The Physics Teaching Podcast
The Physics Teaching Podcast is a show for physics educators, particularly those teaching outside their specialism. Hosted by Thomas W-P, Robin Griffiths, and Rosie McTavish, it shares practical advice and teaching strategies from experienced physics teachers. The podcast emphasizes the importance of hands-on practical work to build understanding and make lessons more engaging. It is aimed at teachers in the UK who want to improve their physics teaching.
Episodes
The Last Podcast
The Last Podcast
Particle Theory of Matter
In the penultimate podcast, Rosie and Thomas have a jolly catch-up about supporting physics students with extra-curricular projects and ways to teach the Particle Theory of matter; all with a big dose of space stories along the way.
Revising Physics with Key Stage 3 (ages 10-14)
Join Thomas, Robin, and Rosie as they share their arsenal of revision techniques for key stage three.
Modelling Electricity with Ben Rogers
Join Robin, Rosie and friend-of-the-Podcast, and hugely successful author, Ben Rogers for a delectable selection of ways to teach electricity spanning from primary school year 4 all the way through to some fun ideas for year 12 A-level classes.
Effective StoryTelling in Physics
Rosie and Robin finally get a chance to catch up, whilst Thomas jets off on holiday, but not before catching up with Richard Brock to discuss the art of storytelling in the classroom
The Magic of Physics
The Magic of Physics
New Year's Resolutions
We chat with Callum Farnsworth about his exciting project as an Ogden Senior Teaching Fellow developing resources for use alongside much loved by physics teacher's PHET tools. Callum's website is called 'PHET Effect'.
It's January and hence what better time to also talk about some teaching New Year Resolutions too! Thomas and Callum come up with some super ideas to help students on how to tackle
Ogden Fellows and Seasonal Practicals
Ogden Fellows and Seasonal Practicals
Easy and Fun Physics for Science Week
Easy and Fun Physics for Science Week
A-Level Particles with Dr Ben Still
We catch up with teacher and author Dr Ben Still to get tips on how to address Particles at A-Level.
Inspiration with Sir Peter Ogden
Inspiration with Sir Peter Ogden
Primary Physics with Ben Rogers - Space
Primary Physics with Ben Rogers - Space
Ramps and Trolleys
Ramps and Trolleys
The Ogden Trust - Teaser Episode
Thomas tells Rosie about some exciting new episodes coming in September.
Breakthrough Technologies III: Graphics Tablets
Dr David Boyce returns to share his solution to a dilemma: how do you bring your classroom up to date digitally, but avoid all your students disappearing down the internet rabbit hole.
Breakthrough Technologies in Physics Teaching: Exploring AI with Dr. David Boyce
Breakthrough Technologies in Physics Teaching: Exploring AI with Dr. David Boyce
3D Printing
Polymath Dr David Boyce joins Thomas and Robin to discuss the first of three potentially transformative developments in physics education... can 3d printing help you teach physics?
CanSat
Thomas talks to Rosie McTavish about CanSat: a competition that puts the 'super' in super-curricular. What a way to get students engaged.
Ways to Teach... Atomic Physics
We talk with Jackie Flaherty about how the Ogden SKPT programme approaches Atomic Physics.
Introduction to The Ogden Trust
If you are one of the heroes who wouldn't call themself a physics teacher... but teach physics anyway, meet the Ogden Trust: their SKPT programme is designed to give you the professional recognition for your physics teaching!
GCSE Astronomy (via Teams)
GCSE Astronomy can be a great way to get enthusiasts hooked and can be more accessible than you think. William H joins us to make the case for a partnership approach to astronomy.
Don't be scared of Ionising Radiation
When it comes to emotive topics in physics teaching, radioactivity is up there. We have experienced colleagues who would refuse to work with school radioactive sources, even though there you generally encounter more risk while boiling a kettle. But you need to register, store and handle them properly or you could land your school with a fine.
