VCE or CERT IV in Astronomy?

[cmr (Chris)]

Hello, I have a child about to enter yr 10 who is science crazy and I would love to know if there are any VCE or CERTII or IV courses in astronomy that they might be able to look into to do towards their VCE (high school) studies? - long shot I know and I have of courses used google to search for something but I thought the wisdom of iceinspace may help

[wasyoungonce (Brendan)]

VCE physics has a number of core components and "optional studies". Core subjects are like motion...optional are like electronics/nuclear physics. Well it did when back in 2007 (as an Adult).

Unfortunately Astronomy/Astrophysics is a limited field and it only undertaken as an option by schools that have expertise in that area...aka a school that has a teacher suited for this.

Very difficult to find a school offering VCE astronomy as an option subject. This is probably a year 11 unit 1&2 option but is available.

If not available at your local school...then maybe distance education? The other alternative is to apply for a school that runs said curriculum...like Melbourne high.

That said...a good physics background would not hamper them from studying astrophysics at uni.

[cmr (Chris)]

Thanks, distance ed would be fine, I'll look into it some more.

[pfitzgerald (Paul)]

Hi Chris

As Brendon pointed out it will depend upon the school and their Physics teacher. In Year 11 VCE Physics there are six detailed studies of from which two are studied. One in each semester. Astronomy and Astrophysics are two of the detailed studies. Since its introduction into the VCE study design over ten years ago I have regularly taught the Astronomy detailed study at Year 11. To the best of my knowledge there is no Cert IV Astronomy course. The Year 10 National Curriculum also has some Astrophysics but you'll need to check with your local school as to how much time they give to it - often it gets glossed over fairly quickly.

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu....tent-structure

There some Citizen Science projects in Astronomy that can be found online that may be worth considering.

HTH

Paul

[cmr (Chris)]

Thanks Paul,

Yes I had a look, I had hoped perhaps it was a specialised additional unit of study. my daughter is very science literate and is in yr 9 at present and we are considering things for her for next year and she has expressed that she'd love to find something she could be passionate about to learn next year as at the meowing in science especially (but even to a degree maths) she fels she is not learning anything new in class that she doesn't already know (sounds arrogant, but not really,, she is just widely read and devours documentaries and new scientist etc etc... )

I would welcome suggestions for someone familiar with the VCE system (I'm old and studied in NSW in the 70s/80s) of something science or similarly related perhaps even by distance that would keep that passion alive as I'd hate to see her spark die. Sadly her school does not offer the option of her doing Physics until yr 11-12 ( but perhaps we could just get her to do he physics by distance? Woudl that be viable alongside the normal yr10 general science ?)

Cheers

Chris

[wasyoungonce (Brendan)]

Yes you can do a unit 1&2 VCE physics in year 10. They do ask for the student to be a high achiever to undertake this.

I'm really not sure distance ed does astrophysics units . Depends on the specialist teacher they have, so check this.. I did distance ed...and liked it...self paced...reference books easy to use and tutors on call or email.

Edit:
Ok i went back to my old work books from distance Ed physics and yes I did some parts in unit 2 & 3: Newtons laws of motion; circular motion and gravitation; satellites; Kepler motion...and lots more,<strike> so yes dist ed did do astronomy ..back then</strike>. edit to this...actually no it was just a core component we didn't do stars, outer planets, galaxies, stellar evolution nor distances