50p
Physics 11– a Classroom Full of POTENTIAL Force
For many, physics may be a requirement, but for Mrs O, it’s a passion. Among Brentwood’s substantial list of science courses stands Mrs Olszewski’s Physics 11. Mrs O makes physics fun and memorable which is possibly why she is considered Brentwood’s very own “Mrs Frizzle.”
After getting their first taste of physics in Science 10, a nervous group of grade elevens accelerated into R301, unprepared for what was to come. Primitively, physics was challenging for many students. The year started off with Kinematics – the study of motion – where students began to develop an understanding of how math can be used outside the classroom. To get students comfortable with working with the lab equipment, Mrs O assigned labs that included special software that is used to measure real-life data.
In Mrs O’s class, it would be an atypical day if none of the following items are used to exemplify a physics problem; tennis balls, magnets, canons, toy cars, pendulums or Joshua B, Privett ‘23 on top of a desk. Mrs Olszewski admits that she “strive[s] to create a classroom environment that allows students to engage and experience what they are learning in an effort to help them learn it more thoroughly”. She believes that “a textbook example is no match for personal experience.”
Like a mother teaching her baby how to talk - and Mrs O has two confident young sons - she has filled our brain with physics vocabulary. She successfully taught the class what a parabola was. Now, not a class goes by without Lucas M, Whittal ‘23 blurting out, “PARABOLA!” from the back of the classroom. Mrs Olszewski’s energetic teaching style is what keeps students engaged: “My Grade 11 physics class was 18 boys and 1 girl, but Mrs O made it work and became our friend who happened to be an awesome physics teacher” admits alumni, Juan NP, Whittal ‘20.
As the year has progressed, our physics skills have improved drastically. We’ve learnt how to make and read displacement and acceleration vs time graphs – a skill some mastered faster than others. We’ve also covered 3D and 2D projectiles and how we can rearrange formulas to find missing variables. Although the first assessment might not have gone as well as some would have liked, Mrs O prioritizes our learning development and ensures that every assignment we hand in is better than our last.
Physics may not be everyone’s favourite, but Mrs Olszewski sure is!
Miranda NP, Alex’ 23
After getting their first taste of physics in Science 10, a nervous group of grade elevens accelerated into R301, unprepared for what was to come. Primitively, physics was challenging for many students. The year started off with Kinematics – the study of motion – where students began to develop an understanding of how math can be used outside the classroom. To get students comfortable with working with the lab equipment, Mrs O assigned labs that included special software that is used to measure real-life data.
In Mrs O’s class, it would be an atypical day if none of the following items are used to exemplify a physics problem; tennis balls, magnets, canons, toy cars, pendulums or Joshua B, Privett ‘23 on top of a desk. Mrs Olszewski admits that she “strive[s] to create a classroom environment that allows students to engage and experience what they are learning in an effort to help them learn it more thoroughly”. She believes that “a textbook example is no match for personal experience.”
Like a mother teaching her baby how to talk - and Mrs O has two confident young sons - she has filled our brain with physics vocabulary. She successfully taught the class what a parabola was. Now, not a class goes by without Lucas M, Whittal ‘23 blurting out, “PARABOLA!” from the back of the classroom. Mrs Olszewski’s energetic teaching style is what keeps students engaged: “My Grade 11 physics class was 18 boys and 1 girl, but Mrs O made it work and became our friend who happened to be an awesome physics teacher” admits alumni, Juan NP, Whittal ‘20.
As the year has progressed, our physics skills have improved drastically. We’ve learnt how to make and read displacement and acceleration vs time graphs – a skill some mastered faster than others. We’ve also covered 3D and 2D projectiles and how we can rearrange formulas to find missing variables. Although the first assessment might not have gone as well as some would have liked, Mrs O prioritizes our learning development and ensures that every assignment we hand in is better than our last.
Physics may not be everyone’s favourite, but Mrs Olszewski sure is!
Miranda NP, Alex’ 23