Physics Hosts Local High School Poster Session

Student presenters from Northampton High School are visiting Smith today to demonstrate what they have discovered about granular material, as part of an outreach project aimed at developing the skills of scientific inquiry.

The campus community is invited to “Scientific Inquiry Based Learning: Granular Material Presentations,” a poster session presented by local high school students, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in McConnell Hall foyer.

The poster session is part of a special studies project guided by Jennifer Podel ’14, who worked with some 40 students, helping them design, build, test, and analyze their own experiments. After a class full of videos, mind-blowing demos and hands-on experiments with granular materials, students began to ask their own questions about the subject. Their questions led to experimental designs, tests and trials.

With weeks of work these physics students transformed their questions into data- supported answers, and are ready to show and discuss what they have accomplished.

All are invited to view the posters, challenge the students with questions about their experiments, and enjoy snacks. Drop in any time, for a few minutes or longer.