VCE Chemistry Teachers` Conference 2015
Transcription
VCE Chemistry Teachers` Conference 2015
VCE Chemistry Teachers’ Conference 2015 Friday 27 February 2015 at La Trobe University, Bundoora The VCE Chemistry Teachers’ Conference is an approved professional learning activity. Conference Program 8:00am Registration opens 8:40am - 8:45am Welcome - Soula Bennett, STAV and Lanna Derry, CEA 8:45am - 9:45am Keynote Speaker 1 Professor Michael Parker Shining a light on Alzheimer’s disease through X-ray crystallography 9:45am - 10:15am Morning Tea/Displays 10:15am - 11:15am Keynote Speaker 2 Dr Jason Roberts Supercomputer Research and the Molecules of Life: Small Molecules, Big Numbers 11:20am - 12:10pm Workshop - Session A 12:15pm - 1:00pm Lunch/Displays 1:05pm - 1:55pm Workshop - Session B 2:00pm - 2:55pm VCAA 2016 Update - Maria James, VCAA 3:00pm - 3:50pm Workshop - Session C 3:55pm - 4:40pm Wine and Cheese sponsored by CEA Registration information, La Trobe University map and all conference information is available on the Science Victoria website: www.sciencevictoria.com.au/conferences.html Science Teachers’ Association of Victoria Inc. VCE Conference Series 2015 Postal Address: PO Box 109 Coburg VIC 3058 Phone: (03) 9385 3999 • Fax: (03) 9386 6722 Email: [email protected] • Website: www.sciencevictoria.com.au VCE Chemistry Teachers’ Conference 2015 Keynote 1 8:45am – 9:45am Shining a light on Alzheimer’s disease through X-ray crystallography Professor Michael Parker St. Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute, University of Melbourne Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common and devastating age-related disease with no effective disease-modifying treatments. Approximately, 34 million people worldwide are currently afflicted by AD and its prevalence is expected to triple over the next 40 years as people live longer. The mechanisms by which the disease progresses to cognitive decline in the sufferer are complex and not fully understood. A defining pathological feature is the deposition of extracellular plaques in the brain composed primarily of a peptide called amyloid beta (Ab): a proteolytic breakdown product of the much larger Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP). Most pharmaceutical activity in AD research has focused on Ab, its generation and clearance from the brain. In the late nineties I embarked on an ambitious project, in collaboration with Professor Colin Masters (University of Melbourne), to determine the complete structure of APP, a membrane-bound receptor that appears to play a central role in AD. At that stage little was known about the function of APP. The structural studies revealed that APP can function as a cell growth factor and a copper transporter. Copper binding was found to reduce Ab levels, suggesting a copper mimetic may have therapeutic potential in treating AD. Immunotherapy targeting Ab is a promising direction in AD research with active and passive immunotherapies shown to lower cerebral Ab levels and rescue cognitive function in animal models. They are now represent a significant class of AD therapeutics currently in human clinical trials. We have been examining the molecular basis of antibody engagement of Aβ epitopes to inform the analysis of clinical trial data and to guide the engineering of anti-Aβ 2 antibodies with optimised specificity and affinity. We have so far determined the structures of three different AD antibodies in complex with Ab peptides. All these studies reveal surprising aspects of Ab peptide recognition by the antibodies and suggest new avenues for AD antibody development. Professor Michael Parker is Deputy Director of St. Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne where he is heads its Structural Biology Laboratory and the ACRF Rational Drug Discovery Centre. He is an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow and a Professorial Fellow at Melbourne University. After obtaining his D. Phil. in protein crystallography from Oxford University, Michael returned to Australia to re-establish a protein crystallography laboratory at St. Vincent’s in 1991. The work of the laboratory is internationally recognised with the determination of more than 140 crystal structures including those of membraneassociating proteins, detoxifying enzymes and protein kinases. He has published over 300 papers and his work has been recognised with numerous awards including the 1999 Gottschalk Medal of the Australian Academy of Science, a 2006 Federation Fellowship from the Australian Research Council, the 2011 Lemberg Medal of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the 2011 Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research and the 2012 Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists and Molecular Biologists Award for Research Excellence. