Institute news

YOUR NEWS WANTED The news section gives updates on what has been happening in physics education worldwide. Items included show how events in one country could be relevant to good practice elsewhere in the world. Contributions are welcome from all our readers and should be about 200 to 300 words and can include a picture.

The ninth issue of the Institute's popular guide to higher education, Physics on Course 2000, should be published early this month and distributed to all schools and colleges in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Its pages are brimming with useful information to help sixth-formers and college students who wish to study physics make the very important decision regarding their particular choice of course and university. Under the heading `Summary tables of physics courses' every university listed in the publication has a table that includes all the courses on offer, their entrance requirements, duration and the awards given. Another section of the book entitled `Departmental information' includes data on the teaching and assessment styles of the Physics Department, special facilities and a contact name and address. These sections, together with an expanded set of case studies of recent students and various other interesting articles, make this publication a must for anyone who is considering studying physics at university. Copies of Physics on Course 2000 will be available from Leila Solomon, Education Department, Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London W1N 3DH.

The multidisciplinary two-day Nano Meets Spectroscopy (NMS) event was held at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Teddington, UK, in September 2011. The event was planned from the outset to be at the interface of several areas—in particular, spectroscopy and nanoscience, and to bring together topics and people with different approaches to achieving common goals in biomolecular science. Hence the meeting cut across traditional boundaries and brought together researchers using diverse techniques, particularly fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy. Despite engaging common problems, these techniques are frequently seen as mutually exclusive with the two communities rarely interacting at conferences.The meeting was widely seen to have lived up to its billing in good measure. It attracted the maximum capacity of ~120 participants, including 22 distinguished speakers (9 from outside the UK), over 50 posters and a vibrant corporate exhibition comprising 10 leading instrument companies and IOP Publishing. The organizers were Professor David Birch (Chair), Dr Karen Faulds and Professor Duncan Graham of the University of Strathclyde, Professor Cait MacPhee of the University of Edinburgh and Dr Alex Knight of NPL. The event was sponsored by the European Science Foundation, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Chemistry, NPL and the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance. The full programme and abstracts are available at http://sensor.phys.strath.ac.uk/nms/program.php.The programme was quite ambitious in terms of the breadth and depth of scope. The interdisciplinary and synergistic concept of 'X meets Y' played well, cross-fertilization between different fields often being a source of inspiration and progress. Fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy provided the core, but the meeting had little repetition and also attracted contributions on more specialist techniques such as CARS, super-resolution, single molecule and chiral methods. In terms of application the event bridged as far as medical application of nanotechnologies. It could have turned out that such a hotchpotch produced an incoherent event that lacked direction and focus, but in truth, as the feedback showed, the delegates revelled in the diversity and depth of quality. Excellent speakers, the common application to biomolecules and common language of spectroscopy were probably the reasons why things worked out so well.I am delighted to bring together in this special feature in Measurement Science and Technology a selection of contributions from the meeting and I thank all the authors for their excellent contributions. Included are papers on nanoparticles, plasmonics, sensing and imaging. This special feature, and indeed similar meetings in the future, will undoubtedly help sustain the 'nanomeeters' message of NMS.

Over one hundred and fifty participants met at The Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, on March 26th to 29th of this year to attend an international conference sponsored by the Institute of Physics, the Society of Chemical Industry, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Bunsengesellschaft für Physikalische Chemie, the International Association for Hydrogen Energy, and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, to consider metal hydrides. Some of the papers concerned the platinum metals.

It is suggested that three types of experiment should be added to those normally used in physics courses. One type is the unusual experiment which engages the emotions through being odd, dramatic, beautiful or puzzling. Another type is intended to establish generalised episodes involving materials and events of common experience, with the purposes of linking school subject matter and daily life and of providing experiences which will be called into play in making subsequent information comprehensible. The third type consists of true problem solving exercises which serve to integrate students' knowledge of physics, making that knowledge more readily recallable and applicable to further problems.

Experience has shown that some students have difficulty in comprehending the large number of different types of mechanical motion and the even greater number of formulas that are studied in the physics course. To make it easier for the students to deal with these problems, we have compiled a table, a sort of conspectus of the different kinds of mechanical motion studied in school. The vertical columns tell immediately for each type of motion how and why a body moves in that way. It is also useful to accompany each column in the table with graphs and figures showing the velocity, acceleration, and trajectory for each type of motion. In a horizontal direction, the table compares the different types of motion both dynamically and kinematically.

ObjectivesDevelop administrative linkages within a national Trusted Research Environment (TRE) that hosts Longitudinal Population Study (LPS) data for over 20 LPS. We will describe the methodological development carried out to enable linkage to administrative datasets. These linked administrative data will support research for public good, informing policy and practice.
 MethodsThe first sets of administrative data under consideration in this Feasibility Study are from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), the Department for Education (DfE) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Working with UK Government departments through a Task & Finish group we have gathered input from DWP, HMRC and DfE and Office for National Statistics (ONS) data sharing experts. The Task & Finish group identified three pragmatic data linkage and data sharing models, that would enable data to be linked via a newly designed secure data pipeline in a legal, secure, and trustworthy manner for all stakeholders.
 ResultsTo encourage sustainability and acceptability, a model designed to be maintained over a long period is based on the re-use of Departmental Personal Identifiable Information (PII) – i.e., name, date of birth, gender, National Insurance number - and attribute data already deposited by the Departments into ONS. ONS will develop for the linkage and extraction of ONS Data into the TRE a system which conducts, and quality assesses the linkage; minimises the Departmental data to participants within the TRE only and the variables specified in the agreements; and, de-identifies the data to their DEA processing standards. The minimised and functionally anonymous data extract will be securely transferred for ingest and integration into the TRE enabling researchers to address a wider range of questions for public benefit.
 ConclusionThis is a model for efficient and low-burden linkages to inform cross cutting research. It will form part of a responsive UK data science capability which can inform government research needs and be used to meet future crisis e.g. new pandemics, the impacts of climate change or economic shocks.

