Wither year 12 physics?

Most of us who encounter a lot of first year students have noticed that their preparation in physics is changing, and this reflects shifts in emphasis at secondary school level. So, what do we want from year 12 physics? Given that it is not a pre-requisite subject for engineering, should it be taught at all?  *Gasp*

Ben Kelly writes:

I suppose of prime interest to me is the state of Physics education in public high schools.  We are constantly seeing a lower and lower level of ability and understanding in students coming into our courses.  Within NSW BOSTES it has been suggested that a generic STEM project unit (either replacing or supplementing), delivered by distance could replace many HSC  physics/chemistry units as finding staff willing to teach and being competent to teach are extremely difficult. Obviously that would be a huge change, both for physics graduates (as many go into physics teaching) and would no doubt have a huge impact on the quality of physics skills in graduating high school students. It would also have a significant impact on physics in 7-10, as most likely there would be no real Physics, as essentially no staff at a high school would have physics experience and as such students would be directed in to fields their teachers studied and are competent in. With the national curriculum being phased in, many schools are struggling to create resources in areas where they are struggling with new teachers or retrained teachers. I know some of the projects are out there to address some of these issues but I do worry that state boards left of field decisions might undermined some of these initiatives. I would also echo recent comments regarding students inability to apply maths, and how that is being taught both in schools and at universities. These issues are connected.  Here are some links: The reference report which provides some interesting figures and further context, student numbers etc, but it doesn’t provide figures on how qualified staff are, or how difficult it is to find staff to teach physics at any level in schools.http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/australian-curriculum/pdf_doc/senior-secondary-reference-report-science-2014-08.pdf  The Warren centre was seeking input and provides a bit more context to the report and review on Sciencehttp://thewarrencentre.org.au/chance-shape-science-taught-nsw/ There is no formal STEM PBL proposal yet, that I am aware of. They are still in the consultation phase I believe. However there is significant pressure to create a STEM unit like I have described for many reasons as it solves a lot of issues from the school/board side of things.

I’m not surprised that teaching physics as a separate subject is being questioned. It appears that, as a discipline, we struggle to make a clear and compelling case to society that physics is an essential, central part of our culture. I see parallels with Latin and Greek in the 1960’s.

 There may be a way to use distance learning resources to improve the quality of physics and applied maths at all levels (including primary schools), but I agree it needs to be handled carefully to avoid losing something precious.

Special issue of IJ-ISME next year on Assessing in Labs

Stephanie Beames has provided information (here is a dropbox link to the pdf)  about......

.... a special issue on IJ-ISME next year on Assessing in Labs which Madeleine from ChemNet and Stefan Huth and I [Steph] are guest editing.

You may also like to look at the work of www.ChemNet.edu.au and www.IMSITE.edu.au to see what others are doing in the sector…

Venue for AIP PEG meeting at AIP Congress 2014

Many thanks to Paul Francis and Judith Pollard for helping organise this.

I’ve booked room AD Hope G30 for Wednesday 10 December from 12:30 to 1:15 pm for the PEG meeting.

Paul

Prof. Paul Francis Astrophysicist Mt Stromlo Observatory, and the Physics Education Centre 
College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Building 38a, Tel 02 6125 2824 or 8031 
The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 Australia paul.francis@anu.edu.au
http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~pfrancis/ CRICOS Provider #00120C

Do you teach first year physics? Discussion group mooted..

Chris Creagh has suggested that those of us who teach first year physics get together and compare notes- which is an awesome idea. The first names that come to mind:

Chris Creagh (Murdoch)
David Hoxley (La Trobe)
John Holdsworth (Newcastle)
Theo Hughes (Monash)
Roger Rasool (Melbourne)
Julius Orwa (Deakin)

John O'Byrne (USyd)

Helen Johnston Helen Johnston (USyd)

This list is not exhaustive, and reflects my hunches about who handles the large first semester physics classes at the respective institutions. Who have I missed? Once I have a list, I'll start emailing.

By the way, Chris is a very interesting and innovative educator- her talk at the ACSME discipline day was fantastic (I'll try and post it).

