Want the world to know physics? Teach the teachers.

Deborah Armstrong never took physics in high school, and her college physics class revolved mostly around worksheets and math. So when she learned she’d be teaching physics two months before her first day as a new teacher, she looked inward to build her class curriculum.

“I used my personality to develop the course how I wanted to do it, which involved a lot of hands-on, engineering-focused labs,” she says. This learn-by-doing strategy has worked wonderfully for her students at Mineola High School in Mineola, Texas.

Armstrong’s impact also reaches far beyond her classroom: she has been named the 2025 National PhysTEC Teacher of the Year, an award that recognizes outstanding physics educators. The Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) — an initiative of APS and the American Association of Physics Teachers — seeks to address a shortage of qualified physics teachers in the U.S. As the winner, Armstrong receives funding to attend an upcoming AAPT conference and a $1,000 grant for classroom materials.

APS News spoke with Armstrong about her journey into physics, her teaching style, and the value of teaching teachers.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Which came first, your interest in STEM or in teaching?

Definitely STEM. I originally had no interest in being a teacher. In college, one of my professors gave me a summer job running an environmental science camp for eighth grade students. Then he got ill and couldn't lead the camp. He emailed me and the other five college students saying, “Do the best you can.”

The other four had no interest, but I jumped right in and ended up running the summer camp. I shocked myself, but I absolutely loved it. I was like, “this might be what I want to do,” and I changed my major from medical engineering to science education.

How did you end up teaching physics?

I graduated with a general science teaching degree. Then I took a job in inner-city Fort Worth because I was a broke college kid and they offered a $4,000 cash bonus. I said “absolutely,” didn't look into it, and signed on the dotted line. I thought I was going to be teaching biology and human anatomy, but when I showed up, they said, “You're teaching physics.” That was a rough start.

But as soon as I started teaching, I thought, “Wow, this is amazing.” There was all this fun hands-on stuff I could do. Biology is more about what you can't see, but physics is everything you can see. It clicked right away for me, and I've been teaching it for almost twenty years now.

What is your favorite physics unit?

I like projectiles — anything flying through the air. We're launching golf balls with slingshots, we graph these beautiful parabolas, and, oh my gosh, it's math, and it's in motion, and it's beautiful.

You’re also focused on teaching teachers, right?

Yes. In my first year teaching, I had no curriculum, no guidance, no mentors, no experience. I had that one summer to try to get everything together. I knew I wanted to do hands-on lessons, but I only had a budget of a couple hundred dollars. From that point on, I started developing my own cheap physics labs. I mean, we make mouse trap cars out of craft sticks and glue and whatever we have laying around.

In the beginning, I would put my lessons on CDs, then I'd go to conferences and I would give everybody I could a CD. Now I have a Google Drive and I just give everyone a link. I've developed a little bit of a following this way. I'm going to the Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching in two weeks, and I already have people emailing me saying, “You're going to be there, right? I want to go to your workshop.”

People always say how much they've changed how they teach based on the lessons they've gotten from me, and I think that is absolutely amazing. If we could all freely share everything we have, how much better would we be? I'm not just helping my hundred students now, I'm helping thousands of other students by helping their teachers.

You’ve earned many teaching grants and awards over the years. What’s your secret?

I don't mind being turned down. I'll apply for fifty different opportunities, and if I get one of them, I'm super excited. I think that's what really gets my name out there, along with sharing my work with other teachers.

There's a couple of teachers that I pushed to apply for a grant last year, and they got denied. I asked them, “You’re going to apply again, right?” They all said no. I applied for a program in Germany three years in a row, and I got it on the third try. I guess that's my motto — don't give up. It's okay to be rejected. It happens.

What challenges do you face in the classroom?

I think the hardest part of my job is the different math levels of my students. I have up to 120 students, and their abilities range from severe-resource special ed all the way up to advanced placement in college-level classes.

Many of our students also deal with mental health issues. I used to get frustrated by some of their frequent absences, but then a family member went through something similar, and I’ll tell you, the empathy I feel for my students now... I wished I could have learned that lesson ten years earlier, so that I could have had the patience these kids really do need. Anytime we can experience something ourselves, we're going to understand other people a thousand times more.

What advice do you have for other physics teachers?

There's so much support out there right now. When I first started teaching, the internet was just a baby and we didn't have all these resources. There are physics teacher groups everywhere, and they really want to help you.

My favorite is my Facebook group. Someone will post about a lab that didn’t work, asking, “What else can I do?” And everyone throws in ideas. I don't care if you're in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma with no physics teachers around, you can find help and support. You just need to be open and look for it. Don't be the teacher that thinks they know everything, because none of us do, and we all need help.

Do you have plans for your PhysTEC award grant?

I got a grant a while back to buy 15 Oculus Quest virtual-reality headsets, and then I was able to purchase five more. So I'm at 20, but my class size is 24, so there are always four students who don’t have headsets during labs, and I can’t stand that. The Oculus Quests are down to $300, so this grant will get me three-and-a-half, and I’ll use some of my science budget to finally get to a full classroom set. My students are going to be super, super excited.