The topic which I am asked to discuss is one of enormous complexity. The changes in human beings which result from the teaching of science in schools are real, are measurable, and will some day be defined in units of amount as we now define changes in the rate of a moving body or in the density of a gas. But they include thousands of different clements; they vary with every individual; some of them can be demonstrated only long after school is completed; and at present units and scales in which to state changes in knowledge, power, interest, habits, and ideals are mostly matters of faith. An adequate measurement of the changes wrought in one class by one course in physics would be a task comparable to a geological survey of a state or an analysis of all the materials in this building.

Each medical doctor should be able to complete professional tasks using their knowledge of physics, especially when providing a comprehensive care to a patient. This article reveals how to use knowledge of the course of physics specially developed of a Medical University to help trainee medical doctors to develop skills to complete professional tasks. Content of physics and its tasks for a Medical University must be professionally oriented. This article provides a classification of professionally oriented questions of physics specially made to be taught at a Medical University. It also gives content a sample of a professionally oriented task in physics for a Medical University. All these above mentioned tasks are closely correlating with each other. As an example, the article explains specific of teaching Biophysics at a Medical University. Professionally oriented content of Biomechanics - modern methods of study properties of materials used for dental care. Methods of physics for destructive inspection testing: tensile strength, compressive strength, hardness of materials, Poisson's ratio, fluctuating stress and dynamic testing etc. Methods of physics for non-destructive inspection testing: thermal, acoustic, optical, radio-wave, radiative, capillary, magnetic and electric testing.

This study assessed the quality of teaching in science in North Gondar Zone’s Secondary Schools, Ethiopia. Descriptive survey design was used for the study. One hundred and thirty-two science teach...

Notes on Contributors

This paper analyzes the problems which primary school teachers face during these science lessons and their willingness for professional development to enable themselves to implement the inclusion model in teaching science in primary schools. The research included 332 primary school teachers. The data was collected using a survey and analyzed by comparative and descriptive methods. It showed that the initial professional development program enabled teachers to gain some general knowledge about the inclusion model, but it did not qualified them for applying this model in integrated science teaching in primary schools. Teachers believe that science should be taught by qualified science teachers who have some experience with the inclusion model. Teachers also want to improve their knowledge through further professional trainings. They are faced with a lack of cooperation with institutions which deal with inclusive education, the lack of adequate literature on the inclusion model and its implementation in science teaching, as well as a variety of financial and technical barriers. They want to gain knowledge about the inclusion model, so that they can apply it during their science lessons.

The article is devoted to the history of the implementation of the specialty "Social Work" at Volgograd State University. With the opening of the specialty in 1993, the Department of Social Work was formed, which was then transformed several times. Currently, the training of specialists in the field of social work is carried out at the Department of Pedagogy, Psychology and Social Work. Active organizational changes took place in parallel with changes in federal state standards for higher education. The teaching staff managed not only to preserve the unique methods developed in the 1990s but also to significantly enrich them in accordance with modern trends in training personnel for the field of social protection and support of the population in the state and non-state sectors. The article presents an analysis of the work done at Volgograd State University over 30 years of training students in the direction of "Social Work".

The teaching of Physics at all levels must be based on experiment and exploration. Virtual labs prove valuable for distance education the course. The present work has as its object of study the investigation of the readiness of the prospective Primary Education teachers for the distance education of the Physics course. 134 students of the Department of Primary Education of the University of Ioannina participated in the research that was carried out. The questionnaire completed by the students consists of thirty-five multiple-choice, closed-ended questions. According to the results, it seems that, in general, the students, although they are largely familiar with the computer and the internet, do not know how to use the platforms and digital tools to teach a Physics course remotely. However, they are largely familiar with the computer and the internet but do not know how to use the platforms and digital tools to teach a Physics course remotely. Finally, most students consider that they are moderately prepared to face a distance education in Physics.

As part of its continuing support programme for physics in UK schools and colleges, The Institute of Physics is setting up two working parties to collect the views of teachers and lecturers in two important areas of current interest. The first working party has been established to develop a position paper on physics in the National Curriculum for the year 2000 and beyond. Although small in number, the group will represent all major interests and will in turn be supported by a wider network of teachers and others willing to comment on working papers. At the same time, a Physics/Maths working party under the joint leadership of Professors Margaret Brown and Paul Black will be hoping to reach accord on physics/maths issues. Anyone willing to contribute their thoughts on either or both of these aspects of physics teaching should contact Catherine Wilson in the Institute's Education Department (76 Portland Place, London W1N 4AA, tel: 0171 470 4800, fax: 0171 470 4848) in the first instance. In the meantime plans are being laid for events in the next educational year. The Institute's Education Group will be holding its annual 16-19 Discussion Day on Saturday, 9 November; the theme will be 'Quality in physics education' and the venue the newly opened Headquarters conference centre at Portland Place. The three-day Physics in Perspective course for sixth-formers and college students is scheduled for 26 - 28 January 1997 at King's College London and the Royal Institution. More details will be available in the early autumn. Finally the Schools and Colleges Lecture series 1996/7 is to be undertaken by Dr Malcolm Cornwall (Deputy Editor of Physics Education). His provisional title was 'Living with lasers' and a dynamic and enlightening lecture-demonstration is promised for all who attend. The detailed programme of dates and itinerary will be circulated to Institute Branch secretaries in the autumn.