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In Fall 2013, the Physics Graduate Student Association (PGSA) at MSU began a High School Outreach program, designed with the goal of visiting local high schools (public and private) several times throughout the academic school year. In these outreach visits, several graduate and undergraduate members would go to the high school and interact with students, using interactive demonstration presentations, a brief preparation lecture regarding the day's lesson topic, and then full student participation in selected laboratory activities.

Our Outreach mission is to make contact with high school students and introduce them to interactive, hands-on physics experiments and demonstrations, so as to inspire curiosity in the world around them and encourage them to pursue interests in the sciences.

Depending on the needs of the school, we tend to visit with 4-6 PGSA representatives (graduate students), with plans to stay for several class periods. Our intentions in these outreach events is to make contact with as many students as possible, so we try to invite students from other science and math classes to join our activities. We try to orchestrate our visits and the lab activities to follow the standard curriculum progression.

For example:

  • 2-dimensional motion and vectors
  • Thermodynamics
  • Electricity and Magnetism Light,
  • waves, and optics


Here are the lab activities that we have organized for the high school students:

  • Projectile Motion
  • Specific Heat
  • Electric Fields
  • Wave motion 


In the year 2013-14, we have visited Heritage Academy in each of their four quarterly periods. We have established plans with Starkville High School for the year 2014-15 , and are hoping to also begin developing a relationship with Columbus High School as well.

If your school is interested in connecting with MSU PGSA for an Outreach event, please contact to our Outreach Coordinator, Claire Geneser, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.