Guided Problem-Solving

I use a drawing tablet and screencasting software to work through physics, math, and chemistry problems with my learners. It’s not quite the same as a real whiteboard—it’s better!

I send digital copies of the final worked-out solutions and the screencast videos to my learners, who can keep them forever for future reference.

At-Home Experiments

Science is learned by building and experimenting, and nothing substitutes for a hands-on project! I have spent years developing physics and chemistry projects that can be conducted at home, using only ordinary household materials and free software.

• Build a rubber-band car, and learn the work-energy theorem

• Light a candle, and learn how to balance a combustion reaction

• Throw a tennis ball, and learn Newton’s laws of motion.

Science as a Skill, not a Talent

Learners may struggle with the feeling that some other people get science, but they themselves aren’t that sort of person. Science education research shows that this attitude causes anxiety, interferes with learning—and is false! Science is a skill that can be developed by anyone like any other skill: through practice, expert modeling, and self-reflection.

In my lessons, I affirm my learners’ achievements, and challenge them to develop their science skills. My learners learn to do science; but they also learn to feel like scientists.