K-12 Outreach at PSFC

The Mr. Magnet Program has been popular with local elementary schools since 1992, providing an in-school, hands-on introduction to the principles of magnetism and electricity.
Tours of PSFC Facilities
High School and Middle School Outreach Days

Students and teachers from schools in Massachusetts are invited to learn about current research at the Center through a first-hand look at ongoing experiments. 

  • Middle School Outreach Day - Late April
  • High School Outreach Day - Early December
For further information contact Paul Rivenberg, 617-253-8101
MIT's Council for Primary and Secondary Education can provide further information about other MIT educational outreach programs for students, parents, and educators at the pre-kindergarten through twelth-grade level.

National K-12 Outreach

The American Physical Society - Division of Plasma Physics
This group has launched a successful series of national outreach days in conjuction with their annual meeting, which is held in a different North American city each Fall.  Local teachers are invited to special talks and workshops, and students are brought to a "Plasma Sciences Expo," where they are encouraged to explore a roomful of hands-on physics experiments. 

Some participating laboratories and institutions:

The Coalition for Plasma Science
The Coalition does outreach to Congress, the general public and plasma-related institutions.  They have recently created a A Teacher's Guide to Plasma Science on the Web, which lists plasma education web sites and analyzes them against the National Science Standards.

Graduate students use this "plasma demo" at local and national outreach events to show how magnets can be used to confine plasmas.

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MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center . NW16-284 . 77 Massachusetts Avenue . Cambridge . MA . 02139