General Physics Colloquium, Dr. Herbert Dreiner, Universität Bonn. 

Refreshments:  3:30-3:50 pm

Title:  The Bonn Physics Show -- By Students for Kids, an Exciting Outreach and Education Project

Host:  Csaba Csaki

Abstract: The Bonn Physics show started in Dec. 2001. The special thing about our show is that it is developed and performed by Bonn university physics students. For me as a professor the primary target group are the university students. Since 2001 we have been performing a new physics show in Bonn, every year. The show is addressed at kids aged 10 and older. With the experienced physics students we have developed many spin-offs: e.g. YouTube films, Science Slams, building new demo experiments. Importantly, we have also developed more advanced shows in particular about elementary particle physics. The most recent show on particle physics involves more than 25 live experiments and is embedded in a historical story line. With various shows we have travelled across Germany (Berlin, DESY, Heidelberg, Deutsches Museum München) and more recently also across Europe: CERN, Oxford, London, Padua, Trieste, as well as Copenhagen and  Beijing, China. We show a few experiments here live, as well as films of experiments. We try to emphasize the essential features of a successful show and give some advice on how to set up your own show, involving the local physics students.