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1. PHYSCON 2023: Victorian Physics Teachers' Conference: 24th February, 2023. Program change
Vicphysics Teachers' Network will be presenting PHYSCON 2023 with the support of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the Swinburne University of Technology. PHYSCON 2023 will be held at their Hawthorn Campus in Burwood Rd on Friday, 24th February.

There is a slight change to the program. The keynote address will be given by Prof Alan R Duffy, Swinburne University of Technology. The topic is unchanged. His bio is: I am the inaugural Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute at Swinburne University of Technology, in Melbourne Australia. Our multi-disciplinary team help companies and communities on Earth using space. My background is in computational astrophysics and cosmology, but have gained significant experience in communicating that science. I investigate how galaxies form within vast clouds of dark matter, a gravitating component of our Universe that still is of unknown nature. I then try to explain these discoveries across space science to as wide an audience as possible.

The conference will be a hybrid conference offering both face to face and on-line sessions.
The Conference website is now live and registrations are open.

The conference program includes:

Live-streamed keynote addresses,
3 sessions with over 40 workshops in person and online,
Access to exhibitors
Round table activities on course planning of Units 3 & 4 for 2024,
Networking lunch,
In-depth review of the 2022 VCE Physics exam, with Andrew Hansen, the Chief Assessor
VCAA presentation by Maria James, Science Curriculum Manager,
Laboratory tours of cutting-edge facilities and visits to the Virtual Reality theatre,
Saturday morning Excursion Tasters and Peter MacCallum Medical Physics In-Service.

Conference fees:
In person: $330 Online: $270
Discounts:

Individual Vicphysics Subscribers: $50
Student and Retiree Subscribers: $100
School Vicphysics subscribers: $10

For information about the workshops on offer, please click the link above or download a pdf of the conference program here.

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2. CSIRO's STEM Professionals in Schools - Bringing real-world STEM to your classroom.
Last year, STEM Professionals in Schools program celebrated 15 years of partnering teachers with scientists, mathematicians, technologists and engineers to bring real world STEM to the classroom. The program creates and supports ongoing partnerships between school teachers and volunteer STEM professionals – helping to bridge the gap between classroom STEM subjects and real-life applications and career possibilities.

STEM Professionals in Schools is a free, nationwide program funded by the Australian Government Department of Education. There are two initiatives in 2023.
a) School-based
For more information and to join the program, visit the STEM Professionals in Schools website to find out more about the different ways they can work with you in your school. You can also read more about program activities and hear from current participants in this CSIRO blog.

b) Online for regional and remote schools
The program is also offering an online Regional and Remote Initiative for teachers in regional Victoria to connect with industry through on-line partnerships with a STEM professional. The initiative consists of a series of 3 x 45 minute webinars spread over a couple of months. It provides teachers with support to get started in their partnership and to plan and evaluate their on-line activities.
The dates and details of the webinars are:

Webinar 1 [Monday 20 March, 4pm] - Introduction of STEM professionals and teachers. After this session, teachers will be partnered with a STEM professional.
Webinar 2 [Monday 3 April, 4pm] - Development and planning of a partnership activity.
Webinar 3 [Monday 8 May, 4pm] - Sharing and evaluating after an activity.

Teachers have the opportunity to meet with their STEM professional via phone or web conferencing between each of the webinars for introductions and planning of their first activity.  This initiative requires less than 5 hours of teacher’s time over this start-up period (inclusive of the 3 webinars). It is expected that partnerships will continue beyond this initial period.
To register interest in the initiative or for more information, please contact Maria Barrett

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3. Luna Park: Video Analysis, PhyPhox and SPARKvue

Last week Vicphysics re-recorded videos of some of the rides that could be used for analysis with Tracker. The rides were Twin Dragon, Pharaoh's Curse, Coney Tower and dips in the Scenic Railway ride. The original videos were recorded in 2004 at 15 frames per second. The new ones were recorded at 30 frames per second. All the videos are available on our website here. There is also a file of the dimensions of the rides to assist with analysis.

