Science around me: physics for all
On 2012 in Messina, a city located in the north-east of Sicily, a little group of Physics Master and PhD students joined the Young Mind Project starting a chapter with the aim of fostering scientific discussions and the spread of knowledge. Today our group relies on a good number of active members and our activities are well attended by the local community. We think our passion for sharing science and the friendly environment were the keys to the success of our activities.
Starting from October 2015, a series of youth education activities and Open Days was organised for students of any age and background. Our slogan is “You learn in childhood to become a scientist!” and with this in mind, we involved several schools in performing fascinating interactive physics experiments with which students can learn about science having fun.
We also planned different outdoor activities. Indeed, during summer time, our group organised different events named “Appointment with the stars”, in which the participants could watch the sky with our telescope in the starry nights above the beautiful scenery of the Strait of Messina, enjoying the amazing aspects of Astrophysics. Furthermore, on November 2016, our “Physics Adventure Lab” involved several children in physical and physics challenges in an adventure park inside the Peloritani mountain range: the young visitors could climb trees and follow the paths learning the physics laws around their movements.
For interested students, we also organised guided tours of the research laboratories of our university as well as very frequent seminars, in collaboration with the IPCF-CNR Institute of Messina and the “Appunti di Fisica” group, on the most recent progress in basic Physics research and applications, ranging from nanostructures and plasma physics to nuclear and theoretical physics.
Finally, we want to remark on our collaboration with the YM sections of Catania, Rome and Naples, which ended up in October 2015 with a special edition of “Accastampato”, a journal of scientific propagation addressing young students.
For the coming months, our team is organising a guided excursion on the Volcano ETNA in order to have a closer look at Geophysical phenomena, and we are also contributing to the organisation of the conference on plasma physics by laser application (PPLA), which will be held in Messina in July 2017.
For more information, visit or contact us on https://www.facebook.com/EPS-Young-Minds-OSA-Messina-Student-Chapters-192048340834319/
