Exploring the experiences of undergraduate physics students on a ‘Teaching Physics in School’ module and the effects on their intentions to become physics teachers

This article describes an undergraduate physics module at a university in England that places year 3 student physicists in secondary school classrooms for a semester. This is done as a way of introducing them to the occupation of secondary physics teaching using a realistic job preview approach. The module helps the undergraduate students develop their communication and professional skills and supports the physics learning of pupils in the schools where they are placed. The perceptions of the participating students toward secondary school physics teaching are then investigated. Two themes emerged from this research: The difficulty of explaining physics concepts to children and the need to make school physics enjoyable.