Ryan Berns has joined Campolindo’s physics staff this year, where he teaches AP Physics 1 and 2. Berns “started off as a chemistry teacher but became certified in physics and chemistry,” and he “went back to school to get [his] Master’s in physics education,” Berns said. This is his first year teaching in California since he moved here from New Jersey.
In both AP Physics 1 and 2, the class consists of experiments and notes. Sophomore Kedar Khamkar added that “we have a good amount of homework but not too much.”
Although physics is a complex subject, Berns thinks that “as long as [his] students understand the basic way to represent physical concepts, then we should be able to move forward.”
Senior Nina Damiano, an AP Physics 2 student, said, “we do a lot of labs. [Mr. Berns] does every lesson very interactively, so if we’re learning a new concept, first we test the concept then he explains it.”
Junior Elaine Huang, an AP Physics 1 student, agreed and said “he’s super visually oriented. When he does examples, he’ll do it visually.” An example of this is when “we measured the displacement of water for a rock” first, then “learned about density,” said Damiano.
Additionally, Berns “posts all the notes on Canvas, so if I ever need to review, it’s all there,” said Khamkar.
Huang said Berns “has a lot of energy and brings a lot of fun to the class.” An example of this is when Berns “skateboarded around the classroom to teach us about motion,” she continued.
Berns finds that the best part about being a teacher is the students as they are “very respectful, very engaging, and very self motivated. I find that the Campolindo atmosphere is a lot more relaxed than what I’m used to. Coming from New Jersey, school is a bit more rigidly organized in terms of where the students have to be, what they have access to, what they have to do.” Berns added that he “[loves] looking outside of my room and seeing a rose garden right there.”
