Camp instructor Daniel Brown demonstrates the effect of removing the air from marshmallows.

What do marshmallows have to do with Physics? Fifty-eight Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD) high school girls, who attended AP (Advanced Placement) Physics Camp in June, learned about the physical properties of marshmallows and what happens when those properties are changed. At the camp, which was sponsored by High-Tech High Heels (HTHH) and supported by TI and the TI Foundation, entertaining exercises and activities demonstrated many physics concepts to the girls.

Not only were the exercises fun, but they also helped increase the campers’ interest in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Before the camp, about 43% of the participants were considering studying STEM fields in college. By the end of the camp, that percentage had grown to 96%.

One camper described how the camp and the trip to TI influenced her plans: "The field trip to TI has persuaded me to go into engineering, now that I know what it is."

This is the ninth year that High-Tech High Heels, formerly the Women of TI Fund, has sponsored the camp in Dallas ISD. The TI Foundation supported the HTHH development and deployment of the physics camps in Dallas ISD beginning in 2003. Since the introduction of the camp and other HTHH programs, including Gender Equity training for teachers and STEM career workshops for counselors, AP physics test pass rates have improved for both girls and boys in the Dallas ISD:

• Girls are passing four times as many tests.
• African Americans are passing four times as many tests.
• Hispanics are passing six times as many tests.

• "The instructors were funny, entertaining, and had good teaching methods that fit my learning style."
• "We got a lot of hands-on activities, which we don't always get at school."
• "The warm-ups were super entertaining."