User:Cyberphysics

Cyberphysics

I am the retired Head of Physics of a U.K. selective, girls' grammar school. The above site has material suitable for pupils in Y7 to Y13.

I am a fully qualified physics Teacher - BSc (Hons), MSc, PGCE, MInstPhys, CPhys... more letters after my name than in it - although I have let the last two sets of letters lapse as the fees are pretty high to remain a member of the Institute of Physics and I am only on a small pension now...

My site is the product of a teaching career that involved teaching physics in one of the UK's leading state grammar schools. Selection for this school involved an entrance examination but no fees were paid for tuition. The pupils were therefore selected for their intelligence not their social background. I was therefore used to teaching physics to the highest level to students in the age range 11 to 18 years. At Key Stage 3 most of my pupils attained a level 7, at GCSE most of my pupils attained A or A* and at A level most of my pupils attained a grade A*, A or B. My lessons therefore aimed at a deeper than average understanding and a higher than average standard from my students.

I began putting material on the World Wide Web back in the 1990s under the name of Cyberphysics on my pwp (personal web pages). The address was www.cyberphysics.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. My students found it useful to have revision lists online to help them with revision. I found it useful to put up a wide range of materials for their use that I simply did not have time to share in class. As my interest in computing grew, so did my site. I enjoyed experimenting with animation and graphics packages and felt that the time I spent gained validity if I spent the time producing materials for my students.

It was in 2009 that I moved the site to its own domain. This gave me much more webspace and enabled me to upload more graphical material. As well as worksheets and test and examination question solutions I began to include items which interested me such as 'science in the news' and information on famous scientists. These pages were useful as background reading for my pupils. I also began to experiment with You Tube videos, making little vid-clips for topics that I knew some students needed extra time to cogitate over.

I also joined the TES Connect site, sharing my resources with teachers all over the world. In October 2012 I became a TES content partner because my contributions were highly prized and in February 2013 I was invited to take part in the new sister website that the TES has started for Australian educators. In 2010 the Institute of Physics held a competition to find the best physics websites. I still don't know who entered me for the award but I was very chuffed when the IOP contacted me and said I was in the shortlist for of finalists. I didn't win outright... that went to a professionally run site (teams of writers)... but I did win by popular vote - I got 4 stars! There wasn't a 'prize' other than the acclaim of being a winner, but I was thrilled to have my little Fuzzle carry the banner saying I had won the votes of so many users.

The IOP haven't run such a contest since... but if they do please nominate me... and vote for me, so that I can win the right to have the little Fuzzle carry another such placard!

The site today has over 1500 pages, over 440,000 people have visited the site over the last year - many of them returning to the site time after time. I love to hear from 'fans' all over the world. It is good to know my hard work is appreciated.

I retired from classroom teaching in August 2014 but remain a setter for A level questions and marker of GCSE papers. My interest in education, physics and computing is ongoing, as is this site. I hope you find my site useful and interesting. It is free to use, but should you want to thank me for my help a small donation would be gladly received...