Chris' digital presence:

LiveJournal: http://chris-creagh.livejournal.com/

Web pages:

Work-It-Out Home page: www.workitoutts.com/

YouTube Channel: Physics Vids https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_zW442B84-s9m7NvypAcoQ/playlists

Murdoch news: http://staffnews.murdoch.edu.au/fellowship-to-develop-skills-and-competency-in-first-year-physics/

http://staffnews.murdoch.edu.au/lecturer-takes-physics-to-the-masses/

Murdoch profile: http://profiles.murdoch.edu.au/myprofile/chris-creagh/

OLT page: http://www.olt.gov.au/olt-national-teaching-fellow-christine-creagh

List of Women in physics programs?

Hi Folks,

 is anyone involved in a program to increase the participation of women in the physics community? I know of a few based in Victoria, and the AIP Women in Physics program, but I'm sure there must be more.

Some discussion has been stimulated by this article

PhD scholarships in Education at Curtin University

 Yay! PhD scholarships in education. Thanks to Mario Zadnik for drawing this to our attention.

Dropbox link to pdf version

Faculty of Science and Engineering, Curtin University
Call for Applications for:
PhD Scholarships in Science and Engineering Education (2 positions)
November 2014
Two PhD scholarships (covering both academic fees and living stipend), funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant, are available for the holders to conduct research in a project that investigates the nature of learning in Science and Engineering laboratory activities. The final practical objective of the project is an assessment of the level to which student learning in a physical laboratory setting can be replicated in remote/online laboratories. In this regard, the project is strongly aligned with the contemporary and future delivery of degree programs in Science and Engineering in the rapidly developing era of online, remote-access, education.
Upon PhD graduation, the scholars would be ideally placed to commence a career in the field of Science and Engineering Education having been supervised by, and received training from, a project team that comprises a mix of internationally leading researchers and nationally leading educators.
The research methods to be deployed in the project potentially include laboratory observations, surveys, data gathering, analysis and interpretation of qualitative and quantitative data, synthesis of findings to arrive at evidenced understanding, and design of potential online educational delivery mechanisms
Candidates for these PhD scholarships are expected to:
• Hold a laboratory-based undergraduate degree in a technical field (e.g. Chemistry, Physics, Engineering) at a high level (honours) of academic achievement;
• Have an interest in education and/or training as demonstrated by extra-curricular activities;
• Demonstrate an aptitude for research through their analytical skills and creative thinking;
• Be able to work in a team setting and take responsibility for their individual tasks;
• Be experienced in the use of digital technology and software packages;
• Possess excellent spoken and written communications skills that may be evidenced, for example, through their undergraduate thesis/project work and presentations given; and
• Practise well-developed time- and self-management skills with strong personal discipline and drive in their work.
For more detail or informal discussion of the research project and/or your suitability, please contact: Associate Professor Mauro Mocerino, E-mail: M.Mocerino@curtin.edu.au ; Tel. +61-8-9266-3125
Applications can be made online by visiting: http://futurestudents.curtin.edu.au/postgraduates/ When making an application, please mention this specific project and having communicated with Associate Professor Mauro Mocerino or another (by name) of the project team members.
Applications can be made from December 1st 2014 and will remain open until the positions are filled.

Scholarship for a Physics Education-based Masters by research

Post updated with link to pdf here.


A domestic post-graduate research scholarship is available in the School of Engineering and Information Technology at The University of New South Wales Canberra, for a Masters by Research Candidate to undertake the project.

Project Title: Investigating the origins of students’ alternative models of forces.

Supervisors: Dr Kate Wilson and Dr Tim Turner

Project Details:

Students entering university have a wide variety of conceptual frameworks and mental models of forces. Students can be very resistant to changing these conceptual frameworks.

The aim of this project is to investigate the range of alternative mental models of forces held by students at UNSW Canberra, and how these models were developed by the students. The project will also investigate how these models change through instruction or other influences. The UNSW Canberra context is interesting because of the spread of students from all Australian states.

The project will require collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data.

The successful applicant, subject to admission, will be awarded a SEIT Masters by Research Scholarship with an annual tax-free stipend of $27,049. The successful applicant would be expected to be available to commence their studies in Session 1, 2015.

UNSW Australia (the University of New South Wales) is one of Australia’s leading research and teaching universities. The Canberra campus of the University of New South Wales is located at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). UNSW Canberra is less than five kilometres from the city centre and has a comprehensive library and state-of-the-art computing facilities. It is a pleasant and collegial place to work and study, and staff and students have access to ADFA facilities including free parking, gym and swimming pool.

