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Beginning Physics Teachers Support
Support for New Physics Teachers: In-Services and a Mentor Scheme
Click here for Material prepared for the 2009 - 2011 In-Services
The AIP Education Committee is keen to assist new physics teachers whether they are:
- a) First Year Outs,
- b) Teachers returning to Physics teaching after many years’ absence, or
- c) Teachers who have been asked by their school to take physics.
It offers two events:
The in-service program consists of a half-day in-service on a Saturday morning late in Term 1 and a full day in-service during the Term 1 school holidays. The next series will be in 2011. The two events are free and travel coverage is available for country participants. The two events are complementary, so people can come to both.
The Saturday morning event is held at the Victorian Space Science Education Centre in Strathmore and the Monday event at Kew High School. The dates for 2011 were Saturday 19th March and 11th April respectively. To register please email the AIP with subject “Registration: New Physics Teachers” and include in the email, not only your contact details, but your reason for applying and which events you are applying for.
The Mentor Scheme. Several retired physics teachers have offered their services to support new teachers. The AIP Education Committee gives them a stipend to meet with the teacher once during Terms 2, 3 and 4 and to be available for phone and email contact. Teachers wishing to participate in this scheme in 2011 should send an expression of interest containing their contact details and a statement of why they want to be involved in the scheme. The expression of interest should be accompanied by a letter of support from the Science Coordinator of the School Principal. The documents should be either posted to the AIP mentor Scheme, PO Box 304, Glen Waverley, VIC 3150 or emailed to the AIP with subject “Booking: Mentor Scheme”. Schools are welcome to fund additional support from the mentor.
Material prepared for the 2009 - 2011 In-Services
Type | Filename | Filesize | |
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508 kB | ||
A PowerPoint presentation on the different styles of practical activities with examples, as well as discussion of the factors to be considered in planning practical investigations. The last section has examples of exam questions that students have found difficult with suggestions of strategies to overcome these. Some revision and exam strategies are also supplied. | |||
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33.3 kB | ||
A table of displaying how the types and descriptions of practical activities in Physics have changed over the last three decades. | |||
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508 kB | ||
The PowerPoint from the presentation on Practical Activities. | |||
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53.8 kB | ||
The criteria for the EPI from VCAA Physics Assessment Booklet have been arranged in a table format for ease of use. Each row contains related comments on a particular aspect e.g. 'Understanding' from each of the score ranges, e.g. 'Demonstrates an advanced understanding of the investigation' through to 'Demonstrates a limited understanding of ...'. The full text has been broken up, covering the categories of 'understanding', 'hypothesis', 'procedures', 'safety', 'improvements', 'data', 'records', 'presentation', 'estimates', 'analysis', 'communication', 'explanations'.each with a separate row. | |||
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36.9 kB | ||
A worksheet to categorise and evaluate the types of practical activities that your students experience. | |||
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1.32 MB | ||
The PowerPoint presentation has examples of exam questions that students have found difficult with suggestions of strategies to overcome these as well as worked solutions using the strategies. Advice is also provided on revising during the semester and before the exam as well as specific exam strategies. | |||
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28.2 kB | ||
The program for the in-service included a discussion on question such as 'What was your biggest surprise in first teaching physics?' 'What have you enjoyed most in your teaching?', etc. These same questions were used in the 1987 Beginning Physics Teachers In-Service. These are their responses. | |||
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143 kB | ||
Presented by Colin Hopkins from Trafalgar High School and Rob Braidwood from Balwyn High School. | |||
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140 kB | ||
A sample course for Units 1 and 2 has been prepared. It includes a possible time allocation for Areas of Study and indeed, for individual dot points, as well as possible activities. The sample course takes the approach of selecting Detailed Studies that relate to the context “Solutions for Climate Change” and finding links to the core Areas of Study. | |||
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45.1 kB | ||
A week by week teaching program for Year 12 with dates for 2009 and with the content to be covered in each week as well as practical activities. | |||
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65.5 kB | ||
The document outlines one person's idea of how to introduce the concepts of electricity in Year 11 physics. | |||
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83.5 kB | ||
This document describes the extensive range of information on students’ misconceptions in science available on the VELS website. A summary of one example is included that of ‘Forces on passengers’. | |||
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40.4 kB | ||
Conceptual Understanding Procedures (CUPs) for Physics are an initiative of Monash University. They are a set of teaching procedures designed to aid the development of understanding of concepts that students find difficult. Check their website below. | |||
Also check here for other files on course planning and here for exam solutions.
The following files from the presentation by the chief assessor at the 2011 Physics Teachers Conference will assist in preparing students for exams.
Type | Filename | Filesize | |
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26.1 kB | ||
A spreadsheet of the grade points for the years 1999- 2012. The grade point is the raw score cut off for a particular grade. The cumulative percentage of candidates is also included alongside the raw score. The table also has the mean and standard deviation for each exam and the number of candidates obtaining 100% for most exams. | |||
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The Chief Assessor's Report on the June and November 2008 Exams |
2.12 MB | |
by Bruce Walsh, the Chief Assessor. | |||
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The Chief Assessor's Report on the June and November 2010 Exams |
1.63 MB | |
The PowerPoint presentation by Bruce Walsh, the Chief Assessor. | |||
