Creating an Engaging, Curious Classroom as a New Science Teacher

About 15 years ago, I was fresh out of college with my degree in molecular biology. Before graduating, I was in that scramble to start the “adulting process,” so I applied to be a lab technician. Come to find out, I didn’t enjoy being in a lab all day running the same tests every day. So I quit and decided to become a teacher.

The position I applied for said, “Science Teacher.” I told myself, “Heck yeah, I can teach biology”—after all, I did graduate with a degree in biology. The interviewer never mentioned what science class I was going to teach. A week or so later, I met with my new principal, Mr. Saucdea, and he said, “Hi, Mr. Hawkins, so you’re our new physics teacher.” I nodded and said, “Aha! I’m your guy.” Good thing he didn’t know that I‘d never taken physics. And I was terrible at math—just ask my stepmom.

STEPPING INTO MY NEW ROLE AS A PHYSICS TEACHER

The first day of school, I was frightened. I was constantly worrying about whether I was going to get exposed as a fraud. I thought to myself, What am I going to do? I don’t know physics! Every night, I had to learn physics so I could teach it the next day to my students and pray that they didn’t ask questions because I probably didn’t know the answer.

What I wish I’d known in my first year of teaching physics is that I was not a fraud at all. I realized that being dedicated to learning physics made me the perfect teacher for physics. I knew every mistake that a student was going to make before they made it. I knew how to prepare my students better because I was a student myself. I was in their shoes.

And of course, I made mistakes all the time, but I did learn from them. I even did the unthinkable: I told my students, “I’m learning physics with you guys, and I’m going to make mistakes, and you are too, but we are going to learn together.” I still feel bad for my students whom I taught for my first year. I messed up a lot. I still feel bad for their college physics professors. But I got better, and I started learning new practices to take into the physics classroom.

CREATING A CLASSROOM OF CURIOUS SCIENTISTS

I learned to create an atmosphere of curiosity with my students, especially when we would start a new topic. I did some of the most basic things, like setting up related lab equipment for what we were studying at the front of the class. For instance, if we were studying electrostatics, I would put a Van de Graaff generator at the front of the classroom and not even use it until the next day. Students would immediately start asking questions: “Mr. Hawkins, what is this? How does it work? When are we going to use it?”

I also learned the importance of front-loading vocabulary. To us teachers, the vocabulary may seem like common sense, but it is not, especially for English language learners (ELLs). This was hard for me to grasp in my first year as a teacher. Then, I realized the importance of using methods like the Frayer Model to teach vocabulary. And I realized that the teaching methods used for ELLs can be used for every student. Later, I learned how to make learning vocabulary a little more fun by using AI to write Python programs to make Bingo games, word searches, crossword puzzles, even Jeopardy-like games, and many other activities.

FOCUSing ON CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING

Something else I had to come to terms with was that physics is not just math. Students do need to learn concepts. To teach these concepts, I would use Peer Instruction (PI) by Eric Mazur. In a nutshell, PI is the ultimate think-pair-share activity. You present students with a physics concept using a slide presentation. Students first read the question and then, without talking, they pick an answer, and then you poll the students. I would have students use their fingers—one finger for A, two for B, and so on.

Then the students have to convince their classmates of their answer, and while the students are doing this, the teacher circulates to understand the thought processes of the students. You re-poll the class, and students explain why they chose their answer.

To further enhance the understanding of conceptual physics for my students, I used simulations from free online programs like PhET, Physlet Physics, and Falstad Circuit Simulator. PhET, by the University of Colorado Boulder, offers simulations for physics and other topics. Physlet Physics is very similar to PhET; it offers many mini-simulations. My favorite is the Falstad Circuit Simulator, which allows students to design their own circuits. These simulations allow students to understand more abstract concepts more easily.

BEING OPEN WITH STUDENTS

The most pressing thing I learned that I wish I’d known before was that it is OK to share your vulnerabilities with your students when it comes to the math required in the physics curriculum. It is OK to tell the students that you are bad at math and that you learned how to be stronger at it, and to share those experiences. It gives hope to students. In my personal experience, part of my growth came from reading confessions from religious and philosophical figures, which opened my eyes to the fact that everyone is human. And students often forget that their teachers are human as well.