PAC-PPPS SCIENCE WEEKEND

Science Weekend was a collaborative effort between the 2007 Particle Accelerator Conference (PAC’07) and PPPS-2007 conference. Sal Portillo was the liaison for the PPPS-2007 Conference and Hillary Smith and Tsuyoshi Yajima were the liaisons for PAC 07. The idea behind the weekend was to give middle school through high school students and their families an opportunity to observe some basic experiments that would capture their imagination and kindle their interest in science. Exhibits included holding a bowling ball with a vacuum, building an electric motor, a demonstration on a non linear dynamic driven system as well as experiments with liquid nitrogen, to name a few.
The Screen Writing Workshop organizers also reached out to the local New Mexico community, inviting Science and English high school teachers to the Workshop. About half of the Workshop attendees were from the New Mexico community.
Members from several institutions contributed to the science experiments and displays, which were set-up in the West Wing of the Albuquerque Convention Center. Volunteers included representatives from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, the Coalition on Plasma Science, and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Several undergraduate volunteer interns from various universities helped out as well. Ice cream and punch were served and every student and parent received a Science Weekend T-shirt. The students and their families enjoyed their experience, especially the adults and the grade school and pre school kids - who seemed to delight in the pleasure (and the noise!) of watching a balloon rocket towards the ceiling of the convention center. Perhaps the full import and meaning of Newton’s laws of motion was not totally assimilated by the budding experimenters but perhaps a seed was planted. It was indeed a very rewarding experience.
Sal Portillo is with Sandia National Laboratories.