Below is a collection of links about teaching physics. Some may find them helpful.
Things to Read
- Feynman on Education - Anecedote from Feynman from his experience teaching in Brazil. Focus is on how learning is different from parroting.
- Heavy Boots - Anecedote about the lack of scientific reasoning.
- Lockhart's Lament - Call to arms for a change in the philosophy of math education, I think it rings true for physics as well.
- Outspoken Validictorian Speech - High school valedictorian speaks about how broken the system is, easy to get by if you only play the game.
- Observations from teaching first year physics - Sanjoy Mahajan - Lack of reasoning skills in the students at Oxford.
- Benezet's Experiment in Math Education Reform - Old experiment in reasoning at a young age in children in math. A long article, but worth the read.
- The Gutenberg Method of Teaching - Article that calls into the question the traditional lecture format.
- From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side - Academic article, similarily a call to arms for a change in the philosophy of university education.
Videos to Watch
- Dan Meyer's TED Talk - Fantastic. Be Less Helpful.
- Confessions of a Converted Lecturer: Eric Mazur - Great video, hour long but worth the watch. Interesting data and anecedotes about teaching intro physics at Harvard.
- The Wonder and Beauty of Teaching Physics - Walter Lewin - Fantastic lecture on the beauty of physics and a call to arms to focus more on explinations of this beauty.
- How Not to Teach - Sheldon teaches Penny Physics, from The Big Bang Theory - Funny clip that demonstrates bad teaching.
- A Private Universe - Very telling video documentary. Where I got the harvard graduation interview from. Can be streamed online, but the stream is a little flaky.
- Tell Me a Story - Robert Krulwich - Audio rather than video, but a fantastic commencement speech that is a call to arms. Make science into a story.
Blogs to Read
- Dan Meyer's Blog - Fantastic High school math teacher. Be Less Helpful, fantastic use of multimedia.
- Shawn Cornally's Blog - Great high school physics math and programming teacher. His physics articles are well worth the read. Shows you how different classes can be.
- Rhett Allain's Blog - Always classic. Does a lot of analysis of YouTube videos.
Neat Physics Videos Resource
- Rutger's Physics Teaching Technology Resource - Simple physics experiments are done on screen. Student must perform their own 'measurements'
- Win? Fail? PHYSICS! - A neat repository of interesting physics videos from YouTube.
Recommended Journals
- The Physics Teacher Online - Monthly journal that always has interesting articles on fun classroom problems / a look into misconceptions / pedagody / etc. Very readable. Interesting physics to boot.
- American Journal Of Physics - The most readable physics journal I've found. Scientific American for grown-ups. Some often cutting edge physics described in a way that you could tell your students.
- Arxiv.org - Physics Education - A nice free resource for some interesting physics education articles.
- Arxiv.org - Popular Physics - A sometimes useful resource for discussions of interesting applications of physics.
Recommended Texts
- Feynman Lectures on Physics - Always good. Check it out if you haven't for a while. While not the best introductory book, it does a fantastic job of covering material, discussing the hidden assumptions, and tieing physics all together.
- Physics for the Inquiring Mind - Eric M. Rogers - A very good physics textbook, at an algebra level. But that is not to say it doesn't cover a lot. Well worth the look.
- The Flying Circus of Physics - Jearl Walker - Fantastic resource for interesting problems for discussion.
