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1. Improving Science Education: Video of Public Lecture at Royal Society of Victoria
In early November, the Royal Society of Victoria held a public forum on 'Aiming Higher: Improving Science Education in Victoria.
The speakers were:

Prof Amanda Berry, Professor of STEM Education at RMIT and
Prof Jan van Driel, Professor of Science Education at the University of Melbourne.

The introduction said 'Our science teachers must balance delivery of the Victorian Curriculum with the spontaneity and spark of student-led modes of inquiry to maintain their engagement, questioning and persistence. It’s a tough gig, particularly if stretching to teach science “out of field”, and even more so when engaging students who are experiencing any form of socioeconomic disadvantage or poor mental health. What do teachers need to feel supported and valued in sustaining their practice, and what do our primary and secondary students need from teachers to feel engaged and inspired by the challenges of the science curriculum?'
The video is available here, which also displays transcript. Profs Berry and van Driel share the presentation and cover many topics, including:

STEM enrolments and demographic and social factors affecting participation,
Problems in science education, internationally and local
Some solutions
Role of Science Teachers
Way forward

To assist you with accessing the sections that might interest you a timesheet has been prepared with times for the above sections and dot points for each.

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2. Combining Physics Classes in 2024 Zoom date.
Some teachers are being asked to combine their Year 11 and Year 12 physics students into one class. This raises a number of planning issues.
A Zoom meeting has been arranged for Monday, 11th December starting at 4:30pm. If you would like to participate, please email Vicphysics. for a copy of the Zoom link.
The Zoom meeting can address matters such as: i) Scheduling topics, ii) Teaching styles, iii) Practical Activities, iv) Assessment tasks and v) meeting VCAA guidelines on 'at least 50 hours scheduled classroom instruction per unit'.

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3. Network Evening: Talk, Dinner and Catching up. Weds 13th December

The next Network Evening is on Wednesday, 13th December, at the Auburn Hotel, starting at 6pm.
Topic: What does the 2023 Nobel Prize mean for School Physics?
Speaker: Prof Jeffrey Davis, Swinburne University. Prof Davis leads the ultrafast spectroscopy group.
Abstract: The 2023 Nobel prize for developing attosecond pulses of light and associated technologies offer contexts to enrich the teaching of quantum physics at the secondary level.
Cost: $45, (40 for Vicphysics subscribers)
To Book: Click here. For Flyer.

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4. Material for Assessment Tasks from Groups at the Units 3 and 4 Course Planning Day
As part of the day the groups each worked on an Assessment Task. The work of many groups has now been entered and is available on our website along with the material the groups were given to assist with the activity. The work of the remaining groups will be added in the coming weeks.
The material supplied to the groups included:

Starting points generated at PHYSCON 2023 in the small group discussions. These covered each of the four types of Assessment Tasks with examples from most Areas of Study.
Performance Descriptors for each section of content knowledge for each of the Areas of Study.
Performance Descriptors for some of the Key Science Skills of Communication, Arguments and Conclusions and Data Analysis.

The groups were allocated two of the four types. They selected one, chose one of the starting points, identified which Content Knowledge and Science Skills related to that starting point, and then began generating questions to construct an Assessment Task.
The document so far has work on six starting points, with others to follow. They are:

Projectile motion
Luna Park rides
Travelling around a corner
Comparing the design of two DC motors
Comparing AC and DC generators
Nature of light, particle wave duality.

The website also has several finished assessment tasks prepared by Committee members prior to the event.

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5. Events for Students

Physics Days at Luna Park in 2024
The dates for 2024 are Monday 4th March to Friday 8th March.
Luna Park bookings will not open until later in December, but schools can now seek approval from their school administrations. The student fee will be $31.50 and a deposit of 30% is required to confirm the booking.
Aerobatic displays have been requested, but confirmation is not received until February.
The worksheets have not been updated since they were first written in 2004. The terminology for forces has changed and there have been some content changes, so the worksheets will be updated in Term 4.