That Einstein Fellow
The US government wants to hear about physics teaching. So much so that they fund a Fellowship that takes a teacher to Washington DC so that they can inform education policy. Thomas meets with Michael Stewart, the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow 2023-24.
Chat(GPT)ting
Everyone has been talking about it for a year or more so high time your finger-on-the-pulse physics teaching nuggets got to grips with ChatGPT (other AIs are available).
Retention Done Well
Keeping hold of good science teachers involves a culture that respects their professionalism and Doug Simon of Heathland School in Hounslow joins Thomas and Robin to share how his school maintains a culture conducive to science teaching.
Retention - Full Interview
Retention - Full Interview
Retention
Senior Lecturer from the University of Chester, Mark Whalley joins Thomas and Robin to give some low-cost ways that schools might support retaining physics teachers.
Ways to talk about... Energy
Ways to talk about... Energy
Ways to Teach... Energy to 11 Year Olds
Ways to Teach... Energy to 11 Year Olds
Revising for Exams
It's that time of year: as we prepare to bid farewell to our exam groups, how do we teach students to prepare effectively for GCSEs or A-levels? Thomas and Robin talk through how they help students revise for exams.
UCAS and Preparing for Uni
Will Pope (@PopeDoes) joins us to talk about all things UCAS. What is our role as teachers, what is the right way to write the reference and how does the reference get used down the line.
With grateful thanks to Will, Sarah Butler, Dr Caroline Shenton-Taylor and Alex Sawyer.
Newtons Laws for Non-Specialists
Thomas and Robin are joined by our original guest - Jessica Rowson from episode 1 returns to talk Newton's laws and how we would teach them and in what order.
SLOP
Mastery, retrieval practice, automaticity, call it what you will, practice makes... better!
New to A-Level
Ruth Cheesman returns to talk about her first few weeks of A-Level teaching.
Ways to teach... The Start of A-Level Physics (16+)
Thomas and Robin return after an extended break, inspired by a Tweet from Ruth Cheesman, who joins us to ask for tips to get started with her A-level class this week (good luck Ruth!). We also welcome Sarah Dowd to help answer Ruth's query, Sarah teaches at UNIS in New York and joins to share her practice in the first of two upcoming appearances (she'll be back in a few weeks to talk ChatPhysics!)
Ways to Teach... Space
Space is a challenging subject to teach, so a good subject for the first “Ways to Teach…” of this academic year.
Thomas and Robin start with a look at some physics in the news. The proton is smaller than we thought! About 5% smaller which will make it even harder to find one if you lose it, but let’s not be negative…
In other news, a new wonder-polymer promises transparency, strength and ligh
Girls in to Physics II
Thomas and Robin return after an extended break to talk A-level expectations, girls in physics and strategies for inclusion.
Big Classes, Small Classes and Thank Yous
New year, new groups and tips to get underway. All this and an interview with the force of nature that is Professor Averil MacDonald. It can only be a brand new season of TPTP.
Season 3 Finale!
Well, we made it. What. A. Year. Robin and Thomas hook up with Patrick Kaplo to hear about how he has been getting on in the North Eastern USA and, as usual, get somewhat distracted. Thomas nobly tries to steer the whimsical chat towards physics teaching with limited success.
Patrick had to cancel his extraordinary trebuchet competition because of the pandemic (see video below) and has also been
We Love the Vernier Scale
Thomas has received a shiny new Travelling Microscope with a 0.01 mm precision vernier scale. There is only one thing he wants to talk about.
First Thomas talks briefly avbout his 205 mile (329km) ride for Education Support (the only UK charity dedicated to the mental health and wellbeing of education staff in schools, colleges and universities). He's raised over £1,300 so far, and the donation pa
(Why) We Love Physics (Teaching)
100 official episodes! Who would have expected it? We hook up on a beautiful day in Essex to talk about why we love Physics and go off on a series of tangents.
