1.  VCE Physics Revision Lecture, Update. Sunday, 15th September, On-line and at Swinburne University of Technology
Update: Teachers who accompany their students, either online or in person, do not have to pay.  If you have already paid, a refund will be issued.  Also check the information below on the Government support for attending revision lectures.

This year's Revision Lecture will be held on Sunday, 15th September from 10:00am until 2:50pm.
It will be offered as a hybrid event, on-line and in person at the Hawthorn campus.
The presenter will be Colin Hopkins.  The on-line chat room will have experienced teachers available to answer questions.
Lunch will be provided by Swinburne University for the students.
Swinburne University will also provide campus tours and their Astro tour at lunchtime. These can be booked at Registration on the day.
The cost is $27.50 inc GST and participants will get access to revision material.
Students can book at this webpage on the Students of the Vicphysics website, where there is additional information.

State Government Initiative: Revision Lectures
The VCE Revision Lectures initiative recognises that rural and regional students face unique barriers in attending VCE revision lectures due to additional travel and accommodation costs.

Targeted funding is available to support rural and regional students from government schools to access VCE revision lectures and other exam revision supports across Victoria. Click here for information for schools.

2.  VCAA's NHT Exam paper and Vicphysics Solutions
VCAA has released the NHT papers held earlier this year.  It is often used as part of revision for the Nov exam, but please note, the physics exam paper was written for last year's Physics course, so there are questions on waves and light which are not in this year's course.
Vicphysics has prepared detailed solutions to assist students when using this exam papers for revision. They also include a suggested marking scheme and additional questions based on the stems of some of the questions.   
This year the solutions for the explanation questions also have a dot point answer to encourage students to use dot points when answering such questions in November.

The solutions to this year's NHT paper are available on the website .

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3. Managing a Combined Class: Some resources
Some schools are asking their physics teacher to combine their Year 11 and Year 12 Physics classes into the one timetabled group and use the class time to teach both subjects.  Vicphysics held meetings last year with some of those teachers to explore ways of managing the situation.

One possible solution is to trim some of the content from Units 1 and 2 and construct a teaching program that can be presented to the combined class as a whole in one year.

Experienced curriculum writer and Physics teacher, Neil Champion, has compiled a suggested approach to covering the curriculum for teachers unfortunate enough to be in the position of simultaneously teaching a year 11 and year 12 Physics class.  It may be of use in planning a course if you are in that situation. It is on the website under Course Planning.

The circumstances in which a teacher is asked to take a combined class vary from school to school and the solutions that teachers adopt will vary with the total class size and the balance between the student numbers in each Year level. 

If you are teaching a combined class, we would like to hear of your experience and the strategies you use.

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4. Research on use of student data: Seeking teachers for a short interview
Deakin University is conducting a research project on the datafication of secondary schools in Australia.

Schools use increasing amounts of data for learning and organisational purposes that is collected by Learning Management Systems or Student Information Systems. Data include attendance records, learning achievements, learning analytics, and social-emotional data.
They are looking to hear from teachers working in government schools in Victoria how they use these data, what they think of the data and software they work with, but also how they manage students’ digital privacy.  They invite you to participate in a 30–60 minute interview (depending on your availability). The interviews may be conducted over the phone or on Zoom
 
If you have any questions about the project, please do not hesitate to reach out to them. They are happy to talk about their project in more detail.
The contact is Dr Chris Zomer, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University

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5. Events for Students 
a) National Science Week (NSW) Events
This is a list of some NSW events in Victoria.  Check here for details of this and many others.

• Dark Matter road trip  6:30pm, 22nd August, Dandenong, 7pm, 30th August, Carlton

b Gymnasium Lectures (in person and online): 6pm Wednesdays, fortnightly in Term 3, University of Melbourne
This popular series is back in 2024, the remaining lectures are listed below..

• August 21: Physics for Cancer Treatment: Particle accelerator technologies and radiation therapy (Dr. Jacinta Yap)
• September 4: Light and Matter (Prof. Harry Quiney)
• September 18: Special Relativity (Prof. David Jamieson)

All lectures will be held in the Hercus Theatre at the School of Physics, University of Melbourne and will begin at 6 pm sharp, with snacks beforehand.  Whilst this is an in-person event, a Zoom link will be sent out to all participants in the hour before the lecture.

To register, click here.

