Mastering
the magic of
physics
Teacher uses magic tricks to get students
interested in subject
CREATIVE: (Left) Mr
Mohamed Ashiq Mohamed Elias demonstrating the levitation trick that
he uses to get students interested in his physics lesson. (Inset)
Mr Ashiq holding a cup of water upside down over his head with a
piece off cardboard holding back the liquid.
Report and photos by OH MING XUAN
Getting students interested in physics lessons is not
rocket science for Mr Mohamed Ashiq Mohamed Elias.
No, the teacher isn't using his role as the discipline master at
Pasir Ris Secondary School to scare students into paying
attention.
Mr Ashiq has other tricks up his sleeve. The
34-year-old has been using magic to get students interested in his
subject.
From squeezing hard-boiled eggs into bottles to
flipping glasses of water upside down, he has done them all in the
name of science.
For his creative approach to teaching and efforts
in nurturing his students, Mr Ashiq, along with four other
teachers, was awarded the Outstanding Youth in Education Award by
the Ministry of Education at the Teachers' Investiture Ceremony
last Wednesday.
The award is given to teachers below the age of 35
who display enthusiasm, energy and active involvement in the
development of youth.
A total of 1,446 new and returning teachers also
graduated as full-fledged teachers at the ceremony.
Mr Ashiq learnt about the use of magic tricks as a
way of engaging students when he was a trainee teacher at the
National Institute of Education in 2008.
When he joined Pasir Ris Secondary School as a
physics teacher six years ago, Mr Ashiq applied what he had learnt
in that lesson.
"I was showing the students the magic tricks every
other lesson, as I was eager to engage them with science."
For instance, a levitating spinning top makes use
of magnetic forces, while the hard-boiled egg is sucked into the
bottle using a burning piece of paper to create a pressure
difference between the inside of the bottle and the outside
atmosphere.
Such was the enthusiasm shown by his students that
he even engaged an external vendor to go to the school to conduct a
magic workshop. But he realised there was a problem with this
approach.
Mr Ashiq said: "My students became more interested
in the magic tricks than science."
He started to scale back on the magic tricks, and
used other methods such as IT and videos to engage his
students.
For now, Mr Ashiq's students will probably get to
see his magic tricks only five or six times in a year. "Now I do it
so that I can engage the visual learners, as well as to create
interest in the subject."
BREAKING THE ICE
The magic tricks have become a way of breaking the ice with his
students.
"The tricks make me more approachable to the
students because in the classroom, I am more a teacher than the
discipline master."
The secret behind the trick is not explained till
the end of the lesson or even the next lesson.
But from time to time, students would suddenly
interrupt his lesson to tell him that they know the secret behind
how the trick works.
He said: "It shows that the trick has engaged them,
and they are thinking about the science behind it.
"When they do get it right, it shows that they are
actively using what I'm teaching."
Mr Ashiq is keen to emphasise the importance of
value-based learning.
"It is important to link whatever the students are
learning to values and ethics.
"The topic of kinematics, with the study of speed
and distance, can be used to teach students about the importance of
punctuality too."
To him, it all boils down to one thing.
Mr Ashiq said: "It's not about getting good
results, but getting good results the right way."
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News, The New Paper, Saturday, July 19 2014, Pg 11