Teacher sings physics laws into students’ minds

AMMAN — Over the years, the changes with his students’ learning behaviours prompted physics teacher Mohammad Shbool to come up with creative theatrical tools to get his students to become more attentive in class. 

The idea of a strict teacher did not appeal to Shbool, who believed that new and modern ways of teaching should be implemented amid the current technological era. 

Whether he is dancing, playing Oud or guitar, Shbool is always full of energy while teaching. 

“I try to turn my classroom into a stage, by creating a theatrical environment and perform a specific scenario for it,” he told The Jordan Times at Salah Al Deen School in east Amman. 

The teacher wrote a script and a plot for his classroom to turn a “boring class” into an entertaining stage that makes his students more easily understand the “scary physics”, he explained. 

 Shbool noted that the new generation has changed due to the widespread use of modern technology, noting that tools like Google and mobile applications have facilitated students to find any information they seek.

“With the rise of technology, I decided to adapt my teaching methods,” he explained, noting that “since 1997, I have been teaching this way. I have taught some of these students’ parents and many of them are pushing their children to attend my classes because my class is like a theatre.” 

Shbool also composed some musical lyrics based on the laws of physics, which he teaches to help students better understand the “complicated topic”. 

“There are 250 physics laws that the students have to understand and memorise,” he stated. 

Mohammad Zahran, one of Shbool’s students, said music really helped him understand the laws of physics better. 

“In the exam, there are so many laws to remember but, thanks to Shbool, we remember them straight away through his songs,” the 18-year-old said. 

Zahran was “afraid of physics” just like his fellow students, recalling how they faced great difficulty in understanding the subject. 

“Shbool helped me overcome the panic I suffered regarding this topic,” he recalled.

Zahran said some people believe that Shbool’s methods are not serious but stressed that “as students, we do understand them better.” 

Shbool confessed that many people have been opposing his teaching methods, especially his use of music inside the classroom.

“But, at the end of the day, many of my students received high marks in their exams,” he concluded.