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How To Finish The School Year Strong
We're all beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel now. Often, students think they're the only ones looking towards it, but they don't realize that nobody is gazing at that light more intently than the teachers. Some...
Need a Summer Assignment for Physics??
Let me start by saying that as a student, I absolutely despised summer assignments. Teachers would assign multiple books to read and hand out worksheet packets as thick as a book. Then, two days before summer ended, I'd be frantically calling my friends and...
Tips and Tricks to Teach Conservation of Energy
Teaching the Energy and Work unit offers a refreshing break from the usual routine. Success in this particular unit doesn’t demand extensive prior knowledge of Dynamics or Kinematics. Moreover, both Energy and Work being scalar quantities means less emphasis on...
Should You Oversimplify As A Teacher
As a kid in public school, not surprisingly, science was a class I enjoyed more than most. However, I hated how it seemed that almost every year, I felt like I was being lied to. It was very common to hear, “Remember when your teacher told you that a force is a...
Fun Videos to Watch on the Unit Energy and Work
As a former student, I found school challenging mainly because everything seemed disconnected from the real world. In my physics classroom, I make an effort to bridge that gap by illustrating how each chapter relates to practical applications. In our current unit...
New Year New Physics Class
In my first year of teaching, I implemented a rule in my school district: if students finished their physics lab early, they could leave and go to lunch. A few months later, my supervisor disagreed with this approach, and I had to break the news to my students....
How Teachers Prepare for the Holidays
It was Christmas Eve of 2019, and although the holiday break was going great, my mind kept circling back to work—specifically, the looming task of using the copy machine on January 2nd. Past experiences taught me that many teachers would be scrambling to make...
Fun Demos for Uniform Circular Motion
“Why is there water on the floor?” A student asks as he walks into class. I reply, “the last class did not know how to harness the powers of physics.” This scenario unfolded after we conducted a demonstration where we swung a cup of water in a vertical circle, as...
Should You Give Homework?
It’s my first year of college physics, and I’m performing about as well as the average student in the class, which means I’m not doing very well—I’m failing. This class is undeniably challenging, and I’m struggling to figure out how to improve my situation. After...
Should You Be Honest With Your Students?
On the very first day of my teaching career, I shared with my students that “it is an honor to be your teacher,” and I revealed that it had been my dream since I was 14 years old to become an educator. This is how I commence every school year. But in my inaugural...
