Chat Physics Live 2021 Day 3 – Numeracy in Physics
Welcome to day 3 of ChatPhysics Live 2021!
Today’s focus on Numeracy in Physics will provide a variety of strategies to help you in supporting your students as they tackle problems involving numbers.
Are you looking to reduce cognitive load in complex questions? Have you applied FIFA to help guide calculations? Do you want to know how and why teachers are moving away from formula triangles? How can you ensure the first example you show your students helps them understand a new concept? These five videos have plenty of options for how to approach numeracy differently.
FIFA for the GCSE Physics Win – by Gethyn Jones (@emc2andallthat)
Gethyn Jones has been a physics teacher nigh on thirty years at a range of schools and academies in Wales and England and has many years of experience as a lead physics teacher. He blogs and tweets as @emc2andallthat. He currently teaches at an independent school in London.
Gethyn’s talk is on FIFA for the GCSE Physics Win – Using the FIFA system to help students gain confidence with calculation questions in GCSE Physics and GCSE Combined Science.
Continue the discussion with Gethyn on Twitter:
Numeracy skills for Physics – by Jinny Bell (@missb0107)
Jinny is a Head of Physics in Northamptonshire. She has contributed to ResearchED Rugby 2019 on metacognition, and AQA’s Inside Exams podcasts on multiple choice questions. Jinny tweets @missb0107.
Jinny’s talk is on “Numeracy skills for Physics” – There are plenty of ways to interpret maths when solving equations. So here are a small handful of ways to approach equations and rearranging to support a range of students who think that they can’t do maths.
Continue the discussion with Jinny on Twitter:
Why and how I stopped using formula triangles – by Jo Castelino (@Dr_Castelino)
Jo is a science teacher interested in applying cognitive science principles in the classroom.
Jo’s talk is on “Why and how I stopped using formula triangles”. As a non-specialist, Jo would use formula triangles as a crutch when teaching equations. With more teaching experience, she has moved to introducing and explaining equations without a formula triangle in sight. In this talk, Jo explains how she achieved this.
Continue the discussion with Jo on Twitter:
Rethinking First Examples – by Fabio Di Salvo (@FabPhysics)
Fabio is the founder of ChatPhysics and is a big advocate of subject specific CPD. He was head of Physics at a state school in the UK for several years, and is currently a Physics and Maths teacher at an international school in Singapore.
Fabio’s talk is on “Rethinking First Examples”. He delves into the importance of the first examples you expose students to when introducing a new concept, and why they need careful thought with regards to 4 specific cases.
Continue the discussion with Fabio on Twitter:
Prototypes in Physics – by Ben Dickens (@MrBDickens)
Ben is an Assistant Team Leader for Science at Catmose College in Oakham. He has been teaching Science for 7 years, and for the last 3 years has been a school-based Institute of Physics coach, providing Physics CPD to teachers in the East Midlands.
Ben’s talk is on “Prototypes in Physics”. Prototypes in physics education are tools that allow students access to problem solving without overloading their working memory with lots of transient information. Ben will discuss what a good prototype is, how it fits in with cognitive load theory and examine a couple of examples where prototypes are useful in supporting students through complex concepts.
Continue the discussion with Ben on Twitter:
We really hope you enjoyed the third day of our ChatPhysics Live 2021 conference.
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You may also be interested in these articles from our website:
Skill Acquisition and Physics Calculations – Chat Physics By Tobias Harris
What has the USSR ever done for me? An approach to teaching calculations in physics – Chat Physics by James Hulse
Teaching Physics as a Non-Specialist – Chat Physics by Janina Stromfield