On Saturday, March 5, 2016 once again we organized a very successful 38th UBC Physics Olympics . We had almost 600 students from 59 schools all across BC, 59 physics teachers and many parents and volunteers. It was the biggest and the most successful Physics Olympics event ever. As far as we know it is the biggest one in North America. The event is a hands-on team physics competition as you will be able to see from the photos.
More details and the link to photos can be found here.
We also were able to invite media – our event was featured on CBC (see minute 4:30 http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2684866707 ) and in Ming Pao newspaper in Mandarin: http://www.mingpaocanada.com/van/htm/News/20160306/vasb_r.htm )
We would like to thank EDCP student volunteers: Kwesi Yaro, Latika Raisinghani (and her two daughters), Solmaz Khodaeifaal (and her daughter) and Angela Rutakomozibwa (and her daughter) who volunteered for the event. I also would like to thank Scott Cartmill who had been helping me with the registration and finances. In addition, a number of physics teacher-candidates took part in the event. Dr. Marina Milner-Bolotin also conducted a professional development event for physics teachers and 22 of them participated in it.
I am very proud of our participation in the event and we are grateful for the support by the David F. Robitaille Science Outreach Fund we have received. I hope that these events will help us attract more students into sciences and more teachers into our undergraduate and graduate programs. This collaboration builds strong connections and positive relationships between the Faculties of Education and Science.
1) A comprehensive report is on www.bcapt.ca
2) Link to CBC news report: http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2684866707 (see min 4:30).