“When I was picking Year 11 subjects, I initially didn’t select Physics. I was intimidated by the subject and felt it was too difficult. But after discovering my interest when doing an SRP, and hearing your encouragement, I changed my preferences, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.”
My student who wrote this to me achieved a HSC mark of 97 for Physics. Her words stunned me, and ignited a burning desire to try and make physics friendlier and accessible. For if even top students suffer from imposter syndrome, how many others feel discouraged from pursuing physics?
In 2024, there were 6,380 male but only 1,907 female and 4 non-binary students enrolled in the NSW HSC Physics course. My students’ results show time and again that this difference is not due to any gender difference in aptitude for physics. Instead, it is affected by whether students perceive physics to be inclusive. Do they see themselves as a part of the physics world? Do physics resources talk about people like them?
By using stories through comics, I hope that all students can put themselves in the characters’ shoes in order to experience physics… and then realise that actually, they have been part of the physics world all along.
“Physics was interesting, but I don’t want a career in physics. I want to help people.”
Early in my teaching career, a student told me this.
When a student understands the relevance of what they are learning, they become more engaged and motivated. There are many interesting sources of information that discuss applications of physics. However, typical practice questions often reduce scenarios to ones involving point masses or blocks, where students just “plug and chug” – that is, substitute numbers and process equations.
I wanted to continue sparking curiosity for physics in the real world through the questions that students practise, while developing a broader range of skills, especially literacy. And help students realise that our modern world would not be possible without physics.