IOP 16-19 Membership
IOP membership is available to students aged 16–19 on a recognised post-16 physics course. Find out more here.
Community Website
talkphysics.org is our community and resources website. It aims to bring together those who want to develop the teaching and learning of physics. Online networking tools enable peer-to-peer support on a range of topics and provide a route by which advanced-skills teachers can support less experienced colleagues. Peer-to-peer links can be tailored to the needs of individual departments and schools. For example:
- A head of department could set up a virtual meeting room to discuss with her department the way in which the support materials present Newton’s first law.
- An advanced-skills teacher could set up a discussion room to support teachers in local schools on the best ways to teach energy, attaching documents or resources that help.
- A large group of teachers could discuss how they use videos as lesson starters, embedding videos from YouTube and other rich media.
- A Physics Network Coordinator could seed peer-to-peer links. For example, the Physics Network co-ordinator might set up a link between a biology teacher in a school with physicists and a known physics advanced-skills teacher in a local specialist science college, providing an opportunity for personalised support.
- A group of technicians could discuss how to use and develop apparatus based on our workshops.
- A University could set up a group to advertise outreach events for teachers, and add events to that specific calendar linked to the group.
talkphysics.org is the home of our SPT resources. It also supports all teachers of physics, but particularly those in their early years and non-specialists, in developing their subject knowledge and pedagogy. The resources can be used in science departments as a professional development tool. Each module provides a coherent, comprehensive and engaging physics narrative on a topic, planning tools and resources for use in lessons. The following KS3 modules are currently available:
- Earth in space
- Light
- Sound
- Electricity and magnetism
- Forces
- Energy
The following KS4 modules are currently available:
- Electricity and Energy
More topics are currently in development.