International Physics Summer School students are assessed at the start of each lab on their understanding of concepts by a Sussex physics undergraduate student.

International students' first experience at the Sussex physics welcome event with different stalls showing different physics concepts. Students experience and discuss key physics as well as meeting physics faculty and students.

At Sussex each year over 30 undergraduates are selectively recruited to work as Associate Tutors on the physics summer school programme. The programme takes around 300 students from the University of California to spend eight weeks of the summer at Sussex intensively studying physics. Most of these international students are life sciences majors hoping to study medical science at graduate level, where having a physics qualification is a requirement. For many of these students it’s their first trip to Europe, and it can be a formative experience, with some choosing to continue their studies here.

Although the Sussex Physics Summer School has unfortunately been cancelled during the pandemic, physicists at Sussex, Dublin and Glasgow, along with researchers at the University of California have together published Assessment as Pedagogy in a Compressed- Format Summer Physics Abroad Program. The work highlights the role of the undergraduate tutors in assessment, and the key role they play as peers and pathfinders. Separate work has been carried out by the University of California Los Angeles that demonstrates the high subsequent attainment of students taking intensive physics programmes at Sussex and elsewhere, and is due to be published this year.   

Here we talk to some of the people who have worked as Physics Summer School Associate Tutors while still studying physics at undergraduate level at Sussex. We ask how such work shapes their view of teaching, internationalism, their own studies and, of course, doing physics:  

Annie Harries: PhD Researcher, Materials Physics Group, Sussex

Annie’s research focuses on biological interfaces with nanomaterials.

"I taught labs in the summer school for 3 summers, and came back to help for another 2 summers after that, so it is fair to say that I have really enjoyed being part of the summer school community! Starting to teach between the second and third year of my undergraduate, I found that I was learning better ways of studying which helped me in my own degree. I learned a lot about how to communicate effectively to the students, and it was always a pleasure to see students getting stuck into the experiments, really questioning the concepts at hand, and having fun(!). I have remained at Sussex to study for my PhD, and it has been exciting for students to have tours of our research labs as I think our labs are a really exciting place which could inspire students, especially as we encompass interdisciplinary work with life sciences, making it easy for the students to see the connection between physics and their own studies."

Seb Davies: starting as a PhD researcher in Physics at the University of California, Riverside. Research topics to cover dark matter theory, general relativity and quantum cosmology.

Workshop Physics Associate Tutor, Summer School 2019

"To be involved in the summer school was honestly such a great feeling. I found the whole teaching process to be super rewarding, especially when you see a student have that 'lightbulb moment' where they have suddenly gained understanding for a concept or a question, I never knew that I would find that so rewarding until I participated in the summer school. I found the summer school also encouraged me to want to involve teaching in my future and as such I am going to try and become a graduate TA when I start my Physics PhD at UC Riverside. The summer school had a definite influence on my views of internationalism and studying abroad. Whilst I was interacting with the students and hearing their experiences of studying in a foreign country, I would think to myself 'If these students found the experience of studying abroad to be so valuable and character building, then why shouldn't I aim to achieve something similar'. The summer school without doubt had an effect on my decision to choose to study my PhD abroad in California." 

Mark Russell: starts a physics PGCE at Sussex in September 

Workshop Physics Associate Tutor, Summer School 2019

"Teaching workshops in the Physics Summer School really confirmed for me that teaching was the path I wanted to follow. Getting to spend the days engaging with both students and fellow staff is so rewarding. Having spent so much time in my degree getting to grips with physics, being able to confidently impart a lot of that to the students felt like a wonderful pay-off. The summer school allowed me not only to help the students learn, but also to help myself understand what really goes into creating an engaging learning environment. The students are submerged in physics over the length of the course in a way they wouldn’t be back at their home universities, and this often led to some really insightful questions and thoughts about the concepts and ideas in class. As the students are building their physics understanding from the ground up, your understanding of how to explain the concepts also solidifies and becomes more refined. Even as a TA, I learned so much from participating in the summer school and I can’t wait to bring that into my own teaching going forward." 

Tasha Bierrum: PhD researcher in the Quantum Systems and Devices group, Sussex

Tasha’s research focuses on Bose-Einstein condensates in time-varying confinement.

Workshop Physics Associate Tutor, Summer School 2019

"I had a fantastic time teaching in the Physics Summer School in the summer between completing my undergraduate degree and starting my PhD, also at Sussex. It is a unique teaching experience that gives you freedom to develop your own teaching style over the course of the summer school. I really enjoyed discussing different teaching methods with other associate tutors and how to best engage the students with the material. As an incentive to study, the top percentage of summer students were given a tour of the research labs in the department. I enjoyed showing them the applications of their course material and it was great to see them asking lots of questions. The intensity of the school and the collaborative work environment gave me the confidence to pursue teaching alongside my postgraduate studies. I am now a doctoral tutor to first year undergraduates in physics, and the experience will support my application for an associate fellowship with the HEA (Higher Education Academy)."

The summer school physics welcome event is run by the Physics Outreach team. Throughout a normal year the Physics Outreach team organises undergraduate visits to schools and community events to promote physics. The physics undergraduates who present at these outreach events explore science communication from the start of their undergraduate studies. This work encourages and prepares some of our students to take up careers in teaching. Many of the undergraduate students who take on outreach roles, also go on to work for the Physics Summer School, as the outreach work provides useful experience for taking on undergraduate teaching roles over summer.