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An infographic to support teachers to help their pupils overcome anxiety about physics in school, produced from research by John Connolly.
"Can I Physics?" Yes, you can!
Physics people - all the people
Get your pupils to research a physicist who is not male/white etc. and the realities of being a scientist - things are not discovered immediately and there is a social aspect to discovery and development of knowledge.
Challenge notions that only certain pupils are good at physics.
Highlight what you found difficult as a pupil to help to alleviate pupils' feelings of isolation thinking they are the only ones struggling in physics.
(Image represents Subreamanyan Chandrasekhar and Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell)
Learning as a class
- Try to discourage competition between pupils.
- Avoid comparing pupils' performances.
- Avoid mention of effort - higher effort expenditure for minimal gain amplifies notions of a lack of capability.
Power of success
- Have your pupils had a chance to experience success in a variety of activities in physics?
- Give pupils opportunities to practice their verbal answers with peers.
- Get pupils to model their thought processes when answering challenging problems/questions.
Practical work - the realities
- Consider how experimentation can go wrong and how this represents the realities of working in science.
- Try some 'messy' practicals where there can be more than one answer, e.g. find the diameter of a human hair.
Overcoming fear of failure
- Pupils can be frightened of getting answers wrong, how can their fear be alleviated in your classroom?
- Encourage pupils to recognize that it is okay to get answers wrong - wrong answers create vital learning opportunities.
High resolution version. Infographic by Janine Clayton.