The Physics Force- Physics for ages 6 to 106.

COFFEE_KLATCH · Invited

Abstract

The Physics Force is a very successful and entertaining outreach program of the Institute of Technology in the University of Minnesota developed to make science exciting and fun for students of all ages, from 6 to 106. Although all attendees, including high school and college students and guests from retirement homes, praise our performances, the primary focus is on K-6 students. The original Force consists of six k-12 teachers, Hank Ryan, Jon Barber, Jack Netland, Fred Orsted, Aaron Pinski, and Jay Dornfeld and Dan Dahlberg of the University of Minnesota Physics Department. The Force performed variations of The Physics Circus, our most popular show, at Disney's Epcot Center, parts of it were shown on Newton's Apple and several of us have performed demonstrations on the Knoff-Hoff Show, a very successful German T.V. science program. The goal of The Physics Force is to show students and the public \textbf{Science is Fun, Science is Interesting, and Science is Understandable}. By all measures we have available, we are extremely successful in reaching our goals. In the last three year cycle of our University support almost 100,000 residents of Minnesota (or about 2{\%} of the total population) saw a Physics Force performance; it appears we will surpass those numbers in the present cycle.

Authors

  • E. Dan Dahlberg

    University of Minnesota, School of Physics and Astronomy, Minneapolis, MN 55455