1. AIP Congress 2024: Teachers' Day, Weds, 4th December, Melbourne Convention Centre: Small number of Free Tickets
The Australian Institute of Physics Congress is running from 2nd-5th December at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, and will have a focus on education in the program running on Wednesday 4th December.

Sessions of interest to teachers include: 
Tuesday Public Lecture 7pm. What you shouldn't know about Quantum Physics
Presenter:  A/Prof Chris Ferrie.  He is at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia, where he researches and lectures on quantum physics, computation, and engineering. He is the co-founder of Eigensystems, a quantum computing start-up with a mission to democratize access to quantum computing through education. As the #1 best-selling science author for kids, he has written over fifty children’s books about science and a few for adults. You can find Chris online at csferrie.com
(no registration required for public lecture)

Wednesday will have a focus on education
8-9am: Education Breakfast (additional registration required) Artificial Intelligence in Physics Education
9:45am: Plenary by Prof Manjula Sharma Declining physics student numbers: Can we reverse the trend? Prof Sharma is a  Professor of Science Education at the University of Sydney and Director of the STEM Teacher Enrichment Academy.
11am-12:30pm  Focus Session - Bridging High School and Tertiary Physics will bring together secondary and tertiary educators with lightning talks and table discussions on laboratory learning and university-secondary outreach programs in physics
2:30pm-4:00pm: Education presentations: Education Across Settings. A series of invited and contributed talks will look at effective approaches to physics teaching and physics education across settings.
5-6pm: Education presentations: Effective Approaches to Teaching 

Thursday 
3-4pm: Education presentations: Labs and Hands on Learning

Venue: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
Date: Weds, 4th Dec
Normal one day Cost: $130, with includes lunch and morning tea
To register: AIP Congress 2024 website

Free Tickets:
There are teacher rates for four day, two day, and single-day registrations. Monash University School of Physics and Astronomy is sponsoring a limited number of one day registrations for teachers.  Please contact Anna.Phillips@monash.edu for further information. 

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2.  A Particle Physics Course for High School Students from CERN
CERN has developed a pilot course for students on Particle Physics.  It contains 16 chapters of videos and quizzes and covers a core curriculum that introduces students to fundamental questions, such as “What is a particle?” or “What are charges and interactions?”, leading to more applied questions, such as “What is a particle accelerator?” and “What is a particle detector?”.

The course takes just under 4 hours, so each chapter takes about 10 - 18 mins. The chapters can be done in any order. This makes the chapters useful homework exercises.

The course also features instructions for DIY experiments that you can be done at home.

The website also has a section on the 'Educational Framework' on Learning progression, Nature of Science, Linguistic accuracy and Typographic representations for processes.  Each of these areas has links to several articles to educational research.  This section is worthy of closer examination for course design in general.

This is a pilot course, so if you incorporate parts of it in your program next year, please ask your students to give CERN some feedback

3. Halloween Special: Cosmic Catastrophes - The End of Earth and Beyond.  Public lecture, 6:30pm, 31st October, Swinburne University with activities for kids from 5:30pm
What, in the end, will signal the demise of our world?  It’s a question we’ve all pondered, but what could actually happen? Join Dr. Sara Webb as she unravels the mysteries of our planet’s potential end in her upcoming lecture, based on her new book.

Dr. Webb will explore: 

• What Makes the Earth Special,
• Disasters Waiting to Happen,
• The Inevitable End 

It’s not all doom and gloom, though—there’s hope in humanity’s search for a new home, Earth 2.0. This talk will leave you reflecting on the precious nature of our place in the cosmos.
There are activities for kids at 5:30pm

Dr Sara Webb was a keynote speaker at PHYSCON 2024.

Venue: AMDC301 and Sky Lounge, Level 3, AMDC Building, 453 Burwood Road Hawthorn, VIC 3122
To register click here, there is also a Flyer to promote the event to your students.

