The Long Beach State physics department and the department of science education held a Physics Teacher Education Coalition Demo Day Thursday, where teachers from nearby high schools and elementary schools along with CSULB professors demonstrated physics experiments.
“When people are in college, it’s not just learning things about physics,” said Galen Pickett, a physics professor. “It’s learning things about yourself and what you want to do with your life. This workshop is a chance for people to try on this teaching role and see if it’s something that fits them.”
The workshop is held on every second Thursday of the month throughout the semester to accommodate the schedules of the teachers, professors and students.
“The aim is that every time someone brings something here that is cool and unusual that I’ve never seen before,” Pickett said. “So it helps me teach better and helps high school teachers teach better. It also helps physics majors to think that this is cool and maybe they could do this cool thing for a living.”
Trent Flores, a senior physics major, said it’s a good idea to have a mix of professionals and students to display how to do experiments and learn about how to present them effectively.
“I currently plan on being a teacher,” Flores said. “So this kind of stuff reinforces that even more. I want to go more into teaching whenever I see stuff like this.”
“When people are in college, it’s not just learning things about physics,” Pickett said. “It’s learning things about yourself and what you want to do with your life. This workshop is a chance for people to try on this teaching role and see if it’s something that fits them.”
This article was updated Feb. 15 at 11:28 a.m. to include Galen Pickett’s position.