Daniel Cottle

Mr.

20162024

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Biography

Dan is a qualified secondary school physics teacher and before joining the University of Birmingham gained 15 years of experience in state schools in the West Midlands as a teacher, leader of physics and Head of Science. Dan works on improving the teaching and learning of physics and widening access to physics to people from a diverse range of backgrounds. He does this through his teaching, physics teacher education, in-service teacher professional development, physics outreach and engagement activity and physics education research.

Dan regularly partners with the Institute of Physics, the Ogden Trust, Physics Partners and others in the physics education community and engages with national policy debates around the physics curriculum and the recruitment and retention of secondary physics teachers. He is particularly interested in supporting and encouraging aspiring teachers of physics.

Dan has previously led the secondary teacher education programme and currently leads on widening participation in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences including pioneering an innovative fully funded foundation year for students from less advantaged backgrounds to help them access degrees in engineering and physical science at the University of Birmingham (EPS Futures). He is also national academic lead for the Levelling Up: Physics outreach project and organises a regular programme of public engagement physics lectures hosted in the School of Physics and Astronomy.

Dan is currently undertaking doctoral research at the University of Oxford which is focused on a phenomenological analysis of the experiences of undergraduate physics students who choose to become secondary physics teachers.

Dan was the recipient of the 2024 Institute of Physics Daphne Jackson Medal and Prize for exceptional contributions to physics education by linking physics teacher training with widening participation in university physics, and pioneering a whole life-cycle approach to addressing issues of inclusion.

Qualifications

  • CPhys
  • PGCE (QTS) Secondary Science Education – Sheffield Hallam University
  • MSci (Hons) Physics – University of Birmingham
  • MSc Teacher Education - University of Oxford

Research interests

The relationship between physics education and climate anxiety in young people.

Issues relating to the recruitment and retention of physics teachers.

Exploring the experiences of international teacher education students.

Effective use of technology in teacher education – particularly simulation and 360-video.

Physics pedagogy.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 4 - Quality Education
  • SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
  • SDG 13 - Climate Action

Education/Academic qualification

Master of Science, Investigating the Extent to Which Informal Mentoring by Recently Retired Teachers of Physics Can Support Beginner Teachers of Physics to Grow in Their Teacher Knowledge and Influence Their Retention in Teaching, University of Oxford

7 Oct 201811 Dec 2020

Award Date: 11 Dec 2020

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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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