1. Aerobatic Displays at Physics Days at Luna Park this week.
Vicphysics was advised late last week by the RAAF that Air Services Australia had finally approved an aerobatic display on each of the five days.
There will be over 3000 students from more than 200 schools at Luna Park this week. If you are bringing your students the aerobatic display will start at 10:00.00, so please assemble your students on St Kilda Beach at the end of Cavel St, well before 10:00am. There is terracing in front of the promenade, where the students can sit.
The plane will come over their heads from the east and perform the aerobatics over the water. Our website has resources on aerobatics.
The Luna Park entrance will be open for when you return. The day will finish at the original time of 2:00pm.
There will also be a number of virtual reality flight simulators for students to have a go at.
Return to top
2. PHYSCON 2025 - Making a Quantum Leap: Proceedings and Post Conference Registration
The “PHYSCON 2025 – Making a Quantum Leap,” was held on Friday, 21 Februar
y. Participants have on-going access to the resources of all workshops and to the recorded video presentations. They received an email from Zoom Events like this one.
Clicking on the link in the email takes you back into the event lobby. You can then click on the sessions tab and watch the recording from any of the 38 recorded sessions. For each session, if you scroll down to the bottom you will find a shared ppt and pdf resources as well as a pdf containing a link to a google drive folder which may include more resources in other formats.
Post Conference Registration
If you were not able to attend but would like to also get access, you can register here.
The fee is $135 with discounts for Vicphysics members.
The program can be viewed here.
Return to top
3. Job opportunities in the development of Victorian Lesson Plans, for those with curriculum expertise
The Teaching and Learning Branch of the Department of Education is developing lesson plans to support the Victorian Curriculum (VC) 2.0 and the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM) 2.0 in English, Mathematics, Science, Design and Technology, and Digital Technologies, including Foundation Levels A to D.
The branch is seeking Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to help review and assure the quality and usability of these resources for all schools as well as alignment to the VC 2.0 and VTLM 2.0.
Ideal candidates are teachers with high levels of expertise in the mentioned subjects, and experience with the pedagogical practices that underpin the VTM 2.0. Candidates would be employed by the Department of Education and would be available to work 0.2 - 1.0 FTE until the end of Term 4, 2025, with Principal support.
You can find more information on this opportunity here: EoIs - Curriculum Subject Matter Experts If you have trouble with this link, contact the Project Officer.
The closing date is 10th March.
4. Perimeter Institute resources on Quantum Technology
The Perimeter Institute has produced educational material on Quantum Technology. There are five activities (each 5 - 7 pages long) on i) Quantum phenomena inc Duality, ii) Quantum Probability, iii) Electron Microscopes inc resolution, iv) Lasers and v) Quantum Dots. These activities are supported by an assessment task and descriptors along with an 86 page Teacher's guide. There are also four Youtube videos. Check this description of each of the materials.
You can download this resource for free from Perimeter Institute.
Perimeter Institute has other resources to support the International Year of Quantum Science including Beyond Bohr, Planck's Constant and LEDs
Return to top
5. Events for Students
a) Study Skills Webinar: 29th April, 6pm - 7pm
Vicphysics is organising a Study Skills webinar for VCE physics students. It will be held on Tuesday, 29th April. It will be an online event from 6pm to 7pm.
The cost is $10.00 inc GST per person, which will also include access to prepared material.
There will be three presenters (details to follow), each speaking for 15 mins on one of the three topics below, followed by 15 mins of question time in breakout rooms for each topic.
- The Science of learning
- How the brain works
- Preparing for SACs and exams
Students can make individual bookings here. Credit card is required.
Schools can make group bookings here. Credit card and EFT are available.
Bookings close on Thursday, 24th April.
The Vicphysics website also has two web pages to assist students Advice on Revising Physics and Advice of Learning Physics.
b) Girls in Physics Breakfasts in 2025
These are the dates and speaker details for breakfasts that have been organised. Bookings are now open for Term 1 and early Term 2 events.
The support of the Invergowrie Foundation has enabled Vicphysics to increase the subsidy for the student fee for the regional breakfasts. The fee this year is now $15.
- Bendigo, 20th March. Using Radiotherapy to Treat Skin Cancer with Emma Dyce and Natalie Clements, Medical Physicists with Genesis Care Bookings open. Closing date: 10th March
- Mildura, 25th March. The Fascinating World of Solar Energy with Damaris Getanda from RayGen. Bookings open Closing date: 14th March
- Ballarat, 26th March. Molecular Movies with X-ray lasers with A/Prof Nadia Zatsepin, Swinburne University Bookings open Closing date: 14th March
- Wodonga, 8th May. Breath of Discovery: Nanotechnology a Disease Breathalyser with Renee Goreham, University of Newcastle Bookings open Closing date: 28th April
- Monash University Date: TBC, Amelia Lui and Taïssa Danilovich, Monash University
- Traralgon, Early June.
- Geelong, 14th August. i) How important are powders? ii) Rethinking Waste: Engineering a Circular Future with Negin Amini and Sirjana Adhikari, Deakin University Bookings open Closing date: 4th August
- Melbourne, 20th May, The AIP Women in Physics speaker is Dr Danielle Holmes (UNSW Sydney). She works in quantum computing. Bookings will open when details of her topic are available and flyers have been prepared.
Bookings
Starting Times in 2025. This year the metropolitan events will start at 8:00am and the regional events will start at 8:30am.
