Welcome back for Term 1

It was great to see so many of you at the VCE Chemistry conference last week and I’m going to let you know about lots of other upcoming chemistry events – the Olympiad program, new VCE Chemistry (but not just yet…) and the new CEA website is open.

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Chemistry Olympiad Training Program

For your very advanced Year 11 students, this series of 14 x 2-hour classes takes students through most Year 12 topics and parts of First Year university chemistry and is excellent preparation for the Australian Olympiad exam (and also for Year 12). The program is challenging and best suited for self-driven, highly organised students who would really like a bit more chemistry in their lives. It is presented by the CEA with the University of Melbourne.

The program runs on Thursday evenings at the University of Melbourne, 5:30-7:30pm from 19 March – 23 July with breaks for school holidays. An online version of the course is available.

Cost: $330 per student (GST inc).

To register, go to http://www.cea.asn.au/events-and-programs

VCE Chemistry Study Design

VCAA have opened a consultation register on the upcoming VCE Chemistry study design changes. To be informed and consulted, you can join the mailing list here. I want to stress that the changes are two years away but that the study design benefits hugely from the input of coalface teachers and I highly recommend that you sign up.

Upcoming PD

VCAA are also running assessment webinars on Unit 3 school based assessment. The chemistry one is Tuesday 25 February 3:45 – 5:00pm. Book here.

CEA Website

www.cea.asn.au is now operational. It has loads of resources and information about our upcoming events. It now takes credit card payments too! I’m very happy to hear your feedback to mmoylan@unimelb.edu.au

Dates for your diaries

AGM: May 14

Annual Dinner: November 13

November Lectures: November 20

CEA Events

There’s a couple of upcoming deadlines you need to know about: November Lectures registration will close on Wednesday 20/11 (next week!) and applications for our travel scholarship close Monday 25/11 (really soon!). (And I hope your students did well on Tuesday!)

Registrations for the November Lectures are still open

22 November 9am – 4pm in the Chemistry Building, University of Melbourne.

The registration form is here.

Cost: $165 (full) $100 (students/retirees)

Speakers are

• A/Prof Jenny Pringle, Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University.

• Prof Andrew Gooley, Enterprise Professor, School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne and Chief Scientific Officer, Trajan Scientific & Medical

• Prof Jan van Driel, Professor of Science Education and Associate Dean (Research), MGSE, University of Melbourne

Four afternoon workshops are available and you can choose one of these workshops with your registration: 

• Workshop 1: Environmental Science Outreach Meets Chemistry: An Approach To Extended Investigation for Unit 2 [Lab Workshop]

• Workshop 2: Studying Essential Oils by TLC and Mass Spectroscopy [Lab workshop]

• Workshop 3: Overcoming the Literacy Hurdle in the VCE Chemistry Classroom: strategies for teachers and students

• Workshop 4: Systems Thinking and the Molecular Basis for Sustainability

Travel Scholarship: Applications are closing soon

The CEA will provide up to $5000 for a practicing teacher to attend a major international conference with a chemistry or chemistry education theme. The application form is here and applications close 25 November 2019.

Conferences could include

• International Conference on Chemistry Education, Cape Town, South Africa, 13-17 July 2020. See https://www.icce2020.org.za/

• Biennial Conference on Chemistry Education, Oregon State University, USA, 18-23 July 2020. See https://bcce2020.org/

• Pacifichem 2020, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, 15-20 December 2020. See https://pacifichem.org/

• European Chemistry Conference, Rome, Italy, 19-20 March 2020. See https://europeanchemistry.madridge.com/

VCE Chemistry Programs at the University of Melbourne

Bookings are now open for the VCE Chemistry programs at the University of Melbourne these will run 8-9 and 11-19 June 2020.

• Year 11 students analyse water samples for common organic contaminants and metal ions using either HPLC, AAS or UV-visible spectroscopy: click here for more information.

• Year 12 students learn the principles and applications of organic chemistry and structural analysis and complete an analysis by collecting and combining data from Mass Spectroscopy, 1H and 13CNMR and IR Spectroscopy: click here for more information.

Both programs are designed to be complete introductions to these topics. The programs run simultaneously and we can cater for up to 50 Year 11s and 50 Year 12s at a time

The cost is $34 per student.

To book, email mmoylan@unimelb.edu.au with your preferred dates, the number of students you expect to bring and your school’s contact details.

Upcoming CEA Events

• Help us celebrate the end of the (teaching) year at our Annual Dinner, November 11.

• Have you already registered for the November Lectures? They’re on November 22.

• Would you like to go to Cape Town next year (or Hawaii?)

• Bookings are open for the University of Melbourne’s VCE Outreach Programs

CEA Annual Dinner

• November 11, University House, University of Melbourne

• 7pm for a 7:30 start

• $74 for a 3 course meal including drinks

Join the committee for a post-exam discussion and celebration of the end of the VCE year.

We will be honouring Jenny Sharwood as the Chemical Educator of the Year.

To RSVP, email mmoylan@unimelb.edu.au

Travel Scholarship: Applications are now open

The CEA will provide up to $5000 for a practicing teacher to attend a major international conference with a chemistry or chemistry education theme. The application form is here and applications close 25 November 2019.

Conferences could include:

• International Conference on Chemistry Education, Cape Town, South Africa, 13-17 July 2020. See https://www.icce2020.org.za/

• Biennial Conference on Chemistry Education, Oregon State University, USA, 18-23 July 2020. See https://bcce2020.org/

• Pacifichem 2020, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, 15-20 December 2020. See https://pacifichem.org/

• European Chemistry Conference, Rome, Italy, 19-20 March 2020. See https://europeanchemistry.madridge.com/

Registrations for the November Lectures are still open

22 November 9am – 4pm in the Chemistry Building, University of Melbourne.

The registration form is here.

Cost: $165 (full) $100 (students/retirees)

Speakers are

• A/Prof Jenny Pringle, Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University

• Prof Andrew Gooley, Enterprise Professor, School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne and Chief Scientific Officer, Trajan Scientific & Medical

• Prof Jan van Driel, Professor of Science Education and Associate Dean (Research), MGSE, University of Melbourne

Four afternoon workshops are available and you can choose one of these workshops with your registration: 

Workshop 1: Environmental Science Outreach Meets Chemistry: An Approach To Extended Investigation for Unit 2 [Lab Workshop]

Workshop 2: Studying Essential Oils by TLC and Mass Spectroscopy [Lab workshop]

Workshop 3: Overcoming the Literacy Hurdle in the VCE Chemistry Classroom: strategies for teachers and students

Workshop 4: Systems Thinking and the Molecular Basis for Sustainability

VCE Chemistry Programs at the University of Melbourne

Bookings are now open for the VCE Chemistry programs at the University of Melbourne these will run 8-9 and 11-19 June.

• Year 11 students analyse water samples for common organic contaminants and metal ions using either HPLC, AAS or UV-visible spectroscopy: click here for more information.

• Year 12 students learn the principles and applications of organic chemistry and structural analysis and complete an analysis by collecting and combining data from Mass Spectroscopy, 1H and 13CNMR and IR Spectroscopy: click here for more information.

Both programs are designed to be complete introductions to these topics. The programs run simultaneously and we can cater for up to 50 Year 11s and 50 Year 12s at a time

The cost is $34 per student.

To book, email mmoylan@unimelb.edu.au with your preferred dates, the number of students you expect to bring and your school’s contact details.