On a sunny Saturday, March 9, more than 400 students and teachers from all over BC came to UBC in order to participate in the 35th Physics Olympics: http://physoly.phas.ubc.ca/ This year, the event drew a record of 56 teams from all corners of BC (from Terrace to Penticton to Vancouver Island and to Lower Mainland). This day-long competition is historically a collaborative effort between the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy and the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The goal of the Physics Olympics is to bring the excitement of physics to the students and to give all students an opportunity to engage in hands-on and minds-on physics experiences. The event is also becoming more popular among girls who chose to take physics in high school.
Profs Milner-Bolotin and Nashon represented our Department this year. More than 60 volunteers participated in the event. Two of them are graduate students from our Department: Latika Rasinghani and Kwesi Yaro.
Here is the feedback on the event from a physics teacher from Penticton Secondary School – Mr. Bruce Gowe and his students:
On behalf of myself and our whole team I just wanted to thank you and all of your volunteers for an awesome Physics Olympics. It was clear that you had invested a massive amount of time over that last several months and it really paid off with a well-run event. Our team is still talking to all of their friends about how much fun they had visiting UBC and taking part in the day. I have a whole bunch of Physics 11 students already asking about next year!
Thanks so much again for all of your time and efforts!
A detailed report on the event is published on: www.bcapt.ca