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4. Physics Days at Luna Park: Dates and Cost and Synchrotron Tours
In 2025 Physics Days at Luna Park will be on from Monday, 3rd March to Friday, 7th, March.
The cost next year will be $35 per student with teachers free.
Bookings will open in late December once Luna Park's end of school year activities are over.   
In the past, Luna Park invoiced the school after the event once actual student numbers are known, they now require a deposit of 30% to confirm the booking, which needs to be paid four weeks before the event.
You can now seek your school's approval for the activity.
As an add on and also a benefit to regional schools for whom the trip to Melbourne is a major commitment, the Australian Synchrotron is offering Synchrotron tours at 3pm.  Each tour runs for one hour and has a limit of 24 students.  The tour is free with ANSTO covering the cost for two days in the week and Vicphysics for one or more days. Details of dates, etc are yet to be confirmed which will be announced in the next newsletter.
An aerobatic display has been requested for one or more days, but confirmation or not, is not received until February.
It is expected that the RAAF flight simulators will be back.
Information on the day and worksheets can be found here. 

5. Events for Students 

a)  Quantum Computing for students: 2pm - 5pm, 24th November, University of Melbourne
    Enter the QUANTUM COMPUTING WORLD - learn to code the new FRONTIER.
As part of the international conference “Quantum Techniques in Machine Learning 2024” to be held at the University of Melbourne from 25th to 29th November, Lloyd Hollenberg is running an activity for students on the Sunday afternoon before.
The 3-hour activity is specifically designed to introduce you to the world of quantum computing. Students will be guided through the concepts underpinning how information is represented and processed in a quantum computer. 
Using the interactive web-based Quantum User Interface (QUI) system, they will gain first-hand experience in visualising quantum logic and coding quantum computers to carry out basic programs.

Who: VCE students and those who enjoy mathematical thinking
What: Students will need to bring a laptop with access to the Chrome browser.
Where: The University of Melbourne, Room G18 – G21, Alan Gilbert Building, 161 Barry St, Carlton
Click here for a copy of the flyer.
Click here to register, which close on 10th November. Note: Spaces are expected to fill up by the end of this week.

b) Swinburne Innovation Challenge: Register your team for program on 20th November.

Places are now available for high ability students in Years 10 to 12 from Government Schools to participate in the latest iteration of the Swinburne Innovation Challenge. In this program, free for Government Schools, students will:

• Form teams of 4-6 and identify a problem they’d like to solve, framed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  It is expected that the teams will be cross-disciplinary, see below.
• Visit the Hawthorn Campus of Swinburne University of Technology
• Extend their learning through hands-on workshops and build key skills in teamwork, ways of thinking, problem solving and communication
• Build a prototype solution for their chosen problem and create a 3-minute video pitch in their teams, to win fabulous prizes for themselves and for their school

The Swinburne Innovation Challenge runs over four weeks utilising a blended model of delivery, commencing with a teacher-led Discovery Phase at school (30 min), followed by the Develop Phase excursion to Swinburne Hawthorn (all day on 20th Nov), and finishing with the student-led Deliver Phase due four weeks later. The program includes 10 - 12 hours of student-led work and requires minimal teacher involvement.
Places are also open to Non-Government Schools for a nominal fee per student. Please inquire for details at schoolprograms@swin.edu.au.
Download the flyer with details of the three stages.
To register interest, click here.
There are prizes to be won, but not specified.
The team's interests can include: Engineering, Physics, Applied computing, Psychology, Product design, Business management, Media, Sociology, Legal Studies and Phys Ed.

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6. Events for Teachers 

a) Shaw-IAU Workshop by the IAU Office of Astronomy Education, 12-14 Nov, Free online conference 
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) have been running this three-day workshop for several years. Sessions are held at times to suit most of the global community.  For example looking at last year's program, Sessions were held in the following Melbourne times: 6pm - 7pm, 7pm - 8:30pm, 9pm - 10:30pm, 10:30pm to 12:00am until 3:00am.  So four of the seven sessions are accessible.
The session titles from the last Workshop were: Teaching methods and tools, Astronomy Education in Practice, Planetary Climate, etc with sessions repeated at different times over the three days.
This year's program has not been released yet but you can register here.
Robert Hollow from Parkes Radio Telescope and Jackie Bondell from OzGrav are the Australian Coordinators of this international event.

b) Out-of-Field PD for Science Teachers: Wyndham Vale (Forces and Motion), Hamilton (Light and Sound),
The next PD events are:

• Wyndham Vale on Weds, 6th November and Friday, 15th November, 9:30am to 3:30pm. Morning tea and lunch provided.  Forces and Motion: at Manor Lakes P-12 School
• Hamilton on Wednesday, 13 November and Tuesday, 19th November, 9:30am to 3:30pm. Morning tea and lunch provided. Light and Sound at Monivae College
• Kew High School Light and Sound has been postponed to 2025

Check here for details for these events and to book.

