home » news » Beginning Teachers
Support for Beginning Physics Teachers
In-Services and a Mentor Scheme
The AIP Education Committee is keen to assist new physics teachers whether they be:
- First Year Outs,
- Teachers taking Year 12 for the first time
- Teachers returning to Physics teaching after many years’ absence, or
- Teachers who have been asked by their school to take physics.
It offers two programs:
i) An in-service program of a half-day in-service on Saturday morning at the Victorian Space Science Education Centre in Strathmore, mid Term 1 and a full day in-service on the first Monday of the 1st Term holidays at Kew High School. The two events are free and travel support is available for country participants. The two events are complementary, so people can come to both.
The dates for 2011 were Saturday 19th March and Monday 11th April respectively. You can register by email to 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.
ii) The Mentor Scheme. Several retired physics teachers have offered their services to support new teachers. The AIP Education Committee will give 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 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 or the School Principal. The documents should be either posted to the AIP mentor Scheme, PO Box 304, Glen Waverley, VIC 3150 or emailed as an attachment to 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 | |
 |
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’. | |||
 |
508 kB | ||
The PowerPoint from the presentation on Practical Activities. | |||
|
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. | |||
|
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. | |||
|
33.3 kB | ||
A table of displaying how the types and descriptions of practical activities in Physics have changed over the last three decades. | |||
|
36.9 kB | ||
A worksheet to categorise and evaluate the types of practical activities that your students experience. | |||
|
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. | |||
|
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. | |||
|
65.5 kB | ||
The document outlines one person's idea of how to introduce the concepts of electricity in Year 11 physics. | |||
|
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. | |||
|
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. | |||
|
143 kB | ||
Presented by Colin Hopkins from Trafalgar High School and Rob Braidwood from Balwyn High School. | |||
|
45.1 kB | ||
A week by week teaching program for Year 12 in 2009 with the content to be covered in each week as well as practical activities. | |||
The following files from the presentation by the chief assessor at the 2011 Physics Teachers Conference will assist in preparing students for exams. Also check exam solutions and course planning
Type | Filename | Filesize | |
 |
25.6 kB | ||
A spreadsheet of the grade points for the years 1999- 2011. 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 | |||
|
The Chief Assessor's Report on the June and November 2008 Exams |
2.12 MB | |
by Bruce Walsh, the Chief Assessor. | |||
|
The Chief Assessor's Report on the June and November 2010 Exams |
1.63 MB | |
The PowerPoint presentation by Bruce Walsh, the Chief Assessor. | |||