The Physics Circle is a program which provides a unique opportunity for high school students to receive training and preparation for physics competitions and to become aware of the exhilarating world of physics. Through the second year of running this program, UBC students, along with the support of their professors, strive to provide a greater breadth of opportunities for high school students to enhance their experience with university-level physics.

The Circle will consist of two-hour and half sessions (running triweekly or monthly) that include lectures by UBC Physics professors, challenge problem solving sessions, and physics lab activities. The UBC students that run this program were themselves active in math and physics competitions while in high school and are in a unique position to provide students with guidance and additional information about higher level physics education. Food and refreshments will be provided. The program is slated to run from January to June; sessions will be held on the UBC Campus in room Hebb 10 of the Hebb Buliding.

There is no cost for participation in the program. All Interested students should contact Ali Majdzadeh and Ashkan Nasr at (aliali [at] live.com) to hold a spot in the program, or to receive more information. We look forward to seeing you at the Metro Vancouver Physics Circle!

FIRST SESSION: JANUARY 31, 2012 FROM 5PM

Outline of the Circle

The sessions will usually be started with a lecture given by a UBC physics professor and will usually be about his/her research or an area of interest. Students will then be served pizza and refreshments following the lecture and will be handed out the challenge physics problem set to think about and discuss with others. Once the refreshment period is over, the problems on the problem set will be briefly introduced and hints will be provided. Students are then free to use this information and work with their peers, along with the help of available UBC physics students, to solve these problems.

Since one of this year’s goals of the Circle is to familiarize students with the proper usage of standard physics lab equipment (e.g. multimeters, oscilloscopes, function generator), we aim to organize lab sessions, possibly before, but likely after the problem solving sessions, to provide students with experience in circuit-based physics labs.