In Germany, ‘Physics for Refugees’ — Awakening the Spirit of Research, Giving Hope To Create the Future

Last December, the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG) and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen led a project “physics for refugees,” addressed to children and youth in about 20 refugee locations all over Germany. Every week a physical experiment was conducted in these places by 500 volunteers, and replicated by the youth. Also, they invented an internet-based “physical advent calendar,” where YouTube experiments were presented without giving the answer. With assistance of volunteers, these experiments were repeated and the solutions sent in.

The project has been supported by the Federal government and will be continued in another form in 2016. The main aim is to give children a chance to concentrate on something other than the immediate reality in the refugee locations, to show them that they are very much welcome, and to encourage them to be involved in playful physical experimentation. On their website, it says, “Physical phenomena are universal and global. To conduct experiments, no specific language, religion or a special place is necessary. They are the same for all people on Earth, regardless of where you are, what language you speak or which religion you belong to. Physics is exciting, enjoyable, instructive — and experimenting generates self-confidence. Physics is fun … and is everywhere!”

The DPG obliges itself and its members by its constitution “to stand for freedom, tolerance, truthfulness and dignity and to be aware, that those active in science are in a very special high grade responsible for the formation of human life as a whole. Therefore we decided, in this present acute situation, to offer Physics for Refugees, to engage especially children and youth after their long escape journey, by combining instructive and exciting entertainment.”

Volunteers report how experimenting “awakens the spirit of research” and that language barriers can be very easily overcome. The special effect of the project is the “learning effect — on both sides!”