Thomas, Robin and Patrick Kaplo discuss the re-release of the vacuum cannon, the ITER fusion project, Prof W Brian Lane tells us his PIM and James De Winter talks about avoiding “Plugging and Chugging”.

• Welcome back Patrick Kaplo @ 00:37
• The Vacuum Cannon is back @ 01:10
• Physics in the news: ITER and fusion @ 02:07
• Prof. W Brian Lane and his Spring Lab @ 04:23
• Differences between US and UK systems @ 13:21
• James De Winter and Maths in Physics @ 20:24
• Please give us some Waves teaching tips @ 27:31

Patrick Kaplo joins the team once more. Thomas announces that the Vacuum Cannon can once more be ordered in the shop (for delivery in early June). Physics In The News leads to a chat about Fusion at ITER and how it is always 25 years away. Thomas introduces Prof. W Brian Lane who first appeared in Episode 20 (Ways to teach… Displacement, Velocity and Acceleration). Discussing it, Thomas and Patrick get a bit sidetracked talking about our different systems before Robin steers them back to the idea of teaching with a triple whammy of Theory, Simulation and Practical. Thomas then plays a short section of a chat Robin had with James De Winter about the place of Maths in Physics and avoiding “Plugging and Chugging”.

Episode 27 (assuming we make it) will be all about ways to teach Waves. How do you do it and what works best for you?

Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions – on our Facebook Page: https://fb.me/physicstp .  You can also message us via our website contact form at the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, Twitter @physicstp, email using  the address given in the podcast (if we remember) or by leaving a voice memo using WhatsApp or Telegram to the phone number in our Twitter profile, +44 7898 814716 (don’t call the number, nobody will answer, just hold down the microphone icon and speak your message). Don’t forget to tell us your name because we may use your audio in a future episode. Please do leave a voice memo: Thomas thinks nobody loves him.

Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions by messaging us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/physicstp.bsky.social .  You can also message us via our website contact form on every page of the web site at  the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, or email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember). We are moving away from X but can be found there as @physicstp.

• Season 7: Physics Is Our Business by Miracles of Modern Science.

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