for teaching under the current social distancing guidelines. She then talks them through her box of physics and introduces Frank the Flamingo.

    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 to zero in on the crucial points of practicals, using OneNote to ‘write’ equations for you… we could go on.

    … and of course we are trying to fill the void with our excitement for physics! Lots of us jumping up and down and miming longitudinal waves. Future generations will have a precious clutch oif anecdotes about their “weird physics teacher”.

    So put the earpods in and enjoy a whole stack of ideas for teaching in Covid and starting to build your “physics box”. What’s in yours??

    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

  • 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.

    It’s a strange world at the moment as we eye winter warily and a second wave threatens. It is interesting to reflect that school openings have been one of the rare success stories of the pandemic. As usual, teachers and schools have taken on the impossible mission and delivered. We know it’s a stressful time, but we did want to urge you to take a moment to refelct on how much you have achieved: your students are back in school and learning again.

    This week we discuss the early days of the pandemic and how you might think about using demos instead of class practicals, and that practical work can still go ahead with thought and care. We also are making this up on the hoof, so please do contact us using the form below to share your ideas and successes.

    We will catch you next week, but meantime, stay healthy and be kind to yourself. It will take us time to get used to this new reality and we are not going to work miracles… well not at first anyway…

    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