Articles on research on aspects of Physics Education
Graphs of Participation in the VCE Science and Maths subjects 52.7 kB
Graphs of student participation in VCE science and maths subjects up to 2022. Analysis and explanation is in the ‘Participation in VCE Sciences 1972 – 2021. Prepared by Dan O’Keeffe, Vicphysics Teachers’ Network.
Participation in the VCE Sciences: 1972 – 2021 60.4 kB
Graphs of the participation of male and female students in Year 12 of VCE Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Psychology. The method of determining the participation is described, there is some interpretation of the graphs. The physics graph covers 1958 – 2021. Prepared by Dan O’Keeffe, Vicphysics Teachers’ Network.
Retention Rates in the Sciences from Year 10 to Year 12 93.7 kB
Graphs and commentary on the retention rate from Year 10 to VCE Unit 1 and from Unit 2 to Unit 3 for male and female students in the subjects VCE Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Psychology and Environmental Science for the years 1995 – 2021. Prepared by Dan O’Keeffe, Vicphysics Teachers’ Network
How quickly 50 years passes 6.78 MB
A personal perspective on physics course design and assessment by Dr Syd Boydell. The 17 page document considers how these aspects have changed and not changed over the last 50 years. He also looks at what has been lost and what has been gained.
Tertiary Destination of Physics Students 355 kB
The article analyses VTAC data of VCE Physics students from the years 1996, 2000 and 2004 It addresses the questions: i) What are the popular tertiary courses ii) How does the popularity of these courses vary with the students’ Physics results iii) How do the selections of male and female students differ iv) Into what courses are the more able students accepted v) How do the Physics results of students selected for mainstream science courses compare with other students vi) How have the answers to the above questions changed overtime. Prepared by Dan O’Keeffe, Vicphysics Teachers’ Network.
Physics ability range of male and female students 38.9 kB
The data from the ‘Tertiary destinations’ study has been used to analyse the physics study scores of male and female students. Prepared by Dan O’Keeffe, Vicphysics Teachers’ Network.
Participation in the VCE Science subjects 1.7 MB
An article analysing the student participation in VCE science subjects from the 1970’s until the late 1990’s. Published in LabTalk in 1999. Prepared by Dan O’Keeffe, Vicphysics Teachers’ Network. More up to data without analysis is available in documents listed elsewhere in this list.
Why don’t girls choose physics? 600 kB
presented by Jane Coyle, Marian College, Sunshine at the 2008 Physics Teachers Conference.
Why girls don’t choose Physics? Research paper 312 kB
Written by Jane Coyle, Marian College, Sunshine and presented at the 2008 Physics Teachers Conference.
Why Girls don’t choose Physics?: Audio 64 B
Presentation by Jane Coyle, Marian College, Sunshine, at the 2008 Physics Teachers Conference. (60 min)
Presentation at 2015 Physics Teachers’ Conference
Physics Enrolments: Past, Present and Future 600 kB
Presentation at the 2015 Physics Teachers Conference in the Karaoke session by Dan O’Keeffe, AIP (Vic Branch) Education Committee.
Australian Institute of Physics ‘Physics Decadal Plan’
Papers submitted by Vicphysics Teachers’ Network to the Decadal Plan Working Group
Secondary Physics: How Many Students” 87 kB
A paper on student participation in secondary physics. The paper describes the pros and cons of different methods of measuring participation. Graphs for each state and territory are included with most starting in 1988, while the graph for Victoria starts in 1958. Prepared by Dan O’Keeffe, AIP (Vic Branch) Education Committee
Secondary Physics Students: Where do they go next?” 165 kB
A paper on analysing the tertiary destination of VCE Physics students in the years 1996, 2000 and 2004. Prepared by Dan O’Keeffe, AIP (Vic Branch) Education Committee
Secondary Physics Students: Who teaches them? 31.2 kB
A brief paper commenting on a survey commissioned by the Australian Council of Deans of Science (ACDS). A fuller analysis can be found elsewhere on this website under ‘Careers’ then ‘Teacher Survey’.. Prepared by Dan O’Keeffe, AIP (Vic Branch) Education Committee
Discussion papers on Physics Curriculum
Discussion Paper on Physics in the National Curriculum 71.7 kB
“Multi-layered national curriculum design principles” is a paper prepared by Neil Champion, Williamstown High School. It was published in the May/June 2009 edition of ‘Australian Physics’. If you wish to comment on the paper, please go to the Forum section of this website.