A project-based course about outreach in a physics curriculum

TL;DR

This paper presents a project-based undergraduate physics course focused on outreach, combining practical project creation with pedagogy lessons, culminating in a public presentation, and evaluates its educational benefits and challenges.

Contribution

It introduces a novel outreach-focused course structure that integrates hands-on project work with pedagogical training for physics students.

Findings

Students gained practical outreach skills.

The course enhanced understanding of physics pedagogy.

Students' projects effectively communicated physics concepts.

Abstract

We describe an undergraduate course where physics students are asked to conceive an outreach project of their own. The course alternates between the project conception and teachings about pedagogy and outreach, and ends in a public show. We describe its practical implementation and benefits. Through a student survey and an analysis of their projects, we discuss the merits and flaws of this "learning-by-doing" teaching approach for physics.