Bring a physicist to your classroom!

Our volunteers visit local classrooms for single or multiple visits. Our main effort in this area is the Space Explorers program for primary schools.

Space Explorers program

In this program, pairs of physicists visit local primary schools 4 times over the course of the school year, bringing along a different physics activity on each hour-long visit. Students get to know a physicist, while doing inquiry-based activities and experiments. Students participating in this program will investigate physics concepts like density, gravity, and momentum. At the end of the program, students have completed their “training” to become junior Space Explorers! The four activities are:

• Sink or Float: Students learn about density by testing the sink/float ability of different household objects. Students also build their own boats.
• Gravity Session I: Students learn about gravity by dropping marbles of different shapes and sizes.
• Gravity Session II: Students continue learning about gravity and air resistance by building parachutes.
• Craters: Students learn about craters on the moon by building their own craters and dropping marbles into it.