e=mc2andallthat

​The fact narrated must correspond to something in me to be credible or intelligible. We as we read must become Greeks, Romans, Turks, priest and king, martyr and executioner, must fasten these images to some reality in our secret experience, or we shall learn nothing rightly.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson, “History”

The autumn term is always the longest term: that long drag from the wan sunlight of September to the bleak darkness of December. This is the term that tests both the mettle and the soul of a teacher. At the end of it, many of us have cause to echo the gloom of Francisco’s lines from Hamlet — “’tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart.”

But even when it seems like it’s all over, it’s still not over. 

The heavy hand of collective-responsibility roulette has tapped me on the shoulder. It’s my turn to write the scheme of work and resources for the next term. I am to write the energy module for the new GCSE Science course. And it must be done, dusted and finished over the Christmas break. The Christmas break.

And the surprising and unexpected truth is . . . I actually think I’m going to like doing it! Yes, really.

Strange to say, I have always enjoyed writing schemes of work. To my mind, it’s a bit like fantasy teaching instead of fantasy football. I move lesson objectives and resources hither and thither where others shift premier league strikers and goalkeepers.

Some aspects of the Science curriculum are abtruse and hard to communicate. Undoubtedly, some of the things we narrate do not always correspond closely enough to something which is already in students to be either credible or intelligible to them. The images and concepts must be fastened to some reality in their “secret experience” for them to learn rightly.

And what can we do to help them? Simply this: make sure that students get as much hands-on practical work as possible. Of course, it goes without saying (I hope!) that it should go hand-in-glove with coherent and thorough explanations of the theoretical underpinnings of scientific understanding.

One without the other is not enough.

Physics: it’s remarkably similar to Maths. But there’s a point to Physics

Let us hope that our students (in the words of R. A. Lafferty) never see a bird fly by without hearing the stuff gurgling in its stomach.