KEY POINTS
- This case report describes two low-cost medical physics outreach activities designed for middle-school, high-school, undergraduate, educator, and community audiences.
- The diagnostic exercise uses concealed low-activity sealed cobalt-60, strontium-90, or thallium-204 sources and handheld Geiger–Müller meters. Students map count-rate variation to localize a simulated tumour and discuss measurement uncertainty.
- The treatment exercise uses a translucent gelatin “head” containing coloured target and organ-at-risk structures. Wooden skewers represent beam paths, allowing students to explore target coverage, entry angles, normal-tissue exposure, and stereotactic geometry.
- The complete lesson lasts approximately two hours, combining short presentations with source-localization exercises, treatment-planning activities, group discussion, and a second opportunity to improve the beam arrangement.
- The activities have been delivered to school students, undergraduates, teachers, and community groups and were presented at the 2025 AAPM and AAPT annual meetings to support wider adoption.
- In a preliminary survey of 44 students in grades 6–8, interest in careers using physics in medicine increased from 34% to 55%, while reported understanding of how radiation can help patients increased from 45% to 86%.
- After the session, 91% agreed that they had learned something new. These results were self-reported, involved a small convenience sample, and did not assess objective knowledge, retention, or longer-term career interest.
CLINICAL TAKEAWAY
The activities offer medical physics departments a practical framework for explaining imaging and radiotherapy without specialized teaching infrastructure. The educational impact remains preliminary, but the model is inexpensive, adaptable, and easy to reproduce for outreach programmes.