CMSO Outreach

Clint SprottRachael LancorDepartment of PhysicsUniversity of Wisconsin - Madison

presented to theCMSO Planning MeetinginMadison, Wisconsinon December 7, 2006

Objective

To generate interest in

physics and encourage

children to consider

careers in science.

Philosophy

Make entertaining

presentations to audiences

that would not normally be

motivated to attend a lecture

on physics.

Past Year’s Progress 6 major on-campus shows

Major show for 500 people and teacher workshop in Aveiro, Portugal

23 hours of video now on DVD and streamed on the Web

(http://sprott.info/wop.htm#videos)

Physics Demonstrations book published by UW Press (2006) –

Reviewed in October 2006 Physics Today

Consulting for Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

150 traveling shows

Grand Tour of all 72 Wisconsin counties completed

East Coast tour with presentations in PA, NJ, DE, VA, MD

Presentation at NSTA Conference in Anaheim, CA

Third annual Integration Bee

Plans underway for Teacher workshop

Assessment done (229 responses to survey)

Web Survey Questions What kind of presentation of The Wonders of Physics have you

seen? How many years ago did you first see The Wonders of

Physics? How many presentations of The Wonders of Physics have you

seen? Was the presentation clearly audible? Were the demonstrations clearly visible? How was the length of the presentation? How was the level of the explanations? Did you learn anything about physics from the presentation? Did you learn anything about plasmas from the presentation? Did the presentation encourage you to study more physics? How has The Wonders of Physics influenced you, and what

changes would make it more effective? With which of the following products and services were you

previously familiar? What is your gender? What is your age? What is your ethnicity? What is your ZIP code?

Web Survey Results

Recent and Scheduled ShowsSeptember 29: Madison Area Technical College, Madison, WIOctober 13:     Edgewood Campus School, Madison, WIOctober 18:  Wales Elementary, Kettle Moraine School District, Wales, WIOctober 19: Cottage Grove Elementary School, Cottage Grove, WIOctober 30: AMY @ James Martin School, Philadelphia, PANovember 1: W.B. Saul HS, Philadelphia, PANovember 2: J.R. Masterman School, Philadelphia, PANovember 3: Camden Academy Charter  HS, Camden, NJNovember 4: Delmarva Christian HS, Georgetown, DENovember 6: Overbrook HS, Philadelphia, PANovember 7: Friends Meeting School, Ijamsville, MDNovember 8: Wayside ES, Potomac, MDNovember 9: Krieger-Schechter Day School, Baltimore, MDNovember 10: Smart's Mill MS, Leesburg, VANovember 11: Expanding Your Horizons (at UW)November 21: Falk Elementary, Madison, WIDecember 7: DeForest Middle School (at UW)    December 14: Spring Green Elementary School, Spring Green, WI        December 31: Space Place, Madison, WIJanuary 26: Baraboo Middle School Science Club, Baraboo, WIJanuary 29: Garland Elementary, Milwaukee, WIJanuary 31: Merrill High School, Merrill, WIFebruary 2: Waterloo Intermediate/Middle School, Waterloo, WIFebruary 12: St. Joan of Arc Parish School, Nashotah, WIFebruary 14: Cushing Elementary, Kettle Moraine School District, Delafield, WIMarch 8: Deerfield Elementary School, Deerfield, WIMarch 13: Kate Goodrich Elementary School, Merrill, WIMarch 24: Science Expeditions (at UW)March 26: Beaver Dam Middle School (at UW)April 5: Hartland North Elementary, Hartland, WIApril 19-21: Engineering Expo (at UW)April 25: Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Menomonee Falls, WI

Integration BeeStudents compete for prizes in live-action

calculus competition.

•Now in fourth year

•Encourage math skills necessary for science careers

(ie first-year calculus)

•75 students participated in 2006

Other CMSO OutreachTalks at physics departments that don’t feature plasmas

Self-Organization in Magnetized Plasmas, M. Brown American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics Distinguished Lecture Program

ColoradoSt. OlafsCollege of New JerseyTrinity CollegeIowa State UniversityWake Forest

11/9/0511/10/05

2/1/063/10/063/20/064/21/06

Vassar CollegeBucknell UniversityReed CollegeLawrence UniversityLoyola UniversityKansasOhio Northern

11/8/042/1/05

2/16/054/7/05

4/14/0510/17/0510/19/05

Other CMSO OutreachLectures to the Public

Self-Organization, C. SprottNorth Shore Library, Glendale, WIUW Founders’ Day, Atlanta, GA

3/064/06

Denison UniversityEdgewood College

4/053/06

Talks to specialists in other disciplinesFusion Research at UW-Madison, D. Den Hartog

Ohio State University, Mechanical Engineering Department May 19, 2005

CMSO Overview and Activities, V. ParievLebedev Physical Institute, Puschino Radio Astronomy Observatory Fall 2005

Museum ExhibitUW Space Place (est. completion June 2007)

APS-DPP MeetingPhiladelphia, PA

October 30-November 3, 2006

• 4 school visits in Philadelphia and Camden, NJ

• 13 “big” shows (50-200 students)

• 10 additional classroom visits

• ~1,625 total students

• 1 day of outreach to plasma physicists

CMSO posters in Chamberlin Hall entrance

Workshops at Space Place

Teacher Workshops

Near Term Plans

Workshops at Space Place 1st Saturday of the Month

First one was last Saturday Part of a workshop series given by

Astronomy, Chemistry, and Biotechnology Topics include:

Physics of Roller Coasters Liquid Nitrogen Physics Electricity, Magnetism, & Plasmas Circuits Sound Light & Lasers

Teacher Workshops

Wonders of Physics Workshop Aimed at Elementary and Middle

School Teachers Summer 2007

Plasma Physics Workshop Aimed at High School Physics

Teachers Summer 2008

Collaborate with other PFCs to work with Exploratorium (San Francisco) on ~$1M program introducing “cutting edge” PFC science to the general public

Long Term Plans