Science teachers
I put it to you all to remember all of your teachers and I will wager that in most cases you will remember the physics teachers as the most entertaining.

My GCSE physics teacher back in the late 80s sought a way to demonstrate the doppler effect. So he filed us all outside into the playground/yard/large overflow staff carpark. He then got in his car drove to the far end, spun round and came hurtling past with a large airhorn blaring out of the window. It worked too.

In one lesson, he gave us each a latex glove each, a small ceramic tile and a blob of plasticine. He told us to make a wall around the tile with the clay. He then came round and gave us all a small pool of mercury to play with. One kid floated a 50p coin (the old coins that were huge) on his, which was rather impressive to us 15 year olds.

However, the best demonstration which I don't think served any purpose apart from sheer amusement, was when he handed out helium balloons to groups of three. We all had to have a lungful and then hang on to it. He then gave the word and we all had to sing "All Things Bright and Beautiful". I don't think anybody got past those first 5 words before laughing, and laughing under helium was just as funny.

I'll agree with the adage, "school is the best time of your life". I'd like to add "Physics doubly so" to that.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Fri 18 Mar 2011, 10:28, 8 replies)

I remember mine.
White goatee beard, wore velvet jackets and spent most of the lesson making excuses to go out of the classroom so he could smoke his pipe.
Most of the experiments he demonstrated ended with the line, "How odd, it's not supposed to do that".
(oneinthepink is at your cervix m'lady, Fri 18 Mar 2011, 10:40, closed)

hehehe
How long ago was this? My form teacher when I was 11 (back in the early 80s) used to smoke his pipe in class and care not a jot. To be fair though, he was well into his 60s and was in the RAF during the war, tasked with making sure the paratroopers left the plane properly over occupied France (I think it was France).
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Fri 18 Mar 2011, 10:48, closed)

Early 90's this was.

(oneinthepink is at your cervix m'lady, Fri 18 Mar 2011, 12:32, closed)

I'm not at teacher...
.. just a dad.

But I did spend yesterday afternoon with my daughter's after-school club. We made ice-cream. Using liquid nitrogen.

They may be too young to remember any of the science (5-11 yr olds) but they will remember that science can be fun.

And yes - I think it was the fun physics and chemistry teachers which made science subjects stand out for me too. The thermite reaction in a flower-pot on bonfire night stands out particularly.
( Ugi , it's a game of give and cake, Fri 18 Mar 2011, 11:03, closed)

My physics
teacher was an utter cunt, I'm afraid. I will admit that I wasn't really a model pupil, so I can't hold a grudge.

The problem was that he was married to the biology teacher, and I had had a few runins with her, to the extent that she would basically look for an excuse to eject me from every lesson. It was a case of 'sit down, shut up or get out'.

I found for no particular reason that he took an immediate dislike to me, presumably for no better reason than his wife didn't like me. He had problems with quite a few pupils, so it wasn't entirely my repellant personality.

Although as I said, I was a pain in the arse too, I think between them they did the schools science department no favours at all. They were very mediocre teachers, more concerned with control than educating.
( Not Pineapple anymore, Fri 18 Mar 2011, 12:29, closed)

Thommo was the most entertaining -
And he taught English, French and History. I may recall some of his exploits if I sleep on it.
(Redemption blamed it on the Bossa Nova since, Fri 18 Mar 2011, 13:07, closed)

my physics teacher was a short, fat, self-important bitch
who seemed to resent that I was good at physics
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 18 Mar 2011, 13:36, closed)

Indeed I remember him.
He looked like Conrad Black and had a persona/reputation not far from the scary shovel guy from Home Alone. This was not helped by his habit of stroking the skull of the lab skeleton affectionately and introducing him as "Jeremy, an unfortunate student who never learned his mechanics equations".

He lived in a house next to my grandmothers, and I used to see him digging in the garden at dusk. My cousins and I had a rule - Football goes in, pocket money is pooled for a new football.
(Tchocky is no longer contagious, Wed 23 Mar 2011, 22:14, closed)