The Physics Teaching Podcast

Thomas, Robin and Patrick Kaplo discuss the amazing vacuum cannon and how it can be used to make physics thrilling. The cannon is now available in the shop. Buy it and you’ll be supporting the podcast while you have a BLAST! It is half term next week in the UK so it will be two … Continue reading 16. The Vacuum Cannon! →

Full interview with Nicky Thomas about teaching diffraction (29 minutes). She covers how she teaches it in more detail as well as more context and thoughts about doing diffraction as a practical EPQ. The music in this extra episode is Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith. It was the runner up in our “Which music … Continue reading 15.1 Extended Interview with Nicky Thomas about Diffraction →

Sea slugs use physics to move up to 90 km a day. Who’d have known? In the main body of the podcast Robin talks to Nicky Thomas about teaching diffraction. She has much to share so we released an extended interview podcast Finally woodlice can also assist in physics teaching by being a source of … Continue reading 15. Water, Waves and Woodlice →

Thomas and Robin respond to a request from a listener and investigate the BL4S Competition run by CERN. Win an all expenses trip to a high energy beam lab where you will be supported to do your own experiment. They also announce the subject of the next “Ways to teach…” episode: Distance, Speed and Acceleration. … Continue reading 14. Cataracts, Cameras and (CERN) Competitions →

Thomas and Robin had such fun talking to Patrick Kaplo (Episode 11) from Windham, New Hampshire that we talked to him again about his Challenge Labs. These are graded practicals where there is a one-shot event at the end of the practical that gives you your final grade. You can listen to how this works … Continue reading 13. Lasers, Labs and a Large(r) hadron collider →

Thomas and Robin discuss (not) Shrink Rays and mysterious (not Alien) Space signals before getting on to the meat of the podcast: Teaching the EM Spectrum and using the simple question "How long is a piece of String?" to explore measurement, errors and uncertainty.

The days are getting longer, and the monster Christmas term is behind us. Thomas and Robin refuse to let January blues dull the joy of physics teaching as they kick 2019 off with a cracker (pun intended). Two kinematic experiments are the focus, one using a pop-up toy and one that needs fire and blades. … Continue reading 11. Poppers, Pendulums and Pond-hopping →

Merry Christmas Physics teachers! In a bumper festive edition, Thomas and Robin have rounded up your ideas and tips on how to teach electricity. It’s quite rare to reach a clear conclusion in a discussion of teaching, but there was consensus that if you are going to use a model, then the rope model is … Continue reading 10. Ways to teach… Electricity →

Robin hadn’t heard about the recent Falcon landing failure so Thomas filled him in. Cutting-edge space technology is still frontier science: we need your students to be the engineers of tomorrow! Regular listeners will know how much Matt Groening influences the podcast, and just in time fro Christmas, we have launched our first ‘merch’, setting up … Continue reading 9. Mentors, Motors and Merch →

As David Bowie once mused “Is there seismic activity on Mars?” ( I think that’s what he said…), and who are we to argue? So we kicked off discussing NASA Mars Insight Lander and then Robin confessed to group about his tendency to get on a self-righteous soapbox (see episode 7!). Luckily this week’s chat was … Continue reading 8. Venn Hats, Meows and a Mysterious Tube →

Thomas and Robin talk about the podcast’s roots and where it all started, to help all teachers of physics to feel a sense of professional community. You can help by sharing it with your friends, and if you do that you have a chance to win a podcast T-Shirt! The competition lasts until 30th November … Continue reading 7. Ben, Big Ideas and beginnings →

Thomas and Robin got together in the same room for a chat this week. Don’t worry, as a good physicist and a good engineer they avoided eye contact*. The big news last week was the redefinition of the kilogram which was originally based on the mass of Napoleon’s leg**, but latterly on a lump of … Continue reading 6. What happens when your jelly won’t hold your weight? Is it time to lose some mass? →

In a bumper 5th episode, we chat to Stuart Farmer, self-proclaimed “Listener Number 2” about a brilliant visualisation of uncertainty. In keeping with parsimonious podcast principles, Stuart’s practical involves nothing more elaborate than a variety of marbles and some paper cups. You’ll love it! Stuart introduced Thomas to the Perimeter Institute and their free resources … Continue reading 5. Models, marbles and marvels… →

Thomas and Robin try to find A New Hope in Episode 4 by addressing the perennial problem of the small proportion of girls choosing A Level Physics. In this Episode: World Dark Matter Day, 31st October: How did you celebrate it? The Perimeter Institute and their Free Resources. Where are all the girls? Jessica Rowson, … Continue reading 4. Why Don’t More Girls Choose Physics? →

The latest outing for Thomas and Robin in the world’s foremost (only?) podcast for teachers of physics talks about the weighty issues for physics teachers everywhere. In this thrill-packed episode… As Matt Groening once said: “It’s all about the merch” Robin and Thomas decide on the logo for the first podcast T-shirt It had to … Continue reading 3. Reading, Research and Reversing Through Time →

We made it to Episode two! Thank you for coming back, or a very warm welcome if you’ve just joined us. In this episode: Secret identity: Robin finally gets round to introducing himself Out of this world: Thomas tells Robin about the recent exomoon discovery Goldfinger: Thomas will not make it as a Bond villain. … Continue reading 2. A New Physics Teacher →

Thomas and Robin sincerely hope you enjoyed the first episode of the physics teaching podcast, and that you are enthused to do some more practical work in your classroom. The physics teaching podcast is all about celebrating the professionalism of teachers of physics. We know that many of you don’t have the professional physics networks … Continue reading 1. Balloons! →

Catastrophic Spacesuit Failure In our first ever effort at making some content, Thomas talks about how he entertained parents at Open Evening using a vacuum pump, bell jar, tin foil, marshmallows and Tunnocks Tea Cakes.