Archive for the 'General' Category
Wednesday, November 30th, 2022
As the winter 2022-2023 term is coming to an end, it gives me an opportunity to think about how we have been using smartphones in my physics classrooms in the last few years. While the original goal was to engage students, especially when we had to teach fully online, as our experience grew, we were […]
Filed under: Conferences, General, General teaching, Interactivity in the classroom, Mathematics education, Overcoming technology barriers, Personal, Physics Education, Science Education, Teacher Education, Technology and learning | | Comments Off on The evolution of smartphones in my Physics Classroom: Beyond engagement
Wednesday, September 21st, 2022
Tomorrow will be official the first day of fall. Thursday, September 22nd, 2022 is the autumn equinox, the day when the length of day equals the length of night. Of course, it is a spring equinox in the southern hemisphere, but for us, it is the beginning of fall. As a science teacher, I see […]
Filed under: Computer simulations, General, General teaching | | Comments Off on Thoughts on the Equinox and Learning
Sunday, September 4th, 2022
This year, for the first time in my life I had an opportunity to visit a rodeo. Even though my Ph.D. is from the University of TX, I never had a chance to see a real rodeo there. I also have never visited the famous Calgary Stampede or similar events. To be honest, I didn’t […]
Filed under: General, General teaching, Science and society, Science Education, Science in everyday life, Teacher Education | | Comments Off on New Academic Year – Have a Great Ride
Thursday, May 5th, 2022
This year I was invited to be one of the judges of the International LUMA StarT competition. This is a large international competition organized by my colleagues at the University of Helsinki in Finland. StarT competition invites educators and students from all around the world to present and share exciting ideas about teaching and learning […]
Filed under: General, General teaching, Homeschooling & Pandemic, Interactivity in the classroom, International Assessment, Mathematics education, Outreach, Overcoming technology barriers, Physics Education, Science and society, Science Education, Science in everyday life, Teacher Education, Technology and learning | | Comments Off on Public Voting: International LUMA StarT Competition
Monday, March 7th, 2022
On Saturday, March 5, 2022, UBC Departments of Physics and Astronomy and Curriculum and Pedagogy organized our second ever virtual UBC Physics Olympics. UBC Physics Olympics has a history of more than four decades! This time, we decided to have a virtual event once again, to increase student participation and decrease the risk of spreading […]
Filed under: Data collection and analysis (sensors), General, General teaching, Interactivity in the classroom | | Comments Off on 2022 Virtual UBC Physics Olympics
Tuesday, February 15th, 2022
Last year we decided to conduct UBC Physics Olympics virtually. It was the choice we had to make in order to make the Olympics happen. Despite all the challenges more than 40 teams participated and the event went very well. However, surprisingly (at least to me), very few teams from outside of the Lower Mainland […]
Filed under: General, Homeschooling, Homeschooling & Pandemic, Interactivity in the classroom, Outreach, Overcoming technology barriers, Science and society, Science Education, Science in everyday life | | Comments Off on Getting Ready for Virtual Physics Olympics
Saturday, December 4th, 2021
A few days ago I was asked to lead a discussion with a group of local parents on how they can support their children during the school – university transition. As I have had an opportunity to teach undergraduate science courses for more than 10 years, I have seen many of these issues and their […]
Filed under: Conferences, General, General teaching | | Comments Off on Thoughts on Reading and Science Education
Tuesday, September 7th, 2021
Dear Science Educators: Today is an exciting day for many of us in British Columbia, as we are starting our new academic year. It is especially exciting as many of us who had to teach online can return back to our campuses. While online education has its advantages, seeing students in person is also very […]
Filed under: General, General teaching, Personal, Physics Education, Science and society, Science Education, Teacher Education | | Comments Off on Online M.Ed. in Sci. Ed. Program @ UBC
Saturday, September 4th, 2021
As I am preparing for my fall semester (I am teaching my physics methods course for the 10th time), I keep thinking about how this year feels and what I expect of it. While last year, it wasn’t entirely clear to us what we could do and how the term would go, this year it […]
Filed under: General, General teaching, Science Education | | Comments Off on Academic Year 2021-2022: New challenges, new possibilities, and new hopes
Tuesday, July 27th, 2021
This summer I had an opportunity to teach an intensive online course in our M.Ed. in Science Education program. My course focused on using technology in STEM education. One of the assignments in the course was to design a professional development activity that would support teachers in incorporating technologies in their practice. This is what […]
Filed under: Computer simulations, General, General teaching, Homeschooling, Interactivity in the classroom, Mathematics education, Outreach, Physics Education, Science Education, Science in everyday life, Teacher Education | | Comments Off on Summer course EDCP 544 – Final Projects