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A certified chartered physicist, Gillian has taught physics for over three decades in UK schools and in the Cambridge curricula system. She has also developed a specialization in project-based learning and the Cambridge Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). Gillian also teaches math and biology.
As a Physicist I am daily immersed in theories, laws and conventions. I know that for a theory to be good, it must be testable, be predicative and must be based within a tradition with clear lineage. I find theories of education somewhat nebulous and unsatisfactory by comparison. In particular, I dislike theories which have hierarchies of needs or intelligences. This comes from the day to day experiences of teaching where every child I teach refutes these ideas by having unique skill sets, drives and intelligences which simply do not match these hierarchies. Physics is also extremely popular with spectrum disorder pupils and I have found this aspect of education very rewarding when you give the pupils time to express themselves and to overcome their frustrations and not box them in with theories, usually they are only too happy to tell you what they need to thrive.
In my opinion, the highest intellectual skill is the ability to create and tell a story in front of an audience and keep them mesmerised. To do this you have to know yourself, know your audience and know a lot about human nature. There may not seem like a direct link to hard science here, but creativity and understanding self and one's place in a wider narrative are vital to successful study of science.
I have been influenced by the Socratic method and by the Soviet educationalist Makarenko. There are similarities in their desire to listen to the student and bring them on from where they are. Neither is didactic, both are deeply rooted in humanism and humility.
As an educator, I prefer small groups or 1-1. I am patient and am happy to teach in the way preferred by the student. If they want lots of practical examples, I will find them. If they want to do all the maths first, and think later, then that is what we will do. I think teaching has to follow a set of objectives which have been co-created with the learner. There also needs to be structure and a time-frame. The wider context and the human angle are also important and if a student starts asking metaphysical or philosophical questions, these should be taken seriously.
“When you give students time to express themselves and to overcome their frustrations and not box them in with theories, usually they are only too happy to tell you what they need to thrive.”
