The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted every aspect of academic activity, including the informal education and public engagement efforts of physics departments and institutions. As part of a large-scale national survey of the landscape of informal physics education programs, we have conducted a series of short interviews with directors and facilitators for a variety of programs in order to create a snapshot of whether and how programs have been able to adapt to the challenges and risks of the pandemic. Broadly, we find that programs are struggling to maintain any activity at all, and that those programs still in operation have relied largely on the efforts of individual director or facilitators to make substantial adaptations. Additionally, we find that those programs that have been most successful in maintaining activity benefit from strong, ongoing institutional support; we present the findings of this study both to complement existing research on formal spaces and to advocate for the continued support of informal physics education, which continues to play a crucial role in connecting departments to the public.

中文翻译：

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COVID时代非正式物理学习的挑战和机遇

COVID-19 大流行极大地影响了学术活动的各个方面，包括物理系和机构的非正式教育和公众参与工作。作为对非正式物理教育计划进行的大规模全国调查的一部分，我们对各种计划的主任和协调员进行了一系列简短采访，以了解计划是否以及如何能够适应大流行的挑战和风险。从广义上讲，我们发现项目根本无法维持任何活动，而那些仍在运作的项目在很大程度上依赖于个别主管或协调人的努力来进行实质性调整。此外，我们发现那些在维持活动方面最成功的计划受益于强大的、持续的机构支持；我们展示这项研究的结果，既是为了补充现有的正式空间研究，也是为了倡导对非正式物理教育的持续支持，它继续在将部门与公众联系起来方面发挥着至关重要的作用。