Adjunct ACC Professor MSTA
BS Physics University of Bucharest
MS Physics of the Atmosphere, Meteorology, Seismology, Geomagnetism, University of Bucharest
Teaching physics is one of the best jobs for a career in education, in comparison to teaching other subjects. “Times a’ changing”, and there are new different approaches in the pedagogy of physics, in which the professors tend to be made more responsible of student achievement. In the last few years, terms like “retention rate”, “flip-classroom” “student centered” etc. seem to imply the ultimate approach in teaching physics.
In my career on two continents I had the opportunity to experiment different ways of teaching physics, and I have been able to induce the "physics" way of thinking mainly where enough time was allotted to a particular subject, and related experiments were available. Also enough applications such as problems with the emphasis on algorithms and methods that might be used to solve similar problems are needed. Regarding teaching and learning physics both teachers and learners are equally responsible. In the sense that an active learning could be promoted by an active teacher, I would like to emphasize that the struggle in physics learning involves a lot of individual study by the students too
A number of physics instructors have tried to make physics more approachable and more enjoyable for the non-math people. Many introductory physics textbooks have been generated, but almost every textbook looks same, even though the authors firmly believe their textbook contains more comprehensive physics, or is better written to be understood. A well-written textbook helps learning physics, but only if it is incorporated into an effective instruction by an active and knowledgeable physics professor. Lately, I've been experimenting with the “gradual release” model, which can be summarized as “I do, we do, you do”.
A comprehensive knowledge of the subject by the instructor, significantly higher that the level is being taught, is necessary. If a teacher is confused with the subject, students will be also very likely confused with the same subject. The teacher must establish a solid relationship with students through good communication skills. The good communication skills also lead to the effectiveness of teaching. Once the relationship between a teacher and students is established, the effectiveness greatly improves because the teacher can now better assess what the weaknesses in the student's knowledge are.
Also, the good communication skill leads into a more interactive instruction. Mutual understanding between a teacher and students can help him be aware of the moments such as confusion, boredom, and higher demand during class, in which an active teacher can adjust the tempo of class, provide a necessary repetition of explanation, or use many other possible quick remedies.
Teachers must use any possible methods to incorporate available resources to make learning more efficient.
All of the descriptions of my physics teaching philosophy point to one simple phrase, which I call active teaching style. In short, the active teaching style conveys a meaning that a teacher propels student's learning actively with a great care of fundamentals. But, there is no magical way to learn, and there is also no magical way to teach. It is, however, clearly a teacher's responsibility to make teaching and learning more durable and effective.
Surprisingly maybe, in parallel with my physics career, I was a very active professional musician for fifteen years, and I still play occasionally, when time allows.