[Catalist] Do any Year 12 Physics syllabuses include reference to Gravitational Waves?

[Craig Lucanus]

Pursuant to:  https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/ligo20160211

and https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/02/11/cosmic-breakthrough-physicists-detect-gravitational-waves-from-violent-black-hole-merger/

 

From: Catalist [mailto:catalist-bounces at lists.stawa.net] On Behalf Of Michael McGarry
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 7:44 AM
To: catalist at lists.stawa.net
Subject: Re: [Catalist] Do any Year 12 Physics syllabuses include reference to Gravitational Waves?

 

RE: Do any Year 12 Physics syllabuses include reference to Gravitational Waves?

Greetings Science Colleagues,

I can find no reference to Gravitational Waves in the WACE 2016 ATAR Physics Year 12 Syllabus.

URL 1: http://wace1516.scsa.wa.edu.au/syllabus-and-support-materials/science/physics

Two relevant statements from the WACE 2016 ATAR Physics Year 12 Syllabus:

“Students develop their understanding of field theories of gravity …” [Page 9]

“Students understand how models and theories have developed over time …” [Page 9]

In my interactive PDF AUS PS7 SU STRAND MODULE 2: “Gravity and Gravitation” I include this section: “From Newton’s Gravity (1687) to Einstein’s Gravity (1916) on Pages 4 - 5. This Year 7 Physical Sciences Active Science curriculum module can be free downloaded from the online ASTA MOODLE URL: URL 2: http://moodle.asta.edu.au. Why Year 7? The seminal paper: ”How People Learn” URL 3: http://www.nap.edu/read/9853/chapter/7 suggests that we should not assume that younger students cannot understand abstract (science) concepts.

I contend that we physics teachers could update “models and theories …” of gravity with a brief discussion of Einstein’s Gravity (1916). We then could briefly discuss new evidence from LIGO of their recent detection of Gravitational Waves.

URL 4: https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/ligo20160211

URL 5: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gravitational-waves-discovered-from-colliding-black-holes1/

URL 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_wave

URL 7: http://gravitycentre.com.au

WA physics teachers and students are most fortunate to have access to the excellent Gravity Discovery Centre.

The search for Gravitational Waves by a collaboration of about 1000 Physicists from around our Science world illustrates Science as a Human Endeavour, which was started by Albert Einstein 100 years ago in 1916.

Best Wishes,

Mike McGarry 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.stawa.net/pipermail/catalist_lists.stawa.net/attachments/20160212/6d654e74/attachment.html>