1. One of the best ways to get attention and not be considered boring is
to have something for kids. More importantly, have something that
parents (especially grandparents) can tie into either with, or for,
their kids. (I assume that your main goal is to make an impact on
getting youth into physics).
2. I make a strong distinction between "gee-wiz" science and
"grass-roots" science.
A) Grass-roots science is the kind of thing that parents and kids can
do in their kitchen. Brian nailed it when he mentioned the outstanding
Amateur Scientist column in back issues of Scientific American and
Ludwik followed through with suggesting the home type of experiments.
Science literally is what everyday life is all about, but in its usual
search for bigger than life stories, the media has relegated science to
exotic adventures, discoveries and inventions. All subjects that not
many youths (nor adults) can relate to at a very personal level.
B) Gee-Wiz science is what these kids are continuously bombarded with,
to the point that they are totally numbed as to just how advanced these
feats really are. Space ships, exotic viruses, scientific trips into
remote corners of the world etc. These activities are interesting and
psychologically safe to talk about, but they are remote, not part of a
kids day-to-day existence and do little to turn science into a way of
life, as opposed to a subject to be studied in school.
I believe that curiosity is what makes a scientist great, but
conventional schools are doing everything they can to train curiosity
out of students in order to keep them in their seats, and to have them
ask questions only on the teachers current subject. (An active,
healthy, curiosity and the typical, modern, K-12 classroom are totally
incompatible).
The only way that I have found to keep a kid's curiosity alive is to get
their hands involved in an extracurricular, project building hobby;
where there are more questions than answers. Science, which includes
mechanics (as in lawnmower engines etc.), electronics (as in ham
radio), optics (as in develop-the-film-yourself photography),
instrumentation (as in homemade weather stations or seismographs), all
have entry level projects that the average science oriented youth could
relate to and get involved in.
Your TV station wants to have something that is different and which will
attract viewers.
What I am suggesting is to use your limited air time to sell up
"hands-on, hobby type, science" and the building of science projects.
By getting kids to actually work on projects at home, the overall impact
of your three minutes will be greatly magnified.
Putting such a program together will require a lot of effort and maybe
some cost, but if it is glued together in a thought provoking way, I
believe that you will find that there are many sources for funding of
such activities. The various science and engineering related
Professional organizations in your community have education committees
that have money which is earmarked for educational activities. They
would love to be mentioned on TV. I keep hearing about the National
Science Foundation having funding available, but getting money from them
will probably involve grant writing. Even your TV station might help
out on a youth oriented program that they were busily promoting.
Finding philanthropical organizations that will be interested in your
project may be a little harder. We never charged our kids nor was our
program funded in any way, so I have little experience in this area.
As I see it, all you have to do is to furnish the plans and find the
local dealers who are willing to stock and sell the various parts needed
to build the projects. We have found that many wholesalers seem to
hate seeing John-Q-Public show up at their parts counter, but when
properly approached, they will make exceptions for educational
connected projects.
Completed projects could be "TV shown" along with the kids (maybe
families) that built them. Maybe a decal with the station logo on it
could be placed in the merchants window that were involved in the
project. The details of designing such a program are kind of exciting
in themselves, but are so dependent on the people involved that anything
that I offer would probably not work in your area.
I strongly suggest that since you are going to be in show business that
you consider borrowing a page from the circus. Three rings (or more) of
activities, in which different things are all going on at once, are far
better than one. Have lots of projects, at all levels of complexity and
areas of interest and skip quickly from one to the other, while leaving
the actual learning, to take place during the building process. This
may not be what you had in mind, but I suspect that you will find that
on the air, you are a "science salesman" who will be selling up features
and not nuts and bolts of learning.
The program might be tied in with a "Night Out At The University" where
the kids bring their projects and work on them in a place where they
have some tools and mentors who are capable and interested (maybe some
select senior physics students could play a part in the program) and
once you develop a personal contact with the kids and their families,
you will have the opportunity to "gently" introduce them to a far wider
range of physics topics than you ever could through the TV bite.
We called our local program "Project Lab" and have lots of information
on how to work with "volunteer kids" who are already up to their ears
with being taught things. (By "volunteer kids" I mean that, unlike
school, the law does not force these kids to be a part of your program
and they can, and will, vote with their feet if it is not to their
liking).
The only point I would stress at this time is that, for such a method of
helping youth (or people of any age) learn science, it must first and
foremost be FUN. If the students hands are busy, they will be having
fun and the learning process is in high gear. All the mentor has to do
is answer questions. For over twelve years we adults had more fun
working with kids on their projects than any other discretionary time
activity we have ever undertaken.
Good luck on your project, what ever way it turns out. Please let us
know of your successes and especially the failures, so that we might
profit from your experiences.