The Phyphox phone app is very useful for recording data logging on the rides. It not only records the acceleration, but it also can record the barometric pressure, which can be converted to height. The Phyphox app has other sensors. The full range is:

acceleration (in m s^-2in x, y and z directions)
gyroscope (rotation rate in radians per second in x, y and z directions)
location (using GPS gives latitude, longitude and altitude)
magnetometer (magnetic field strength in microTesla in each of x, y and z directions)
Atmospheric Pressure (in hPa to five decimal places, e.g. 1014.75624 hPa, which can be converted to altitude)
Proximity
Microphone

It you want your students to use PhyPhox at Luna Park or for a range of experiments at school such as Acceleration in an Elevator, they can download the app from Google Play or the App Store.

Pasco also has an app, SPARKvue, which records acceleration and also has a microphone sensor, which can also be downloaded from Google Play or App Store.

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4.Hewitt Drew-It Videos
Paul Hewitt, author of the popular text book, 'Conceptual Physics', is also famous for his clear, witty, down-to-earth style of presenting physics in his cartoons and videos. His 149 videos are available on his website and on Youtube. They cover the full range of Physics topics. They are each about 5 minutes long.

The Paul Hewitt website lists his videos in numerical order with the title for each. While there is some sense of topic order, it is hard to search. Gary Bass has provided an Excel spreadsheet with a topic heading, the video number, the title, the Youtube link and whether the video is relevant to Year 11 or Year 12. It is on the Vicphysics website in Teacher Resources in the webpage on 'Useful Websites and Youtube Videos' under the heading 'Resources covering many topics'.

If you access the videos through the Paul Hewitt website, each video has beneath it an 'End Question' for students to think about.

The Hewitt website also has a section on videos for teachers with two titles: 'Teaching Physics without Numbers' (16 mins) and Timeless Teaching Tips for Physics Teachers' (11 mins).

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5. Seeking a Physics teacher? Seeking a new position?
The Vicphysics Teachers' Network has a Job Ads page to assist schools in finding a physics teacher.
There are five (5) schools are seeking a physics teacher., with three that closed last week The Vicphysics webpage above has a link to the Government schools jobs website. The following Gov't Schools are seeking a physics teacher.

Bundoora Secondary College (closed 18th Jan)
Balwyn High School (closed 19th Jan)
Victorian College of the Arts (closed 20th Jan)
Upwey High School (closes 23rd Jan)
Greater Shepparton Secondary College (closes 24th Jan)
Sale College (closes 25th Jan)
Warrandyte High School (closes 2nd Feb) Two positions

The webpage is updated every weekend. The webpage also has a link on how schools can register a position and lodge a payment for this service.

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6. Vicphysics matters

i) 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. The link is on the top line of our website’s home page: https://www.vicphysics.org/ 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 login in the usual way. If you are not a subscriber you can register to just 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 a lodging a post.

Currently there are six categories for the topics:

I’m looking for help with ...: For that hard to assign question
Curriculum matters: To post questions about designing a course, interpreting dot points, ordering the Areas of Study, and depth of coverage.
Teaching strategies: To post questions about tackling misconceptions, engaging students, finding resources, etc.
Practical Activities: To post about all things practical: what activities can be considered a prac, sharing equipment, generating topics for practical investigations and developing rubrics.
Assessing students: To post questions and tips on monitoring students’ learning and giving efficient feedback as well as designing assessment tasks that vary in style and cover a range of skills.
Exams and Revision: To post tips and questions about techniques for revising the subject, managing practice papers, the use of two page summary and reading time.

Generating a Topic

Click on the category in which you want to place your topic.
Enter a short title for your topic (max 80 characters)
In the next box write your topic.
Be sure to include some topic tags to help those searching for topics.
Click the box at the bottom if you want to receive an email when someone replies.
Finally click 'Submit'.