Return to top
6. Events for Teachers
a)
Just in Time PD each Thursday of Semester 1
Each Thursday, two teachers will share their plans for the week, starting 10 days ahead. The PD is for teachers teaching Unit 3 for the first time or seeking a refresher course. The sessions will be online and from the broadcast studio at John Monash Science School, so participants will be able to see demonstrations and other practical activities. The presenters will be Kathryn Grainger and Dr Penny Hale from John Monash Science School
The one hour sessions will start at 3:45pm with the last 15 mins for questions from participants. The first session is 6th March
Registration Fee: $60 with discounts available
Limitation: Due to the conditions placed on the use of the studio, this event is only for teachers from Government and Catholic schools.
b) PD on SACs in March
Last year in June, Vicphysics ran a PD on SACs, partly in response to some schools' experience of the audit process, but mainly about the increased specificity in the descriptions of the four formats available for assessment tasks.
The event will be repeated this year, but earlier.
It is an online event, after school, over two Thursdays a week apart.
Dates: Thursdays 13th and 20th March
Times: 5:00pm to 6:30pm
Cost: None
To register and for more details. click here. The webpage also has resources from last year's PD
In the form we ask you for some information:
- In what format do you plan to do your first assessment task,
- If decided, the format for your other assessment tasks.
- Whether you can look after a breakout room and
- Whether you are happy to zoom/share your assessment task
c) Beginning Physics Teachers' In-Service, Tues, 8th April
If you are teaching physics for the first time or returning to physics teaching., this workshop will be of value.
It will be on Tuesday, 8th April in the first week of the school holidays at John Monash Science School. Check here for details of the program and to register. The link in last week's newsletter incorrectly went to the 2024 event. The program has two regular features:
- practical activities demonstrated by experienced teachers and
- a presentation by Colin Hopkins on techniques for teaching and learning, which will complement his PHYSCON talks plus
- two other sessions from a list of four, based on the participants' preference when they register.
The cost is $60 with member discounts.
d) Out of Field PD: Special Relativity, Forces & Motion, Light & Sound
The Out of Field PD continues in 2025 starting in Term 2. The program starts with
Cost of each event: $265 per participant with discounts for teachers from Government schools ($55) and from schools with a low ICSEA rank.
To Book an event: Click on the link above.
Return to top
There is one school seeking a physics teacher.
The Job Ads page on Vicphysics website is updated every weekend. The webpage also has a link on how schools can register a position and lodge a payment for this service.
- Swinburne Senior Secondary College (closes 6th March)
i) Vicphysics Membership and Access to the Teachers' Resources on the website.
Vicphysics has changed its membership structure, benefits and fees. Previously, a subscription to the website resources was separate from being a member of Vicphysics. Access to website resources is now being included as one of a number of member benefits.
Membership benefits include:
- access to teacher resources section of the website
- discounts to attend conferences, in-services, etc,
- certification for attending each PD event,
- PL certificate for committee meetings supplied at the end of the calendar year and
- voting rights.
Membership fees are: Individual: $60, Retired: $40, Student (tertiary): $40, School: $120.
Vicphysics also offers a Resources Access Only option without the discounts and other benefits listed above. The fees for this option are the same as above.
Existing subscribers currently receive discounts, which will cease when their subscription expires. At that point, subscribers will need to choose between the two options above for continued access to the Teacher resources.
We are looking forward to increasing the membership base of Vicphysics and to fostering member input into our extensive range of activities from Physics teaching professional learning such as our recent SAC PD events or the Physics Teachers Conference to supporting activities for students, such as the Luna Park Physics Days or photo and poster competitions.
You can join us here!
ii) Vicphysics Forum: Tips and Questions for the Physics Teaching Community
The Vicphysics Teachers’ Network has set up an online Forum for teachers to raise issues, seek ideas, offer suggestions, etc.
Link here directly, or look out for it on our webpage where it can be found at the top right of our home page.
We hope it will be an opportunity for mutual professional development.
The forum is open to all teachers. If you are a subscriber, you can log in the usual way. If you are not a subscriber, you can register to use the forum at ‘My Account’. Given the purposes of this Forum, we ask that you use your real name when generating a topic or lodging a post.
We hope this Forum will become a valuable medium for exchanging ideas as we begin planning the new study design.
Return to top
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) Experts weigh in on Microsoft’s topological qubit claim
Tech giant Microsoft claimed in a recent press release to have made the first topological qubit – an important milestone in the development of quantum computers. But some experts say the firm’s claim has not been backed up by peer-reviewed research.
b) Radioactive anomaly appears in the deep ocean
Something extraordinary happened on Earth around 10 million years ago, and whatever it was, it left behind a “signature” of radioactive beryllium-10. This finding, which is based on studies of rocks located deep beneath the ocean, could be evidence for a previously-unknown cosmic event or major changes in ocean circulation. With further study, the newly-discovered beryllium anomaly could also become an independent time marker for the geological record.
Most of the beryllium-10 found on Earth originates in the upper atmosphere, where it forms when cosmic rays interact with oxygen and nitrogen molecules. Afterwards, it attaches to aerosols, falls to the ground and is transported into the oceans. Eventually, it reaches the seabed and accumulates, becoming part of what scientists call one of the most pristine geological archives on Earth.
Because beryllium-10 has a half-life of 1.4 million years, it is possible to use its abundance to pin down the dates of geological samples that are more than 10 million years old.
c) The quest for better fusion reactors is putting a new generation of superconductors to the test
The engineering and materials challenges of creating what is essentially a “Sun in a freezer”, and harnessing its power to make electricity, are formidable. This is partly because, over time, high-energy neutrons from the fusion reaction will damage the surrounding materials. Superconductors are incredibly sensitive to this kind of damage, so substantial shielding is needed to maximize the lifetime of the reactor.
Return to top
