Your questions answered
Following on from his webinar, and question and answer session, on ‘How to teach Cambridge IGCSE™ Physics’, Michael Smyth, author of our new teacher’s resource, shares his answers to your questions. In his first blog post Michael answered questions about remote learning. In the second of the series Michael offers advice on Cambridge IGCSE Physics active learning. You can find out about our resources for Cambridge IGCSE Physics on our science hub page.
Michael is an experienced author who began his science career with research fellowships at the University of Oxford before becoming Head of Science at a UK 11 – 18 private school, where he was instrumental in raising learner achievement.
Cambridge IGCSE™ Physics active learning
Active learning means that the educational process is learner-centred and not teacher-centred. Think of the difference between active and passive learning in terms of learning to swim or learning to ride a bicycle. Could you do either of these from attending a lecture or reading a book? Probably not, because these are passive strategies – you need to actually do the activity.
In science, active learning means so much more than just traditional experiments. Much has been published on active learning in science and there are a great many free resources and suggestions for effective strategies available.
What’s the role of the student in active learning?
Everything! The student is the most important resource in active learning and the learning is centred around them. It’s all about what they do and learn and not what you do or teach. Your role is to facilitate, guide and assess their learning, not to do it for them. It’s possible to have the misconception that active learning means that students are up and running around, equalling chaos! This is not the case. Active just means doing something, usually with higher order thinking skills, so not just reading or copying. Students can do this by themselves while seated. Of course, some active learning strategies do involve moving around, but careful management should keep this as an enjoyable and productive experience for all.
Group work as a tool for learning
Group work is a powerful tool for learning, as learning is a social experience. We also learn from mistakes, and from the mistakes of others, so learners need to know that during the learning process it’s okay to make mistakes.
Active learning uses divergent thinking
Remember, learners are not empty containers to be filled with knowledge and facts. Instead, learners must work to develop their own understanding of concepts. Active learning uses divergent thinking (as opposed to convergent for passive learning – such as giving the correct answer to standard questions that don’t require much creativity, for example multiple choice). Divergent thinking uses multiple paths of thought to generate creative solutions to a problem. An example of using divergent thinking might be, trying to understand the difference between current and potential difference.
How to make science interesting and engaging for a younger generation?
That depends on the culture within which you are working. In some cultures, young people see science as ‘uncool’ or ‘geeky’, so it is negatively perceived. Learners can also ask questions such as ‘Why do we need to learn this? What’s the point?’
Using technology as a tool for engagement
Ask learners questions that relate to the technology that they use: how have you used lenses today? (eyesight, phone cameras…), how have you used electricity today? (push for less obvious answers here – bus ticket machines, etc.), how have you used forces today? Ask what technology they use? Where did this come from? How does their favourite sport use technology? What could technology have in the future? What would happen if there was no-one to develop new technology? Where will the next generation of inventors come from?
Science and the real world
Prompt for their favourite thing outside of school and liken this to technology. Show them that physics is related to everything they do from listening to hip-hop to playing basketball. Show how the understanding of the subject is used to enhance and develop, in these cases, recording / playback technology and the mechanics of the human body / forces acting on spinning balls etc.
How we talk about science
So, the word ‘science’ is not used in these questions and examples. You may even want to rename science as something else, such as ‘curiosity’. Physics could be presented as ‘how everything works’. Learners may argue that it doesn’t explain how human life works, but forces, energy and electricity / charge are the fundamentals of all life. Present researchers as ordinary people with an interest in their subject.
Enthusiasm makes it memorable
Remember, if you are enthusiastic about your subject, then there is a much greater chance learners will be, too. If you appear bored by the routine of teaching physics, then you cannot hope for them to be inspired. It may be the 50th time you have taught how a transformer works, but it’s probably the first time they have learned it – make it memorable.
Variety in lesson planning
Keep lessons varied and unpredictable. You can use a variety of high impact starters. Or, sometimes play music as learners enter the room, better still if the music turns out to have relevance to the lesson. Try handing out pieces of paper as they enter, then use these for the opening task. Ask learners to gather across the back of the room for an ‘agreement line’ activity even before they are seated. (An agreement line is an active assessment strategy game where you, or another learner, make statements. Learners then position themselves across the room with one side being ‘strongly agree’ and the other being ‘strongly disagree’.) Never give them the chance to think physics is boring.
Unanswered questions
Ask questions that have not yet been answered, for example:
- What actually happens between two magnets to make them attract?
- What is an electron made of?
- What will happen if the Universe expands forever?
- What is the consequence of every energy change resulting in dissipation of thermal energy?
Allow learners to understand that this subject does not yet have all the answers. Maybe they will be the ones to find the answers! Could they publish a scientific paper? Could they win a Nobel Prize?
Follow our science blog for the next in our series of frequently asked questions with Michael Smyth on using questions in the classroom.
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Discover a series of interviews with scientists from Cambridge University, to inspire your students and help us build brighter futures together.
