Physics for All – A project to carry physics into refugee sites
Physics for All is a project of the German Physical Society (DPG) and the Georg-August-University Göttingen (DE), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The project is based on the idea that the phenomena of nature are universal. Playing with nature, doing physical experiments, are deep human needs, which do not require any language skills and are independent of any national, religious, age or gender boundaries. By performing simple experiments, we can bring physics to children and young people in refugee sites nationwide in a playful way. With the help of many volunteers, the project has been put into practice at more than 40 sites and schools around Germany. All experimental equipment is collected and stored centrally and sent to our voluntary helpers on site.
The physics experiments during the first phase of the project in December 2015 were based on the Physics in Advent project. Each day, a simple physics experiment is available as a video on YouTube. With the help of volunteers at the refugee sites, the children repeat the experiment on their own and figure out what happens. The Physics for All project reached more than 7000 refugee children around Germany within 24 days. Based on this success, the DPG decided to continue the project and to place it on more solid ground. Funding has been secured to keep the project running for at least another year. The volunteers visit the sites weekly for 1 or 2 hours to work with the refugee children. The concept has been extended to include additional content. There are now 2 series of experiments that explain a given topic in sets of 10-15 experiments, one set dealing with electricity and the second dealing with optics. The project team has organised a workshop for our volunteers to prepare them to work with the children. Local schools are also being brought into the project as well. Students and teachers of regular classes can either work with the refugee class of their school or engage at a nearby site. The option of a school-tandem supports the “kids-for-kids” principle.
More information can be found at: https://www.dpg-physik.de/pff
