*|MC:SUBJECT|*

1. Short Pracs by Colin Hopkins OAM
Colin has generously provided to Vicphysics a large number of short prac activities for several areas of study as well as support notes (64 files).
These have been uploaded to the website into the respective webpages as follows:

Unit 1 Area of Study 1: (22 pracs)
Unit 1 Area of Study 2: (2 pracs, 1 list of Youtube videos, 1 ppt)
Unit 1 Area of Study 3: (1 article, 1 link to CUPs)
Unit 2 Area of Study 1: (32 pracs)
Unit 2 Area of Study 2: (rubric)
Unit 3 Fields (1 prac on DC Motor)
Unit 3 Power (2 pracs on EMI and T'n lines)

Return to top

2. International Lepton Photon Conference. Public Lecture, Convention Centre, 6pm, 20th July.

The Conference runs from 17th to 21st July. The public lecture on Thursday, 20th July will feature Suzie Sheehy (University of Melbourne and Oxford University) and Alan Duffy (Swinburne University of Technology) in a talk titled 'How to Discover a Universe'.

It will be held in the Clarendon Auditorium at MCEC from 6pm until 7pm.

Cost: $15. Click here to book.

Bios: Dr Sheehy is a physicist, science communicator and academic who divides her time between her research groups at the University of Oxford and University of Melbourne. Her research addresses both curiosity-driven and applied areas and is currently focused on developing new particle accelerators for applications in medicine. An award-winning public speaker, presenter and science communicator, Suzie is dedicated to sharing science beyond the academic community. Her 2018 TED talk has been viewed over 1.8M times and she has been an expert TV presenter for a number of Discovery Channel shows including four seasons of Impossible Engineering. In her talks and shows, Sheehy loves to bring real-life demonstrations and experiments, and she has shared these with hundreds of thousands of audience members. 'The Matter of Everything' is her first book.

Professor Alan Duffy. Professor Alan Duffy is the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Flagship Initiatives at Swinburne University of Technology, bringing together diverse research teams with industry and government stakeholders to undertake transformative programmes in Flagship sectors of hydrogen, renewable technologies, AI, space and aerospace, MedTech and health innovation. He was the inaugural Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute at Swinburne, finding ways to use space and AI to help companies and communities on Earth. His research background in computational astrophysics saw Alan model universes on supercomputers to understand how galaxies like our Milky Way form within vast clouds of dark matter. He is trying to find this dark matter as a Chief Investigator in the $35M ARC CoE for Dark Matter Particle Physics and SABRE, the world’s first dark matter detector in the Southern Hemisphere, at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory at the bottom of an active gold mine in Victoria.

Return to top

3. Perimeter Institute: Exploring Exoplanets. Small group activities.
Exploring Exoplanets is available as a free download. It is described as 'Breakout activities' which are defined as tabletop escape rooms where students solve a series of challenges in the context of an exciting scenario—a mystery to solve or a mission to complete.

In this example, students work together to avoid a collision with an asteroid, while on a mission to investigate exoplanets. They need to solve puzzles to regain control of their ship. This resource draws on introductory science concepts, including astronomy, ecosystems, Bohr–Rutherford diagrams, electron dot diagrams, absorption spectra, electric circuits, power generation, and interpreting graphs. The challenges range in difficulty from simple to complex. Because the puzzles function independently, teachers can choose to include only those puzzles that are appropriate for their students.
The activities are pitched at introductory high school level.
It is a 9.4MB zip file

Return to top

4. Events for Students

Girls in Physics Breakfasts in 2023
A breakfast at Monash University has been confirmed for Friday, 21st July. Details and flyers are available
The Girls in Physics Breakfasts program starts this term. Below are the dates and venues that are open for bookings with the speakers and their topics.

