June 10, 2023
repeating background in the purple and blue Chat Physics colours, with small doodles around a "practicals and tools" theme

Chat Physics Live 2021 Day 5 – Classroom Tools

Welcome to day 5 of ChatPhysics Live 2021!

Today’s focus on Classroom Tools will help you to get the best out of lesson delivery, problem-solving, and practical work.

Are you wondering why there’s hype about visualisers? Do you want to optimise problem-solving in your classroom? Could you work magic with a budget and improve the use of practical work? We have four fantastic videos for you today that will answer these questions and lead to many more.


The visualiser – the swiss army knife for teachers – by Chrissy Sneddon (@DrCsneddon)

Chrissy has been teaching physics in the west of Scotland since 2004, with time away from the classroom in the middle. This lets her clarify the important elements of teaching, and focus on reading up on research about learning. She is also involved in work with her husband on teaching strategies that can work across school and university.

Chrissy’s talk is on “The visualiser – the swiss army knife for teachers”. She describes how she uses the visualiser in the classroom. It has proven its worth in the current academic year, both in the classroom and as a tool for remote learning.

Continue the discussion with Chrissy on Twitter:


Utilising the A-Level Required Practicals to Improve Student Skills and Knowledge – by Joanna Pellereau (@physicsjo)

Jo is an experienced Physics HoD and STEM Coordinator who is now studying for a PhD in education and still teaching physics part-time.

Jo’s talk is on “Utilising the A-Level Required Practicals to Improve Student Skills and Knowledge”. Suitable for teachers of A-level Physics, she discusses strategies for enabling students to take ownership of their own development through the CPACs and how we can use the practical endorsement to improve their overall skills. This is based around the AQA syllabus but should be applicable to all exam boards. Tweet @PhysicsJo for a copy of the resources which you can hopefully ‘pick up and go’ with to support your teaching.

Continue the discussion with Joanna on Twitter:


Towards the holy grail of problem solving – by Peter Edmunds (@edmunds_dr)

Peter is a physicist & a head of physics in North London. He is passionate about making teaching resources, and reducing the workload of teaching staff. He is the creator of the site sciencedoctor.school.blog where there are over 360 freely downloadable physics resources.

Peter’s talk is on “Towards the holy grail of problem solving”. How do we get our students to be fluent problem solvers? Peter Edmunds is going to discuss how to approach this and the key role of declarative knowledge in problem solving.

Continue the discussion with Peter on Twitter:


Creative practicals on a budget – by Rich Wrigley (@rwrigley)

Rich has been teaching physics since 2009, and has taught in the UK, Brazil, Germany and Mexico. He is passionate about making physics as hands on as possible, as well as linking space science and exploration wherever possible. He is currently teaching in an international school in Mexico, where he is also a Head of Faculty.

Rich’s talk is on “Creative practicals on a budget”. It is a talk for PGCE students to recently qualified teachers (although everyone is welcome), about how you can take everyday items or basic lab equipment and use them to explain concepts in physics that may have required equipment that is more expensive.

Continue the discussion with Rich on Twitter:


We really hope you enjoyed the fifth day of our ChatPhysics Live 2021 conference.

Before you go…

If you enjoyed today and would like to see more great Physics teaching content in the future, we would really appreciate your support. Check out our support us page to see how you can contribute to help keep the project running:

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You may also be interested in these articles from our website:

How to Quickly and Easily Convert a Worksheet to a Google Form – Chat Physics by John Eyre

Using Cooperative Group Problem Solving to Promote Classroom Discussion – Chat Physics by Joe Muise

Modelling to Aid Explanations – Chat Physics by Nimish Lad

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