Getting Physics College Credit at Montrose Starts with Inspiring Faculty
On one Wednesday morning in February, there weren’t many students at Montrose School. Instead, the faculty and staff were talking about … pirates.
This month, the faculty enjoyed an inspired presentation from Allison Daubert, a senior lecturer in the Physics Department at Bridgwater State University and the instructor for Montrose School’s Dual Enrollment Physics courses: 243 and 244 Calculus-based Physics 1 and 2. Through this new program, Montrose students are able to take two college courses (amounting to 8 college credits) as a part of their Montrose curriculum.
Allison also teaches CP Physics and two sections of AP Physics at Montrose.
“It gets them comfortable in the college environment while still finishing high school,” Allison shared. “Our first students are doing really well in this program, and it’s saving them some money on college-level credits. We have an extremely robust science program for the size of our school.
Within the context of a tight-knit environment, where students are really known, they’re getting small class sizes in these upper-level courses and getting a lot of access to hands-on experimentation.”
Allison’s talk this week was inspired by her extensive teaching experience, her own research and presentation at the American Association of Physics Teachers at the Boston 2024 summer gathering, and the book, Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess. On this occasion, Allison led the faculty in a creative brainstorming session to generate new “hooks” for teaching students the most mundane lessons that they undertake every year.
“A good hook will trigger a student’s episodic memory, versus their semantic memory, which is just rote memorization,” Allison shared. “They’ll remember the story of what they learned better. So, why will your students be excited to learn today?”
Allison has a track record of cooking up inventive hooks to get her students interested in physics. She made up an elevator company (complete with custom name badges for each student) so they could calculate the rate of the school’s own elevator system. She founded a fictional toy testing business so students could measure the complex projectile motion of nerf bullets. She even ran her own version of the boardgame, Clue, for students to work through a ballistic pendulum lab.
“This is tough physics. The kids need to eat the vegetables, so we have to dress up the vegetables.”
Allison’s ingredients for a memorable lesson follow Burgess’ P.I.R.A.T.E. acronym: “Passion. Immersion. Rapport, Ask and Analyze. Transformation. Enthusiasm.” The results of just a four-minute brainstorming session amongst this group of faculty were impressive — not to mention, hilarious.
One group wrote their own chemistry lab safety song, complete with hand motions and a clapper stick. Another group drew up an art prompt that taught the value of keeping documents and assignments organized. Each table was filled with teachers across disciplines and experience levels, and each idea was as authentic and unique as the teachers who created them.
“Be authentically you,” Allison challenged the room. “You have to bring your own passion for the content, your profession, and your hobbies. Passion is your core fuel. If your students didn’t have to be there, would you be teaching to an empty room?”
The faculty at Montrose are teachers and lifelong learners, but their most important qualification is that they are experts in educating girls. They remain advisors and mentors to our girls long after they graduate, because they engage with our students with authentic passion and a genuine care for their formation as a whole person.