PREP: Pre-College Experience in Physics to Encourage

the Participation of Women in Science

July 5 - July 27, 2007

Program Report

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bausch and Lomb Hall

University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627

Report revised by program co-instructor: Eve Privman, UR `09 Neuroscience

 

The University of Rochester hosts a yearly program to encourage young women's interest in the sciences and engineering. This PREP program is instructed by two women who attend the University of Rochester. This year, the program included twenty five students. They were primarily from the greater Rochester area, but a couple of girls were from farther away and stayed with relatives in the area in order to participate in the program. The diverse group of women came from differing backgrounds, and none of them had any previous experience with physics. What they shared was a passion to learn and a curiosity about careers in science. By the end of the month, the young women had gained confidence in their abilities as budding scientists and were able to recognize physics in everyday life.

 

The program ran Monday through Friday, 9 am to 3 pm, from July 5^th to the 27^th. A typical day in the PREP classroom consisted of a lecture on a physics topic, a guest speaker from a science background, and time to work on a variety of weekly projects. Additionally, the girls took tours of multiple University facilities.

 

In the morning we would have our lesson for the day. We tried to cover as many topics in physics as possible in our short month together. Our lessons ranged from Newtonian mechanics, to relativity, to optics. These lessons were not intended to be like school classes. We tried to make them more hands-on and less about 'plugging and chugging' in math equations. We wanted to expose the young women to as many different topics in physics as possible to be sure that everyone's interest was sparked. Our lessons all included either a lab activity or demonstrations. We used PowerPoint presentations and notes with just a few blank spaces to fill in so that the girls could stay engaged and yet still get all of the material. They kept the notes in a binder that they took home at the end of the month, which will be a good reference when they take high school physics in the future.

 

During the lessons, discussion was encouraged. Before just giving the young women an answer, we always asked for suggestions and tried to get the students to think 'outside the box'. One of the most important jobs that the PREP instructors have is to use the casual, non-traditional classroom atmosphere to encourage the young women to be creative and to allow them to feel as though any question is a good question. One of the sayings nearest and dearest to a PREP instructor's heart is 'there is no such things as a stupid question'. Our students really believed this, and they felt comfortable asking insightful and inquisitive questions of both the instructors and guest speakers.

 

Every afternoon the women had a guest speaker or a tour. A majority of the presenters were from the University of Rochester community, from diverse departments such as admissions and electrical engineering, with a few notable exceptions such as a physics professor from SUNY Brockport who does research on the physics in toys. Most of our presenters are women from the science community, providing examples for our students of the paths women can take in science and engineering. This year the group took tours of the medical school and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, along with a trip to the Rochester Museum and Science Center for some hands-on physics. These talks and tours introduced the young women to fields that they may have never considered.

 

For a majority of our students, the highlight of the program was the hands-on, weekly project. The girls worked in small, assigned groups in order to establish bonds with people that they did not know before and build teamwork skills. Each of the first three projects culminated in a competition. The projects included building a tower out of only straws and paperclips that could support as much weight as possible, building a car that could propel itself up a hill with a limited budget and only certain items available for 'purchase', and building a Rube Goldberg device using physics principals to rescue a miniature Harry Potter who got stuck under a giant spoon. The young women learned to work together as a team and they also learned time management skills.

 

In addition to the weekly projects, we also had a few one-day projects for the girls to get involved in. We made slime out of household items to show viscosity and they decorated tshirts using radial chromatography, a process used to separate colors into their components. The girls really seemed to enjoy these breaks from the daily norm, and these side projects also gave them a chance to get hands-on.

 

The final major project was the physics poster fair. The girls chose their own topics within physics. This gave the girls a chance to be creative and delve deeper into something that they learned over the course of the summer that sparked their interest. Also, the young women conducted all of their own research in the library, giving them the chance to be fully in charge of their work. Their topics ranged from black holes to the physics of a bed of nails. To make our physics fair similar to a traditional science fair, they all did short presentations of their posters on the last day. This provided an excellent opportunity for them to practice their public speaking skills in a non-threatening environment and share their enthusiasm about their topics with the rest of the class. Also, it got them used to answering questions on a research topic.

 

Based on the feedback and responses from the students and their families, this year's program was a big success. The girls were excited to share their new knowledge with their families. The potluck dinner in the last week gave them a chance to show their families what they had learned over the past month. They eagerly explained to their families the physics principals behind various demos that we left out, and they also showed off their posters.

 

The girls forged friendships with people from other schools that they may never have met otherwise. Many plan to keep in touch, and they were all very excited at the prospect of a reunion in the fall. Most importantly, every participant in PREP left the program with an increased knowledge and appreciation of physics and science in general. This knowledge will serve to boost their confidence, allow them to excel in their high school physics program, and encourage them to further explore the world of science in the future.