This Saturday, on March 9, 2019 we held our 41st UBC Physics Olympics. More than 730 BC secondary students participated in the events. They represented 72 teams from all over British Columbia who worked tirelessly for months to create their pre-builds, prepare for the Fermi Question and Quizzics competitions, and get ready for the hands-on […]

physics olympics-2019 poster For the past half a year, my colleagues from the Department of Physics and Astronomy and I have been working together on organizing the 41st UBC Physics Olympics. This is an annual event that has become a tradition. It is also a unique opportunity to bring together physics teachers from all over […]

I am very fortunate to be teaching an online course that explores modern educational technologies and their influence on learning. The most exciting thing about the course for me is not that I am teaching it, but I am learning with my students. They are experienced mathematics and science educators who know so much and […]

Last December I was interviewed by Lisa Keller from the Canadian Association of University Teachers. Lisa wanted to hear my view on the Matilda Effect and what in my view is going on with women in science today. Most importantly, she wanted to hear how current situation it is reflected in science teacher education. The […]

Today I had an opportunity to do a school visit with the Scientists and Innovators in the School organization. I volunteer there and try to visit about ten different classrooms every year in order to engage kids with science. I especially try to visit schools in which the children might have fewer opportunities to visit […]

Last week while preparing myself for writing a research paper, I was reading about the invention of logarithms by John Napier of Merchiston (1550-1617). The story of logarithms is a fascinating story connecting mathematics, science, and our everyday life. You can find a lot of information about it online, including many excellent videos, books, and […]

As 2018 is coming to a close, I kept thinking what made it interesting and exciting for me. While family for me always comes first, my work comes a very close second… Making a very rough estimate, I have spent at least 2200 hours working last year… This is a huge amount of time and […]

I am very fortunate to be able to attend the STEM in Education 2018 conference organized by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. I am a Co-Chair of the 2020 STEM in Education Conference that will take place at UBC in 2020. This conference was one of the best I have attended […]

As we are celebrating the first day of the fall and are wondering what the winter has in store for us, I cannot think of a better science connection to the inevitable change of seasons than a very famous study by Philip Sadler – A Private Universe. I use it in my undergraduate and graduate […]

During the last few days I was invited to take part in the Fifth Beijing Science Festival (BJSF) that took place at the Beijing Olympic Stadium. It was my first time to participate in such a big and so well organized event that aims at engaging children and the general population in science, technology, engineering […]