Dan Mitchell-Garnett

About

• Dan has been with Save My Exams since September 2022 and enjoys his role as a Physics Content Creator. Dan contributes his experience in both teaching and tutoring to the role, as well as a passion for physics developed in his master’s degree.

• With his main experience in teaching being with high-achieving GCSE students for AQA Physics, Dan was challenged to grow as an educator. Teaching at a new school meant he led the first sets of students through their GCSEs and contributed to teaching methodology and course structure.

• In undertaking a SCITT (school-centred initial teacher training), for which he was awarded an Institute of Physics scholarship, Dan has worked across a broad spectrum of the UK educational system. From innovative inner-city schools to more traditional rural settings, he tackled remote learning challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic. This included running required scientific practicals over Zoom using red cabbage, baking powder and vinegar, showing his obsession with quality learning for students! Dan has also tutored several students one-on-one. During this time, he has helped struggling students achieve 9s in internal examinations.

• During his master’s degree in physics at Durham University (a course which he passed with first class honours) Dan was involved in research in the Biophysics Department, thanks to a fascination with the overlaps of scientific disciplines. He took over part of a post-doctoral researcher’s work on forming models of the cell membrane and studying its mechanical behaviour under osmotic pressures. The team’s research is recorded in this Nature Communications article. Using (carefully…) laser microscopes and manually manipulating vesicles osmotically, Dan contributed to this fascinating body of research into how dilations in cell membrane interfaces lead to the first asymmetry in an embryo.

• In his spare time, Dan is a dedicated rock climber, having made the first ascents of now-renown routes in the heart of the Yorkshire landscape, as well as travelling the globe and connecting with the climbing communities in Canada, Spain and Switzerland.

Education

• Dan graduated from the University of Durham with a first class masters degree in Physics. He completed his PGCE in Secondary Education at the University of Sunderland, with a SCITT programme based in Leeds.

Expertise

• Dan’s greatest areas of knowledge are in AQA A level and GCSE physics.

• He has a particular fondness for teaching electrical circuits (a challenging topic for him at school), thermodynamics and electromagnetism.

• The optional AQA A level module Turning Points in Physics is another particular favourite, as it turned him from a career in medicine to one in physics.

Top revision quote for students

“Make your revision more specific as you get closer to your exam. If you haven’t done every single past paper before you get to your exam day, you’ve missed an opportunity.”