<title>Photonic games: hands-on challenges to spark teenagers' interest in light</title>

Abstract

It often takes one single event to interest teenagers in a topic that will become a passion or a career. It is in this spirit that the SPIE and OSA Student Chapters at Université Laval created the Photonic Games three years ago, to kindle an interest in teenagers towards studies and careers in optics. The activity, offered each year to more than a hundred grade 11 students, is divided in two parts. First, we offer a hands-on workshop in their classrooms about reflection, refraction, dispersion, birefringence and polarization. A few days later, all the students come to the Centre d'optique, photonique et laser (COPL) at Université Laval for a day of competition where a volunteer physics student accompanies each team of four students. Challenges are various to promote the qualities that make great scientists: creativity, teamwork, knowledge, inquisitiveness, self-confidence and perseverance. The first two editions of the Photonic Games have proven to be beneficial for the students, teachers and volunteers, and we endeavor to improve it as we construct on our experience with the past editions to fine-tune and improve the Photonic Games concept.

Ten years of photonic games: lessons earnt

“…Following the establishment of a joint OSA-SPIE student chapter at Université Laval in 2005, the sources of funding and the opportunities available through the student chapter structure were conducive to the development of new activities, more specifically in the field of education and outreach. First held in 2008, the Photonic Games [1] are a yearly event taking place on campus where teams of high school students compete in seven challenges designed to appeal to various talents and interests (see Table 1 for a complete list of the challenges). A hands-on workshop in the classroom precedes the main event.…”

Careers in optics project: building around existing resources

“…We chose four topics that we thought were important and interesting: polarization, fiber optics, fluorescence and colors of light. During the last edition of the Photonic Games in October 2011, an optics competition for grade 11 students, a photography contest was organized around the four topics [5]. Pictures were selected to be featured on the poster about fiber optics and colors of light.…”

Outreach facilities within a research center

“…When we go to the classrooms, students often ask about our day-to-day work and our work environment. It is easier to answer this question when they can actually see our environment, like during the Photonic Games, when more than 120 students come to our university to participate in optics challenges and take a laboratory tour [1]. During this tour, they are generally surprised about what they see, not having imagined it that way.…”