Schools Visits and Resources

The School of Physics is committed to supporting science education in schools through a range of outreach initiatives, classroom resources, and hands-on learning experiences. Our long-running Pitch Drop Initiative allows schools to participate in one of physics' most famous experiments, exploring the surprising properties of materials and encouraging students to think critically about the nature of matter.

In addition to providing educational resources for teachers, the School of Physics regularly visits primary and secondary schools across Ireland to promote STEM learning and showcase the excitement of physics. Recent outreach activities have included visits to Greystones Community National School and St Francis NS, Blackrock, Co. Louth, where School of Physics technical staff delivered interactive presentations, introduced students to Trinity College Dublin and careers in STEM, and demonstrated how physics and engineering solve real-world problems. These visits form part of Trinity's commitment to engaging with schools and local communities, helping to inspire the next generation of physicists, engineers, and innovators while making science accessible, relevant, and enjoyable for all students.

Case Study: All-Island Pitch Drop Initiative

The All-Island Pitch Drop Initiative is one of the School of Physics' flagship outreach projects, transforming a world-famous Trinity physics experiment into a hands-on learning experience for schools across Ireland. Built around the historic Trinity Pitch Drop Demonstration, which has been running continuously since 1944 and is one of only three such experiments in the world, the programme enables students to investigate the unusual properties of materials, collect real scientific data, and participate in authentic research activities.

Originally inspired by the international attention generated when Alan O'Meara recorded a pitch drop falling at in our Fitzgerald Building in Trinity in 2013, the schools initiative was developed to bring this unique experiment directly into classrooms. The School designed and distributed specially developed pitch-drop apparatus that allows students to observe changes over a school year rather than waiting a decade for a drop to form.

The scale of the project demonstrates its national reach. More than 35 schools from across the island of Ireland are participating, including schools in Dublin, Donegal, Louth, Laois, Offaly, Tipperary, Northern Ireland and many other regions. Students use the apparatus to explore viscosity, materials science, measurement, data collection and scientific observation while connecting with researchers and technical staff from the School of Physics. Students submitted weekly temperature and drop measurements through an online data collection form, with the results automatically feeding into live charts that tracked the movement and growth of the pitch drop over time.

Developed by the School of Physics with contributions from Prof. Louise Bradley, James McLoughlin, Patrick Murphy, Alan O'Meara and educational partners, the initiative exemplifies Trinity's commitment to making science accessible, engaging and relevant. As a result, the Pitch Drop Initiative has become a powerful example of how a historic physics experiment can inspire curiosity and STEM learning in classrooms throughout Ireland.