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6. Events for Teachers 
a) HEDY! The Life and Times of Hedy Lamarr, 6pm, 20th August, Howler in Dawson St, Brunswick
A one-woman theatre show celebrating the little known scientific genius of Hollywood film star, Hedy Lamarr. HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, is a 90-minute, one-woman theatre show celebrating the unexpected scientific genius of Hedy Lamarr, Viennese-born Hollywood film star of the 1930s - 1950s.  Known as The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, Lamarr spent her spare time in Hollywood inventing a Secret Communication System with composer George Antheil. Also known as Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum Technology, her invention is used today in our mobile phones, WiFi,  Bluetooth and GPS wireless communications technologies.
'Heather Massie enchants the audience as Hedy Lamarr, along with Jimmy Stewart, Bette Davis, Louis B. Mayer, and more! In this 36-character solo play the audience summons Hedy to unearth the truth behind how a glamorous Hollywood film star could create such an invention that makes the world of wireless communication tick.'
Tickets: $18.  Please register with Howler to attend.  Dinner and drinks are available at this 18+ event. This is a National Science Week event.
b) Stellar Safari Investigation with the Rubin Observatory, Online PD live and on review, 9:00am Weds, 21st Aug and 28th Aug
The Vera C Rubin Observatory in the US is holding two 90 min workshops, a week apart, one this week on 21st August and next week on 28th.  The time difference is such that each starts at 9:00am Melbourne time, but if you register you will get access to the recorded session to view later.
The PD introduces the new Stellar Safari investigation which is available for classroom testing.
First session:
Dr. Clare Higgs will talk about determining the properties of stars and star clusters, and the H-R Diagram, followed by Q & A.  Then there is a preview the new Stellar Safari investigation and support materials.  Finally, you learn how to use the test version of this investigation with students and provide feedback.
Second session:
You work through the investigation in breakout rooms, discuss classroom implementation with colleagues and provide feedback on the investigation
To Register and more information: Click here.
The Rubin Observatory is very active in supporting teachers, both with classroom activities focussed on investigations of Exploding Stars, Coloring the Universe, Expanding Universe, Solar System and Hazardous Asteroids.  There are also videos of their webinars covering the above topics.

c Lab Tech Workshops on Years 7 - 10 Physics,  17th September
Vicphysics is again running an in-service for lab technicians on practical activities for Years 7 to 10 Physics. There are nine workshops to choose from. There are workshops on improving skills with CROs, Ruhmkorff coils and Van de Graaff generators, as well as workshops by Harvey Edwards, Ciderhouse, Modern Teaching Aids, Haines Educational and Man Lam from Lyndale Secondary College.
Cost: $85 includes lunch and morning tea.
To register and for more details of the program: click here.

d) Global Hands-On Universe Conference 2024, Online 23 - 27 September
This international conference is online from anywhere in the world.  Sessions will be offered in three time zones.  The cost to participate is only 10 €.  The program has not been finalised nor keynote speakers announced, but topics include: Astronomy education research, Best practices in Astronomy education, Citizen Science, Research in the classroom with robotic telescopes, etc.  The program will be announced in early September.

It plans to offer:

• astronomy/data activities that are ready for the classroom
• a chance to join a group of similar innovative educators who want to help you
• an opportunity for your students to use networks of remote telescopes around the world, to measure the characteristics of planets around other stars and undertake well-developed and tested activities, such as measuring the mass of the black hole in the center of our Milky Way, from genuine data.

To register an expression of interest and for more detail, click here.
This link to the 2023 conference will give you some idea of their program

e) PHYSCON 2025 - Making a Quantum Leap: Call for Presenters
Next year's Physics Teachers' Conference will be held on Friday, 21st February, 2025.  It will again be a hybrid event, online and in person at the Hawthorn campus of the Swinburne University of Technology.  We invite teachers to present a workshop at the conference.  It can be on Senior School Physics or Middle School Physics.  Your format can be in person, online or pre-recorded.  You can have a co-presenter.
Both you and your co-presenter will get free registration for the conference.  If you would like to present a workshop, please complete this google form.
The closing date for lodging workshops is Friday, 20th September.
We are looking forward to another conference of innovative ideas, inspiring speakers and invigorating conversations.  We welcome your contribution.  If you have any queries, please get in touch.

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9.   Physics News from the Web
Items selected from the bulletin of the Institute of Physics (UK).
Each item below includes the introductory paragraphs and a web link to the rest of the article.

a) Our world (still) cannot be anything but quantum, say physicists
Is the behaviour of quantum objects described by a simple, classical theory? Or can particles really be in a superposition of different places at once, as quantum theory suggests? In 1985, the physicists Antony James Leggett and Anupam Garg proposed a new way of answering these questions. If the world can be described by a theory that doesn’t feature superposition and other quantum phenomena, Leggett and Garg showed that a certain inequality must be obeyed. If the world really is quantum, though, the inequality will be violated.
b) Heisenberg gets ‘let off the hook’ in new historical drama based on the Farm Hall transcripts
A play has been written about the internment in late 1945 of several German physicists including Max von Laue, Otto Hahn, Werner Heisenberg and Carl von Weizsäcker in a country house called Farm Hall.  The play is based on the transcripts of bugged conversations.
The article is an extended review on the play.  It also explores the question of why Germany did not develop the bomb
c) Physicists detect nuclear decay in the recoil of a levitating sphere
Physicists in the US have detected the nuclear decay of individual helium nuclei by embedding radioactive atoms in a micron-sized object and measuring the object’s recoil as a particle escapes from it. The technique, which is an entirely new way of studying particles emitted via nuclear decay, relies on the principle of momentum conservation. It might also be used to detect other neutral decay products, such as neutrinos and particles that could be related to dark matter and might escape detection by other means.

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