Feature

Sharing The Fun Of Optics—Working With Groups Of Youngsters

Janet Shields

This article stems from a very gratifying experience presenting an optics workshop to my Girl Scout troop— around 25 active, boisterous sixth graders. I wasn't sure what they would think of having to do optics at the end of a long day when they were ready for fun. As it turns out, they loved it. One of the girls went home and excitedly told her mom about it, saying that she'd never realized before that science could be fun. The girls seemed fascinated and came up with lots of good questions and experiments of their own. Even my scout who is learning- and emotionally-disabled, and generally doesn't participate or speak much, participated in everything and came back to me later asking where she could buy a laser.