IOP website for teachers launched
The Institute of Physics has launched a new education website for teachers – IOPSpark.
Designed to be a complete online resource for every aspect of pre-19 physics teaching, www.iop.org/spark is just one element of the IOP’s dynamic and expanding education programme.
The site has been designed to give teachers, trainees and teacher-trainers a one-stop-destination to access the best physics resources and thinking available.
It comprises of an up-to-date and constantly growing bank of over 2,000 IOP education resources.
Available materials include lesson plans, teaching notes, videos, student worksheets and topical enrichment activities. The resources complement each other and are easily searchable by student age, topic or type of resource, with links to carefully selected further reading.
All resources on the site are IOP approved, themed by curriculum areas and have been tried and tested by physics teachers for their peers, to provide teachers with a single destination for accessing the latest research, news and content to help bring classroom teaching to life in topical, fresh ways.
And they are all free.
One area of the site even identifies common misconceptions in physics, and provides teachers with strategies and tips on how to prevent such confusions becoming embedded obstacles to student learning and achievement.
Charles Tracy, Head of Education at the Institute of Physics said:
“Teaching physics today is hugely rewarding. However it can be daunting to teach something new or to teach something familiar in a new way. We know it’s also challenging for teachers to stay constantly abreast of the latest resources, news and content, particularly when teaching and lesson-planning means time is limited.
“Our hope is that the new IOPSpark site will provide teachers with a trusted source of ideas and professional learning, whether they are looking for a quick fix or pedagogical contemplation. Some of the site’s resources are ready to use whilst others will allow users to delve a bit deeper and explore the best ways to present those ideas and develop their own explanations.
“By providing teachers with high quality resources, open access to the latest subject thinking and by empowering collaboration amongst the physics teaching community we hope to help create the optimum conditions in which this fascinating subject can flourish in schools for generations to come.”
