Vicphysics offers three events for which students can submit entries. The other two are a Photo Contest and a Video Contest.

Unit 2 of the VCE Physics Study Design includes an Area of Study titled ‘Practical Investigation’. Each student “develops a question to investigate, plans a course of action that attempts to answer the question, undertakes an investigation to collect data, organises and interprets the data, and reaches a conclusion in response to the question.” The student can present their findings as a poster.

To encourage students to undertake topics of some depth, to design effective experimental designs and then thoroughly analyse their data, the Vicphysics Teachers’ Network is offering up to 10 prizes for posters that exemplify quality investigations.

Lists of possible topics and templates for the design of the poster are available at this webpage on this website.

Prizes

Each prize will be a book voucher for $100. There will be a maximum of 10 prizes.

Criteria

Each prize winner must satisfy all of the following criteria:

  • an innovative topic
  • a comprehensive set of variables are identified
  • a detailed procedure
  • precise measurements across wide range of values
  • a thorough data analysis
  • an insight into the physical meaning of the results
  • an effective communication design to the poster

Entries

Entries must be submitted as a one page pdf.  Entries done by more than one student are not accepted, even if two students worked together on an investigation.  In such cases each student can submit their own poster.  The posters must be sent as an email attachment by the teacher to Vicphysics by second Friday of Term 4 with the email providing for each poster:

  • the Year 11 student’s name
  • title of investigation
  • Teacher’s name
  • Teacher’s email address
  • School name

There is a maximum of two prizes per school.

Announcement of prize winners

By submitting an entry the student approves the display of the poster, with personal and school identifiers removed, on the Vicphysics website and at professional development activities.

The Vicphysics Teachers’ Network reserves the right to use the posters for publicity purposes.

Previous Entries

These are some of the entries from previous competitions. The last file is a compilation of comments by the judges on these entries.

Unit 2 Poster: Air pressure in a soccer ball 255 kB pdf

The effect of the internal air pressure on the distance travelled. A poster by a Year 11 student of their practical investigation.

Unit 2 Poster: Mechanical properties of impurities in Ice 848 kB pdf

The effect of adding sawdust to ice on its mechanical properties. A poster by a Year 11 student of their practical investigation.

Unit 2 Poster: Terminal velocity of a parachute 285 kB pdf

How does the mass of the object attached to a parachute affect the parachute’s terminal velocity? . A poster by a Year 11 student of their practical investigation.

Unit 2 Poster: Tipcat – Maximising horizontal flight distance of a ruler 1.17 MB pdf

A poster by a Year 11 student of their practical investigation.

Unit 2 Poster: EPI Experiment: Tipcat 5.36 MB pdf

Investigation of the horizontal flight distance of a ruler hit from the edge of a table. A poster by a Year 11 student of their practical investigation.

Comments on the Unit 2 Posters 48.6 kB doc

Feedback provided to the Year 11 students identifying aspects done well and areas where improvement was possible. The Unit 2 posters commented on are available on this webpage.