Costs: Hamilton ($220 per participant), Wyndham Vale ($330 per participant).  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.

c) PHYSCON 2025 - Making a Quantum Leap: Registration open
                       
Vicphysics Teachers’ Network Inc is excited to announce that “PHYSCON 2025 – Making a Quantum Leap,” a hybrid conference for all teachers of Physics, will be taking place on Friday, 21 February online and at Swinburne University of Technology’s Hawthorn Campus with the support of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

2025 is the international “Year of Quantum” and we are very fortunate to have Professor Nicolas Menicucci from RMIT giving a keynote address at the conference.  He is an outstanding communicator who is leading the Australian national campaign to raise awareness of the ubiquity and importance of quantum phenomena as well as the opportunities that quantum technologies present for those who have physics knowledge and skills.

The other keynote speaker is Prof Manjula Sharma from the University of Sydney.  Prof Sharma is a professor of Science Education and is active in STEM and teacher enrichment.  She will speak on 'Curiosity, inquiry and emotional engagement'. .

Program features:

• Inspiring keynote speakers: quantum physicist, Prof Nick Menicucci and physics education expert, Prof Manjula Sharma, see details above.
• Four sessions encompassing more than 40 workshops relevant to secondary Physics teaching and learning, many livestreamed and available post event on demand,
• Presentations by the VCE Physics Chief Assessor and the VCAA Science Curriculum Manager,
• Includes networking opportunities, exhibitors, cutting-edge laboratory tours and Saturday excursions.

Click here of a copy of the flyer. Click here for a copy of the program.

Conference Fees.

	Early Bird before 18th Dec
	Student/Retired	School member	Individual member	Non-member
in person	$120.00	$310.00	$290.00	$330.00
online	$80.00	$140.00	$120.00	$160.00
	Regular
	Student/Retired	School member	Individual member	Non-member
in person	$150.00	$340.00	$320.00	$360.00
online	$110.00	$170.00	$150.00	$190.0

To Register 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) Spiders use physics, not chemistry, to cut silk in their webs
Spider silk is among the toughest of all biological materials, and scientists have long been puzzled by how spiders manage to cut it. Do they break it down by chemical means, using enzymes? Or do they do it mechanically, using their fangs? Researchers at the University of Trento in Italy have now come down firmly on the side of fangs, resolving a longstanding debate and perhaps also advancing the development of spider-fang-inspired cutting tools.

b) Mountaintop observations of gamma-ray glow could shed light on origins of lightning
Research done at a mountaintop cosmic-ray observatory in Armenia has shed new light on how thunderstorms can create flashes of gamma rays by accelerating electrons. Further study of the phenomenon could answer important questions about the origins of lightning.

This accelerating process is called thunderstorm ground enhancement (TGE), whereby thunderstorms create strong electric fields that accelerate atmospheric free electrons to high energies. These electrons then collide with air molecules, creating a cascade of secondary charged particles. When charged particles are deflected in these collisions they emit gamma rays in a process called bremsstrahlung.  The flashes of gamma rays are called “gamma-ray glows” and are some of the strongest natural sources of high-energy radiation on Earth.

c) Deep connections: why two AI pioneers won the Nobel Prize for Physics. A  podcast
It came as a bolt from the blue for many Nobel watchers. This year’s Nobel Prize for Physics went to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for their “foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning and artificial neural networks”.

This podcast explores the connections between artificial intelligence (AI) and physics with the author Anil Ananthaswamy – who has written the book Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Maths Behind Modern AI. They chat delves into the careers of Hinton and Hopfield and explain how they laid much of the groundwork for today’s AI systems.

The podcast also looks at why Hinton has spoken out about the dangers of AI and chat about the connection between this year’s physics and chemistry Nobel prizes.

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