Publication date: 
2023/01/10
A series of fifteen instructional videos created at Faculty of Electrical Engineering introduces laws and interesting features of physics and technology. It is intended primarily for pupils of the second grade of primary schools and students of secondary schools. The videos are gradually published on the FEL Instagram account as well as on TikTok and YouTube. The faculty will also provide videos to teachers to enrich teaching in secondary and primary schools.

FEL student Tereza Petrčková will explain some of the invisible processes around us in short videos using simple but visually impressive experiments. For example, she will show how to check the functionality of a remote control or organize a race of homemade "electric cars".

The series started before Christmas with a "colour" experiment to detect internal stresses in a transparent material using double polarisation of light. All people need to do is an LCD display, polarising film or polarising glasses and then maybe a ruler made of plastic. Even fewer props are required for an experiment to check the functionality of a remote control. In fact, a portable camera or a camera on a mobile phone is enough to display infrared radiation. And to make a simple electric motor like the homopolar motor, all the experimenters need is a stripped copper wire, an AA battery and a neodymium magnet.

In other videos that will be released in the coming days and weeks, our student will, among other things, demonstrate the simplest construction of an electric car or a hologram projector. Using a homemade model of a lung, she will also describe the function of this vital organ and what happens when something goes wrong in it. "By sharing on social media, science can reach a wider audience. I'm glad I could be part of it," said Tereza Petrčková, who is studying a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Power Engineering and Management at Faculty of Electrical Engineering and is involved in the activities of the wITches association in her free time. Its members, students of FEL CTU, popularise electrical engineering and computer science at lower levels of schools.

Bringing technology closer to people - easy, fun and cheap

In addition to simplicity, all experiments in the educational series are united by the availability of tools. Children and teenagers can manage with things they either already have at home or can buy cheaply at hardware stores and electrical shops.

"We wanted to arouse interest in technology and demystify the idea that technology is difficult, hard to access and only for a certain kind of people. A lot of things in these educational videos come from everyday life," emphasized the main creator of the project, Aleš Górecki from the External Relations Department of FEL. "It would be a win if the teachers in the classroom said to the students: 'Check out this experiment and your task is to replicate it,'" Górecki added.

"We are very interested in teaching videos in physics for all ages of students. We make use of similar materials," said Stanislav Šimandl from the Budějovická Secondary Grammar School in Prague, which is one of the faculty schools of the FEL. Another co-author of the educational video series, Jakub Holovský from the Department of Electrical Engineering the faculty, urged students not to be afraid to try interesting experiments, think about them and show them to their friends and family.

A series of videos was made by the team from FEL last year at the turn of summer and autumn. "We are planning to produce more videos, this time focusing on popularising mathematics, algorithmisation and programming," concluded Górecki. The videos will be available on most of the faculty's social media sites.

The educational videos are another contribution of FEL to a series of projects for assistance and cooperation in teaching physics, computer science and electrical engineering at secondary schools. For example, the FEL regularly organises excursions to the faculty's scientific departments for secondary school students and various competitions - including the Electrotechnical Olympics. The faculty also organises workshops, courses and consultations for secondary school teachers.

A new concept are the specialised open days for high school students, which focus on narrower research topics. Last November, over fifty male and female students got to know the departments at FEL involved in electromobility research in one day. The next DOD, on artificial intelligence, will take place in March. In the following weeks, however, FEL will also hold its standard open days. While the DOD on 19 January  will be online, on 17 February, students and faculty can come in person, with prior registration, to the faculty's Dejvice campus and Charles Square in Prague.

Contact person: 
Name: 
Šárka Loukotová Novotná
E-mail: 
loukosar@fel.cvut.cz