1. Live-Streaming of Breakfast Talk, 8:15am, 9th May
You and your students can view the talk by the Aust Inst of Physics Women in Physics Lecturer for 2024, Prof Susan Coppersmith, on the morning of Thursday, 9th May as she speaks at the Girls in Physics Breakfast in Central Melbourne.
They are many ways for you to use the talk from the simple to the grand. These include:

1. Record the presentation and show it to the students at another time.
2. Invite students to view the presentation live and so be able to contribute questions for the speaker.
3. Offer the students a light breakfast at the school before viewing the presentation.
4. Invite people who have a career in STEM or are studying STEM subjects at university to join the students for an informal light breakfast before viewing the presentation. Your school alumni are a good source.
5. Make the event more structured by including some careers-based activities or a small panel from among your guests.
6. Contact a nearby school and make it a combined event.

Check our website for advice and suggestions for the above options as well as to register for the Zoom link. Prof Coppersmith's topic is 'From Grains of Sand to Quantum Computers'.  The website also has further information on Prof Coppersmith and her talk.

The Girls in Physics Breakfasts Program has a limit on the number of students per school to maximise the number of schools able to attend. Live-streaming enables more students to be involved.  Last year Kew High School organised their own in-house breakfast with their alumni as the principal source of guests.  It is their planning and experience of that event that is the basis of the advice on the website.

2. Next Time Questions and other Teaching Strategies
Next Time questions are short questions which you can pose one at the end of a lesson with the answer revealed at the next lesson or later if you want the students to discuss it out of class.  Alternatively post the question on a notice-board with the answer posted a week later.
The term comes from Paul Hewitt who has generated a large number, across all areas of physics.  His questions are listed by topics on his Arbor Scientific website. The page also has useful advice on how to use the questions.

A related area is Hinge Questions, which are defined as 'planned questions written prior to the lesson with a specific goal of assessing all pupils understanding and thinking at that point.' They are usually multiple choice.  Here are some examples from UK STEM .  UK schools are moving to an expectation that there should be a hinge question in each lesson.

Another source of materials, although commercial, is Physics Concept Cartoons, a set of 195 images for £15.  They are for 11 to 16 year olds.  They 'are designed to introduce science concepts in everyday settings. Each character has a different opinion about the science being discussed. All of the possible answers are plausible and highlight common learner misconceptions, there is also a blank bubble for students to enter their ideas.'  Examples include: Why do roses look red? Does weight change in water?

Thinking Physics: Understandable Practical Reality by Lewis Carroll Epstein 'Thinking Physics is a rigorously correct, lighthearted, and cleverly designed Q and A book for physicists of all ages.'  Available from Amazon for $51. Check out the blurb on Amazon.  Highly recommended.

Peer Instruction Questions by Eric Mazur. A set of over 100 questions on different aspects of Mechanics. 3. Vicphysics Survey of Physics Teachers on Qualifications, Teaching Experience and Professional Development Needs   An Update:
This is the analysis of the responses received so far:

• Gender: Male (53%), Female (47%) , In the 2000 survey it was 71; 29.
• Qual'ns: 83% have at least 2nd year tertiary physics or equivalent,
• Years teaching: Average is 12 years with a stdev of 12 years,
• No of VCE/IB classes: Average is 1.5 with a stdev of 0.8
• Teach Yrs 7 - 10 Science: 73%
• Teach Yrs 11, 12 Maths: 41%

If you have not completed the survey, we encourage you to takes a few minutes to complete it, online here. A strong response is needed to guide the work of Vicphysics. 4. PHYSCON 2024: Videos, Resources, Evaluation and Post Conference Registration
Videos of the keynote addresses and most of the workshops are available at the conference website to those who registered.
If you were not able to attend, you can still get access to the presentations by registering now.
The cost is $135 with discounts for Vicphysics subscribers. Please click here to go to the PHYSCON webpage and click on Register.  The presentations include Maria James, VCAA on Assessment Tasks and Andrew Hansen, the Chief Assessor on the 2023 Physics Exam.
The resources provided by the presenters were initially only available during their presentation.  To access them, the participants should open the platform, click on the session and scroll down to resources to access the link.

Evaluation Form: If you were a participant, please complete this form.  It is important to give feedback to each of the presenters and your comments on the conference help plan the next one.
5.  Short practical activities for home: Next Activity
Activity for this newsletter: With a funnel, put two teaspoons of flour inside a balloon, then blow it up, but don't tie it off. Now blow up another balloon to the same size. With the openings of the two balloons held tight take them outside away from the wind. With the balloon openings at the bottom, and the balloons at the same height, release the two balloons. What happens next?
Check this Youtube video for the short introduction. The answer will be in the next newsletter.

Answer to the activity in the last newsletter is: C: 5 - 7 edges in the bubbles in the milk.  Also check the entry, titled Physics of Advent, at the bottom of this webpage, on our website for information about the source of these activities.
6. Events for Students

Girls in Physics Breakfast for 2024
Bookings are open and flyers are available for confirmed events.

