Establishing a Physics mentoring Program for a Philadelphia Middle School*

Our SPS chapter has established a regular physics mentoring program at Independence Charter Middle School located in Philadelphia, PA. Members visit the school on a bi-weekly basis and perform 1-2 hour, inquiry-based~lecture demonstrations of physics phenomena that integrate with the science lessons of middle school students. At the end of the school year, a capstone activity in the form of a Rube Goldberg competition among the middle school students was held on the Drexel campus with Drexel faculty and graduate students participating as judges.