Ditto on the above - I am physics-certified in a county that is
already top-heavy. I'm at a community college this year - high
school dropped me - long story - but soon I will eclipse them and DH
doesn't want to move unless I can get a job at Thomas Jefferson in
Alexandria VA! My new goal. I am going to pick up my math Praxis
since I'm also now teaching math - marketing, marketing. I'm also an
ex-engineer who is most probably ASD so I got issues with connecting
with students! I am constantly on the prowl for good tips.
Occasionally I follow my own advice.

If you are hunting do the following: find out how many of levels of
physics your district is teaching. My county teaches 4 (conceptual,
honors, AP B and AP C) now plus basic concepts in middle school (and
they're thinking of adding IB). The two next counties only teach
honors and AP B or AP C. Also find out how many instructors are
currently certified specifically in physics (all of ours are) and
what the current physic course load is. Know your competition.
Ditto on state requirements - know what they are first of all. Don't
rule out private school or community college if you don't care about
tenure and state retirement.

On making physics understandable: you will never get all of this in
the first year or three. Pray that your administration is
understandable. Then build up.

1. Regular demos and short inquiry labs (20 minutes max) are a
must. Try at least one a week. Pick good thought questions from
Hewitt, Wilson/Buffa, or Cutnell/Johnson. Check out Lillian
McDermott's Physics by Inquiry. I don't care for Eisenkraft much but
some folks like him. Make sure your labs don't suck. Essential.

2. Use the 5E (or 7E) or Gagne method of instruction but break down
the steps to cover only a couple of concepts at a time and practice
them thoroughly. That means do some of the steps repeatedly until
final assessment. See also Dr. Fred Jones' Tools for Teaching.

3. Visually model everything multiple times. Then do it again.
Especially how to make a good free body diagram.

4. Use a concise "rememberable" problem solving mantra. I got one I
learned as a college student (has 5 steps). ROAST is similar.

4. Hold before- or after-school refreshers for skill building in
algebra, trig, and problem solving techniques. Or lunch bunches.
Build in incentives for the kids to show up. If you like to call
parents (I don't) suggest that they send their kids if you notice
Johnny's fractions are terrible. Nothing like a wake-up call. Do it
before October. Don't assume they know the math - they don't outside
of the math classroom! I've given math tests in physics at the start
of the year. Do it as extra credit to be added to a poor test
grade. I've got kids right now in Calc II that get hung up on
fractions, conversions, algebraic manipulation and trig. (our county
just reduced math requirements to 3 years - science is also only 3)

5. More BCRs using good conceptual questions. Try pairing them with
short movie clips. Star Wars, Transporter, Mythbusters, Lost,
anything involving physical interactions. Check out intuitor.com for
physics movie myths. Find good clips on YouTube even if you can get
it past your school's firewall. Make sure they don't suck either.

6. Hold off on more in-depth labs until basic concepts are
understood. Make the kiddoes write formal lab reports (scientific
method) at least once a quarter. My college kids never wrote one
before coming to me. Check out the great lab rubric from NCSU's
Scale-Up program. Also consider alternating with a good research
project. Or extra credit for science fair participation.

7. Give your kids the Force Concept Inventory and other diagnostic
conceptual exams (some colleges use them for final exams). Give it
all at once or a few questions at a time but try it for NO grade
other than participation. Make the kids explain the answers to each
other. Google "Action Research Kit" and "Force Concept Inventory"
and you'll get a website that lists a bunch. OMG I am so glad I
finally found them.

8. Consider rearranging the traditional order of instruction if you
have the power to do so (again see Hewitt). Hold off on two-
dimensional until 1D motion is well understood. Hold off on any
rotation whatsoever until you are almost done with mechanics. Start
with current and basic circuits before you do fields.

9. Join AAPT. Read everything they recommend. Hunt down back
copies of "The Physics Teacher." Read physics education research.
Alan van Heuvelen is a Physics Master! Follow him religiously.

10. Assign only 3-4 mid-level problems a week max. Suggest LOTS of
lower-level problems and try to practice half of them in class. Make
the kids responsible for their own practice. Give incentives.

11. Send your kids to practice more on the Physics Classroom and
whatever online site comes with your textbook. Give them an
incentive if you can but let the computer do the grading.

12. Have your kids solve problems in front of you on small
whiteboards while you walk around watching them. Also as pairs and
small groups. No excuses! Good way to see how much they are
practicing.

13. Assess CONCEPTUAL knowledge as much - or more than -
computational knowledge! The kids will HATE you for it. Essential
to do - they'll never fail again once the concepts are ingrained.
They'll get plenty of computational when they major in physics or
engineering in college. Check out simulators at phet.com,
myphysicslab.com, and physicsclassroom.com.

14. Make them read the book by giving reading guides. They MUST
learn how to read boring science books before they hit the even more
boring and even incomprehensible engineering books in college (where
they are $200 a pop now). Bad ones: Giancoli, Halliday/Resnick.
Good ones: the ones mentioned above, Serway. I LOVE Hewitt. He has
a new high school version. Haven't read Holt. Tsai looked pretty
good from what little I saw of it. Check out Larry Gonick's Cartoon
Guide to Physics. Nerdy but some kids might like it. Physics for
Dummies is too verbose for dummies. YOU must be the best explainer
of physics to your students. Make your lecturing REAL SHORT. Much
shorter than my tips here. (sorry, I'm an aspie)

14. Quiz every week (one problem to work out). Test every few weeks
by major category of concepts (e.g. Newton's Laws, work and energy,
HT and thermo) not by chapter. Give them the formulas; doesn't mean
they know how to use them! Then give them problems with variables
only so they have to derive each setup! Scramble both/give multiple
versions. I hate cheaters. They hate scrambling/multiple versions.
If you do multiple choice tests, consider partial credit for worked-
out problems.

15. Do AP multiple choice problems even at lower levels. Do them as
warmup questions/clickers! Don't have clickers? Kids can hold up
index cards with A, B, C, D and you do a quick head-count.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST - THE MOST IMPORTANT:

16. Hit up your administrators for an extra planning period! And
buy a DVR so you can watch TV later (or wait for the DVDs). I'm
catching up on Lost, 24 and Rescue Me still...

Happy physics teaching,
June in Maryland

On 11/16/08, stewart wrote:
> On 11/16/08, Default Name wrote:
>> Would you care to elaborate?
>>
>>> go teaching! it's a noble profession. But be aware that
>>> Physics itself is unteachable.
>
> i was successful in teaching the mathematically based physics to
> inner city kids because I was always prepared with drills and
> practices in physics problem solving, scientific notation and units
> for example. High school kids are almost totally unprepared for
> what they will have in the standard high school physics course.
> Therefore, you will need to help them a great deal at first and
> repeatedly supplement the text with worksheets. Physics texts are
> among the worst written texts in high school and college. I spent
> almost every night during the week preparing lessons for the next
> day to help the kids learn their physics and chemistry--about 2
> hours every night. On weekends I graded papers. Most of what you
> must do is to have the students do seatwork on problem solving and
> little lecturing.Kids like to do the labs and demonstrations.

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