For further information, please contact:

Dr. Kate Wilson

Email: k.wilson@adfa.edu.au

Phone: +61 2 6268 8172

School of Engineering and Information Technology

The University of New South Wales (Canberra)

AIP PEG once-every-two-years meeting at AIP congress

Dear Physics Education Network,

the Australian Institute of Physics Education Group (the AIP PEG) will be holding its once-every-two-years meeting at AIP congress in Canberra  on Wednesday 10 December from 12:30 to 1:15 pm.

The Venue and Agenda will be circulated over the next few days. We will be electing PEG office bearers and discussing the future role and direction of the group;  but please let me know what you would like discussed.

There will also be some informal gatherings during the week-a full schedule of these with venues and times will be posted to the PEN blog (http://aipeg.blogspot.com.au/). All welcome.

I'm particularly interested to hear from people who can't make it to congress, or are not usually involved in the PEG. Email me your thoughts…..

cheers,

David Hoxley

PEG Convenor

Would you use VPLab: The virtual physical laboratory if it was free?

The AIP has been approached by the company behind VPLab to see if we want to follow the lead of the IoP, our sister organisation in the UK, and subsidise a free licence to universities. Before we even begin to consider such a thing, let's find out who wants to use it!

If you are keen, email me at d.hoxley@latrobe.edu.au.

Charm is not restricted to quarks.

Those of you with an interest in the personalities and history of 'modern' physics might like this short clip of Murray Gell-Mann  describing Dirac's reaction to quarks. It's very charming.

I got the link from http://www.reddit.com/r/physics, which is great. Reddit contains a lot of odd and banal stuff, but there are gems.

US Physics Education Research webpage-soooooooo much awesome!

Hattip to Scott Daniel for the links:

"Two resources which you might know already, but I thought might be worth adding to the aipeg blog are: http://www.compadre.org/per/ and http://perusersguide.org/"

Strong evidence in favour of Active Learning and 'Flipped' learning.

Theo Hughes (see earlier post) just gave an awesome (and disarmingly frank) talk about the active learning spaces in Monash Physics. Below are some of the references he used:

Hi David,
 I mentioned in my talk a meta-review of active learning. Perhaps everyone is very familiar with this article... but just in case, here is the link that might be useful to pass around PEG/PEN?
 http://www.pnas.org/content/111/23/8410.full.pdf+html Also, the PhysRev article about an attempt to implement active learning in new learning spaces is here:
 http://www.researchgate.net/publication/258098063_Exploring_the_context_of_change_Understanding_the_kinetics_of_a_studio_physics_implementation_effort Theo

Awards case study: Patrick Keleher

Getting recognition for your work through awards is essential for career advancement. The keywords are peer-recognition and impact. I'll be posting examples of various people whose careers are at different stages, so that we can get a sense of how our peers are using this. Email me if there is someone you would like to see mentioned (e.g. yourself).

First up is Patrick's Keleher; his staff page is here. He's been doing some interesting things in 'flipped' learning, and has been successful in getting internal recognition from his university:

" .....I have rejigged two undergraduate first year Engineering Physics courses for our undergraduate/co-operative degree Engineering degree. These courses are conducted for internal and distance/flexible study modes.
 We have a 'flipped classroom approach/element/focus' for both courses. For the second term course - we are in review week at the moment and their examination is on Friday ! I have created videos to support the course delivery and I will be doing so, in readiness, for the term 1 course  over the Christmas break. I was on Long Service Leave in term 1 this year so I have delayed extending the videos to the term 1 course.
 I have been fortunate to be awarded a Vice-Chancellor's Tier 1 award last year for both courses....... I am going to apply in 2015 for a national teaching award for the work I have done and for what I plan to do for the term 1 course."

Michael Drinkwater, Joel Corney, Margaret Wegener and the team from UoQ have had some success with a 'just-in-time'  approach:

 I enclose our paper which was published this month describing our ‘integrated’ approach. Basically we have set up an approach to facilitate good in-class discussion based on very fast analysis of pre-reading quiz the students have to submit before every lecture. We use algorithms to extract themes from short-answer text responses. This lets us walk in to class already knowing what they are finding difficult… expressed in their own words not those of experts. 

