Florida State University
Contact Information
Horst Wahl
wahl@hep.fsu.edu
A one-week workshop for teachers was held at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) June 16-20. This workshop was the result of collaboration between the QuarkNet program and the SuperNet program as supported by ICAM and NHMFL. A total of ten teacher participants from three school districts completed the thirty-hour workshop. Activities included the use of data acquisition probeware available to classrooms to measure and graphically analyze temperature, voltage, current, gas pressure, and magnetic field strength. Teachers used these tools to revise their choice of a traditional experimental activity to include more up-to-date technology along with inquiry-based questioning and experimental design. These revisions were presented to the rest of the group during the Friday session.
Presentations and discussions with scientists during the workshop included: the basics of ion cyclotron resonance as a mass spectrometry tool of investigation, the fundamentals of modern detectors in physics, the physical chemistry of molecular magnets, what new physics the Large Hadron Collider may reveal, and a behind-the-scenes tour of research happening at the NHMFL. Educational sessions included an introduction to emergent phenomena, superconductivity, physics on the web, reading strategies using significant science non-fiction selections, paramagnetic chemistry, along with plans for implementation in the classroom and continuing the professional collaborations that were begun.
Plans for the late summer and fall include the establishment of a Wiki message board and communication hub for SuperNet collaborators to include teachers, scientists, and other concerned parties. Each teacher participant will receive a LabPro probeware USB-hub (Vernier Software) in August for implementation of demonstrations, class labs, and individual student activities concerning temperature, current, and magnetic field strength. A planning session was held during the afternoon of the first day with NHMFL staff, which included a presentation by Dr. Julien Bobroff (University Paris, Orsay) on his outreach experiences. Much was shared and learned throughout the week concerning differences and similarities of the French, American, and European educational systems; this suggested many international collaborative opportunities that could be supported through a more fully-funded QuarkNet /SuperNet program.
Brian McClain, one of the original FSU QuarkNet node teachers has returned to active involvement and ran the one-week summer session. One of the participants was a continuing QuarkNet participant from Year Two (Frank Druda) who now teaches in a neighboring county. Two of the other participants have participated in QuarkNet and related physics professional development (Jane McDonald and Mark Aley). Several teachers would like to be considered active participants but were not able to be involved this past summer due to other professional commitments (Penny Kisiah, David Rodriguez, Debra Willis, and Gerry Hart).
We had three teachers who spent the summer at CERN working on CMS with a CMS Fellowship: Lena McIntyre, Sandy Thompson, and Jane McDonald. We are planning to participate in Masterclass 2009: Jane McDonald, Adam Lamee, and Logan Chalfant.
