News From Local Sections

California OSA Local Sections and Student Chapter Offer Harry Potter Experiences to Kids

Reported by Donn Silberman

Let it be known that the Optics Institute of Southern California (OISC), Optical Society of Southern California (OSSC), and the University of California – Irvine OSA Student Chapter joined forces to form the “Hogwarts School of Optics” at the Orange County Girl Scouts Harry Potter Carnival on Saturday, July 14, 2007.

We centered our instruction around the new OSA “Lighten Up” publication and had many young scouts make a color spinning disk (Spinning Your Color Wheels). We used blank CDs with printed labels and they colored the labels, taped up the hole and stuck a 'golf pencil' through the tape to make the spinning top!

Some students also learned about small telescopes, the stars, periscopes and the 'AlphaNumeric Optical Inverter'. We also introduced a few children to the surprising Fresnel Lenses and a very special Holographic Diffraction Grating that made bright rainbows in the sun!

You can see some photos on-line at: http://oisc.net/GSA%20Harry%20Potter%20Carnival.htm