Teach Secondary 13.7

FEEL THE FORCE Kit Betts-Masters shares the details of how he got into physics teaching, and explains why others should consider doing the same... A lright, I admit it. p hysics is weird . Which, by extension, surely makes us physics teachers a special bunch. A very different subject from ‘the other two’, looked at in a different way it’s not weird at all. In fact, it’s the most beautiful, elegant subject there is, with pure and calculable outcomes to challenging problems. It’s amazing and I love it. Content and application As the sole physics teacher in most of the schools I’ve worked at, it’s been a lonely role. And a high pressure one, too. But at the same time, I’ve valued being placed in a position of trust and the considerable amount of autonomy I’ve been granted throughout my career. For that reason alone, I wouldn’t have done anything differently. I started teaching physics out of necessity. At my first school, they had no one. Having previously earned 120 engineering credits in my architecture degree, I decided to put my hand up and said, “ I’ll give it a go. ” Later, after I heard the school’s head of science say, “ We’re really glad you’re here, ” and one of the students say, “ Thanks for teaching us, Sir, ” I became hooked. That student’s an architect now. If your school needs a physics teacher, you should think about giving it a go. The best way to get started is to complete a subject knowledge enhancement course, such as those offered by the Institute of Physics (IoP), which can take you through all you need to know to become a GCSE or A Level physics teacher. It is challenging, though. You need to be honest with yourself, because physics is hard . Preparing for lessons requires you to master both the course content and its application. In day-to-day teaching you’re constantly put into situations where you need to think hard about how to explain the concepts and how to reach the solutions. But as I say to my students, those things which are hard to understand are often the most interesting... Practical problems Luckily, the resources out there to help you are incredibly rich. I’d strongly suggest following a high quality scheme of work and reading it closely, as there’s great value to be had in their explanations of how to convey ideas. In time, you’ll develop the wisdomneeded to discern where students are getting hung up, and where misconceptions might be coming from. Again, the IoP is a wealth of knowledge in this area. You can also count on there being an amazing online community sharing plenty of advice and resources, plus lots of help available from experts who’ll be willing to answer any questions without patronising you. It might not surprise you to learn that science teachers’ jokes aren’t especially strong. One favourite of mine is “ If it moves, it’s biology; if it stinks, it’s chemistry; and if it doesn’t work, it’s physics. ” Because yes, there have been numerous situations in my career when I’ve struggled to get experiments doing what they’re supposed to do. I’ll happily admit that on a few occasions, I’ve not succeeded at all. And yet, more often than not, with a bit of research, some hard work and determination – as well as close collaboration with our science technicians – we’ve managed get things going and produce results that are in line with the physical laws we’re trying to demonstrate to our students. And if, for all your efforts, that particular practical is simply a non-starter, you can always turn to some excellent computer simulations. You’ll be surprised at howmuch students can enjoy the process of acquiring large data sets and analysing them with the aid of computer spreadsheets. Treated like amagician With all that said about how challenging it is to be a physics teacher, be aware that the most important thing to get right isn’t that hard at all – namely, getting young people enthusiastic about physics . I can still remember interviewing for my first role as head of physics. The other candidates had been complaining that the interview lesson concerned the ‘dry’ topic of thermal physics. Inmy lesson, I included an explanation of how fridges and steam engines work. I might have thrown a breakdown of rocket propulsion in there too. And I knewmy lesson was going to be fascinating, and that I would get the job. Because there are so many ways of making students fall “Successive cohorts are consistentlyamazedatwhat we’reable todo in the lab” 66 teachwire.net/secondary