By Molly Manning

“Do you want to make lightning?” Dristin Jackson asked his audience of seventh-graders.

The Virginia Commonwealth University physics major was in the auxiliary gym of Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Richmond. He and fellow senior Barrie Hill were showcasing a Van de Graaff generator, which accumulates a charge in a hollow metal globe – and one of their young spectators was part of the action.

With her hand on the sphere, her hair begin to float up, reflecting how like and opposite charges can deliver a shock or make your stand up. Her classmates shrieked, oohed and aahed – and reached out their hands, eager to try it for themselves.

“Last time, lots of kids said it got them interested, and that’s really the biggest goal: to get them interested in STEM and science,” Hill said.

The recent demonstration was part of ongoing outreach by VCU’s Department of Physics. Directed by associate professor Patrick Woodworth, Ph.D., the program seeks to introduce and promote physics to local middle and high school students. 

Woodworth was inspired by his own experience working in high schools as well as ongoing conversations with peers who teach physics at the middle or high school level. They often spoke of the benefits of GRAPE, a now-defunct collection of Richmond-area physics educators who shared insights and promoted outreach.

“For years I’ve been trying to get some version of [GRAPE] back,” Woodworth said. “The goal is to expose students to physics, help out the teachers and let the students use equipment that they might not have the chance to otherwise. A lot of students don’t even get to see physics in action before they come to college, which to me is very sad.”

Jackson, Hill and other students have worked with Woodworth on other outreach projects, such as volunteering at the Henrico Police Athletic League. The latest visits started with only physics students volunteering, especially those in the Society of Physics Students, but now include students pursuing other disciplines.

“The last two years or so, we’ve had this group of students that have just been fantastic and wanted to get involved, and because of that I’ve been able to expand,” Woodworth said.

The group visits MLK three to four times throughout the year, and on the recent visit, another group of middle-schoolers watched as a classmate spun around on a stool while holding onto a bike wheel. The exhibition was part of a “rotation station” in which Aria Cantú Gilroy, a VCU chemistry junior, and Jordan Johnson, a senior studying psychology, revealed how torque and force affect movement.

“It’s like a helicopter,” one seventh-grader said.

That type of observation inspires Janelle Dunmore, the physical science teacher at MLK. She said she wants her students to understand that there’s a world outside of what they see – and that they, too, can become scientists.

“The biggest impact I hope I leave on them is that there’s more out there, and they can reach it,” Dunmore said. “There’s a world outside of what they can grasp and imagine, and when they see students who look like them, I want them to know that they can be them.”

She added that after an earlier visit from the VCU physics outreach team, her students had been talking about their experiences – and those who missed it were looking forward to return visits.

On the recent one, Anna Leigh Betz, a VCU biology senior, showed her young audience how to use electromagnets made of wires and nails to pick up paperclips, a demonstration of magnetic and electrical fields. The students also used those electromagnets and plastic cups to make speakers, learning about sound waves in the process.

Betz said she wanted to show students that science classes can be fun. 

“I think a lot of students that age struggle with connecting why they have to learn what they do, and I believe building those connections is important,” she said. “My hope with the outreach program is that the students can apply what they’re learning in a way that excites them and drives them to want to learn more.”

Assistant physics professor Daeha Joung, Ph.D., associate director of VCU’s nanoscience and nanotechnology Ph.D. program and one of the outreach facilitators, said the program is a strong combination of community service and promoting education in science.

“They say physics is so difficult,” Joung said. “We’re trying to convince them that it can be fun – and not always complicated.”