Lighting up the Science Center

14-year-old Anna Montoya leaned over her circuit board, soldering iron in hand as she carefully fused a maze of wires to the green board.

On August 6 junior high and high school–aged girls came together with teachers, parents, and a BYU graduate student to create light using a circuit board.

“It’s a hands-on job, instead of just a presentation where there’s pictures,” Montoya said. “I like how you can learn how to do things that people in college get to do.”

Circuit boards soon came to life as little bulbs lit up the room, the energy directed by the hands of the girls.

“When they teach, they teach in a fun way,” Montoya said. “Usually in my school, when they teach science, I kind of don’t get it. . . . Here, it’s easier for me to learn because they write it on the board and show us demonstrations.”

This activity was part of BYU Girls And Light (GAL), an annual three-day event held in the Eyring Science Center.

Physics professor Dallin Durfee is in charge of organizing the event with the assistance of physics professor John Colton. BYU-GAL focuses on girls learning more about lights, optics, and other aspects of physics.

This was the event’s third year at BYU. Each year, Durfee strives to make BYU-GAL a rewarding experience for those who attend.

“I want them to be excited about science,” Durfee said. “I want them to develop this excitement so that they want to go and learn things about the world around them, to take physics and chemistry and math classes at school, and to learn more on their own. I want to build their excitement.”

To accomplish these goals, Durfee arranged for the girls who attend to take part in many hands-on and exciting activities, including programming in Python, making 3D graphics, working with electronics, watching laser shows, having lunch with current female scientists, and even creating their own holograms.

“We’re going to do some things that aren’t necessarily hard-core physics, but related, to get them excited and make the connections between light and interesting things we’re going to see,” Durfee said.

To insure that each girl gets her own personal experience, Durfee restricts this event to a small, intimate group of around a dozen girls.

“I want to take a small group and have a big impact instead of a big group and a small impact,” Durfee said.

The girls were shown how to code and write messages in the programming language Python on August 5. While the girls worked on their own computers, Durfee scanned the room and helped answer various questions and concerns they had.

Coding was one of Montoya’s favorite things.

“I got to learn how to write messages,” Montoya said. “When I went home, I thought, ‘Man, I wish I could do programming again.’ It was really fun for me to learn.”

More Information on This Article

Article Source/Further Information

News and Events

Image for Dr. Stephens’ Sabbatical to University of Arizona
Dr. Stephens participated in a research project at the University of Arizona focused on studying brown dwarfs using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Image for Adam Fennimore's Insights for Students
Alumni Adam Fennimore shares career insights for current students
Image for Society of Physics Students Awarded Outreach Grant
BYU's SPS is selected for Marsh Award for their outreach plan with Boys & Girls Club
Image for Rocket Noise and Bird Songs
Hart, Gee, and their research group study the impact of rocket noise on wildlife
Image for Dr. Ragozzine's Nice, France Obersvatoire Sabbatical
Darin Ragozzine collaborates with leading planetary scientists in France
Image for New Faculty Member, Dr. Greg Francis
Dr. Greg Francis joins faculty, specializing in Physics Education
Image for Steve Summers' Insights for Students
Alumni Steve Summers answers interview questions for current students
Image for Wesley Morgan Doubles AP Physics Enrollment
Y Magazine recognizes finalist for the 2023 National Science Foundation’s Presidential Award of Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching
Image for Dr. John Colton’s Sabbatical to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Dr. John Colton embarked on a six-month sabbatical at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado to explore the use of terahertz radiation in probing the chiral properties of hybrid perovskite materials, a research area previously unfamiliar to him.
Image for BYU Women Represent at CUWiP 2024
21 women student attend conference at Montana State University, where students engaged in keynote speeches, panels, and research presentations.
Image for Nathan Powers, Updated labs and AAPT lab committee work
Dr. Powers initiated the effort to update BYU’s physics undergraduate lab curriculum in 2015. The revamped curriculum, aimed at teaching students how to construct knowledge from experiments.