CMSO Outreach

Clint SprottJim ReardonDepartment of PhysicsUniversity of Wisconsin - Madison

presented to theCMSO Site ReviewinMadison, Wisconsinon May 1, 2006

Outline

Objective

Background

Philosophy

Progress

Plans

Objective

To generate interest in

physics and encourage

children to consider

careers in science.

Background Fast-paced demonstration show covering all areas of

classical physics Began in 1984, 182 public campus presentations, ~60,000

people Began in 1988, ~1215 traveling shows, >128,000 people

mostly in Wisconsin but throughout the USA 23 hours of videotapes ~1000 distributed ($25 ea) Teacher workshops Web sites (2) - http://sprott.info/wop.htm (>400,000

accesses) Lecture Kit (NSF funded) ~ 500 distributed ($90 ea)

Philosophy

Make entertaining

presentations to audiences

that would not normally be

motivated to attend a lecture

on physics.

Topics

Motion Heat Sound Electricity Magnetism Light Modern Physics

Past Year’s Progress 7 major on-campus shows

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)

150 traveling shows

APS WYP grant to visit all Wisconsin counties

Second annual Integration Bee

Participation in 2005 Denver DPP Plasma Expo

Physics Frontier Centers Education Outreach

Network

Major On-Campus Shows

6 public shows (audience ~2000)

1 special show for Department alumni

and families (audience ~200)

Laboratory tours

Physics Demonstrations Book 300-page full color book

containing 85 demonstrations

used in The Wonders of

Physics published by UW Press

in 2006

Book contains 2 DVDs with 3

hours of demonstrations before

a live audience.

Blurbs from Back Cover

Videos 23 hours of video from past years now on DVD

and streamed on the Web

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

Very detailed statistics on usage

(http://mediastreamer.doit.wisc.edu/stats/physics

103/windowsmedia/all_dates/):

From the Physics Librarian:

Hi, Clint.  Not sure if this will help your funding efforts at all but all of the WoP videos and dvds have circulated 185 times in the past 19 years.  That's pretty good for a collection of videos!

-Kerry

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

How much of this would be done without NSF funding?

NSF supports:

1 month per year of Sprott

6 months per year of Reardon

Acquisition of new demonstrations

Most of what was just described

would still happen

Half of what is about to be

described would not happen

Wonders of Physics Traveling Show About 1215 shows in 19 yrs (as of

4/19/06)

Mostly pre-college schools

Full-time outreach person (Jim

Reardon) supported half by DOE

(MST), half by NSF

Donations $100-400 per show

Some corporate donors

http://uw.physics.wisc.edu/

~wonders

“Physics on the Road”

$10K grant from APS in honor of the World Year of

Physics 2005

Traveling Show proposed to visit each of the 42 WI

counties not previously visited (as of 1/1/05)

Attempt to expand the “reach” of physics road shows by

putting on shows in rural and remote areas

Mission accomplished! 90 shows at 50 venues to a total

audience of ~16500

Physics on the Road 2005The Wonders of Physics Traveling Show

Wonders of Physics quest to visit all 72 counties in WI by 12/31/2005

As of 1/1/2005 As of 12/31/2005

Integration Bee

Madison--February 8: Aarti Singh defeated 13 competitors in the final round of the 2nd annual UW Integration Bee, a live-action calculus competition that took place tonight in the Physics Department in Sterling Hall. Singh, a student in the College of Engineering, suffered an early defeat in the double-elimination competition, but held on to win by defeating Mathematics student Steve Griffeth in back-to-back integrals in the championship match. The Integration Bee was sponsored by the Wonders of Physics outreach program.

Grand Integrator of Madison 2005

2006 Integration

Bee

Finals Tomorrow night!

APS-DPP Plasma ExpoDenver, CO (November 27-28, 2005)

• 1500+ Middle School and High School students attended

• 3 school visits, 3 shows, 13 classroom visits

PFCEONPhysics Frontier Centers Educators Outreach Network

Composed of outreach workers from each of the PFC’s. Started spring

‘05, chaired by Michelle Larson, CGWP.

Networked with larger NSF centers at 4/05 NRCEN conference (NSF

Research Center Educators Network)

Attempted to engage minority students and scientists at joint conference

of National Society of Black Physicists/National Society of Hispanic

Physicists, Orlando, FL 2/05, 2/06

Currently planning PFCEON exhibit at Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA

PFC’s are similar enough to one another that they can pool theirOutreach resources to achieve greater things than possible alone

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 2006)

Collaborate with National Society of Black Physicists to develop video to be shown to students at historically black middle schools

Near Term Plans

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