ACSME discipline day 2013/4

Dear PEN Folk,

the wrap-up from last year's ACSME discipline day 2013 can be found here.

Tomorrow's session will be seeking to share your:

• experiences of flipped learning;
• plans for implementing flipped learning;
• concerns you or your colleagues have about flipped learning  

See you there.

Monash University and 'Flipped' teaching

Keep an eye on Monash University; their Physics department has built new teaching spaces which depart from traditional '3 lectures and a tute'. Theo Hughes is the man on the ground there, a most talented lad.

ACSME Discipline day 2014- ideas for topics?

I haven't finished summarising the notes from the 2013 ACSME discipline day (which is evil- the guilt is intense), but it's time to start planining the next one. All ideas and suggestions gratefully received. Oh, and if anyone is wlling to help wrap up last years one......*cheeky grin*.

ASELL in schools and FARLabs join forces

Manju Sharma, Alex Yeung and Kieran Lim came to the La Trobe Physics department to host a joint ASELL/FARLabs workshop for about 15 high school students and 15 teachers. It was a great success- and a nice example of how a new, well-funded project (FARLabs) can help an established,  not-so-well-funded-at-the-moment-despite-being-awesome project (ASELL).

PHYWE Systeme GmbH & Co. KG looking for partners in Australia

PHYWE Systeme approached the AIP suggesting

" a cooperation between the Australian Institute of Physics & PHYWE."

Anyone have any thoughts? You can see my (cautious) reply below.

Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is Vanessa Eberle from PHYWE Systeme GmbH & Co. KG in Göttingen,
Germany.

Representing PHYWE Systeme,  a well-known international supplier in the
fields of science and engineering, we focus exclusively on tools and services
to promote and enhance scientific education from primary schools up to
University level. Our systems range from simple, easy to operate equipment
intended for student use up to coverage of highly developed and specialized
university equipment demands. We provide teaching and learning systems for
students as well as teacher demonstration experiments, which allow them to
get involved and experience the fundamental issues of science and modern
technology.

Over a period of about 100 years, we have concentrated our efforts on
providing the best possible didactically optimized methods and tools to
educate students. Basic scientific education in Physics, Biology and
Chemistry has demonstrated to be the best possible foundation for applied
science and applied science Medical, in any field. This has allowed great and
long lasting advances in economic development at the social and even country
level.
Our products are made in Germany and are used throughout the world in the
fields of education and science.

The reason why we now contact you is, that PHYWE would like to expand their
business in the Australian market. After studying your website, we think you
might help us to realize our plans in Australia with information regarding
the Australian market, in form of a cooperation between the Australian
Institute of Physics & PHYWE.

If we have aroused your interest kindly take a look at our website for more
information www.phywe-systeme.com and please kindly contact us directly under
vanessa.eberle@phywe.de.

Thank you very much for your attention.

We are looking forward to receiving your reply.

Best regards.
Vanessa

PHYWE Systeme GmbH & Co. KG
Vanessa Eberle
Sales and Project Manager Far East & Asia Pacific Region

Robert-Bosch-Breite 10
D - 37079 Göttingen
Tel.:        +49 (0) 551 / 604-140
Fax:        +49 (0) 551 / 604-115
Mobile:   +49 (0) 151 / 148 18 016
mail to  vanessa.eberle@phywe.de

www.phywe.de
USt-ID: DE 23 137 75 34

Dear David,

I thank you so much for giving me the contact of Doug Bail, I am sure this will help us a lot.

Also the post at the AIP PEG Blog would be great, as this also would help to draw the attention of university educators and lab co-ordinators.

Is there any link where I could follow up the post at the Blog?

I again would like to thank you very much for all your help!

Have a nice day!

Best regards.

Vanessa

Kind regards

PHYWE Systeme GmbH & Co. KG
Vanessa Eberle
Sales and Project Manager Far East & Asia Pacific Region

Robert-Bosch-Breite 10
D - 37079 Göttingen
Tel.:        +49 (0) 551 / 604-140
Fax:        +49 (0) 551 / 604-115

Mobile:   +49 (0) 151 / 148 18 016
mail to  vanessa.eberle@phywe.de

www.phywe.de
USt-ID: DE 23 137 75 34

Von: David Hoxley [mailto:D.Hoxley@latrobe.edu.au]
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 10. April 2014 00:52
An: Eberle, Vanessa
Cc: db@ciderhouse.com.au
Betreff: RE: [General Enquiry] Collaboration in Australia

With your permission, I’ll post this on the AIP PEG blog, and that should draw the attention of university educators and lab co-ordinators.

