Hands-on physics at the fair By Steven Powell,
email@example.com, 803-777-1923 Enthusiastic middle and high
school students from around the state crowded around physics
demonstrations at Tuesday’s R. L. Childers Midway Physics Day at
the South Carolina State Fair. A bubbling flask of liquid
nitrogen froze flexible cloth into solid. A solid rod of metal
was made to “sing” through hand-induced vibrations. “The kids
just love it,” said Debra Evans, a teacher at Columbia middle
school W.A. Perry School of Aerospace. Her 28 students were
“really excited about all the activities.” “But it’s not just
about fun, it’s about learning,” said University of South
Carolina physics professor Jeff Wilson, who has organized the
event since 2008. “The better you can engage the students in an
activity, the more likely they are to retain what you’re trying
to teach them,” More than 40,000 students have taken part in
USC’s annual Midway Physics Day since it was first held in 1997.
“We have teachers come up and tell us, ‘Our kids