ARTICLES
Watching the pendulum swing : changes in the NSW physics curriculum and consequences for the discipline
By Helen Georgiou , School of Education , University of Wollongong and Simon Crook , Honorary Associate , School of Physics , The University of Sydney
This article has been re-published with permission , from the Australian Physics Journal Volume 54 , Number 6 , NOV-DEC 2017
For the first timein 17 years , the Higher School Certificate ( HSC ), New South Wales ’( NSW ) flagship course that wraps up 13 years of schooling for around 76 000 students each year , is undergoing major changes . As part of the reforms , many courses will be rejuvenated , removed or newly created in an effort to reflect achangingworldandworkplaceandto ‘ increasestandards ’[ 1 ]. In this article , wediscussthenatureand consequences of these changes in terms of HSC physics specifically , whilst commenting more generally on how physicists can positively influence the science education space .
Australian Science
The excitement around and appreciation of the necessity of Science or STEM ( Science , Technology , Engineering and Mathematics ) for the country ’ s future [ 3 , 4 ] seems a sentiment not fully reflected in our schools and universities . In fact , evidence from several different sources is telling us that students are losing interest , performing worse and shunning STEM-related degrees and careers . For example , the Programme for International Student Assessment ( PISA ) shows Australian students are slipping behind their international peers in both science and mathematics [ 5 , 6 ]. Results from TIMSS ( Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study ) show that compared to the top five performing countries , only half as many Australian year 8 students achieve the highest performance band in science ( 11 %, compared to 23 %) and this is worse at 9 % ( compared to 41 % in top band ) for maths . TIMSS also tells us that that student interest in science and maths declines throughout schooling with a healthy 55 % of students ‘ liking ’ science in Year 4 transforming into a disappointing 25 % in year 8 . This is not to mention the teaching profession , where one in five science teachers are not technically qualified to teach science and 40 % of schools report they have difficulty filling maths and science teaching positions . Nationally , there has been a decline in participation in almost all science subjects ( apart from Earth and Environmental Science ) between the years 1994-2013 , with physics participation decreasing by 5 % ( Figure 1 ). Physics is easily the most ‘ extreme ’ example in the sciences ; with lower enrolments ( both high school and University ), a more skewed male to female ratio and the enduring reputation for being ‘ hard ’ [ 7 ].
Figure 1 : Enrolment trends for Australian high school science subjects [ 2 ]
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