Bad Movies for Good Lessons
The aim is to talk through ones people suggest that are actually usable in lessons. As usual we get excited and make a few mistakes. Thomas is pretty sure that aeroplanes are made of aluminium, not steel and there were a few mentioned (Ant Man, Hulk) that we forgot to cover.
Techognition
Thomas and Robin are joined by Paul Cook, senior lead technician at Ark Burlington Danes Academy and lead technician for the Ark Academy network. Paul gives us his top tips on how to get the most out of your relationship with your technician.
The Joy of Simple Things (Colour and Light)
A short chat about teaching light with simple tools like light boxes (shoe boxes with a colour filter), lenses and mirrors.
TAG, Mass and Weight
Thomas and Robin discuss a few strategies you might use to help you assess your exam groups in physics, as well as grappling with pervasive mass-weight confusion.
Playing with Beats
Thomas was interested in how the brain makes its own beat, and put together this little sound test. You'll need headphones to appreciate it properly, but it is interesting to listen to on speakers as well.
Ways to teach... Sound (ish)
Loosely focused on KS3 (but when have we ever stuck to the brief), this episode looks at ways to teach sound with David Cotton, the most enthusiastic proponent of the topic.
GCSE Long Answers and MyMarkingMachine.com
We are delighted to be joined by Mark Robinson (@mark_robo) who has had some deep thoughts about how to write and mark questions. So much so that he has taught a computer to do it for him and you can use it too!
Covid Legacies: helping trainee teachers
We are delighted to be joined by the inspirational David Cotton to talk about supporting trainees who have missed out so much during the pandemic.
Covid Positives
Thomas and Robin are joined by Patrick Kaplo from Wyndham, New Hampshire to follow up on a question he asked way back at the beginning of the Covid crisis, namely "How will this change our practice?"
Literacy for Physics
We are delighted to be joined once more by Friend of the Podcast and Physics Teacher Support Polymath Carole Kenrick (@HelpfulScience) to talk about Literacy for Physics.
The definitive GCSE core practical guide...
We are so privileged this week to be joined by Christina Astin. She wears so many hats she would keep a division of milliners employed, but she kindly talks us through some of her most recent and most important work.
nearpod
Will introduces us to Nearpod which is a beautifully designed teaching aid that has lots of excellent features to help you with AFL during lockdown.
Another Lockdown Lowdown
Thomas and Robin chew the fat over how they are progressing in the new lockdown.
Good enough is good enough.
Thomas and Robin return to talk survival as we lock down again. With many teachers now doing hybrid teaching, we discuss strategies for keeping sane.
Festive Demos and Practicals
We talk through the dear listener's favourite holiday season activities; things that make you smile then think.
Ways to Teach... Magnetism and Magnetic Fields
Thomas and Robin have a couple of goes at sharing the ideas our dear listener has given us about teaching about magnetic fields and magnetism. We were particularly thinking about non-specialists who are likely to be covering this with the younger kids.
Ranking Tasks and Resources
What are ranking questions and why do they matter? James de Winter pops by to tell us. What do we do about resource curation? Could you be the answer?
Long Answers
How great to reach out across the pond and catch up again with Patrick Kaplo (an early hero of the podcast who teaches in Windham, NH). He has been hunkering down and adapting to new paradigms, and it is refreshing to hear that the problems we are all dealing with are pretty similar, no matter where you are in the world.
PhET
Thomas and Robin meet outside, at an appropriate social distance, to remember Tim Hardingham and introduce an interview with the PhET Head of Development Ariel Paul (@DrArielPaul). Surely all physics teachers have heard of this outstanding free source of simulations and demos provided by the University of Colorado Boulder.
