Raise Awareness Among your Established Connections

Think about the connections you have to 6-9^th grade students, for example:

• Relatives / neighbors / friends that work in the school district
• Your children's teachers
• Local Boy or Girl Scout troops
• Schools that you have worked with in the past
• Schools in your local area

Let your connections know about this free APS program by giving them a PhysicsQuest flyer (pdf) or sending them to the PhysicsQuest website.

PhysicsQuest Talking Points

When telling people about PhysicsQuest, here are a few key points to highlight:

• The PhysicsQuest kit is completely free . Many schools are on limited budgets and teachers are concerned about hidden costs. The kit includes all of the materials students need to complete the activities except for tape, markers, rulers, etc.
• PhysicsQuest is flexible . The 2005 kit was used successfully by students with learning disabilities, advanced 5 th grade students, students with behavior disorders, etc.
• Students can win real prizes by participating in the contest - past winners have received iPods, gift certificates, magazine subscriptions, and other classroom resources.
• PhysicsQuest is a program of the American Physical Society, a national organization that you belong to, that is dedicated to advancing and diffusing the knowledge of physics.
• Offer to help with the activities in person, if desired.

Suggested Ways to Help in the Classroom

If you'd like to be more deeply involved in science education in your community, you might talk to local teachers and offer to:

• Help classes with the PhysicsQuest experiments.
• Be available by email or phone to answer questions on the physics of the experiments.
• Give a talk on Ben Franklin.
• Talk to classes about what it's like to be a scientist.

Email your Local Middle School Science Teachers

Use the text below as the template for a quick email to the middle school teachers in your area, letting them know about this opportunity. Contact information for most science teachers is available on their school websites.

Suggested Email (copy & paste into your email or word processing program)

Dear [insert teacher's name],

My name is [your name] and I am a physicist working at [your employer (including this will help you establish a local connection with the teacher and ensure them that this email is not spam)]. I wanted to let you know about a completely free educational program for 6-9 th grade physical science classes that an organization that I am a member of, the American Physical Society (www.aps.org), is running.

PhysicsQuest is a story-based activity that exposes middle school students to the fun and relevance of science. A free PhysicsQuest kit is sent to registered 6-9th grade physical science classes, home school groups, science clubs, and after-school programs. The kit includes a detailed user's manual and materials for four physics experiments.

Nearly 10,000 free kits were sent out during 2005, to classes across the country. Teacher feedback from the initial PhysicsQuest indicated that it successfully met a need for fun, flexible and accessible physics material at the middle school level, and so the American Physical Society has decided to continue this program.

PhysicsQuest 2006 revolves around Ben Franklin. The kit includes experiments inspired by Franklin 's work with lenses, electricity, and heat absorption. Each experiment gives students a clue they need to decode a (fictional) secret message written by Franklin in 1778. Classes can submit their results online for a chance to win prizes.

I think this is a great program that engages students in a meaningful science experience. If you'd like to participate in PhysicsQuest this year, you can register to receive the free kit at www.physicscentral.com/physicsquest, anytime before September 23, 2006. This site also has the PhysicsQuest 2005 manual available for downloading, if you'd like to get a better sense of the project.

[Insert offer to help with the activities, if desired]

Thank you for your time and for all you do to advance science education in this area. Good luck with the coming school year.

Sincerely,

[your name]

Classes can submit their results online to APS and, if they are correct, be entered into a prize drawing. You can help us reward more classes by finding additional individuals or organizations that would be willing to donate prizes. Fun and educational prizes are encouraged - such as hats or t-shirts from science institutions, science kits, science books, classroom posters, gift certificates, magazine subscriptions, etc.