Physics Development Summer Schools at the Cavendish Laboratory July 2009

This week the Cavendish Lab has run two Physics Development Summer Schools for students at the end of their AS level year at school, the Senior Physics Challenge (SPC) and the Ogden Physics Symposium.

At the SPC the top 60 students in the UK and 4 top local students study mechanics, special relativity and 3 Lab classes over 4 days at the Cavendish Lab, along with other activities such as estimation, rocket theory and experiment. The level and material is close to the Cambridge first year so is very demanding for the students (who sit a maths test as part of the selection process).  The attraction of the course seems to increase with its difficulty!  Seven Colleges participate with accommodation and hosting related events.  The Ogden Trust support the SPC and the Physics Symposium financially. Several school teachers teach here in collaboration with University staff.  See for information:
http://www-spc.phy.cam.ac.uk/

At the same time the teaching staff have prepared the UK Physics Olympiad team who go shortly to the 2009 Olympiad in Mexico.

The course directors are Drs Anson Cheung and Lisa Jardine-Wright.

 

Rocket launching at the SPC	Estimation classes on the lawn of Old Court, Corpus Christi College

 

Text: Prof Mark Warner, TCM Group, 1st July 2009