PHY 111 students reach out to nearby middle schools

Playing Red Light, Green Light with a sixth grade science class in the halls of Holland Middle School in Trenton, a group of University students from PHY 111: Contemporary Physics, hoped to teach Newton's First Law of Motion with their game example.

In lieu of a final exam, professor David Nice gave his students the option of participating in a community outreach teaching program. Nice said approximately one-third of his class opted to teach three-day physics lessons to local students at Holland and at John Witherspoon Middle School in Princeton.

As with the Red Light, Green Light game, Nice said he feels the best part of the program is seeing the many creative ways that his students choose to teach the material.

"My best experiences with the program have come from watching students teach things in a way that I have never seen before," Nice said.

Some of the University students involved in the program said they have found enormous satisfaction working with local youth. Cameron Carr '03 — one of the students teaching at Holland — said he believes demonstrations and hands-on activities are key to keeping young students' attention and interest.

"It's important to help them see that learning can be active and fun," he said.

As with many of the student teachers, Carr's group borrowed material from the physics department to provide the sixth graders with tools and equipment available at the University. With gliders, fire extinguishers, cars, charts and model solar systems in hand, the physics students used teaching methods that would inspire their middle school classes to understand and remember the lessons.

Erin Metcalf '01 said, "I think the neatest part was being able to make use of the physics department's resources and to show the kids demonstrations that they wouldn't normally have been able to see."

Alice Wang '03 and her group made smoothies for their eighth grade class trying to learn about the conservation of matter. They demonstrated that the drink weighed the same in the blender as it did after being poured into different glasses.

Wang said that though the learn-by-teaching program was time consuming, it was worth the effort. "It gave me a better idea of what it's like to teach and how to engage students in what you're doing," she said. "It was a lot more fun than a final exam."

Beginning in October, all of the University students had to make a commitment to participate and write a short statement about the subject matter they wanted to teach.

Nice said, "It's important for them to start thinking about it early since it's a pretty big commitment."

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

After being assigned a class, each group of three or four University students met with the teachers to determine a convenient time to do the project and had the opportunity to view their classes to determine their level of experience before finalizing lesson plans.

The week before the program began, each group performed a complete run-through of the lesson for Nice, the assistant supervisor and Meg Fels, the head of the Center for Teaching and Learning.