Teaching Modern Physics - QuarkNet - Fermilab

periodicals and newsletters. The collection also includes reports on science and
mathematics education, standards, assessment, equity and other topics. Visitors also have
access to Internet resources. TRC services include professional development workshops,
consultation assistance available upon request, a periodical holding list, bibliographies
and telephone reference. A U.S. Department of Education Eisenhower National
Clearinghouse Demonstration Site is located in the TRC. . . . Staff is available to assist
science, mathematics and technology educators with curriculum and instruction issues.”
Physics Data
Investigate Special Relativity
“This Website provides resources for secondary and post-secondary teachers of physical
science. These resources include data reduction projects and particle physics data files.
The data reduction projects guide student investigation of a dataset to a particular end
result. The data files are written in a format that allows for rapid Web file transfer and
ease of import into commonly available applications such as Microsoft Excel. Students
download and reduce these data in an open-ended environment in which they investigate
their own questions. The first of these resources is a data reduction project that guides
students to an understanding of special relativity.” (Description taken from Fermilab
website)
Calculate the Top Quark Mass
“This classroom activity is available online or as part of the Topics in Modern Physics
revised teachers guide. Students use data from a special top quark event and conservation
of momentum to calculate the mass of the top quark. The activity builds on an
understanding of vector addition, and the instruction needs to add only a short
explanation of particle physics.” (Description taken from Fermilab website)
Study Cosmic Rays with Student-Collected Data
The cosmic ray e-Lab allows users to search for data from more than 120 cosmic ray
detectors located in high schools across the world. These small detectors observe the
ground-level signature of particles that constantly bombard Earth’s upper atmosphere.
Analyzing the data can answer such questions as “Where do these things come from?” or
“How often do they arrive?” or “How long do they last? Students can share the results of
their analysis by publishing an e-Lab poster. The web document also allows other
students to ask questions or leave comments on the poster.
Search for the Higgs Activity
These web pages invite visitors to join in the hunt for evidence of the Higgs particle. This
boson will allow us to understand the process by which particles attain their mass.
Accelerators are approaching the energy needed to create these. The detector teams must
create plans for what signature a Higgs will leave behind. The web pages offer data in
Excel spreadsheets suitable for downloading. Visitors can analyze these data and look for
patterns that might indicate evidence for the Higgs.
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