Friday, April 2, 2010
The Wildcat Science Workshop
The Physics Factory is proud to be partnering with The Wildcat School to offer students opportunities to explore science with the Wildcat Science Workshop.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
More Summer Camp Details
We have more information about our exciting 2010 Summer Camp in Tucson, AZ:
The Physics Factory Summer Camps are for kids who want to play with science and safely learn about the “dangerous” aspects that are not taught in schools.
Kip Perkins, also a co-founder and exhibit builder, will teach separate weekly morning and afternoon classes, 9:00–12:00 and 1:00–4:00.
Morning Class Session 1 starts May 31st and will focus on electricity, lights, motors, sounds, and some dramatic demonstrations. Students will each take a project home.
Morning Class Session 2 starts June 7th and will explore electronics. Students will build small amplifiers and connect them to lasers and photocells to transmit music across the room.
In Morning Class Session 3, we'll be will be working with magnets, coils, TV sets, etc. We'll take equipment apart to create our own inventions.
The Morning Class Session 4 is art at its worst. It's very fun and gratifying, however, and students always surprise me with their creations. We start by taking office equipment apart, and then use motors, fans, solenoids, etc. to make kinetic sculpture.
In Morning Class Session 5, we build robot kits. Some are demanding and require soldering, others achieve the same result without soldering. Enrolling students can tell me which they'd like to make.
All afternoon classes will consist of taking machinery apart and reconstituting the innards into something they were never intended to be. We'll take big and small machines apart, from copiers to internal combustion engines. This is a favorite way to understand how things work.
The Physics Factory Summer Camps are for kids who want to play with science and safely learn about the “dangerous” aspects that are not taught in schools.
Kip Perkins, also a co-founder and exhibit builder, will teach separate weekly morning and afternoon classes, 9:00–12:00 and 1:00–4:00.
Morning Class Session 1 starts May 31st and will focus on electricity, lights, motors, sounds, and some dramatic demonstrations. Students will each take a project home.
Morning Class Session 2 starts June 7th and will explore electronics. Students will build small amplifiers and connect them to lasers and photocells to transmit music across the room.
In Morning Class Session 3, we'll be will be working with magnets, coils, TV sets, etc. We'll take equipment apart to create our own inventions.
The Morning Class Session 4 is art at its worst. It's very fun and gratifying, however, and students always surprise me with their creations. We start by taking office equipment apart, and then use motors, fans, solenoids, etc. to make kinetic sculpture.
In Morning Class Session 5, we build robot kits. Some are demanding and require soldering, others achieve the same result without soldering. Enrolling students can tell me which they'd like to make.
All afternoon classes will consist of taking machinery apart and reconstituting the innards into something they were never intended to be. We'll take big and small machines apart, from copiers to internal combustion engines. This is a favorite way to understand how things work.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Tucson Summer Camp 2010
Wondering what you'll be doing this summer? Ready to build your own science demonstration? We're happy to announce The Physics Factory Invention, Demonstration, and Discovery Camp: Take Apart, Build and Play! We're taking reservations now, so please reserve your spot today! Click here for more information.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Everything is in place, all that's needed is a SPACE!
Tucson is spilling over with science geeks and science stuff; but for now, what happens in our laboratories, workshops, backyards, garages, and kitchens stays in laboratories, workshops, backyards, garages, and kitchens. This leaves the public and, most of all our kids, in the dark. All that's needed is a community space, a science playground, where things are allowed to happen. What exactly is happening in the vacant buildings around town, anyway?
Thursday, December 10, 2009
In the News: Creating a Science Center
Our own Kip Perkins and our colleagues at Creative Machines are featured in this Tucson Weekly article discussing our drive to bring a new kind of science center to Tucson.
We look to build on the successes of the Physics Factory and Creative Machines, and find inspiration in the achievements of like-minded projects in other cities.
This is a bold, exciting and challenging undertaking, and one that can only succeed by harnessing the energy, ideas, support and generosity that we find in this great community and everywhere we've traveled as an organization.
We look to build on the successes of the Physics Factory and Creative Machines, and find inspiration in the achievements of like-minded projects in other cities.
This is a bold, exciting and challenging undertaking, and one that can only succeed by harnessing the energy, ideas, support and generosity that we find in this great community and everywhere we've traveled as an organization.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Friday 23 October On Campus for Daughters' Day
We have been presenting an annual science event for Daughters On Campus Day long enough that I've forgotten when we started. Came about through dogs, specifically me taking my dogs to the same park that Holly Altman takes hers to, and Holly thinking The Physics Factory sounded like something teenage girls would like. And she was right, every year the Daughters have given us rave reviews.
This year we got something extra: a new volunteer! Shelby Graham from Sunnyside High expressed interest in working with us, so I pointed her to our web site and told her to try to make Saturday's event at Mini Time Machine. We encourage would-be volunteers to get the full experience as soon as possible, since it's not always the easiest organization to be part of.
This year we got something extra: a new volunteer! Shelby Graham from Sunnyside High expressed interest in working with us, so I pointed her to our web site and told her to try to make Saturday's event at Mini Time Machine. We encourage would-be volunteers to get the full experience as soon as possible, since it's not always the easiest organization to be part of.
Saturday 24 October Big Stuff at Mini Time Machine
Our second day at this cool little museum. Zack and I arrived on the early side and were greeted by Andrea and Julian who were volunteering for the afternoon. What with the extra time and the extra help (Dolly also arriving), setup went very smoothly.
Our new volunteer Shelby also showed up despite earlier fears of not getting a ride. She jumped in helping kids with hands-on stuff like jumping rings and Kip's laser-spirograph, did very well for her first day. Zack is no longer the new kid on the block, and has become very adept with the flame tube.
Another great thing about having lots of good people: I got time to go look around at the museum for a while! Getting big ideas about creating 3-way collaboration with nanoscientist Brian Leroy at UA. (Brian is normal size, he just studies small things.)
Our new volunteer Shelby also showed up despite earlier fears of not getting a ride. She jumped in helping kids with hands-on stuff like jumping rings and Kip's laser-spirograph, did very well for her first day. Zack is no longer the new kid on the block, and has become very adept with the flame tube.
Another great thing about having lots of good people: I got time to go look around at the museum for a while! Getting big ideas about creating 3-way collaboration with nanoscientist Brian Leroy at UA. (Brian is normal size, he just studies small things.)
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