With more and more schools having to teach remotely, it is important for teachers to know what resources are available to them to allow them to do their job as effectively as possible.
We have collected a range of websites, phone apps, online simulations and more in this post that might go some way to helping you out if you find yourself having to teach remotely. This list is not exhaustive, and we will try to update it regularly.
In this post you will find a list of:
- Video lessons: if your school allows you to use prerecorded videos of lessons
- Virtual simulations and apps: so that students can continue looking into physics investigations while from home
- Questions to set students: where to find questions to set students during a lesson or for homework.
- Online presentation software: useful websites that can help you during a lesson.
We have a free conference coming up in February which we hope you can join us for. Grab your tickets here, there will be some great talks about teaching remotely which will certainly help you and your students during this time.
We have previously had a couple of chats on Twitter about teaching Physics during lockdowns. You can check out the chats we have had on Wakelet here:
- Physics in Lockdown (March 27, 2020)
- Reflecting on Remote Learning in Physics (June 26, 2020)
We also have some articles and videos on our website which you may find useful if teaching remotely. Notably:
- Peer Instruction in Remote Teaching by Joe Muise
- Some Thoughts About Distance Learning by Adam Higgins
- How to Quickly and Easily Convert a Worksheet to a Google Form by John Eyre
- An Introduction to Using Visualisers in the Physics Classroom by Jamie Mayville
We are always around if you ever need any help or support, or to ask for advice or answer any questions you may have. The best place to contact us is on our Twitter account, either by sending us a DM or by tagging our account into a Tweet. Alternatively you can contact us using our contact form here.
Video lessons
Lewis Matheson – physicsonline.com
Lewis has lessons from the first lockdown (e.g A Level at https://alevelphysicsonline.com/covid-19) and he will also be doing live sessions every Monday https://alevelphysicsonline.com/live on YouTube. And the same for GCSE.
His website also contains GCSE Isaac Physics boards all ready to set your students: https://www.gcsephysicsonline.com/isaac-physics
Lewis also has over 1,000 pre-recorded videos on his websites that teachers can use!
So make sure you check out his website here.
Oak National
Oak National is a UK based online classroom, with lessons prerecorded by teachers. They have an extensive list of lessons available online, set up to lighten the load for teachers during this busy and stressful time. Check them out here.
KayScience
Ahmed Khattab has recorded many videos for his website, which we highly recommend you showing to your students in your online lessons. Or they can be used as homework. However you use them, make sure you try to make use of all these great videos as a part of your teaching. Check out the videos here.
Virtual Simulations and Apps
PhET Sims
We are sure you have all heard of PhET, but you may not know that they also provide worksheets and activities for many of their online simulations as well. This is a great platform for you and your students to continue doing investigations while teaching online.
Check out the simulations and worksheets here.
Sunflower for Science
Sunflower for Science is a wonderful suite for showing Science models, labs and ideas. They provide access to individual apps, as well as whole school subscriptions. Check out the website here.
And this organisation have provided this very generous offer of free access during remote learning:
Index of Simulations
Helen Reynolds on Twitter (@helenrey) has collated a mega spreadsheet of over 1000 online animations, videos, games, labs and simulations. Check out the spreadsheet (and bookmark it forever!) here.
phyphox.org
We have heard wonderful things about phyphox – a mobile app that turns your phone into a lab. Check out their website here, or their Twitter account here.
Questions to set students
Isaac Physics
There is plenty of calculation practice over at Isaac Physics, where teachers are also able to set assignments for students to complete. There are some excellent challenging questions on there, which means these can certainly be used up to and beyond Year 13. Website here.
Science Doctor
Loads of great worksheets with ramped difficulty and booklets for whole topics are available on Peter Edmund’s website. Check it out here.
Quarky Teacher
Resources available for 11-18 year olds here, covering a large range of Physics topics (separated into the UK KS3, KS4 and KS5 system). Loads to choose from here, all great for remote learning. Check it out here.
IOP Spark
We’re sure you’ve heard of the Institute of Physics, but we couldn’t have a list of resources without it! Loads of teaching resources available here, separated into different teaching domains. The IOP also run a wide range of professional development sessions for those teaching physics. Be sure to check out their website of resources here.
cogscisci
The team at cogscisci have a collection of resources which will help you out with setting questions for your Physics students. There are booklets which contain lots of opportunities for students to practice key concepts, as well as powerpoints which will help you with your planning and delivering of lessons. Check them out here.
There are many online question setting tools which you can make the most of not just during remote learning, but in your regular teaching too:
- Carousel – “an online tool that helps students to embed knowledge in their long-term memory.”
- Kuizical – “An easily accessible self-quizzing questions generator.”
- Quizlet – “Learning tools and flashcard, for free.”
- Physics and Maths Tutor – “Revise GCSE/IGCSEs and A-levels! Past papers, exam questions by topic, revision notes, worksheets and solution banks.”
- Seneca Learning – “Free revision for your GCSE & A Level exams”
- Quizizz – “A learning platform built to engage everyone, everywhere.”
- 23Equations – “an app to help with learning Physics equations for GCSE. It works like index cards but with testing and more. Free on app store”
- Save My Exams – “Over 10,000 exam questions organised by topic with model answers & revision notes.”
Online presentation software
As well as Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides, there are many other online presentation software available which all have neat little features to help you with your online learning.
Some of the ones recommended to us were:
- Mentimeter – “Create interactive presentations & meetings, wherever you are. Use live polls, quizzes, word clouds, Q&As and more to get real-time input – regardless if you’re remote, hybrid or face-to-face”
- Whiteboard – ” an online whiteboard tool for teachers and classrooms – great for formative assessment!”
- Peardeck – “Effortlessly build engaging instructional content”
- ChemixLab – “a free online editor for drawing science lab diagrams and school experiment apparatus. Easy sketching for both students and teachers.”
- Google Auto Draw – “a new kind of drawing tool. It pairs machine learning with drawings from talented artists to help everyone create anything visual, fast.”
- Classroom Screen – “All the classroom tools at your fingertips”
- Padlet – Check out this link for some ways that teachers can use Padlet: https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2017/08/30-creative-ways-to-use-padlet-for-teachers-and-students
Further ideas
These are further suggestions made in response to my tweet asking for ideas:
Beginners guide to Online Teaching: https://blogs.canterbury.ac.uk/adviceresourcesforschools/beginners-guide-to-online-teaching/
Scottish curriculum resources curated by the IoP can be found here:
Home experiments from the IOP:
Workshop on simulations and virtual labs:
Thanks to everyone for their replies to my Twitter post asking for suggestions. I have tried to include them all in this post.
Featured photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash
