PhD Physicist & Former Teacher — Algebra-Based Physics & Astronom

Nora S.

I hold a PhD in physics and spent several years teaching high school science in Arlington and Montgomery County Public Schools, where I taught algebra-based physics and astronomy. Before that, I was a teaching assistant for undergraduate physics and astronomy courses in graduate school, working directly with students in lab and discussion sections. Astronomy has also been a lifelong personal passion outside the classroom — I participated in a two-week Mars analog mission simulation in Utah in 2013, living and working as a crew member under simulated Mars mission conditions, and I still regularly observe the night sky.

My approach to teaching physics centers on process over memorization. Many students who struggle with physics aren't missing the concepts — they're trying to hold an entire multi-step solution in their head at once, which is genuinely hard. Instead, I teach students to anchor each unit to one core equation (starting with something like F=ma) and consistently work through the same problem-solving steps from that starting point every time, so the process becomes automatic rather than something they have to reinvent under pressure. This step-by-step consistency is especially helpful for students who freeze up on word problems or multi-part questions.

Outside of standard coursework, I love exploring Fermi estimation problems — the kind of "how many blades of grass are on a football field" reasoning that shows students physics isn't just equations on a test, but a genuine tool for figuring out how the world works. While estimation problems aren't usually tested directly, weaving that mindset into tutoring sessions tends to build the kind of intuition that makes the tested material click faster too.