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1. 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 is preparing detailed solutions to assist students when using this exam papers for revision. They will ultimately include a suggested marking scheme and additional questions that can be asked based on the stems of some of the questions. A draft of the solutions to this year's NHT paper is available on the website for comment and corrections.

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2. 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.

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3. Phone Apps for Physics
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)in the US has set up a section on their website for Science Education. One of the entries under that heading is 'Physics with Phones'.

It has a series of 8 topics with a wide range of experiments in each. The activities support the following apps: Phyphox, Physics Toolbox, Spectrum View and Adv Spectrum Pro.

Topics include several aspects of Motion and a few on Waves and EM. Each topic has lesson notes ( e.g. a 150 page powerpoint) and about three to five activity sheets. There is also a 100 page powerpoint on teaching about digital measurement and uncertainty.

The LLNL is also offering an LLNL scientist to lead a 'Physics with Phones' activity in your classroom. Vicphysics is exploring the possibility of this offer being extended to Australia.

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4. Magnetic viewing films
Magnetic viewing films are used to show the polarity of magnetic fields, like a fridge magnet.
They are 'translucent thin flexible sheet, coated with micro-capsules containing nickel flakes suspended in oil.^[1] When magnetic lines of force are parallel to the surface of the carrier sheet, the surfaces of the flakes are reflective, and appear bright. When lines of force are perpendicular to the sheet, the flakes are edge-on, and appear significantly darker. When the film is placed on a magnet's pole, the latter case applies.' Wikipedia.
The sheets are normally about 3.5 x 4.5 cm, come is packs of 10 and sell for about $16.
They are available from the usual suppliers of magnets.

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5. 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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6. Events for Students

a) Girls in Physics Breakfasts for 2024
The last Breakfast for the year is next week, in Geelong. Booking close tomorow.

Geelong, 15th August. Speakers: Prof Bre-Anne Sainsbury, Prof Wendy Timms, Deakin University, Topics: a) The Gentle Art of Breaking Stuff, b) Locking Carbon in the Ground: How, When, Where?

The cost this year is $25 per student inc GST with the first teacher free. A discount is available.
Please check the website for more details. Bookings can now be made for the ones with confirmed dates. The others will open for bookings as venue and speaker details are confirmed.

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

Journey Beyond: A Morning with Astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg, Sunday, 11th Aug, 10:30am, Scienceworks
Dark Matter road trip, 5:30pm, 7th August, Ballarat, 6:30pm, 22nd August, Dandenong, 7pm, 30th August, Carlton
Space weather, 3:30pm, 12th August, RMIT
What is dark matter? 6:30pm, 14th August, Brunswick

c 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.

d) A Virtual Tour of Einstein’s Universe: Workshop and Public Lecture, 14th August, Swinburne University of Technology
Workshop: Swinburne is holding a one-hour workshop for secondary students starting at 5:30pm.
Activities include:

Virtual Reality: Come explore the cosmos in virtual reality! Their scientists will take students on a guided tour of the universe, from the solar system to the most exotic objects in space, such as neutron stars and black holes.
Badge Making: Students create a badge of their design to take home to remember this event
Activity Sheets: Activity and colouring sheets with mazes, word searches, and crosswords, etc
Tabletop Interferometer: How do scientists detect ripples in the fabric of space-time as they pass through the Earth? Join their scientists as they demonstrate a working laser interferometer and share how they use large versions of them to find gravitational waves.

Venue: ATC 103, Burwood campus, Swinburne University
Public Lecture by Prof Matthew Bailes at 6:30pm
Abstract: Over 100 years ago, Albert Einstein developed his General Theory of Relativity, a description of matter, space, and time that appears to defy our everyday experiences. In General Relativity, as a result of gravity, rulers shrink, time flows more slowly, light bends, waves of gravity permeate the Universe, and black holes can trap light. In this talk, Professor Bailes will use an exciting new virtual reality tool to fly around a virtual universe, visiting many naturally occurring gravitational laboratories that astronomers use to test whether Einstein’s theories provide an accurate description of the Universe.

