Seniors become physics teachers for a day

HOLT­VILLE — Explaining physics is a challenging task, even more so if the audience is made up by second-grade students.

But Tuesday, Holtville High School seniors managed to use imagination and games to do exactly that as part of their final project for physics class.

Seniors did the planning and whole lesson plan to teach physics to Finley Elementary School students without using big words, said Lynne Van Der Linden, Holtville High School physics teacher.

“For three weeks they’ve (students) been preparing,” said Van Der Linden.  And some “were very nervous” since Finley teachers were going to grade their presentations, she said.

The result of the seniors’ hard work was a series of activities for various groups of second-graders.

Electrostatics, temperature and expansion, Newton’s laws and magnetism were just some of the themes taught through ingenious games and experiments. 

Student Emily Hansen, 17, even dressed as Albert Einstein for her group’s presentation.

But to initially reach the audience was somewhat problematic for some.

Teaching kinetics to children is demanding, “but it’s fun at the same time,” said senior Carmen Santana.

Her group used pop corn to explain kinetics and temperature. “You have to put yourself in their (children’s) place,” she said.

Monica Lopez, 17, who was part of Santana’s group, eventually got tired after a number of presentations, she said.

“You have to have so much energy and you have to run around and act like a little kid — but a physics kid,” she said. Still, the experience was fun, Monica said.

For Nydia Garcia, 17, the most difficult thing about teaching to kids was maintaining the children’s attention.

But she found a reward when children saw a new experiment that they’ve never seen before, she said.

Josue Lara, who along Nydia was teaching Newton’s three laws of motions, “loved every part of this day.”

Not only did he get to give back to the community by teaching to kids, Josue said, “I like to see the look on their faces when they learn something.”

And kids do learn a lot better because we connect with them, said Alexis Angulo, 17.

Danitza Sandoval, 8, was one of those kids and she said she “liked everything.” On top of having fun, Danitza said she learned physics and science.

Meanwhile, Cameron King, 8, learned about electricity, he said with a smile, “but can’t figure out exactly what I learned.”

Staff Writer Alejandro Davila can be reached at 760-337-3445 or adavila@ivpressonline.com

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