Teaching
Here are some materials produced from my time teaching in past years.
I apologise in advance for any errors!
Surely there will be quite a few, considering the volume of content below, many of which were produced years ago and which have not been through any rigorous fact-checking since. But at least these represented my best efforts at compiling high-quality material at the time, so hopefully it won’t be too bad!
Astronomy and Astrophysics
From my time as the trainer of the HCI team for AstroChallenge (2019-2022)
and the Singapore Astronomy Olympiad (2021-2023).
HCAstro (HS and NY) Interest Group regular sessions: 2019, 2021
Astrigue booklet — a qualitative introduction into astronomy aimed at secondary-school students, made for Astrigue, a convention jointly organised by HCI and RI
Introductory SAO training collected materials including lecture notes, problem sets with solutions, and mock exams (in that order). The audience is assumed to have a good understanding of secondary school-level mathematics (up to basic calculus) and physics (e.g. prior familiarity with forces), but not necessarily any experience with (astro)physics beyond the school syllabus.
HCAstro 2022-23 SAO Winter Training materials focusing on more advanced problem-solving. The audience is assumed to have a good understanding of basic ideas in (astro-)physics and celestial mechanics at a level similar to SPhO: Format, Rapidfire, Standard, Investigation, Solutions, Final Test.
Mathematical Physics
From the period after my participation in the Asian Physics Olympiad (2022) to present.
Talk on Linearity in Math and Physics for HCI SMTP-GATE students during a school Physics lecture in 2022 (video recording)
Online lectures delivered to HCI Physics Olympiad 2022 team about classical wave theory:
Waves and Superposition, Doppler Effect and DiffractionNotes with problems used in training the HCI Physics Olympiad 2023/2024 team:
Mathematical Topics: ODEs, Fourier Series
1. Historical Overview, Forces and Energy
2. Problem Solving and Inertial Frames
3. Noninertial Frames and Rotational Mechanics
4. Introduction to Waves and Interference Phenomena
5. Wave Interactions in a Medium
6. Introduction to Electrostatics
(Guided solutions for 1-3 are available upon request, but are not posted here to encourage independent problem-solving.)Handouts used for the training of the HCI SPOT 2024 team in preparation for APhO Selection Test:
1. Multivariable Calculus in Physics 2. Linear Algebra in Physics 3. Averages and Distributions
Do note that these notes were designed for group discussion, so they may be terse and not-so-ideal for independent learning.
Also, they focus on the mathematical skills useful for understanding physics, but not the physics itself; so their role is only as supplements to a proper training program. There was also a Final Mock Test.Problem Set used for the Singapore Physics Olympiad Training 2024, for revision prior to APhO Selection Test. (SOL)