We hope this Forum will become a valuable medium for the exchange of ideas as we begin planning for the new study design.

ii) Subscriptions: Subscriptions will last for a year from the day payment is received. Both individual and school subscriptions are available.

iii) Tutor Listing Service: The website has a Tutor Listing Service. There are now four tutors listed. If you tutor and wish to add your name to the list, please check the website.

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7. Events for Students

a) Physics Days at Luna Park. 2023 Dates: Monday, 6th March and then Wednesday, 8th to Friday, 10th March
There was a prior booking for the Tuesday 7th, hence the different dates for this year. To make a booking with Luna Park, click here.

Luna Park tallies your number of students on the day and then invoices the school accordingly. An aerobatic display has been requested, but this is not confirmed until about February.
You can book a data logger from Ciderhouse.

b) University of Melbourne STEM events in 2023
Science Gallery Excursion: Dark Matters 8th Aug - 2nd Dec.
In this facilitator-led experience, students will be guided through the DARK MATTERS exhibition.
In collaboration with Arts at CERN and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics, DARK MATTERS explores the fundamental essence of life and the universe, and how so much of it remains a mystery to us. This exhibition deep dives into the unseen, the unknown and the unspoken – will we ever fully understand the forces at play in our own lives, both on an individual level and on a planetary and universal scale?

Levels: Year 7 - 12.
Bookings now open. Cost $50 plus $8 per student ($4 for students from low SES and regional schools). Min of 15 students, max of 50.

c) Australian Synchrotron: VCE Lab Sessions.
Bookings are now open. There are programs for the Unit 2 Option and for Unit 4. Their preferred session dates are:

Year 11: Synchrotron and its applications. 27th March - 4th April, 17th May to 2nd June, 10th to 21st July and 16th Oct to 3rd Nov
Year 12: Light and matter. 5th to 23rd June, 24th July to 5th Sept, 2nd to 13th Oct.

Cost $400 plus GST for groups up to 13 students, $30 plus GST per student for groups over 13. Discounts of 30% are available.
Click here for details. The Terms and Conditions link has the registration form. You can propose preferred dates.

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8. Events for Teachers

a) New Scientist Lecture Series: The Greatest Physics Experiments in the World
The New Scientist magazine has organised a series of online talks for the year. The lectures are held at 6pm GMT, which is 5am local time, but a ticket gives you access for 12 months.

The topics include:
a) Secrets of the LHC with Dr Clara Nellist, 7th Feb
b) FermiLab: Solving the Mysteries of matter and Energy, Space and Time with Don Lincoln, 4th April
c) James Webb Spac Telescope: Opening the infrared Treasure Chest, with John Mather, 17th May.

Individual tickets are £14, Series ticket £38. For more details and to book click here

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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) Mentor and student: how Ernest Rutherford and Mark Oliphant changed nuclear physics

An extended review of a book by Andrew Ramsey of these two antipodean physicists who worked together at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University

b) Einstein as you’ve never seen him before

In November 1922, just over a century ago, Albert Einstein received the Nobel Prize for Physics. That much is clear. What you might not know is that the prize was officially awarded for the year 1921. The delay was due, in part, to a controversy in the physics community over Einstein’s general theory of relativity and, to a lesser extent, antisemitism among certain physicists – including the Nobel laureate Philipp Lenard, who would later support the Nazis.

Indeed, relativity went unmentioned in the citation from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It referred instead to Einstein’s “services to theoretical physics and in particular…his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect”, which was his key contribution to quantum theory. Not that Einstein was concerned: when he gave his Nobel-prize lecture in 1923, he ignored the citation and talked about relativity, not quantum theory.
This is part of a review of Einstein: The Man and His Mind by Gary S Berger and Michael DiRuggiero.

c) The surprising physics of babies: how we’re improving our understanding of human reproduction
There is much to learn when it comes to applying the tools of physics to conception, pregnancy and babyhood.