1 . College professors these days face an ever-higher bar to grab the attention of their students, forced to compete with the appeal of smartphones and laptops in large lecture halls. But when your professor is a social media star, it’s a little bit easier.
Tatiana Erukhimova, who leaches physics at Texas A&M University, has managed to get her students, as well as future generations, excited about the science. Known as “Dr. Tatiana” to her students and online fan base, the professor performs physics tricks with boundless energy and enthusiasm. Videos of her theatrical demonstrations have got hundreds of millions of views across TikTok and other social media platforms. Her department’s YouTube page has about 2.5 million subscribers, an ineredible following even overshadowing the well-known Aggie athletics program. She credits the university marketing team’s videos of her lessons for her social media success.
In the kid-friendly videos, Erukhimova uses a range of everyday objects in her experiments, from toilet paper to sweets, bicycle wheels and hair dryers. The sooner kids are taught physics and taught it well, the better, she suggests. It’s clear that she knows what it takes to get young people excited about a hard science. The key, she explains, has been to make herself approachable and her instruction personal.
She’s earned more than just recognition on social media. In February, she was honored with a national award for science outreach “for leadership in bringing the excitement of physics through innovative education programs, ”including the well-attended annual TAMU Physics and Engineering Festival and the highly popular physics videos on social media.
All Erukhimova says she can hope for is making physics less discouraging, and more exciting. “What will they remember 10, 15 years, 20 years later?” she wonders. “If they remember my class, I could not ask for a better reward.”
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?
| A．Students perform worse than expected. | B．Colleges need more professional teachers. |
| C．Digital devices should be banned on campus. | D．Internet celebrity professors are more favored. |
2. What does Dr. Tatiana owe her online success to?
| A．Her love for teaching. | B．Her school’s promotion. |
| C．Her followers’ support. | D．Her talent for performing. |
3. How does Dr. Tatiana make physics interesting for young minds?
| A．By encouraging hands-on experiments. | B．By adopting a down-to-earth teaching style. |
| C．By motivating young learners’ curiosity. | D．By possessing professional physics knowledge. |
4. Which of the following can best describe Dr. Tatiana?
| A．Brave and resourceful. | B．Optimistic and devoted. |
| C．Sociable and humorous. | D．Passionate and creative. |