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2010. Morning Tea / Displays 9:45am-10:15am Keynote 2 10:15am – 11:15am Supercomputer Research and the Molecules of Life: Small Molecules, Big Numbers Dr. Jason A. Roberts, Senior Medical Scientist, Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Doherty Institute, Melbourne, Australia Modern supercomputers are racing forward into the “exaFLOPS” era, but what does this mean for humankind’s understanding of the world around them. One area of research that has benefitted greatly from advances in computer science, is a field known as “computational biophysics”. Computational biophysics allows researchers to examine complex atomic interactions, not only of individual atoms, but a concert of molecules acting together to produce the symphony of life. In its simplest form, biological life can be represented by the infinitesimally small molecules know as viruses. Their small size means that viruses are the perfect candidate for computational biophysics research. Dr Jason Roberts is a Senior Medical Scientist working with the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory. Dr Roberts is a virologist with specialist expertise in computational biology, incorporating computational biophysics and bioinformatics, and has a particular interest in structural virology. Dr Roberts has spent the last decade working with the World Health Organizations Global Polio Eradication Initiative and is the Deputy Head of the Australian National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory. He played an active role as a consultant virologist at state, national and international levels. Friday 27 February 2015 Session A 11:20am-12:10pm A1 Establishing a Culture of Success in the Chemistry Classroom Adele Hudson, Aitken College Helping all students achieve success in Chemistry can appear to be an elusive goal. Traditionally a student’s ability level was said to be the secret behind their success, however, research has shown that high achievement is more dependent on a student’s resilience, intrinsic motivation, and ability to embrace challenge despite the risk of failure. Establishing a classroom culture which embraces these ideals can encourage students to reach for ever higher goals. This presentation will discuss a range of strategies and resources that can be used in the Chemistry classroom to enable all students to be successful. A2 Increasing student and teacher participation with scientists to increase student numbers in STEM Erola Barone-Nugent - Santa Maria College Olivia Hides - University of Melbourne The uptake in science has declined, and most noticeably in the stagnation or declining number of girls taking physics at secondary school. However, student engagement in science is improved by relevant experiences with professional scientists. By increasing the interaction of scientists from all disciplines with secondary school students the interdisciplinary nature of science and the enabling power of the physical sciences can be promoted. The value of career opportunities can be highlighted to help students make empowered decisions about choosing to do science to year 12. Come and learn more about increasing girls participating in physics and science in general. A3 Energy Producing Devices linked to the Major SAC in Unit 4 John Jackowski - Scotch College Three ‘battery experiments’ will be discussed and how to link these to a SAC worth 50 marks. Ideas and sample materials will be provided. Repeated C8 A4 Rockets in chemistry and the NSC Peter Razos - Trinity Grammar School Magic has always fascinated us and done properly can develop into a great unit of work in science where chemistry and physics takes on a whole new meaning. This workshop is based on a semester length, year 9-10 unit of work at Trinity Grammar. We encourage teachers who like to think outside the square and who would like to be more engaging in the science classroom to attend. It is guaranteed that participants will come away, if not with an entire new unit of work, with ideas to engage and motivate their students. Much more will be made available and we will discuss how the ASC is integrated in the Science of Magic. A great way to start and see if this workshop can truly benefit you is to go online and login with the details below. Check it out by visiting www.dynamicscience.com.au/tester Enter as a student with the details below organisationid=dynsci password= robots A8 Teaching Chemistry to Chinese International Students James Kennedy and Dr Glenroy Garden Haileybury College A5 Simplifying Chemistry through the Application of Ratios Leanne Batty - Whittlesea Secondary College Increasing numbers of first-language Chinese students are taking VCE Chemistry. How should we adapt our teaching styles to provide these students with the best possible educational experience? This workshop will discuss the major barriers (including cultural shocks – some of which are quite surprising) that Chinese students notice when they come into an Englishspeaking school. This workshop will give you teaching strategies you can use straight away to help Chinese-speaking students realise their full potential in VCE Chemistry. Repeated as B11 A6 Inquiry learning in Chemistry and General Science Lanna Derry and Rowan Kidd - Tintern Schools This session aims to outline some of the leading educational ideas in teaching and how some of them have been implemented by a practitioner in a VCE Chemistry setting. These ideas have come from Masters level courses at the