A-Level RP: Specific Heat Capacity
Robin and Thomas are joined by Rajani Nair (@NairPhysics), (who before answering our tweet had not heard of the podcast) and who shares her ideas about teaching Specific Heat Capacity at A-Level. She also has a wonderful memorable practical which involves throwing eggs. We are then joined by James de Winter in a (hopefully) regular slot "Dispatches with de Winter" where he talks about the book 5 E
IoP Domains
The Nobel Prize is still the ultimate accolade and viewed with envy by the fields that don't have a Nobel Prize (in your face, maths!). This week we start by congratulating the three winners of the 2020 physics prize: Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, and Andrea Ghez, before talking to FoTP, Carole Kenrick about Domains and Zines.
Ways To Teach... Under Covid Restrictions
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
From Darkest Peru
Way back at the beginning of series one we were thrilled to hear from an international school teacher named Matt who had just landed in Lima. Fast forward two years and we have finally managed to organise a chat with the fabulous Matt Bowman.
James de Winter is Electric
Season 3 continues to deliver physics royalty as James de Winter joins us. James is the physics tutor on the Cambridge PGCE course and has seen generations of physics teachers through their training. Having met a fair sample I can say that all of them hold James in the sort of reverence that Luke reserved for Obi Wan.
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.
Let's Brock and Roll
Thomas and Robin look forward to a new - albeit different - school year with some reflections on "the new normal" and an interview with physics-teaching Royalty.
A Couple More Nuggets
Thomas doesn't know which week it is; thinking there is one more week of term he drags Robin to his garage to test some vacuum cannon upgrades. Thomas and Robin also look backwards and forwards though the podcast's second season.
A Tight Collar
Thomas has been experimenting with the collars that are used to join vacuum cannon spec pipes. After initial excitement (described in the podcast) Thomas d
Spend spend spend!
What will the well-dressed physics lab be wearing this year? Jonathan Shaw secured £53,000 of funding to kit out his physics department and asked Thomas and Robin to throw this over to the physics-teaching hive mind, and you did not disappoint! We had some fantastic suggestions, and some surprises.
Sharing is Caring
Peter is one of those special people who is a finisher. Dissatisfied with the resources available to him in his trainee year, Peter set about creating his own resources. Not only that, he shared them through his web site, sciencedoctor.school.blog. His one problem with all this #sharingiscaring? The endless requests for the answers. If you use the resources and there are no answers, then please se
Become a YouTuber
Rachel tells us what she's learned about getting yourself online. Empowering stuff and some great advice from Rachel about how to make a resource that will be of lasting value in your classroom.
The Doctor Will Teach You Now
Jo is a career-changer from a medical background who kindly agreed to join us to chat about her experience of teaching physics.
Uncertainties
Friend of the podcast Dave Farmer returns to talk about a subject to strike fear into any physics teacher's heart: uncertainty! We peel away some layers of complexity to reveal... more layers of complexity! Having worked with a lot of exam boards' A-level specs over the last few years, Dave recommends reading the mark schemes and looking for examples of what your particular exam board recommends
A Gimmicky Demo Fan
Wall-to-wall gimmicky demos on this week's podcast as we welcome John Hudson. Although we call them gimmicky, nothing could be farther from the truth: John introduces us to some great experiments and demos that are crammed full of physics to inspire and talk about.
Bits and Bobs
What can we usefully get students doing at home to explore their physics and what (cheap) kit might we be able to provide them with come September?
KEEP Teaching
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.
Teacher in Residence
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...
Assessment and CPAC
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
@MissNeutrino, a Physics NQT
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.
Lockdown Lessons Learned
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 e
Recommended
Ajahn Amaro Podcast by Amaravati
The Sheriff Show with Lewis Capaldi 2.0
Triathlon Mockery
The Snooker Hall Podcast
Snooker Club | WST’s Official Podcast
Tough Love presents The Night is Calling Radio
Abdal Hakim Murad
TandTeaching - The Educational Podcast
The History of England: Kings, Empires, and the Birth of Britain — Fexingo History
Taboo on the Bus
Hope Springs with Annabel Heseltine
Witness History: Black history