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6. Events for Teachers

PHYSCON 2024: 23rd February, 2024. Registration is open

Victorian Physics Teachers' Conference Friday, 23rd February, 2024 at Swinburne University of Technology

Click here for the landing page with details of workshops, the program and the link to register. A copy of the program can also be downloaded here.

For PHYSCON 2024 we are scheduling four workshop sessions, each with 12 workshops on offer, in addition to innovative and inspiring keynotes from quantum specialist Dr Liam Hall and astronomer Dr Sara Webb.
One of the workshop presenters (A3) will be Joe Cossette from the US. Joe has just been named as 2023 Teacher of the Year by the Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC), which is a partnership of the American Physics Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). This is his webpage. Another is Prof Alan Duffy from Swinburne (B9) on 'Exploring radiation and relativity with classroom muon detectors'.

We will be live streaming 36 of the 48 workshops as well as the keynote addresses, so that the experience is accessible to all physics teachers. Participants will also be able to attend important VCAA update sessions and presentations from the Chief Assessor of the VCE Physics examination.

Conference fees:

Type	Early Bird	After 20th Dec
In Person	$320	$350
Online	$270	$300

Discounts:

Individual Vicphysics Subscribers: $50
Student and Retiree Subscribers: $100
School Vicphysics subscribers: $10

Also note the webpage for PHYSCON 2023 with the conference proceedings and the results from the small group activity of assessment tasks has been moved from the 'Events' section to "Teachers', under 'Previous events'.

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7. Seeking a Physics teacher? Seeking a new position?
There are thirteen (13) schools seeking a physics teacher. For a couple applications closed on Sunday, but they may take late applications. The following Gov't Schools are seeking a physics teacher.

Werribee Secondary College (closes 3rd December)
Brentwood Secondary College (closes 6th December)
Fountain Gate Secondary College (closes 6th December)
Wheelers Hill Secondary College (closes 4th December)
Glen Eira College (closes 4th December)
Horsham College (closes 4th December)
Manor Lakes P-12 College (2 positions) (close 3rd December)
Mordialloc College (closes 11th December)
Footscray High School (closes 11th December)
Glenroy Secondary College (closes 11th December)
Mernda Central P-12 College (closes 12th December)
Mt Eliza Secondary College (closes 13th December)
Grovedale College (closes 14th December)

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.

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8. 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.

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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) Artificial photosynthesis: A pathway to solar fuels
Taking inspiration from nature and from the success of photovoltaic solar conversion, scientists are developing foundations for sunlight-driven synthesis of fuels, chemicals, and materials.
b) Precision measurement technology brings the search for the big issues of physics to the work bench
Practitioners of atomic, molecular, and optical physics are increasingly applying their tools to the search for physics beyond the standard model, thanks largely to advances in precision-measurement techniques. Particle colliders have dominated the search for new physics in recent decades. But the growth in small-scale studies coincides with two realities: the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has not found hoped-for new physics and a higher-energy particle collider is likely to be far in the future.
Much evidence exists that the standard model is insufficient in explaining the universe. The preponderance of dark matter and dark energy, which make up roughly 95% of the universe but remain unidentified, is a prime example. Others include the excess of matter over antimatter, the fact that neutrinos have mass, the unexpectedly low mass of the Higgs boson, and the relationship between gravity and the other fundamental forces.
Whereas colliders can detect a wide range of particles and events, tabletop experiments are typically designed to target specific interactions.
c) The Deep Space Network: Overburdened and underfunded
NASA’s worldwide antenna array is bursting at the seams as new missions head into space.
Oversubscription of the Deep Space Network (DSN) has officials concerned about data loss by space science missions. The radio antenna array, operated and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is designed to command, track, monitor, and conduct experiments with spacecraft; it currently juggles communications with over 40 space missions from nearly 30 countries.

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