Doug Bail is a trusted distributer we get much of our equipment from: I have cc’d him above. His company is http://www.ciderhouse.com.au/

From: Eberle, Vanessa [mailto:Vanessa.Eberle@phywe.de]
Sent: Wednesday, 9 April 2014 10:06 PM
To: David Hoxley; Joseph Hope
Subject: AW: [General Enquiry] Collaboration in Australia

Dear David,

I thank you very much for your fast reply!

I can totally understand that you usually do not endorse products or services, but it would be very much appreciated if you could help us with any contacts in Australia.

We are convinced that our products, especially the ones for Physics education (compliant to international curricula and Cambridge Curriculum) could be of interest for the Australian Universities and Schools or Science Centres, as we have 2 Australian Universities already buying our Physics Equipment.

However, we would like to expand our business and we already tried a lot from here, but unfortunately, we were not very successful as we do not find the right contacts.

On the one hand, it is very difficult to find the right persons to talk to at the Universities or schools, further, which persons could be the right ones to talk to at the Ministries?

We are trying to get a foot inside, but how can we do that if only a few of the customers know our company or our products?

PHYWE is also looking for a Sales Partner in Australia, but also in this case, we have not been successful.

Dear David, it would help us a lot if you would have any good contacts to whom we could talk to against our products and solutions or any company that maybe could be interested in a collaboration as a Sales Partner for PHYWE in Australia.

If you have any good idea of how we could go forward into the Australian market, please let me know.

I thank you very much in advance for all your efforts, David.

Best regards.

Vanessa

Kind regards

PHYWE Systeme GmbH & Co. KG
Vanessa Eberle
Sales and Project Manager Far East & Asia Pacific Region

Robert-Bosch-Breite 10
D - 37079 Göttingen
Tel.:        +49 (0) 551 / 604-140
Fax:        +49 (0) 551 / 604-115

Mobile:   +49 (0) 151 / 148 18 016
mail to  vanessa.eberle@phywe.de

www.phywe.de
USt-ID: DE 23 137 75 34

Von: David Hoxley [mailto:D.Hoxley@latrobe.edu.au]
Gesendet: Dienstag, 8. April 2014 06:28
An: Joseph Hope; Eberle, Vanessa
Betreff: RE: [General Enquiry] Collaboration in Australia

Vanessa,

Thanks for your interest. The AIP does not usually endorse products or services; but we are always keen to be aware of developments in Physics Education.

What do you have in mind?

Cheers,

David.

From: Joseph Hope [mailto:Joseph.Hope@anu.edu.au]
Sent: Tuesday, 8 April 2014 1:42 PM
To: vanessa.eberle@phywe.de
Cc: David Hoxley
Subject: Re: [General Enquiry] Collaboration in Australia

Vanessa,

I am forwarding your inquiry to David Hoxley, who is the chair of the Physics Education subgroup in the AIP.

Joe

On 7 Apr 2014, at 10:17 pm, vanessa.eberle@phywe.de wrote:

Vanessa Eberle (vanessa.eberle@phywe.de) sent a message using the contact
form at http://www.aip.org.au/info/?q=contact.

A/Prof. Joseph Hope

ARC Future Fellow

Secretary of Australian Institute of Physics

joseph.hope@anu.edu.au

Dept. of Quantum Science and Physics Education Centre

Research School of Physics and Engineering

Building 38a,

Australian National University,

Canberra, ACT 0200, AUSTRALIA

Phone: +61 2 6125 2780, Fax: +61 2 6125 0741

The Australian National University:  CRICOS 00120C

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. -- John Cage

Hot Topic MRT - Magnetresonanztomographie: MRT


Phywe Systeme GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
Registergericht: Handelsregister Göttingen HRA 3798
Geschäftsführender Gesellschafter: Rolf Lucas-Nülle
Geschäftsführer: Klaus Elias

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March issue of Physics World has a focus on education, interesting reading

http://blog.physicsworld.com/2014/03/10/new-ways-to-teach-and-learn-physics/

HatTip: Jane Coyle