Physics fun overseas

by Nicholas Duck
Trafalgar physics teacher Mark Judd had the chance to again hit the world stage last month, taking part in two international physics teachers conferences last month.
Mark, who teaches at Lavalla Catholic College, represented the school at both the EinsteinPlus Teacher Program in Canada as well as the International Physics and Astronomy Educator Program in the US.
It's not the first time he has travelled overseas to follow his passions, after being selected for a program at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland last year.
"It was a really, really good time," Mark said. "I'm really grateful for the opportunity."
The EinsteinPlus Teacher Program was held at the world-renowned Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, a city in Ontario.
Mark was selected as one of 38 high school physics teachers across 11 countries for the program, which saw him and his fellow teachers dive head first into some key areas of modern physics, looking at how they could translate what they learned into applicable hands-on lessons for the classroom.
Topics included the counterintuitive nature of light and matter, discovering how special and general relativity work in modern technology like GPS, using LEDs in experiments to measure physical constants and exploring dark matter, gravitational forces and the scale of the universe.
The teachers also had the opportunity to engage with world-class researchers working on cutting edge projects.
"They just had really good resources and strategies for the classroom. I'm using some of them already," Mark said.
"You're just interacting with and learning from some of the best science teachers in the world."
The International Physics and Astronomy Educator Program took place at the world-renowned LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) in Washington State.
LIGO is notable for a 2015 breakthrough when it achieved the world's first-ever direct detection of gravitational waves, confirming Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.
As one of just 20 high school teachers chosen from 10 countries, Mark had the chance to tour the facility, including the full four-kilometre length of its laser vacuum arms, and even got to pick the brain of LIGO director Michael Landry over lunch and dinner.
The teachers also engaged with hands on exhibits designed to make mind-bending cosmological concepts visual, tactile, and accessible, as well as take part in workshops.
Mark also took some of his own time to tour Princeton University with a former of student of his, walking the same hallowed halls as famous names like Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer.
"Even with all these things you still get that impostor syndrome, I kept thinking 'why an I here of all people?' But everyone has their own reason for being there, there are lots of different backgrounds and they're probably feeling the same way," he said.
Mark acknowledged Vicphysics for helping fund his trip and is now preparing to present at an upcoming conference of theirs about his experiences.