Peer Pressure Road Trip 2012 - A Report

Each year since 2005 the Angelo State University SPS ``Peer Pressure Team'' has travelled for a week in May to promote physics and other sciences for grades K-12. This year, the Peer Pressure Team visited schools in West Texas and New Mexico. This was the first year the team has traveled outside of Texas, inspired by the SPS 2012 theme ``Physics Beyond Borders.'' The purpose of the Road Tours is to encourage an interest in science in children in grades K-12 and give experience in presenting and explaining physics to the undergraduate volunteers. The schools attended are carefully selected based on socioeconomic need and an underrepresentation in physics, as well as other sciences. During this week, the Peer Pressure Team saw about 1,500 students over 10 shows. Surveys were given to teachers post-demonstration to have students complete and return so the Team could gauge the effectiveness of the outreach program. In addition, the surveys allow the Team to determine which demonstrations had the most impact. We present the details of this year's road trip with the results and analysis of the survey data.