University of Melbourne and more recently from a trip to the 2014 International Conference on Chemistry Education in Toronto sponsored by the CEA. The session aims to explore the themes of assessment, communication outside the classroom, and flipped learning. This session draws on the use of ratios and other techniques to show a different approach of how to teach concepts that students find difficult at Units 1 and 2 Chemistry. The topics covered include the mole, Avogadro’s number, converting units of weight and pressure, solubility and stoichiometry. This session is aimed at teachers teaching Units 1 and 2 for the first time or teachers looking to broaden their teaching repertoire. While practical work is an intrinsic part of our Science and Chemistry courses, we often find ourselves presenting students with a prac in which they just have to follow the directions. Inquiry learning involves students in their practical work at a range of levels. At the most sophisticated level, students completely design the experiment and carry it out successfully, but this is not essential for every experiment. We will discuss how inquiry learning is used in classes from year 7 to 12 and will introduce you to a useful tool to facilitate inquiry learning using portable devices such as iPads. A7 Teaching Unit 3 & 4 Chemistry Drew Chan - Methodist Ladies College Stephanie Searls - Alkira Secondary College FUL This session will focus on how you might like to teach Units 3&4 Chemistry in 2015. Come along for some useful information on how to set out the year for you and your students. We will discuss how to engage your students with prac work, demonstrations and effective utilisation of ICT, and how to go about writingassessment tasks. This workshop is targeted for first time and early careers chemistry teachers. The workshop is being presented by the Early Chemistry Careers Network (ECCN), which is part of the CEA. L A9 Implementing Educational Research in the Classroom Peter Kearney - University High School A10 Have we even learnt this? Troy Lowe - Mooroopna Secondary College Have you ever thought “We need more periods of chemistry per week for my students to deeply learn the content”? Is more exposure really what our students need? Can you recall the pictures that are on both sides of the $10 note? You’ve been exposed to this note many times, but the details are hard to recall. Exposure does not equal learning. When was the last time you noticed your students demonstrating good understanding on the chapter questions, but performing poorly on assessments? It turns out that some of our most widely trusted teaching techniques promote minimal learning. Recent discoveries in memory research have unlocked the most effective techniques for learning and memory. This talk will demonstrate some of these strategies and give you practical tools to use in your class today. Repeated as B13 3 VCE Chemistry Teachers’ Conference 2015 A11 Climate change - What happened to the Science Keith Burrows - AIP Ed Com-Victoria The ‘debate’ continues to rage. The Abbott government and the Murdoch media continue to imply that climate change is not a threat - at least not yet, while the Fairfax/ABC/Guardian side warns that it is. What’s missing in all this? The SCIENCE of climate change! There are arguments about whether temperatures have risen in the last decade or how fast ice is melting, but these are actually side issues. Where is the basic science? Fundamentally, climate science is about the physics and chemistry of the atmosphere and about what the geological record tells us about changing climates. Let’s try to fill this gap. A12 Improve student learning using formative assessment in the digital environment Misal Belvedere - Pearson Aust. & Penny Commons - CEA Pearson has developed Pearson Lightbook - a new senior secondary digital resource for the VCE Chemistry Syllabus designed based on best practice research into teaching and learning. It combines traditional offline content including textbook content, workbooks, study guides, exam preparation material and more into an interactive learner-focused digital resource. Hear how our research has led us to develop a product focused on improving learning with formative assessment, instant feedback and content presented in multi-modal formats to best suit all types of learners. Participants will see a demo and be able to interact with the product during the session. Repeated as B6 A13 Chemistry Experiments that work! David Barnett - Simonds Catholic College Chelsea Drennan - Simonds Catholic College Participants will gain \’hands on\’ experience of two experiments that are guaranteed to work! 1. Electroplating (application – Unit 4 Chemistry). A copper electroplating experiment is set up producing high quality copper foil that can be weighed to determine the ‘current efficiency’ of an electrolytic cell using Faraday’s Laws. 2. Determining the empirical formula of an oxide of copper by reduction (application – Unit 1 Chemistry). Copper oxide is reduced by a stream of methane gas to elemental copper, enabling the exact empirical formula of the oxide to be determined. Sessions include notes about equipment required