New semester..new life

The new semester is starting soon..next week to be exact. Actually, it was 3 weeks of holiday for us at the Teaching Institute..which is an extra 1 week from the normal school holidays. So having 'rested' for 2 weeks, I wonder if I should have cleaned up the house, prepare good meals for the children, tidy up the wardrobe etc..etc..which actually did not happen.

Two of the kids will be leaving the house soon. One to London & the other one to UiTM Penang. So the holidays is filled up with a jumble of activities of preparing them for their new life journey. First week is a hassle of shopping for 2 sets of everything; bedsheets, shoes, clothes etc. which needed to be done as quickly as possible so that we won't miss the mid year sale. So we have trips after trips of shopping at Sogo, Pavilion, Sunway Piramid, Mid Valley Megamall and of course..the uptowns.

Second week is the hassle of preparing paperworks and application for UK visa for the girl..not an easy job..fixed deposits, passport size photos with white background (usually blue), translated birth certificate (needs to be done at the high court) etc..etc..Finally,I managed to pack the troop and headed back to JB by the end of the 2nd week.

So this is the last week of the holidays..and I'm counting the days..Monday, medical checkup for the boy, Giant and Sunway Pyramid for their last minute shopping. Tuesday, finally managed to do some work for the book..but have to go and shop again (Tesco this time). Tomorrow..? Kak Izan (a colleague) called to arrange for a short meeting in the morning for next sem's course, after that to the bank and jalan TAR (to shop again). Thursday..hopefully I will get to spent some time at home ( if the kids did not realise they have forgotten to buy something..again). Friday..trip to Penang to send son; Sat..his registration day. Sunday is last day of the holidays..hope I will manage to do something for the house then...

To my kids..farewell & welcome to a new life journey.

Learn physics? But we're teaching primary science...

Why is the sky blue? Why do I move forward when the bus stops? Why are my legs shorter in water? Why? Why? Why? As parents,we answered questions after questions to quench our child's thirst for knowledge. As they grow older and reach the primary level, more questions come into their minds that need to be answered. By who, but not us teachers..?

I have students asking me why they have to do physics when they're only going to teach primary science..My answer is..but if you did not do physics, how could you understand enough to teach these phenomena to your pupils? How would you select the best teaching strategies/approaches/aids? For example; pulleys make it easier to lift objects. But how does they make it easier? Of course you won't be talking about MA or IMA when explaining it to your pupils, but your knowledges of these will give you enough confidence that you will be able to explain their functions and how increasing the numbers make us require less force to pull the object up.

Remember that to teach a physics topic, you need to have the relevant knowledges; the content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK).Content knowledges give you enough background information on the topic that you're going to teach, so that you will able to provide information, answer their questions or prepare relevant summatif assessments for your pupils. PCK on the other hand helps out when you're teaching as you will be able to identify problematic concepts, probable misconceptions and teach the topic according to your pupils' levels.

So students, to be an good teacher..know your physics concepts. Teaching primary science is not an excuse not to learn physics.

Physics learning..?

Learning physics is never easy..Being a physics teacher for 16 years, the most common respond that I get each time I tell an individual that I'm a physics teacher, is that 'I was very weak in physics', 'I used to hate physics' or 'I only managed to get a P7 for physics in my SPM'. But my amazement was most of them will add another sentence 'Oh..but I remembered an experiment that uses the trolley that you have to push, then paste ticker tapes on to my lab book'

It kept me thinking why this experiment is more popular among these ex-physicists. Even those in their 40s and 50s remembered this small but not unsignificant part of their physics life. Why? So I came up with a few anwers:
(1) it involved hands-on learning; meaning that you were actively involved in the learning processes.
(2) you enjoyed the activities; the learning processes involved learning and playing at the same time. You were always communicating with one another in the classroom.
(3) You were free to move about in the laboratory during the lab class and a allowed make noise (which does not happen often in a physics classroom).
(4) You don't have the headache of trying to understand what is being taught as the learning process is simple and very straight foward. Push, cut, paste and there...the tape chart is created..! Movement with constant velocity, constant acceleration etc..everything right in front of you at the end of the lesson.

My conclusion is that active learning aided the cognitive process, while communication and use of our senses makes everything simpler and clearer.

Proud of being able to find the answers to my question, I asked an individual who was babbling about his experiences with the ticker tapes. 'So..what was your findings of these actvities?' He gave me a blank look and smiled...'That..I forget..'

Well...at least he remembered the activities...

Welcome

To all 1PPISMP science. Welcome to IP Teknik, to a new life journey.