Name: Lights, camera� Universe!

Date: October 10, 2008

Venue: �Tudor Vianu� National High School of Computer Science Bucharest

Target group: All students from �Tudor Vianu� National High-School of Computer Science

Committee: Physics Department, Ioana Ferariu, Patricia Vilceanu, Anda Vladoiu

Coordinating Teacher: Ioana Stoica
Attendance: 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th grade students (about 100 students & 2 teachers)

Goals:

  • Learning about Physics and Astronomy in an interactive way
  • Learning how to express our opinion
  • Improving our organizational skills
  • Learning how to work together

    Description:

    The physics club of CNITV has organized a Movie Night. Students had a debate concerning the accuracy of certain elements existing in the popular culture � movies & books. They challenged the theories presented there using the laws of physics. Several students prepared sequences from movie of their choice which illustrated an idea they considered relevant. Additional pictures and PowerPoint presentations were used to ease understanding.

    Five different movies were put into discussions:

    • Cube 2: Hyperspace (presented by Matei Ionita, 10F), where we questioned the existence of the forth dimension;
    • Spider-Man (presented by Andreea Martinovici, 11F), which offered us an example of ignorance of Newton�s Laws;
    • D�j� vu (presented by Roxana Novac, 10G), a wonderful illustration of the relativity theory and the structure of an worm whole;
    • Independence Day (presented by Luca Iliesiu, 10D), which gave us the opportunity to discuss several hypothesis where humanity could go extinct, with or without extraterrestrial contact;
    • Speed (presented by Ioana Ferariu, Patricia Vilceanu, Anda Vladoiu, 10D), which showed an unrealistic application of projectile motion.
    In the end we gave some examples of the most common errors found in movies, for example: flashing bullets, flaming cars, visible laser beams, outer space explosions etc. All participating students were rewarded with books, diplomas and DVDs with very interesting documentaries.

    Media Impressions:

    We put a lot of posters in school, inviting all students to participate at our project, to bring their own ideas and share experience with us. Our teachers also had an important role because they promoted our action in their classes.

    Our impressions:

    We took a survey after the presentation, asking whether they liked it or not. Here are some of the answers:

    • �Analyzing (reviewing and debating) different sequences from movies we all had seen before definitely gave us a better understanding of the captured phenomena. It was both interesting and fun, as we discovered details we had missed and really questioned ourselves about the probability of all the things happening in real life.� (Anda Vladoiu, 10D)               
    • �I really enjoyed participating at this project. I think the way we combined physics and movies turned out to be a success and I believe others share my opinion as well. I�m looking forward for similar activities.� (Ioana Ferariu, 10D)               
    • �It was really nice to be involved in this event. I have enjoyed movies since I was little and always questioned myself about aspects that seemed wrong so I was really excited about the idea of the project.� (Patricia Vilceanu, 10D)


    For more photos view gallery