Speaker: Professor Matthew Bailes is the co-discoverer of Fast Radio Bursts, founder of the Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav). He has been working on relativistic astrophysics for almost four decades and has a passion for public outreach and building radio astronomy instrumentation.
Venue: ATC 101, Burwood campus, Swinburne University
Registration for workshop or lecture, click here, There is no cost.
This event is co-organised by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) and the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University.

e) VCE Physics Revision Lecture, Sunday, 15th September, On-line and at Swinburne University of Technology
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.

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5. Events for Teachers
a) Out-of-Field PD for Science Teachers: Shepparton (Forces and Motion)
The next PD event starts this week. It will be done in person and in the two full day format.

Forces and Motion will be in Shepparton on Fridays, 9th and 16th August

Check here for details for this event and to book.

Cost: $220 per participant, with discounts available for teachers from Government schools and for teachers from schools with a low ICSEA rank. CRT coverage is available for teachers from Government schools.

b) 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.

c) 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

d) 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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6. Seeking a Physics teacher? Seeking a new position?
There are four schools seeking a physics teacher.
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.

Belmont High School (closes 18th August)
Mornington Secondary College (closes 14th August)
Macleod College (closes 13th August)
Stawell Secondary College (closes 11th August)

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7. Vicphysics matters

i) Resources from the PD on SACs

A PD on SACs was held last term. It covered the Unit 3 Areas of Study and Unit 4 AoS 1 and was in all the four formats: Explaining, Analysing, Applying and Comparing. Material for and from the PD has been uploaded to PD on SACs in June webpage .
The material includes:

Questions for the groups on the Motion in 2D and Fields Areas of Study which participants had already done and questions on Electricity Generation and Unit 4 AoS 1 which most participants were yet to do or design.
A short Powerpoint (5 slides) on the key pointers for each format,
Spreadsheet of Performance Descriptors for the Area of Study and the skills of Communication, Data Analysis and Arguments and Conclusions, along with information on constructing a rubric for an assessment task from the worksheets in the spreadsheet.
Check lists for each format. Vicphysics has prepared these to assist teachers in thinking of the aspects of each type of assessment task. The check lists are not intended to be exhaustive, nor authoritative, but more a guide to the aspects worth considering when designing an assessment task or evaluating commercial tasks or those of other teachers.

Contributed SACs. Participants have contributed assessment tasks. Copyright watermarks have been added and they have been uploaded to a google drive to which teachers can request access by email, in the same way that Luna Park Solutions are made available.

Currently there are now 13 SACs on the google drive along with the material described above.
To get access to this google drive, please email Vicphysics from a school or education-linked email address.

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. 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.

iii) 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.

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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) Physics helps Aussie Gold
Physics and Maths graduate Cameron McEvoy won a gold medal for the 50 m freestyle at the Paris Olympics. Cameron has been in the Australian Swimming team for many years but took a break a couple of years ago. He decided that there was a better way to train than clocking up the kilometres. So he returned to training with a focus on strength and resistance training.
He is known for the physics themes on his cap. This image shows the first detection of a gravitational wave. Another cap had a Feynman diagram of an electron-positron annihilation.
Guardian Article, article on the cap, Age article

b) How do electromagnetic waves carry information about objects they interact with?
As electromagnetic waves travel, they collect information about their environment. This property is widely exploited in a host of applications that rely on waves being deflected, scattered or reflected off their surroundings, but it comes with a challenge: how can we extract as much of this information as possible?

Researchers in Austria and France have now developed a new mathematical formalism that may help answer this question. The information the wave carries about its environment is known as Fisher information, and the new formalism makes it possible to visualize how waves collect this information from objects they interact with as they travel.

c) Physicist Rosemary Fowler honoured 75 years after discovering the kaon particle
The physicist Rosemary Fowler has had to wait three quarters of a century to be honoured for her role in discovering a subatomic particle. Fowler was doing a PhD at the University of Bristol in 1948 under the supervision of physicist Cecil Powell when she stumbled upon the particle. The then 22-year-old physicist spotted unusual particle tracks in photographic emulsions that had been exposed to cosmic rays at high altitude in Switzerland. She discovered a particle that decayed into three pions and labelled the track ‘k’, with the particle now known as the K-meson or “kaon”.

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