1. Units 1 and 2 Course Planning Day: Additional Proceedings
The Course Planning Day was held on Monday, 21st November.
The summary of the reports of the discussion groups on planning and on assessment have now been uploaded to the website. These plus the videos of the presentations along with the material prepared for the event are available on the Vicphysics website. This includes:
- Planning document with questions and resources to assist course planning with a proposed week by week program for each Area of Study identifying new dot points. Note: The total time is greater that the time available, so some compromises need to be made. An example of course plan is mentioned below. (10 pages)
- Tasks to analyse the new set of assessment tasks, in particular those for Units 3 and 4. (4 pages)
- Powerpoint Presentations by
- Dr Barbara McKinnon on ‘Putting Energy to Work’. Contexts for the transfer of energy are explored for each Area of Study in Unit 1. The various models for electricity are also discussed in depth. * (28 slides, each slide has notes).
- Jane Coyle on Teaching Multiple Options concurrently. Strategies for option selection, classroom management, work outline, assessment strategies and rubrics plus link to Jane’s resources. (18 slides)
- Emma Barnett on Indigenous Contexts in VCE Physics. Possible contexts and an extensive list of online resources. (10 slides)
- Maria James on assessments tasks, log books, options: teaching strategies and assessment rubrics, description of possible assessment tasks for Units 1 and 2, Unit 2 Area of Study 3. (31 slides)
- Videos of each of the above presentation
In addition, the Course Planning webpage of the website has a week by week course plan for Units 1 and 2. It is available as a pdf and as a docx document, in case you wish to modify it.
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2. High Road, Low Road Demonstration
You have two tracks with the same initial and final heights. Each has the same starting ramp . One track then stays at the same height, the other angles down, levels up and angles back up to the original height.
If a ball is released on each track, which ball finishes first or do they tie?
There are many Youtube videos of this demonstration. These are some of the useful ones:
Other videos of interest are:
An analysis of the physics of this demonstration is on the Society of Physics Students (SPS - US) website. Search for 'High road', then click on the link to the article and it will download. The article is 14 pages, but there are a few other unrelated articles included in the download.
Submitted by Paul Cuthbert.
3. Aerodynamics of the soccer ball
With the Word Cup drawing to a close, there have been a couple of physics articles about the game.
This article in Physics Today which looks at the drag coefficient as it relates to the number of panels on the ball. Another article by the same author is on power and spin.
This article in Physics World from the previous World Cup is very comprehensive.
4. 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 six (6) schools are 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
- Upwey High School (closes 19th Dec)
- Sunshine College (closes 19th Dec)
- Gleneagles Secondary College (closes 15th Dec)
- Maribyrnong Secondary College (closes 14th Dec)
- Mount Alexander 7-12 College (closes 13th Dec)
- Wallan Secondary College (close 12th Dec
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.
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.
6. 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 next year. To make a booking with Luna Park, click here. You can make a tentative booking this year with indicative numbers. Once your timetable for next year is confirmed, please advise Luna Park if there is a change of date or if there is a change in the number of students coming. This should be done at least two weeks before the event.
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 next year.
b) University of Melbourne STEM events in 2023
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7. Events for Teachers and Lab Techs
a) 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:
| Type |
Early Bird |
After 18th Dec |
| In Person |
$300 |
$330 |
| Online |
$240 |
$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.
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) Top Breakthroughs of 2022
The article describes the top 10 and has links for further information on each. List includes:
- Observing the tetraneutron
- Super-efficient electricity generation using a thermophotovoltaic cell with an efficiency of 40%
- Fastest optoelectronic switch at a frequency of one petathertz
- FLASH proton therapy at 40Gy/s
- Perfect light transmission with zero reflection.
b) The issue of 'scientific gaslighters' in popular science articles
Almost a century ago, the British astronomer Arthur Eddington identified the puzzle that gaslighters condescendingly attempt to solve. It arises in his 1928 book The Nature of the Physical World, which begins by describing two tables. One is a familiar, extended, coloured and motionless object. The other is the same table as dissected by science, consisting mainly of tiny electrical charges swarming in empty space.
Physicists, Eddington said, may claim that the scientific table is “the only one which is really there” – but they will “never succeed in exorcizing” the table of ordinary experience. Eddington admitted he was unsure how the two tables are related, saying that the question lies outside the scope of physics. Gaslighters, however, are certain. Only the scientific table is real and the ordinary one is just in our heads. There is no need to relate them.
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