To make physics student-friendly,teachers make a beeline for IIT-K

The “National workshop of Uttsahi Physics Teachers” conducted by Verma,will stress on three important topics — conceptual understanding of physics principles for teachers,experiment-based teaching and open-minded experiments.

With the help of household items,Verma has developed over 300 small experiments which can be easily demonstrated in the classroom by teachers before starting the theory. Each summer,a group of 50 teachers who followed and promoted these experiments are invited to attend the workshop.

This year,the teachers come from Kerala,Maharashtra,Gujarat,Rajasthan,Chhattisgarh,Madhya Pradesh,Punjab,New Delhi,Uttar Pradesh,Haryana,Assam,West Bengal,Bihar and Orissa. Till date,over 3,000 teachers have joined hands with Verma to simplify the study of subject.

For this year’s workshop,Verma has developed 35 experiments. “The most important thing is that the teachers should understand the principles and concepts of physics,and our workshop’s first session covers the issue,” Verma said.

The IIT-K faculty members have organised question and answer rounds,discussions and quiz to help them. “Thereafter,we will have the sessions on small-scale experiments,” he said. “The last session will be dedicated to open-minded experiments.”

Sudip Bhattarcharya,a physics teacher at Bolpur’s NNB High School,West Bengal,has been associated with Verma for the last two years.

“The experiments have not only improved the performance of students but even teachers are finding it easier to teach the subject,” Bhattacharya said.

M S Marawah,a teacher at Shri Guru Govind Singh College,Sector 26,Chandigarh,said: “Earlier,the students could not link theories with their daily life and so found it tough to understand the subject,” he added. A physics teacher for past 30 years,Marawah joined hands with Verma in 2006. “Since then,I have conducted several workshops at Haryana and Punjab.” He said over 250 teachers in Punjab and Haryana are taking help of Verma’s experiments to teach the subject.