Session G02: 2024 Excellence in Physics Education Award

Perimeter Institute - Educational Outreach at Scale

2024 Excellence in Physics Education Award

Join members of the Perimeter Institute Outreach team for a deep dive into how Perimeter has worked to deliver on its foundational outreach mandate - to share science with the world. Mike Lazaridis’s vision and commitment to Outreach, allowed Perimeter to develop a comprehensive and long term vision and strategy for outreach programming that created a platform for outreach at scale. This presentation will provide an opportunity for the audience to engage in a discussion with the Outreach and to dive more deeply into specific programming, including the teacher network, teacher resources and workshops, student programming, and the strategy that underpins them all.   

Perimeter Institute Student Workshops

Perimeter's Education and Outreach team has delivered innovative, world-class student workshops across Canada for the last two decades. These student workshops go beyond typical science presentations and allow students to discover the open questions in physics from quantum mechanics to cosmology using a hands-on, collaborative approach. A key goal is to reach students who might not otherwise see themselves as future scientists. In this presentation we will explore how Perimeter has overcome the common barrier of mathematics to expose high school students to modern physics in an authentic and engaging way. The presentation will also examine how Perimeter has reached remote and underserved communities across Canada.   

Perimeter Institute Teacher Workshops

Engaging teachers is an effective way to do outreach. Every teacher you reach will teach almost 200 students each year. For the last two decades, Perimeter Institute has run countless workshops for high school physics and general science teachers. We have reached thousands of educators throughout Canada, the US, and the rest of the world. Our workshops are based on three principles: giving teachers classroom-ready content, modelling effective teaching strategies, and having teachers experience our activities firsthand. This presentation will discuss Perimeter's teacher workshops and share some concrete examples from them.   

Perimeter Institute Classroom Resources

Developing effective classroom resources takes time and teamwork. At Perimeter we have produced a suite of over 25 resources that have been used by millions of students around the world. Each resource contains five or six lessons and is usually accompanied by a video. Our resources were produced in response to teachers who attended our workshops and realised that they were not equipped to pass on the experience. It is not enough to inspire teachers with the mysteries of modern physics, we must equip them to pass it on. This presentation will touch on the key aspects of our development process and share some insights gathered over 20 years of working with students and teachers.   

Perimeter Institute Outreach: Teacher Nework and Programming

Perimeter Institute’s Educational Outreach is among one of the most effective programs in the world. What sets it apart? One element is Perimeter’s powerful Teacher Network of physics and science educators. Perimeter’s Teacher Network members are dedicated to sharing modern physics and teaching strategies with peers by helping with the creation of resources and delivering workshops. This presentation will discuss how we’ve designed our Network and how the train-the-trainer model works.   

Perimeter Institute - Educational Outreach at Scale (Panel)

2024 Excellence in Physics Education Award

Join members of the Perimeter Institute Outreach team for a deep dive into how Perimeter has worked to deliver on its foundational outreach mandate - to share science with the world. Mike Lazaridis’s vision and commitment to Outreach, allowed Perimeter to develop a comprehensive and long term vision and strategy for outreach programming that created a platform for outreach at scale. This presentation will provide an opportunity for the audience to engage in a discussion with the Outreach and to dive more deeply into specific programming, including the teacher network, teacher resources and workshops, student programming, and the strategy that underpins them all.