Engaging Students in Physics: Innovative Outreach at UBC
I feel very fortunate to be able to present our science outreach work to the colleagues at the Department of Physics at Aarhus University this summer. These exchanges of ideas allow us to learn from each other and to improve how we reach out to the general public. Since STEM outreach is a big part of my work, I am very glad to do that.
It is even more exciting to present to the colleagues from the country of Niels Bohr, Hans Christian Oersted and Hans Christian Anderson. You might wonder, what does Andersen has to do with physics outreach? I think Andersen’s story “Emperor’s New Clothes” is very relevant to STEM outreach. The children (unlike many of us) haven’t lost the ability to ask good questions, to be honest with what they understand and do not understand, and most importantly, they have the sense of unquenched curiosity that many of us loose when becoming adults. I personally really like Anderson’s story as it remind me why STEM outreach matters so much!