25th May, Central Melbourne. Speaker: Prof Rachel Webster, Melbourne University, Topic: Black Holes - a Window to another Universe. Bookings close this Thursday.
31st May, Mildura. Speaker: Speaker: Distinguished Professor Emeritus Frances Separovic AO, Melbourne University, Topic: MRI of Molecules: where Biophysics meets Cell Chemistry. Booking close Weds, next week.
21st July, Monash University. Speaker: Dr Karen Livesey, University of Newcastle. The AIP Women in Physics Lecturer for 2023. Topic: Nanomagnets: New materials to address biomedical and technological problems
2nd August, Geelong. Speaker: A/Prof Elizabeth Hinde, Melbourne University, Topic: Glow in the dark – Using fluorescence to observe DNA in a living cell
11th August, Wodonga. Speaker: Emma Dyce, Medical radiation physicist, Topic: Treating skin cancer with radiotherapy
16th August, Traralgon. Speaker: Prof Rachel Webster, Melbourne University, Topic: Geothermal energy in Gippsland
25th August, Ballarat. Speaker: Dr Taissa Danilovich, Monash University, Topic: Molecules in Space
1st September, Bendigo. Speaker: Dr Amanda Karakas, Monash University Topic: Stars as chemical element factories

The cost this year is $20 per student, the first teacher attends for free. There is a discount to $5 for low ICSEA schools, you need to contact Vicphysics to request the discount.
For more details and to book go to the Vicphysics website.
Flyers to promote the Term 2 events to your students are on the website. Flyers for Term 3 events will be up in coming weeks.

Return to top

5. Events for Teachers

a) Opening the Infrared Treasure Chest with the James Webb Space Telescope. New Scientist. Lecture: Online and on Demand
The New Scientist magazine has organised another lecture to be held on Weds, 17th May at 6pm BST.

Topic: Opening the Infrared Treasure Chest with the James Webb Space Telescope
Speaker: John C Mather, senior project scientist for James Webb Space Telescope and Nobel Prize winner for his precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation using the COBE satellite
Abstract: He discusses the groundbreaking JWST and shares some of the telescope’s first discoveries. The JWST is now peering into the past to find the first objects that formed after the big bang and to study the first black holes, the growth of galaxies, the formation of stars and planetary systems.

Cost: £16 Registration gives 12 months access.

b) Out-of-Field Electricity Workshops.
It will be held in two venues: Hamilton and Wangaratta. The workshops to be Victoria University Secondary College, the Cairnlea campus, in St Albans has been cancelled. It will now be held in Term 3 in a Metropolitan venue.
For Hamilton and Wangaratta, the format has been changed to two full days from 9:30am to 3:30pm. For Hamilton the days are Weds, 31st May and Tuesday, 6th June, while for Wangaratta the PD will be on Weds, 24th May and Thursday, 15th June.
The intensive module steps you through the key concepts and skills to successfully teach the relevant Year 7 - 10 curriculum content.

Why your colleagues should participate:

Deepen their conceptual understanding of key concepts in electric circuits
Engage in practical activities that they can directly deploy in your classroom
Unpack typical student misconceptions and learn best practice pedagogy for combating them
Improve their ability to differentiate curriculum and assessment student achievement
Access materials to support your classroom practice prepared by experienced teachers and science education academics associated with the Vicphysics Teachers' Network
Become part of a network like-minded teachers who are striving to improve their practice

Cost $240 per participant. A discount is available for teachers from low ICSEA schools.
For more details and to book click here.

Return to top

6. 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 is three (3) schools seeking a physics teacher. The Vicphysics webpage above has a link to the Government schools jobs website. The following Gov't Schools are seeking a physics teacher.

Homestead Senior Secondary College (closes 24th May)
Warrnambool College (Closes 15th May)
Euroa Secondary College (closes 15th May)

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.

Return to top

7. 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.

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: A Vicphysics subscription gives you access to the Teachers section of the website. The subscription will last for a year from the day payment is received. Both individual and school subscriptions are available. Check the homepage for subscription link.

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

Return to top

8. 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) Sects, Drugs and drunken duels: Lighter Moments in the History of Science
A review of the book 'The Limits of Genius; The Surprising Stupidity of the World's Greatest Minds' by Kate Spalding. A number of examples are described in the review.

b) LEGO model of IBM's quantum computer system
The model was built with 403 pieces and includes all the main features. With a scale of 1 to 18, the design features a IBM server cabinet of microwave electronics with a Bluefors cryostat support frame suspending a golden dilution refrigerator with an IBM 433-qubits Osprey quantum processor at the bottom. It also includes cutaways showing internal structures. There is a link to description of the model. There are also LEGO models of the LHC, James Webb Space Telescope and a Kibble balance, which is a way of defining the kilogram in terms of Planck's Constant.

c) Wonder Material Grows on Trees
A material that combines graphite with cellulose from wood pulp is lighter and stronger than structural materials like steels, titanium alloys, and carbon fibres.

Return to top