and a simple glass blowing demonstration of how to turn a large pyrex test tube into a copper oxide reduction vessel. Repeated as B10 4 A14 Elements of NMR A novell method of teaching NMR Marino Dereani - Eutectic Educational A new approach of teaching the fundamentals of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy using an iPad and our new dedicated app. Eutectic Educational has entered into a new phase of development by launching the first of a series of intended apps for iPad and Android devices. The new age approach to teaching chemical principles using state of the art devices. Elements of NMR is out first app and is specifically designed for the iPad viewing area. Its navigation is intuitive and the graphic content simply represented and easily understood. We feel it\’s a must for all Chemictry teachers and their students at a fraction of the price. Great teaching tool and something to refresh your memory at revision time. Repeated as B4 Lunch/Displays 12:15pm - 1:00pm Session B 1:05pm-1:55pm B1 Creative Teaching and Assessment in Year 11 VCE Chemistry Colleen Clift and Miriam Beasy Methodist Ladies’ College FUL Would you like your students to think more critically? Would you like to help them link concepts from different areas of their Chemistry course? In this session a selection of teaching and assessment strategies used in Year 11 VCE Chemistry will be shared. Repeated as C3 L B2 Chemistry through the media, animations, video and all online Peter Razos - Trinity Grammar School Chemistry will truly come to life for participants in this workshop. Participants will be given total access to this very useful online resource containing worksheets curriculum material, assessment tasks as well as online testing. Not only will we cover the chemistry and in this website but also how chemistry is introduced in units of work such as The Science of Magic and The Science of Conflict, just to name a few. Much more will be made available and we will discuss how the ASC is integrated in the units. Check out how Science is covered Trinity in years 9 and 10. A great way to start and see if this workshop can truly benefit you is to go online and login with the details below. Check it out by visiting www.dynamicscience.com.au/ tester Enter as a student with the details below organisationid=dynsci password= robots B3 Flipped classroom Pat O’Shea - Loreto College Ballarat As more and more students arrive in classes with some form of computer, teachers have the opportunity to tap into this technology by flipping their classroom. There are a number of different packages available that allow you to make video packages of subject content. These videos can work as ways of introducing content before the class meets a topic or they can be a means of revision. This session looks at some of the more popular packages associated with classroom video making. B4 Elements of NMR A novell method of teaching NMR Marino Dereani - Eutectic Educational Repeat of A14 B5 My favourite classroom demonstrations Mick Moylan - University of Melbourne Demonstrations are such a useful and exciting part of chemistry teaching, but it can be difficult to perform a demonstration for the first time without seeing someone else do it first. Mick is the University of Melbourne’s Chemistry Outreach Fellow and is a very keen demonstrator in schools and in the University’s lectures. He will be performing some of his favourites and will distribute a booklet complete with instructions, safety tips and supplier hints. Repeated as C7 B6 Improve student learning using formative assessment in the digital environment Misal Belvedere - Pearson Aust. & Penny Commons - CEA Repeat of A12 B7 Discovering Chemistry at Ecolinc Jacqui Slattery - Ecolinc Science can cel Ecolinc is a Department of Education and Training (DET) Science Specialist Centre situated in Bacchus Marsh (www.ecolinc. vic.edu.au) Ecolinc offers a range of whole day VCE Chemistry SAC programs. This session will overview all of Ecolinc’s VCE Chemistry SAC programs including Unit 1 AoS 2 Materials (bonding and nanotechnology), Unit 2 AoS 1 Water (including use of the AAS), Unit 2 AoS 2 The Atmosphere (including use of the UV-Vis) and Unit 3 AoS 1 Chemical Analysis (incorporating use of the AAS, UV-Vis and IR spectrophotometers to analyse calcium, protein and other components of milk). Repeated as C6 led Friday 27 February 2015 B8 VCE Chemistry at Quantum Victoria Cressida Byrne and Carlie Alexander, Quantum Victoria Quantum Victoria is an innovative Centre bringing science and mathematics to life for students, teachers and the wider community. Participants attending this workshop will receive an overview of the VCE Chemistry programs offered at Quantum Victoria. These include our Unit 1 & 2 program, “The Art of Nanotechnology” and our online resource for Unit 1 & 2 Chemistry. All Quantum Victoria VCE Chemistry programs have an associated SAC, which is linked to the VCAA VCE Chemistry Study Design. B9 Being Creative in Science Kieran Lim - Deakin University Many scientific concepts are difficult to learn because they are foreign to our everyday experiences. None of our students (or teachers) has actually