• Ballarat, 8th March. Speaker Prof Emma Ryan-Weber, Swinburne University, Topic: Where does stuff come from? Bookings close today.
• Mildura, 19th March. Speaker: Dr Gail Iles, RMIT, Topic: Aeroplanes and Rocket Science: Your ticket to Space.
• Monash University, 22nd March. Speaker: A/Prof Kaye Morgan, Monash University, Topic: Playing with Light: X-ray imaging at the Synchrotron
• Traralgon, 17th May, Speaker: Natalie Clements, Medical radiation physicist, Topic: Using physics to treat cancer.
• Central Melbourne, 9th May.  AIP Women in Physics Lecturer for 2024, Prof Susan Coppersmith, UNSW, Topic: From Grains of Sand to Quantum Computers
• Wodonga, 30th May (TBC), Speaker Dr Renee Goreham, University of Newcastle, Topic: Nanobiotechnology: Building the Future of Medicine and Beyond
• Bendigo, (Term 3).  Speaker: Dr Nadia Zatsepin, La Trobe University, Topic: Making molecular movies with X-ray lasers.
• 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.

Physics Days at Luna Park in 2024 .Synchrotron Tours and Dataloggers
Dataloggers are not available to be booked this year.  The smart phone app, Phyphox, records acceleration and altitude and is free.  Please note: Phones must be securely placed in a pocket.

Many country schools bus their students to Luna Park. In the past to enhance their day in Melbourne, some arranged an activity after Luna Park closed at 2pm.  One of these was a Synchrotron Tour.  
This year the Australian Synchrotron is offering a free one-hour tour on Monday, 4th and Weds, 6th starting about 3pm, which gives enough time to drive the bus to Clayton.  Vicphysics had decided to cover the cost for tours on the other three days, so a tour is available on each day.
Tour groups are limited to a max of 25.
If you would like your students to be part of a tour group, please email Synchrotron bookings with your day and student numbers.

7. Events for Teachers 

a) Out-of-Field PD for Science Teachers: Forces and Motion: In-person,  Relativity: On-line
The Out-of-Field PD program continues in 2024.
The next one is on Forces and Motion, it is in person and at Wangaratta on 2nd and 9th May.  The cost is $220 and there is CRT coverage for Government schools.

There will also be a repeat of last year's online PD on Special Relativity in Term 2, from 9th May to 13th June from 4:30pm to 6:30pm.
The cost is $250.
Check here for details of both events.

There will also be repeats of the Electricity PD, done in person in the after-school format and also the two full day format in both metropolitan and regional locations.
Material is being developed for PD on Light and Sound, and Energy which are expected to be conducted in the 2nd half of the year.

b) Beginning Physics Teachers' In-Service. Thursday, 11th April 
The in-service will be at Kew High School. The program includes a hands-on session of practical activities, presentations by Colin Hopkins and Andrew Hansen, the chief assessor, and a panel of experienced teachers sharing their ideas on developing SAC tasks.  
Registration is open here.
Cost: $45 with discounts for Vicphysics subscribers.  Lunch is provided.
The in-service is of value to first-year-out physics teachers, those returning to physics teaching after some absence and teachers of other science disciplines who have been asked by their school to take Physics.

c) Practical Activities Fair for Senior Physics, Friday, 12th April
The event will offer an extensive number of physics experiments, demonstrations and other practical activities for Units 1 to 4 across 8 labs.
The program will be designed to ensure flexibility and access. Lab Techs will also be welcome to register.
There will be people in each lab to guide and offer assistance.  There will be notes available. Equipment suppliers will also be there.
Invite to contribute an activity: If you have designed a practical activity you would like to share, please complete the form on the website. You will not need to be beside your display during the day.
This event will also be at Kew High School.
Cost: $95 with discounts for Lab Tech and Vicphysics subscribers. Lunch is provided
For more information and to register, please go to the Vicphysics website.

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10.   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 from the history of science
A brief review of the book 'The Limits of Genius: The Surprising Stupidity of the World’s Greatest Minds by Katie Spalding..  The review includes examples from Descartes, Ada Lovelace and Marie Curie.

b) Dark matter vs modified gravity: which team are you on?
A podcast of an interview with two cosmologists on opposing sides of this debate. Stacy McGaugh from Case Western Reserve University in the US is a former dark-matter researcher who switched sides overnight after MOND successfully predicted the rotation velocities of stars in galaxies.
The other guest, Indranil Banik from the University of St Andrews in the UK, took the opposite journey. While working on a six-year project to measure MOND in wide binaries, he found no deviation from standard Newtonian gravity at all – a hammer blow for MOND. Now a dark matter advocate, Banik cites observations in our own solar system as further evidence against MOND. Naturally, others disagree.

c) Magnetic monopoles appear in haematite
During the quantum revolution of the 1920s and 1930s, some physicists began to speculate that this principle of classical electromagnetism might need revising. In 1931 Paul Dirac became the first to predict that magnetic monopoles – elementary particles that act as isolated magnetic north and south poles and are the magnetic analogues of electric charges – could exist. Although magnetic monopoles of the type Dirac envisaged have never been seen as free particles, exotic materials known as spin ices have since been found to host collective states that mimic them.

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