The Physics Teaching Podcast

We are delighted to talk to Mark Whalley, IOP Education Manager, former headteacher, and of course, a physics teacher. Robin caught up with him to chat about KEEP Teaching, a project funded by the EEF, run by the IOP, and evaluated by UCL that is looking to find out what will keep early-career physics teachers in the classroom.

The "new normal" has once again shrunk the globe, as Thomas and Robin reach out to Alberta, Canada to talk to the inspirational Laura Pankratz of the Perimeter Institute. Just as well we talked to her when we did because apparently we've discovered a black hole next door...

The "new normal" is just another way of saying "weird" as far as we're concerned. In this episode, we range around the emergency assessment routines that OFQUAL have put into place, reflecting on the humanity and fairness that they have managed to salvage from what is a stressful and potentially difficult end to our GCSE and A-level students' studies. It is interesting to contrast with CPAC, as th...

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.

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 eq...

Patrick, Thomas and Robin try out zoom. Patrick tells us hhis 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 Ro...

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.

Fabio Di Salvo joins us to talk about Chat Physics, Physics chat on Twitter. Robin asks for advice about the photoelectric effect.

Isaac Physics

The International Year of Sound (Good Vibrations)

Ways To Teach... Momentum

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

Meeting the AAPT

Mocks

Waves for 11 Year Olds and GCSE Required Practical

Taking a Trip to CERN

Uses for a Vacuum Cannon and Deconstruction of Energy

Specific Heat Capacity (GCSE Required Practical)

Bikes - An Accessible and Versatile Context

Underrepresentation (the elephant in the room)

Birdsong - Connecting Physics with the Real World

CLEAPSS, The Physics Teacher's Best Friend (and a few Loose Ends)

Force or False (Forces @ Primary School)

Ways to teach... Ionising radiation

CPD at SPEED