Making physics flourish in Poland: Maria Dobkowska Inspire article

Physics teacher Maria Dobkowska describes the challenges of remaining creative within a strictly defined national curriculum and of working with children with disabilities.

When the first two eminent speakers at a national conference for physics teachers in Poland pause in their opening comments to thank you for inspiring them to study physics, you must be doing something right.

There can be no doubt that the recipient of that recognition, Maria Dobkowska, followed the right career path: her happy 39 years of teaching experience in Poland prove it. “I’ve always been a social person. I liked working with people,” she explains, “and I knew that working in a scientific laboratory wouldn’t interest me. After my time as a trainee teacher, I knew for sure that it was the job for me.”

Maria’s enthusiasm has served her well, particularly when facing the considerable challenges posed by the Polish school system (see box on the Polish education system).

“In Poland we have strictly defined national curricula for each separate subject. You can only introduce your own topics in extra-curricular activities – outside of lessons,” Maria explains.

Unfortunately, according to Maria, successive education reforms in Poland have reduced the number of lessons in physics, but not the extent of the material that needs to be covered before the national exams. “Even during extra-curricular activities, teachers are more focused on preparing students for the examinations than on expanding or introducing new content.” Furthermore, the lack of funds for extra-curricular activities means that the needs of gifted and talented students are not always met.

Many teachers would struggle in such a constrained system but Maria has risen to the challenge. In doing so, she has created resources that have helped other teachers both nationally and internationally.

“I started a student competition, ‘Taking photos of physical phenomena’, initially in my school. It was a great success: some of the photos were so good that they were used as illustrations in the physics handbooks for lower secondary school. Many cities in Poland are now successful conducting similar competitions– this makes me very proud.”

About 10 years ago, together with Miroslaw Los, who teaches physics and information and communications technology (ICT), Maria began making videos of interesting physics experiments^w1. This was in response to the needs of lower secondary-school physics teachers who wanted to make their lessons more engaging but lacked the time and / or equipment. Over time, Maria and Miroslaw extended this resource to include animations and interactive simulations. Today, all the materials are included in Polish physics textbooks and are available on CD, as well as via the website of Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne, one of the oldest and largest educational publishing houses in Poland. Maria has also co-authored many print publications to support the teaching and learning of physics.

Furthermore, through her involvement in Science on Stage^w2, a network of local, national and international events for teachers, Maria has shared her ideas with teachers from many other European countries. Not only has she presented projects at three Science on Stage international teaching festivals, but she has helped to organise Science on Stage Poland since 2006. Together with other teachers involved in Science on Stage, she has contributed to the international publications Teaching Science in Europe: What European Teachers Can Learn From Each Other^w3.

After many years of teaching, followed by a long career break to raise her family, Maria was ready for a new challenge. In 1994, she started teaching physics at a newly established integrated school, an open-plan school where able-bodied and physically disabled students (aged 6-19) learn together. In each class, there are about five students with disabilities and no more than 20 students in total. In addition to the subject teacher, there is a special educator in the classroom, and students with severe disabilities have a personal assistant, for example to help with writing. There are also specialists to help students overcome difficulties in speaking, reading and memorising, and to provide medical assistance. Such schools are rare in Poland.

“The way of working with these students was something entirely new for me and it was a real challenge. I had to change my working methods. Thanks to this school, I became more creative, innovative and courageous in my selection of experiments and demonstrations. I started to give my students more freedom to find their own solutions and I also started to work with projects – an almost unknown method in Poland.” This creativity led to Maria’s involvement in three international, EU-funded school projects, such as ‘Handicapped children in Europe get to know each other’, which integrated science with art, food and cultural heritage.

Of course, even the best teacher’s lessons don’t always go to plan. “Last year, I had been preparing a scientific experiment to show that fresh eggs sink in water, but that as they get older, their density changes until they float. I don’t remember how long I kept these eggs in my lab before I decided to use one of them in another lesson to show that eggs are fragile. I wanted to show it spectacularly and I dropped an egg onto a tray on the floor. The stinking gas from the egg quickly spread throughout the whole school! The students were very amused by what had happened during their lesson. Other students still ask when I am going to make such an egg again!”

It could be argued that the success of a teacher can be proven by the success of their students. Maria recounts, “Michal is severely disabled with cerebral palsy: he is confined to a wheelchair and has difficulty with speech and co-ordination. I taught him physics at our gimnazjum and liceum and now he is finishing his third year of physics at Warsaw University!”

In an ideal world, Maria would like more science lessons per week and more freedom within the curriculum. More funds for equipment would mean more hands-on experiments.

Open science labs, maybe at universities, would encourage students interested in pursuing physics at a higher level. Above all, however, Maria is keen to continue her professional development: “Conferences and workshops are very helpful, and despite my many years of work as a teacher, I can still learn something new.” That’s an attitude worth passing on to any student.

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