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A Guide to the Physics Issue Investigation

Students investigate at least one issue or phenomenon in physics that affects themselves, society, or the environment. Studentsformulate a question and conduct the investigation. They describe the different views people hold on an issue, based on their evidence.

They access information from different sources, identify and discuss the significance of the issue or phenomenon, analyse theirfindings, critically evaluate the evidence, and develop and explain their conclusions. Students use the literacy skills of physics toexplain links between data, concepts, and issues.

A completed issues investigation should include:

an introduction that identifies the issue or phenomenon in physics that is to be investigated

background information on physics that is relevant to the issue or phenomenon

identification and understanding of the significance of the issue or phenomenon

an evaluation of information gathered

a summary of results or findings, and conclusions formed

citations and a list of references.

An issues investigation may be divided into smaller sections that can be presented in different formats. Students select from a range offormats to communicate their understanding of the issue or phenomenon. Students may work collaboratively to gather information, buteach student must produce an individual investigation report.

An issues investigation should be a maximum of 1500 words if written or a maximum of 10 minutes for an oral presentation, or theequivalent in multimedia form.

For this assessment type, students provide evidence of their learning in relation to the assessment design criteria.

The issue does not necessarily need to link to the Subject Outline, however it may help students to relate their issue to the Stage 2course. Teachers can help students by suggesting topics; here are examples of topics that may lead to the identification of an issue.

Space Station Mobile Phones Laser Weapons Nuclear Powered SubmarinesParkour Shark Shield Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Smoke DetectorsSpace Junk Railguns Tanning Salons Large Hadron Collider

Google EarthElectrostatic SmokePrecipitators

Credit Card HolographicSecurity

Super K Neutrino Detector

Space Elevators High Voltage Power lines Terahertz radiation Radon GasSpace Flight Residual Current Devices Australian Synchrotron Cold FusionTidal Bores Television Tsunamis Plasma TVEarths magnetic field Microwave Ovens Earthquakes Quantum computing

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fMRI Lie detectors Defibrillators

Some examples of how a student may formulate a question and an investigation outline from a topic:

Teacher Student

SectionAreas of

InvestigationTopic Question Outline of Issue Investigation

Motion inTwo

Dimensions

Momentum/

ImpulseBoxing

Should headgear be

mandatory in boxing?

Background information on physics that is relevant to the issue orphenomenon

momentum, impulse, acceleration, velocity, collisions

biomechanics of punching, taking a punch

physics of headgear

Identification and understanding of the significance of the issue orphenomenon

Benefits:

reduction in brain injury

decrease medical costs to individual and society

boxers as role models in wearing helmets & headgear

Limitations:

not 100% effective

infringes on tradition and civil liberties

economic loss - bouts not as exciting due to fewer knockouts

ElectricityandMagnetis

m

Bioelectricity Tasers Should police beequipped with tasers?

Background information on physics that is relevant to the issue orphenomenon

current electricity, current, potential difference, capacitance

how tasers generate an electric current

how nerves generate electric current and their role inmuscular contractions.

Identification and understanding of the significance of the issue orphenomenon

Benefits:

police are able to protect themselves and the public

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non-lethal way of controlling violent people

economic benefit to companies manufacturing the equipment

Limitations:

questionable use by law enforcement in other countries

financial cost of tasers and cost of the training involved in itsuse

possibility of the units falling into the hands of criminals

medical hazards to people with heart problems

SectionAreas of

InvestigationTopic Question/Statement Outline of Issue Investigation

Atoms andNuclei

Fusion Helium-3Should the moon bemined for Helium-3?

Background information on physics that is relevant to the issue orphenomenon

isotopes, how Helium-3 accumulated on the moon

fusion

fusion reactors

Identification and understanding of the significance of the issue orphenomenon

Benefits:

could solve energy needs for the world

no greenhouse emissions or residual radiation

economic benefit of vast amounts of energy

Limitations:

no one has legal ownership of the moon

the massive economic cost of technology

risk to human life of spaceflight/moon mining

Students may need practice in formulating a question and teasing out the physics and issues related to their question. Teachers could

give students the chance to practice formulating a question and constructing an outline from a generic topic e.g. Nuclear Waste.

Teachers wanting to minimise plagiarism may wish to restrict their students to a particular section of the curriculum eg, Motion in 2D in

2011, then Electric and Magnetic fields in 2012 etc.

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A resource for citations that teachers and students may find useful is the SLASA Harvard Online Referencing Generator provided by theSchool Library Association of South Australia. (google: SLASA)