news | 2010-11-28

Lots of fun at light workshops for schools

Students enjoy the "Light works" workshops

The Photonics Explorer Team has been involved in various local and European events over the last 6 months. More than 150 secondary school students enjoyed working with light at different workshops and 'lab-skills competitions'. Although these activities aim primarily at having fun with light, they are at the same time a valuable testbed for components and educational concepts of the Photonics Explorer kit.

School classes visiting the ICT conference 2010 could take part in the 'lab-skills competition'. The winning students achieved impressively good results. A more detailed report can be found here.

"Science is fun" was the message to about 200 girls at the Greenlight4Girls day in Brussels (14.11.2010). Many of these girls saw our interactive exhibit on the exciting nature of light. Those who subscribed to the workshop 'Say it with light' could become 'Optical Communication Officers'. The workshop participants developed their own communication protocol with light signals and used it together with an optical fibre to send messages from one room to another.

During the Science Week in Flanders (November 2010), the Photonics Explorer team offered 3 workshops on photonics. The students were challenged with interesting tasks that gave them the opportunity to work with the equipment of real photonics laboratories.

The developer team has also been invited to participate at the Science on Stage festival in Copenhagen next year.

Students participating the in workshops and competitions thoroughly enjoyed themselves and feedback from their teachers was extremely positive. Several teachers and parents have inquired about visits at the university labs and organising more workshops for schools.

Fast Answers

What is it all about?

The Photonics Explorer program will equip Europe’s secondary schools with up-to-date educational material on topics related to light and its technical use. The Photonics Explorer provides teachers with a class-set of components for hands-on experiments together with an inquiry-based didactic framework. It will be distributed free-of-charge and support teachers to engage, excite and educate students about the fascination of working with light.

What is photonics?

Photonics is the art of making light work for you. Just as electronics has changed the world by turning electrons into our every-day workhorses, photonics has changed our way of living by harnessing photons, small energy-units of light. We use them to carry information around the globe (e.g. for the internet), to generate electric energy, to detect diseases and heal, to cut and weld metal, to measure without touching or simply to read when it's dark outside. From the generation and shaping of light, to the transportation to its destination and its exactly controlled impact, photonics encompasses all aspects of handling electromagnetic radiation.

Why is it needed?

As more as teenagers like to possess and use the latest technological gadgets, as less they seem to be interested in what actually happens behind the user interface. At the same time, our society and everyone individually becomes increasingly dependent on science and technological progress. This raises the questions: Who is going to work on the scientific answers to the challenges we face as a society? How can we motivate young people to engage in the informed discussion about steering the efforts of scientists and the responsible use of technology?

The best place to raise young people’s interest in sciences is at school. Teachers play a key role in encouraging the next generation of scientists and engineers. The Photonics Explorer program therefore aims to support teachers in their efforts to make science an exciting and fun subject, while giving students a clear understanding of physical concepts and showing their relevance to the student’s every-day life.

For whom?

The work in this program is done for school kids. To make them experience the fascination of working with light first-hand, the Photonics Explorer will equip teachers for more engaging and exciting science lessons.

Who are we?

The Photonics Explorer program is teaming up teachers, scientists in pedagogy and experts in photonics to design an intra-curricula educational kit for secondary schools. More than 30 educators from 10 countries volunteer their time and expertise to ensure a high educational value and an easy integration of the material into the regular teaching.

This educational program is actively supported by sponsoring companies from several European countries.

The program is coordinated at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) and scientifically evaluated by the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education in Kiel (Germany).

How can I get involved?

The Photonics Explorer program builds on the enthusiasm of many volunteers that donate their time and expertise to improve science education in Europe. There are several ways you too can get involved, and each support is appreciated: