Phenomenal Physics & Astronomy…at Home!
The Outreach Program have physics and astronomy challenges that students can do at home. These activities are meant to be self-guided by students above grade 8, but could also be completed by younger children with the some assistance from parents and teachers. Each activity consists of a general introduction, summaries of physics concepts, videos, and online experiment simulations to support students’ learning experience. All ages are welcome to join!
Lend an Experiment (LEx) Boxes
The lack of funding to purchase supplies for hands-on activities is a significant barrier for teachers to teach physics and climate change in their classrooms. A new program we are starting this year is “Lend an Experiment” – 25 hands-on kits have been assembled and put into boxes for local teachers to borrow. Each box includes equipment and exploratory material described in more detail in the list of materials and a list of possible activities.
The UBC Physics and Astronomy Outreach Program offers professional development workshops 1-2 times a year. These workshops are designed for both physics teachers and for teachers of all sciences.
Physics 420- Physics Demonstration
The Physics 420 class is a one term physics demonstrations course. Each student is expected to design and build a demonstration dealing with physics or astronomy, and present it in class and afterwards at least twice in school. The projects are aimed at elementary and secondary students.
Physics Teaching for the 21st Century
Physics Teaching for the 21st Century is a resource for teachers who are interested in teaching physics concepts in real world contexts. On the C21 website you will find articles that clearly explain the physics concepts in a real world context, take-home experiments that can be done by students or by teachers as demonstrations in class, lecture notes in the form of power point presentations, problem sets and exam questions that would interest students (including solutions), and videos further explaining physics concepts in real world contexts.
And check out our Pinterest page, where we curate interesting hands-on activities for K-12.
Follow UBC’s board physics & astronomy hands-on / demo (k-12) on Pinterest.
Submit a mentorship request through UBC Physics & Astronomy Outreach with our online form. Please have your topic and proposal outlined, including a time frame, before submitting a request.
A collection of external links navigating to different UBC programs and educational websites for active learners ages pre-K to university level and above.