A Family Science Night (FSN) or Family Math & Science Night (FMSN) at a local elementary school provides an excellent opportunity for physicists, physics educators, and classroom science teachers of all grade levels to promote interest in physics, and for future science teachers to receive practical experience in conducting laboratory activities and demonstrations.  Major purposes for having a Family Science Night (FSN) or Family Math & Science Night (FMSN) at a neighborhood elementary and/or middle school include opportunities to:

• promote interest in mathematics and/or science,
• encourage parents and other relatives to become more involved in the education of our nation's children (who will just happen to be the scientists, engineers, and policy makers during our generation's “golden years”), and
• “showcase” mathematics and science activities that are taking place in schools. 

Unfortunately, many elementary and/or middle school teachers have little or no background in either physics or the physical sciences, so that when science is taught, its focus is usually limited to life and earth science topics.  It is therefore unlikely that a locally produced FMSN will incorporate activities that would serve as examples of physics content that could generate interest in these young students to pursue physics-related study and careers.

Although the format of a FMSN can vary, most generally allow for large group demonstrations and/or small group activities in which participants can conduct some type of experiment and/or construct and take home some type of demonstration device.  This program format provides an excellent opportunity for the involvement of secondary and undergraduate physics students and experience for preservice elementary teachers who will one day be teaching students at the elementary grade level.  Although numerous physics laboratory devices offer an ideal “ WOW! factor” and would be suitable for large and small group demonstrations, the outcome desired when conducting a FMSN is for the active participation of children and their parents and/or guardians in some type of “make it and take it” activity, or some activity that can be replicated at home, without the necessity of expensive and specialized laboratory equipment.  Thirteen of these type activities, which I believe provide the most “bang for the buck,” are listed and described in the following table.  They are ranked according to what I personally consider the most essential activities to be included in any FSN because of their high impact and the low costs involved.  Many are identical to activities performed yearly by students in introductory physics courses and are similar to activities that may be found in numerous print and World Wide Web resources.

The "Download Handout" links contain documents that could serve as informative handouts for the participants in any of these sessions.  The "Download Instructions" links contain tips for conducting each of these sessions.  Each of these activities are suitable for sessions lasting 15-30 minutes, which is a typical time frame for most FMSN sessions, but may be modified to fit most any time schedule.

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For questions or comments regarding these activities, to suggest other physics activities, or to request a professional development session on conducting Family Science Nights, please contact: