Graham Preston

0575654
Sept 17, 2014
EDUC 4265 YA
Reflection on Learning Physics
Growing up the son of a quietly passionate elementary teacher and an enthusiastically nerdy engineer,
it's no wonder I ended up being fascinated by science. My parents instilled both a sense of wonder for
the world and a sense of curiousity for how it all happened; I always wanted to know why? The word
physics comes from the Greek phusika meaning natural things and is defined as the study of the
nature and properties of matter and energy (Oxford Dictionaries). In other words, it was the answer at a
very fundamental level to all of the questions that I had.
My wonder grew through elementary and high school and it eventually led me a degree in aerospace
engineering. Overall I had quite positive experiences learning physics, I believe mostly due to the fact
that most of my teachers and professors shared some of that wonder. That being said, there were
definitely classes that my curiousity stayed alive despite my experiences. In the last few years I have
begun to think more about pedagogy and it is interesting to look back and pick apart my physics
education.
Mum's idea of fun was setting up science experiments for my brother and I, and at Christmas we
usually expected some kind of science kit from Dad, although they were never as dangerous as the ones
in his stories. They were always willing to answer questions about how things worked and let me take
apart the random electronics I found on the curb side on garbage day. Dad especially loved problem
solving and encouraging me to make connections between previous things we'd talked about.
I don't have many clear memories of specific physics lessons in elementary school, but I do remember
enjoying science. For the most part I had teachers who tried to foster curiousity and who were patient
enough to answer questions. There were lots of hands-on activities and teaching resources to make
lessons fun. I was thrilled when Grade 7 came and we had a separate science class, with real
experiments. And of course, the yearly science fair was something I took seriously because I loved that
I got to choose what I learned.
Around this time I began to be more critical of how classes were taught, probably because of the
exposure to different teachers for each class. In high school and university I noticed big differences in
how much I enjoyed a class, regardless of whether I was interested in the material. The most important
factors were how passionate the teacher was, how experiential the learning was and the amount of
choice I was given in what I was learning.
My best teachers were the ones who were enthusiastic about what they were teaching and tried to
structure their classes to create that same passion in students. They were able to form a connection to
the sense of wonder my parents had given me. Approachable teachers who were happy to chat after
class reinforced their genuine interest rather than just a duty to teach. Conversely, it was very
frustrating when teachers would discourage questions, especially if they were not directly on topic, or if
they didn't make time to interact with students. I had several professors in university who made it clear
that teaching young undergraduate students was below them. They had no interest in slowing down
when concepts went over our heads and nothing was up for discussion. Sit down, take the notes, and

figure it out the hows and whys on your own. To me the enthusiasm was more important than an
endless knowledge of the material, so long as they were competent. I was just as happy if a teacher was
willing to admit they didn't know something but made the effort in to find out for us or encouraged us
to research it ourselves.
Enthusiasm was the hook but to maintain my interest I also needed to see the connection between
theory and application. Demonstrations, realistic examples, science toys and lab experiment were the
best anchor point in my memory. Wave interactions will always be linked to the water table in our
class, and the effect of surface area in reactions to a purple contact explosive my teacher smeared on
the lab bench. Classes spent copying overhead projector notes or trying to listen to a prof talk at you for
an hour and a half crushed my desire to learn or think critically. To be able to link the concept to a real
world example was a quality I valued in my teachers. In addition to the how? and why?, I also
wanted to know where I could use the concept in solving real world problems. In engineering,
especially in the lab components of courses, I had higher expectations of using knowledge to solve
problems and was proportionately more disappointed when that link wasn't made. I remember being
bored to death and retaining nothing from labs where we had to simply record a few numbers off stress
gauges then do pages of calculations without any sense of the question we were attempting to answer.
In general I would have enjoyed more (and more choice within) inquiry-based instruction. What led me
to engineering was the process of determining a problem or a goal and designing an experiment to find
a solution. Sometimes this was through calculations on paper and sometimes this was hands-on, but the
key was the independent thought it required: activities like science fair, designing a catapult and
freedom to play with liquid nitrogen in a science club. In 4th-year engineering I was part of an ongoing
project designing a motion simulator and I learned more about real experimentation there than any
other time in my education. The more independence, the more invested in projects I was and the more I
learned about scientific process and critical thinking rather than simply facts.
My childhood and experiences in school meant becoming scientifically literate was fun and relatively
easy. It is important to reflect on what worked for me because that is not the case for everyone and
scientific literacy is a necessary tool for making informed decisions in today's society. The context
ranges from personal health to global ethical issues; food production, food-related health,
pharmaceuticals, industrial processes, machinery, communication, energy production and global
warming are all prime examples.
Certain basic knowledge is a foundation for understanding our increasingly science and technologybased world and needs to be taught to everyone. Considering physics, for example, we need some
knowledge of energy, forces, kinematics and waves to have an understanding of and interactions with
many of the issues and technologies listed above. Some people may be inspired enough to go on to
develop a more extensive knowledge in order to develop or problem solve existing technology. We also
need people who integrate their foundation into other fields or into the big picture of society. That is
especially true when it comes to developing more sustainable technology or methods that address
global issues.
Equally as important as knowledge is the scientific method and critical thought to create new ideas and
examine those presented to you. Creativity, experimental process and independent problem solving
should all be taught through secondary school science. Even those people not directly involved with
developing the science have an interest in making informed decisions on personal issues and a duty to
make informed decisions on global issues. Science teaches us to ask questions. Is my health affected by
cell phone radiation? What is in the food I eat? Is my lifestyle energy-efficient? What is my impact/my

country's impact on global warming? It teaches us how to think critically about information presented
to us and draw a conclusion.
As a teacher it will be necessary to keep in mind that not all students will be as innately excited as I
was about science. Despite that, it is important that basic scientific literacy be developed by the end of
secondary school. Reflecting on methods that engaged me as a student as well as considering what will
engage others will help me to teach physics and scientific literacy successfully. Ultimately my goal is
to share my curiousity in how our world works and foster sustainable attitudes towards our interactions
with it.

Bibliography
Physics. Oxford University Press. 2014. Accessed 14 Sept 2014.
<http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/physics>.