CMSO Outreach

1
CMSO Outreach

• Clint Sprott
• Jim Reardon
• Department of Physics
• University of Wisconsin - Madison
• presented to the
• CMSO Site Review
• in
• Madison, Wisconsin
• on
• May 1, 2006

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Report from the PAC on November 3-4, 2005
The center is tied into an established program,
The Wonders of Physics. This program started by
Prof. Clint Sprott and run by Jim Reardon is
outstanding.
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Outline

• Objective
• Background
• Philosophy
• Progress
• Plans

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Objective

• To generate interest in physics and encourage
  children to consider careers in science.

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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, gt128,000
  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
  (gt400,000 accesses)
• Lecture Kit (NSF funded) 500 distributed (90
  ea)

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Philosophy

• Make entertaining presentations to audiences that
  would not normally be motivated to attend a
  lecture on physics.

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Topics

• Motion
• Heat
• Sound
• Electricity
• Magnetism
• Light
• Modern Physics

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Past Years Progress

• 7 major on-campus shows
• 23 hours of video now on DVD and streamed on the
  Web (http//sprott.info/wop.htmvideos)
• 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

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Major On-Campus Shows

• 6 public shows (audience 2000)
• 1 special show for Department alumni and families
  (audience 200)
• Laboratory tours

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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.

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Blurbs from Back Cover
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Videos

• 23 hours of video from past years now on DVD and
  streamed on the Web (http//sprott.info/wop.htmvi
  deos)
• Very detailed statistics on usage
  (http//mediastreamer.doit.wisc.edu/stats/physics1
  03/windowsmedia/all_dates/)

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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

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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?

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Web Survey Results
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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

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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

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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

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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 12/31/2005
As of 1/1/2005
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Integration Bee
Grand Integrator of Madison 2005
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.
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2006 Integration Bee
Finals Tomorrow night!
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APS-DPP Plasma Expo

• Denver, CO (November 27-28, 2005)

• 1500 Middle School and High School students
  attended
• 3 school visits, 3 shows, 13 classroom visits

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PFCEONPhysics Frontier Centers Educators
Outreach Network
PFCs are similar enough to one another that they
can pool their Outreach resources to achieve
greater things than possible alone

• Composed of outreach workers from each of the
  PFCs. 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

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Other CMSO OutreachTalks at physics departments
that dont feature plasmas

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

Vassar College Bucknell University Reed
College Lawrence University Loyola
University Kansas Ohio Northern
11/8/04 2/1/05 2/16/05 4/7/05 4/14/05 10/17/05 10/
19/05
11/9/05 11/10/05 2/1/06 3/10/06 3/20/06 4/21/06
Colorado St. Olafs College of New Jersey Trinity
College Iowa State University Wake Forest
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Other CMSO OutreachLectures to the Public

• Self-Organization, C. Sprott

North Shore Library, Glendale, WI UW Founders
Day, Atlanta, GA
3/06 4/06
Denison University Edgewood College
4/05 3/06
Talks to specialists in other disciplines
Fusion Research at UW-Madison, D. Den Hartog Ohio
State University, Mechanical Engineering
Department May 19, 2005
CMSO Overview and Activities, V. Pariev Lebedev
Physical Institute, Puschino Radio Astronomy
Observatory Fall 2005
Museum Exhibit
UW Space Place (est. completion June 2006)
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Near Term Plans

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

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Long Term Plans

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