Category Archives: School and Education

Wie spielt man Fußball auf dem Mond?

Dieser und anderer Fragen widmet sich die Seite Physik hinter den Dingen, ein Teil von Welt der Physik (herausgegeben von der DPG und dem BMBF).

“Physik hinter den Dingen erklärt Ihnen die Physik hinter Alltagsphänomenen. Denn ob bei Wetter, Sport oder technischen Errungenschaften wie Mikrowellenherd und Computerchip – Physik lässt sich hinter fast allem finden.
Das Grundprinzip hinter physikalischen Alltagsphänomenen ist oft mit wenigen Worten erklärt; im Detail sieht es dann aber oft schon weit komplexer aus. Daher ist es auch nicht verwunderlich, dass Alltagsphänomene und aktuelle Forschung oft nah beieinander liegen.”

Teaching Advanced Physics

The Institute of Physics offers resources for teaching advanced physics:

“Welcome to Teaching Advanced Physics (TAP). This website contains detailed ideas and resources for teaching physics to students aged 16-19. The site aims to help those new to teaching this age group, and assumes only a limited access to equipment, to resources, and to advice from experienced colleagues.”

I’m teaching a bacis course of physics in 11th grade for the first time at the moment and am checking out their material regarding mechanics as it is the the current subject in my course. I try to have the students do experiments every week (unlike in the US, German schools have different timetables every day; my course consists of three lessons per week, a single one on Tuesdays and a double lesson on Thursdays), but this calls for a lot of preparatory work – and good ideas for experiments. TAP offers background information as well as suggestions for experiments, and the material can be downloaded as Word documents, so you can make your own adjustments or add notes if you like.

Via Physik-Journal, the magazine for members of the DPG (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft).

Diese Woche in der Zeit

Einen Tag vor den Herbstferien komme ich mal wieder dazu, nicht nur die Zeit am Tag des Erscheinens zu lesen, sondern auch auf ein paar lesenswerte Artikel aufmerksam zu machen:

Wirtschaft: An die Kette gelegt. “Die Buchpreisbindung sollte kleinen Händlern und Verlegern das Überleben sichern. Doch inzwischen fördert sie die Konzentration in der Branche.” Von Jens Uehlecke.

Aus der Reihe Patient Kind: Fataler Irrtum in der Abwehr. “Neue Therapien sollen Allergien bekämpfen. Die Ärzte träumen von einer wirksamen Prävention.” Von Ute Eberle.

Literatur: Krimskrams ist Gold wert. “Die Jury von ZEIT und Radio Bremen stellt vor: Antje von Stemms Kindersachbuch »Extrembasteln«”.

Leben: Wohin mit den Eltern? “Weshalb wir überfordert sind, wenn Mutter oder Vater zu Pflegefällen werden.” Von Susanne Mayer.

»Sie ist eine Lady« “Wie ist es, wenn die eigene Mutter wieder zu Hause einzieht? Ingrid Noll kennt sich damit aus – sie pflegt ihre 105 Jahre alte Mutter. Ein Gespräch mit der Schriftstellerin.”

Reisen: Gut gepolstert zu den Göttern. “Komfortabler kommt man nicht von Mumbai nach Goa. Der Luxuszug »Deccan Odyssey« lässt Indiens Wunder wie einen langen Film vorüberziehen. Draußen ist es 43 Grad heiß, drinnen reicht Pravakar Schnittchen.” Von Karin Ceballos Betancur.

Schule: Die Mathe-Revolution. “»Sinus« verändert den Mathematikunterricht an deutschen Schulen. Ein Beispiel aus Brandenburg zeigt, wie.” Von Julian Hans.

Kleine Abkühlung

Gestern hatte einer meiner Schüler einen batteriebetriebenen Mini-Ventilator mit in der Schule, um sich abzukühlen. Da es im Physikraum geschätzte 30°C waren, war ich spontan neidisch und machte auch eine diesbezügliche Bemerkung. Heute stand derselbe Schüler zusammen mit einem Freud als Empfangskomitee vor der Klassenraumtür, als ich zur ersten Stunde kam, und überreichte mir feierlich das aktuelle Mickymaus-Magazin – mit batteriebetriebenem Mini-Ventilator als Gimmick! Nett, oder? :-)

Nebenbei: Auf der Suche nach einem passenden Link landete ich beim entsprechenden Wikipedia-Artikel, in dem ich erfuhr, dass Ehapa (der Verlag, welcher Micky Maus vertreibt) vor einigen Jahren Yps aufgekauft hat und die Gimmicks aus dieser Zeitschrift in die Micky Maus verlagert hat. Ich hatte mich schon gewundert, zumal es solche Beigaben zu “meinen Zeiten” nicht in der Micky Maus gab.

