Introducing Difficult Topics In A Creative Manner.

Introduction

Garforth Academy is a secondary school and sixth form of around 2000 students from a range of socio-economic backgrounds. According to the Yorkshire post Garforth Academy gets to best GCSE results in the Leeds local education authority and in 2010 OFSTED described it as "an outstanding school". Garforth Academy became an academy in November 2010, this means that the school is funded by central government as well as private sponsors instead of the local councils. Schools are allowed to become academies if they achieve and Ofsted grade of "outstanding". Academies are allowed more autonomy than their locally funded counterparts. Garforth flexed its independence by changing their class times; a typical day for a student at Garforth starts at 0820 and finishes at 1430, with a 20 minute morning break and a 30 minute lunch break. Initially I was upset by the lack of lunch break, harking back to my days at school where I used this time to play games and socialise. However, the reasoning behind the early finish, is that most afternoons are spent doing extracurricular activities including sports and physics club. As an adult it was nice making the most of the day by starting at the crack of dawn and finishing the school day with plenty of time to spare, though I don't think I would have been optimistic as teenager.

Aims

Before arriving at Garforth I had an idea of what I wanted do. I was interested in finding creative and interesting ways of explaining complex topics in physics. I believe that sometimes, more relaxed learning environments are beneficial to introducing complex topics. After school physics clubs are a great way to de-formalise physics, encourage more creative thinking and eventually a more intuitive understanding of physics. Before my placement began my goals were to start a physics club if there wasn`t one, or help coordinate a club if there was one (p6 of log book). As well as physics club, I wanted to join classes and try my hand at explaining difficult concepts to classes of 20 or more.

After meeting with the link teacher I found there was a physics club and they already had a list of activities but were open to new suggestions as well. To find other activities I looked at my own experience and what had inspired me to pursue physics to university. Building a motor out of card and wire was a defining point in my academic career. Learning about magnetically induced current in GCSE physics isn`t necessarily interesting or inspiring to a 15 year old. No matter how incredible or useful this phenomenon is, a 15 year old won't believe you unless they have tried it for themselves. Seeing these principles and equations turn some wire and card into a motor can really emphasize the power of studying physics. This was a project I definitely wanted to bring up in the physics club. As well as my own experience I looked to the internet for inspiration for suitable physics club projects. I already had various websites bookmarked from my own interest, these included:

- Instructables.com - a website where anyone can upload a personal DIY project, with steps on how to make it and sometimes the science behind it. - Makezine.com - Similar to instructables, although they also have a printed magazine. 'Make' have less projects but they are of better quality. - A number of issues I think exist in the school physics syllabus is the lack of connections to real life. There are a large number of fascinating and important physics topics in the syllabus, but not so much application of these topics. Some may argue that we should do science for the sake of science, to satisfy our innate curiosity. But I believe that sixth formers want to be able to see the immediate result of what they are learning. For example, learning that you can induce a current in a wire by moving it through a magnetic field doesn`t have the same impact as seeing that you can convert kinetic energy to electrical energy and charge your phone using a dynamo. I wanted to explain topics in an interesting way, without worrying too much about the syllabus, and not being afraid to go over and above the syllabus.

Another of my targets was to inspire the students to want to go on and study physics at a higher level. This is something that I could try and do throughout my placement, but I also decided to make a presentation on why one would want to take physics at university.

Descri ption of projects

Physics club

The physics club ran every week after school for an hour. At the start of my placement the link teacher and I planned a loose timetable for the rest of the year. He showed me experiments that had been done before, and which ones worked well. The general format was that we would run through 2 experiments each session, such that the experiments would complement each other, showing the same physical phenomena. Once we knew what experiments we were going to do I made a presentation (appendix) to advertise the physics club to the school. The presentation would be displayed on large monitors at various points in the school.

The physics club was meant to be an informal setting to learn physics without the stress of exams, and to show how interesting and fun physics can actually be. While the students were working on the experiment I would try and bring in relevant physics by asking questions about what they were doing, or asking what they predicted would happen and why. For example when building CD hover crafts ( see figure) , I would ask them what affect the size of the air hole would have on its movement and how long it would last. Asking them to predict what happens encourages them to think scientifically about what is actually happening. Even if they are wrong, it is easier to explain to them what is happening because they have already broken down the problem in their head.

General inspiration in the classroom

Throughout my placement I offered to introduce topics and run certain lesson plans. This gave me an opportunity to try different techniques to teach and inspire the students. Throughout my day I also walked around the class while students were doing work to assist the teacher in answering questions, I would also think of questions to ask the students to try and get them thinking. I wanted to try a technique I had read in Baoler's 'The Elephant in the Classroom', where a maths problem is given with the bare necessities to solve it. For example, you may give a picture of a cylindrical shape, and say how heavy would this be if it were filled with water? The idea behind this is that the students develop the answer themselves, first working out what they need, only then do you give them the information. For example a student might recognise that they need the volume of a cylinder, only then do you give and explain the formula. I wanted to try this technique in the A-level physics classes, giving them the bare information and letting them work out what equations and relationships they needed.

Physics at University

To inspire students to choose to do physics at university, I decided to do a presentation at the end of my placement. The link teacher insisted that I made a presentation for year 12 and 13 physics classes. This made it more difficult, as the year 13 students would have already chosen their degree course if they were going that route. This meant that I made a more general presentation and tailored it to the class I was presenting to.

Outcomes

Physics club

The physics club was a very fun part of my day at Garforth. It was attended by students who were already passionate about science and wanted to learn more. During the physics clubs, the teacher and I would explain what we were going to and provide the necessary materials. I found that we had very different styles, I was adamant that I would give away as little instruction as possible, only giving subtle hints, allowing the students to develop their ideas in their own way. The teacher would give step by step instruction until completion. There was slight conflict in this respect, as sometimes when I would be explaining what we were trying to do the teacher would be telling them how to do it, when I wanted them to discover how for themselves. I can understand why the teacher would want to explain every step. We had a time limit to stick to and sometimes we would go past it. The teacher is also used to the more formal setting of a classroom where he has to actively tell a large class of students what to do. I don't think this is the best way to do it, but teachers are given little choice when they have large classes, strict syllabus and important exams.

General inspiration in the classroom

I had a good and varied experience in the classroom, doing a mixture of things from just walking around and answering questions, to preparing and delivering my own material. I really enjoyed performing to a large class. There is a worryingly satisfying sense of power when you say "silence" and the entire classroom goes quiet. I expected this part of the placement to be the most nerve-racking for me. As it turned out I have gained valuable skills in presenting, albeit to children, I think these skills will transfer to working life.

Interacting with the children while they were doing work was also really enjoyable, although the type of enjoyment varied with the age of the student. With the younger students I enjoyed answering the questions because of the almost fantastical, childish curiosity they retained. The question would be more creative and the links to the work we were doing were tenuous. To me, this embodies the core ideologies of science; making creative yet logical links with many different ideas.

Some of the A-level students also had this innate curiosity, but with a firmer scientific grounding. It was really exciting to have in depth discussions with the enthused students about physical phenomena, and what I couldn`t answer I quickly looked up, leading to the advancement of mine own education. On the other side of the spectrum I was upset to see many of the older students bored and disillusioned with physics, caused by, what I imagine to be years of standardised testing. In a way it was more important to me to reach out to these students, but the intense schedule left little time for motivational speeches. Most of the physics teachers I encountered were excellent. They were obviously very enthused by physics, and were always happy to explain certain topics or teaching styles in their breaks. The only negative aspects of the classes was the strict adherence to a sometimes uninspiring syllabus and the constant looming presence of the formidable exam. For one of my planned lessons, I had to make a quiz on velocity-time graphs, the last question I asked (see appendix) wasn't on the syllabus but I thought it was a logical step and an important concept. The question was a success and some of the more advanced students could answer it with ease, I was later praised by the teacher for going beyond the syllabus, which interestingly is actually on the syllabus.

Physics at university

After 5 weeks of the same routine I was looking forward to something different. The presentation allowed me to flex my creativity and inspire some physicists. I didn`t want to preach the the students for 15 minutes, I wanted to arouse wonder and curiosity in the physical world. My approach was inspired by a quote from the French Avatar Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." Dotted with a few risque jokes, the presentation was mainly cool pictures with me try to explain why physics is cool and why one would want to study it at university. Because of the range of ages of the students I had to tailor my schpeil to each class. Free-styling is another important skill that teachers have to possess, and which I was tested on during my presentations. At the end of the talk I was ask if there were any questions, it seemed that the students were either too shy or uninterested to ask any. Maybe I had come on to strong, or more unlikely I had answered all questioned. The best presentations were when the teacher actually asked relevant questions about university life. It made me realise that some of the teachers had attended university over 20 years ago and had little understanding of how they worked today. I like to think that the small insight I gave will help in the students decision making process about post-school, and I left my email address to the department in case anyone wanted advice after I had gone.

Conclusion

After spend just one day a week for 6 weeks in a secondary school I was thoroughly beat. The job of a school teacher is demanding and never ending, but not without its rewards. The most striking issue for me was the rigid and dull physics syllabus that all teachers had to teach. It seemed that there was such a large amount of information to be learnt for the exams that there was never time to stop and smell the mathematical roses. This may not be improved by Michael Gove's education reforms which are apparently inspired by Asian education systems , notorious for short holidays and rote learning.