Enhancing Health Physics Education Through an Interactive Radiological Survey

The knowledge of Health Physics and many of the surrounding topics continues to remain unknown to many high school students. One of the best approaches when introducing new topics to high school students includes combining hands-on activities with real-world applications. To introduce these students to the study of Health Physics, we developed an interactive "source hunt" activity using Geiger-Müller (GM) detectors. Multiple different groups of students were put into a simulation and tasked with trying to find low-activity radioactive check sources of Cs-137, simulating real-world radiation detection scenarios. The concepts of radiation safety and radioactive decay, as well as operating GM detectors and interpretation of measurements, help students gain more of an understanding of radiation protection and Health Physics overall. Feedback and engagement from participants revealed significant improvements in these students' understanding of Health Physics and its applications. This way of engaging high school students outside of the classroom allows for a much better understanding of what Health Physics is through real-world experience and encourages students to explore these careers more in the future.