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2012 Physics Teachers Conference, Friday 17th and Saturday 18th February, 2012 at Monash University
Accommodation
Participants will need to arrange their own accommodation. Accommodation is available at Mannix College. It is directly across the road from Monash University and about 100 m from Conference Registration. The day rates are about $90 per day, meals included.
Other nearby accommodation includes the Novotel Glen Waverley, Hotel Ibis, Quest Glen Waverley, Clayton Monash Motor Inn and Monash Hotel Motel, 2077 Dandenong Rd, Clayton, Phone(03)95448011.
Transport from the airport
Arrival before 7pm The Dandenong Airport Bus stops at Mannix College and other major hotels. Bookings are required by 4pm the previous day and may be made on (03) 9782 6766. The airport pickup is on the ground floor outside the International Terminal of Melbourne Airport. Fares are approximately $25. The last bus leaves the airport at 7:00pm. The bus also stops at the above hotels.
Arrival after 7pm The Skybus departs for the Southern Cross railway station every 10 minutes until 8pm, then every 15 minutes from both domestic terminals. Cost $16 one way, $26 return. The bus trip takes 20 minutes. At the station, purchase a Zone 1 and 2 two hour Metcard ticket for $5.80. Catch the train to Glen Waverley, remember to validate your card before entering the platform. The trip to Glen Waverley takes 39 minutes. At Glen Waverley, the end of the line, you can use a taxi to take you to your hotel, which will be only about five minutes away.
Saturday Tours Program: Priority will be given to interstate participants.
Tour A
You will be picked at Mannix College or your nearby hotel and taken to the Australian Synchrotron adjacent to Monash University, then onto the Soundhouse at The Arts Centre. After lunch at a Southgate restaurant you will be taken to VSSEC and then to the airport, if you flying out. Participants can also use their own transport, directions will be supplied. Limit: 24. Participants will need to pay for their own lunch.
Tour B
You will be picked at Mannix College or your nearby hotel and taken a nearby railway station, given a day ticket and directions on how to get to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre for a two hour session, then onto Southgate to meet those on Tour A for lunch. After lunch you will be taken to VSSEC and then to the airport, if you flying out. Participants can also use their own transport, directions will be supplied. Limit: 24. Participants will need to pay for their own lunch.
The Australian Synchrotron
The synchrotron is a source of highly intense light ranging from infrared to hard x-rays that can be used for an impressive array of non-destructive, high-resolution, rapid, in-situ, real-time imaging and analysis techniques. The unique properties of synchrotron light mean that experimental results are far superior in accuracy, clarity, specificity and timeliness to those obtained using conventional laboratory equipment. Participants will have a guided tour of the facility as well as an opportunity to see the range of practical activities that are available for secondary students to do as part of an excursion.
Brash’s Soundhouse: Music Technology, New Media and Science
The presentation will highlight aspects of the workshops that are available for students of all ages. Those related to physics include: i) A hands-on workshop designed to prepare Year 11 students who will be undertaking the ‘Sound' topic in Year 12. It picks up on the wave aspects considered in Year 11 in the study of light, as well as aspects of the electricity and ii) A practical session during which students will be given demonstrations and conduct experiments at computer-based stations. The content covers a broad range of concepts in ‘Sound' including microphone characteristics and loudspeaker designs.
Victorian Space Science Education Centre
The tour explains the various student programs that VSSEC offers. Their programs provide a sensory rich, hands-on, scenario-based science experience for students from primary to senior secondary. The programs include:
Mission to Mars, which is a day long space science experience for Year 9 and 10 students. VSSEC has a simulated Mars surface on which students conduct research, appropriately outfitted. They work as a team and use all their problem solving skills to successfully complete their Mission. During the day all students act as Astronauts, Mission Controllers and Research Scientists.
Mission to the Orbiting Space Laboratory (MOSL) is another daylong space science experience for Year 9 and 10 students. During the day all students act as Astronauts, Mission Controllers and undertake a range of Human Physiology tasks.
There are also programs on Astronomy (co-ordinate systems, solar system and telescopes) and Astrophysics (models of the nature and origin of the Universe, and the life cycle of stars)
At Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre the program will feature a one hour talk on: i) the physics aspects of the effect of radiation on the human body and of the medical technology at Peter Mac, ii) how the technology is used in diagnosis and treatment, and iii)information on the training and career paths associated with medical physics. The second hour will be an extensive tour of the diagnostic and treatment machines at Peter Mac.