seen an atom, travelled a light-year or lived through the Black Plague. Any of the textbook examples and analogies are not suitable for todays’ students, who are more familiar with computer games than bicycles or backyard games. This session will model the use of new examples and analogies, which can engage students by making use of familiar objects and 21st century experiences. FUL B10 Chemistry Experiments that work! David Barnett - Simonds Catholic College Chelsea Drennan - Simonds Catholic College Repeat of A13 L B11 Teaching Chemistry to Chinese International Students James Kennedy and Dr Glenroy Garden Haileybury College Repeat of A8 B12 Simulated Drug Testing using HPLC Philip Ponder - Penleigh & Essendon Grammar School FUL An easy to use program, available free on the web, allows students to test 3 athletes for caffeine and anabolic steroids using simulated HPLC. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis can be performed. Calibration graphs can be produced using standards of different concentration, and the effect on Retention Time of changing column length is easily investigated. With a quick introduction, this is a suitable exercise for use in Flipping the Classroom. L B13 Have we even learnt this? Troy Lowe - Mooroopna Secondary College Repeat of A10 B14 “Or wilt thou go ask the Mole?” William Blake (The Book of Thel) Peter Marks - Retired Teacher The session would be useful for inexperienced VCE Chemistry teachers, or those teachers who would like to think more about uniform approaches to the mole. It will trace the development of one method of teaching the mole from the definition and its interpretation describing elementary entities and mass in unit one, to enthalpy changes and Faraday’s laws in Unit 4. VCAA Update 2:00pm-2:55pm VCAA Update of the 2016 VCAA Study Design; Scientific posters, Teaching environmental science Maria James - VCAA C4 Useful Classroom Resources from The Skeptics Ken Greatorex - Australian SkepticsVictoria Branch The Australian Skeptics would like to offer a range of information and activities to assist you with your classroom preparation. C5 Inquiry-based Learning Kieran Lim, Deakin University The new AusVELS and Australian Curriculum emphasises inquiry-based teaching and learning, but there seems to be confusing information about what this is. This presentation will review the nature of Inquiry-based Learning, which can be viewed as a continuum from teacher-centred activities to studentcentred activities. Inquiry-based learning is not always appropriate, and the desired extent of student-centred-ness depends on the judgement of the teacher. An interactive session will focus on inquirybased learning and the criteria for finding the balance between teacher-centred and student-centred activities. cancelled Session C C6 Discovering Chemistry at Ecolinc Jacqui Slattery - Ecolinc Science C1 Meet the Assessors Chris Dwyer - Vermont Secondary College C7 My favourite classroom demonstrations Mick Moylan - University of Melbourne 3:00pm-3:50pm Chris Dwyer will discuss his Assessor’s Report for the 2013 end of year exam including both Units 3 and 4 C2 The Science of Magic Peter Razos - Trinity Grammar School Magic has always fascinated us and done properly can develop into a great unit of work in science where chemistry and physics takes on a whole new meaning. This workshop is based on a semester length, year 9-10 unit of work at Trinity Grammar. We encourage teachers who like to think outside the square and who would like to be more engaging in the science classroom to attend. It is guaranteed that participants will come away, if not with an entire new unit of work, with ideas to engage and motivate their students. Much more will be made available and we will discuss how the ASC is integrated in the Science of Magic. A great way to start and see if this workshop can truly benefit you is to go online and login with the details below. Check it out by visiting www.dynamicscience.com.au/tester Enter as a student with the details below organisationid=dynsci password= robots C3 Creative Teaching and Assessment in Year 11 VCE Chemistry Colleen Clift and Miriam Beasy Methodist Ladies’ College Repeat of B1 Repeat of B7 Repeat of B5 C8 Energy Producing Devices linked to the Major SAC in Unit 4 John Jackowski - Scotch College Repeat of A3 C9 Teaching Units 1 & 2 Chemistry Alison McGregor Scoresby S.C, Carolyn Drenen Taylors Lakes S.C. This session will focus on how you might like to teach Units 1 and 2 Chemistry in 2015. Come along for some useful information on how to sequence the year from a teacher and student perspective. We will work through Unit outlines including ideas for engaging students with practical activities, demonstrations, writing risk assessments for the laboratory and developing SAC tasks. This workshop is targeted for Graduate and Early Career Chemistry Teachers. The workshop is being presented by the Early Chemistry Careers Network (ECCN), which is part of the Chemistry Education Association. The session is targeted at Yr. 11 VCE Teachers but other Science teachers (of Yr. 9 & 10) are also welcome to attend. Wine & Cheese sponsored by CEA 3:55pm – 4:40pm 5