Initial evaluations of the Stories from Physics highlight their accessibility and their broad reach across a range of learner ages and interests. Significantly, they celebrate diversity within science, and the development of new scientific understandings within cultural and historical contexts. As a result, they are now used by teachers to promote an understanding of physics that isn’t stuffy or elitist, but rather the story of people who have sought to investigate phenomena that make up our everyday world.
Institute of Physics
24 October 2022
King's academic awarded 2022 Institute of Physics Daphne Jackson Medal and Prize
Richard Brock, Lecturer in Science Education in the School of Education, Communication & Society, has been awarded the 2022 Daphne Jackson Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics.
Richard Brock, Lecturer in Science Education in the School of Education, Communication & Society, has been awarded the 2022 Daphne Jackson Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics, "for exceptional commitment to engaging students and teachers with the human side of physics, exemplified by inspiring and quirky Stories from Physics, published by the IOP."
The Institute of Physics (IOP) is the professional body and learned society for physics, and the leading body for practising physicists, in the UK and Ireland. Its annual awards proudly reflect the wide variety of people, places, organisations and achievements that make physics such an exciting discipline.
Congratulating this year’s Award winners, Institute of Physics President, Professor Sheila Rowan, said:
"On behalf of the Institute of Physics, I warmly congratulate all of this year's Award winners. Each and every one of them has made a significant and positive impact in their profession, whether as a researcher, teacher, industrialist, technician or apprentice.
"Recent events have underlined the absolute necessity to encourage and reward our scientists and those who teach and encourage future generations. We rely on their dedication and innovation to improve many aspects of the lives of individuals and of our wider society."
The IOP were particularly impressed by Dr Richard Brock's Stories from Physics, which illustrate his strong interest in being learner-centred in teaching his discipline. They mentioned:
"Brock combines a deep knowledge of physics with an equally profound understanding of how some learners have difficulties making sense of physics concepts and, even more fundamentally, seeing themselves as able to engage with the discipline. In response, he has developed a teaching approach that centres upon the learner: he seeks alternative ways to engage learners with the ideas of physics by making the subject seem less alien, more human and an integral part of our everyday lives."
In this story
Senior Lecturer in Science Education