Why teaching is an awesome job

Rabi writes about the non-hollywood reasons why teaching […] is an awesome job. She’s a teacher (for only two more weeks, alas) at an urban school in the United States, which probably is quite different from my rural one here in Germany, but many of her reasons are true for me as well. (Bold captions are quotes from Rabi’s posting.)

1. you work with a diverse group of colleagues.
While I’ve found that teachers share many attributes that outsiders would consider stereotypes, I enjoy the fact that conversations in a group of teachers are rarely boring because they all teach different subjects and thus are experts in different fields. While I often think that other mathematics or science teachers “get” my ideas the best, there are often interesting points of view provided by teachers of languages or social sciences.

3. you never have to do the same thing two days in a row.
You could even say “you never have to do the same thing two lessons in a row”. Teachers in Germany teach more subjects and classes than teachers in the US generally, so this statement is even more true for me. Right now the only thing I’m teaching twice is physics in 8th grade, and even if I start out with the same lesson plan in both classes (which I don’t do all the time), the lessons often end up being very different because the students ask different questions or provide different ideas to explore. – The only thing that really gets boring fast is grading tests because you have to read the same thing over and over again. Right now I should be grading math exams from my 12th grade Leistungskurs, but you can see that I’m procrastinating… ;-)

4. you learn a lot about a lot.
I started out studying physics (and later, mathematics) because they are subjects I care about and wanted to find out about and thought I was done learning when I got my degree(s)*, but I’ve continued to learn since then. The newest aspect of my work these days is helping a teacher in training with the second part of his education – he visits some of my lessons to watch me teach, then teaches some of my lessons while I watch him (and the class) and discuss his lessons with him afterwards. In a sense I’m not just teaching my subjects, but teaching how to teach them as well – if only just a little bit.

5. the commute is rarely during rush hour.
School starts at eight for me so I drive to school while other people drive to work, but I usually drive back earlier than people with nine-to-five jobs because I do a lot of my work at home in the afternoons or evenings. Being able to manage some of my time is a nice bonus of my job as well (see number 8 on autonomy). Right now I coincidentally haven’t got any lessons in the afternoons, which is nice, but the mornings are more stressfull because my schedule is so tight.

6. you have to become an expert at time management.
I know teachers at other types of schools (elementary schools etc.) have to teach more lessons per week than I do, but if you’ve got 24 different lessons in about eight different subjects/classes to prepare you’ve got your work cut out for you. Add preparing and correcting tests, grading work, teacher conferences, excursions and Abitur exams to the mix, and you are never bored. Yes, I procrastinate sometimes or decide to spend a lazy afternoon lounging on the balcony and reading a book, but then I’ve got to work evenings. I never imagined that teachers pull all-nighters at their desks correcting exams, but that’s what I (and several of my colleagues) do.

7. teaching is high intensity.
Never a dull moment! You always have to pay attention to several things at once: the subject you’re teaching, the method you’re using to do it, the students and their problems and behaviour (both as individuals and as a group), and last but not least the many rules that come with a job as a public servant.

8. you are essentially autonomous.
Except for the plans provided by the state which say what has to be taught in which subject and year, I can decide what to teach how, when, in what order and with what methods. I can have my students do experiments or projects, work alone or in groups, I can play with fun physics toys do demo experiments for the students, and I can even decide on the spur of a moment to ditch my lesson plan and do something completely different because of a student’s question or suggestions. It never gets boring!

10. you get to spend every day with people you adore.
Well, it would be dishonest to state that I like all my students equally, but every student is an individual with likable qualities. One may be very bright, one may be creative, one may be talented in a certain area, one acts very social towards the other students, one may be good at explaining so other students understand, one puts everyone in a good mood with a little joke (and you can learn better when you’re having fun!)… you get the idea.

All in all I can say that I love my job and that so far, there never was a day I regretted becoming a teacher.

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* Teachers in Germany have to have two degrees in order to be allowed to teach at public schools. First you study two subjects and get a university degree (erstes Staatsexamen), then you have to complete two years of teacher training (Referendariat) and a second degree (zweites Staatsexamen).