Purdue University
Contact Information
Daniela Bortoletto
daniela@physics.purdue.edu
Our center met for its annual workshop week on June 9-13, 2008. This was our sixth year of participation in QuarkNet . This year nine teachers and two high school students were part of the program. Seven of the teachers have participated at Purdue in the past; one was new to the Purdue center but was previously involved in the Notre Dame center, and one teacher was new to the program. The teachers are male and female from first-year teachers to experienced teachers. The teachers represent rural, suburban and urban schools, public, private, and parochial.
The workshop format this year concentrated on building another cosmic ray detector and getting all three of the Purdue cosmic ray detectors on ine with the Cosmic Ray e-Lab site. The teachers learned the set-up needed to collect the data, how to create the data file, and upload the data. We then had a couple of days, learning how to run projects and analyze the data that is uploaded. We had talks on history of cosmic ray physics, the role of statistics in analyzing cosmic ray data, and updates on the status of the LHC. We discussed how to implement data collection in the classroom, how to introduce the cosmic ray detector from very simple ideas to more in-depth, detailed project-oriented use. The speakers from PU were Matthew Jones and Daniela Bortoletto. We had Bob Peterson from the QuarkNet staff and Jeff Rodriquez from the fellows program to guide us on using the e-Lab site. We also had several teachers take the lead in the discussion of classroom techniques and planning activities for the 2008-2009 school year.
We are planning to optimize the availability of the detectors by rotating them between the schools connected to the Purdue QuarkNet program. The teachers have planned to share their experiences with other science teachers in the state by presenting their studies at the Hoosier Association of Science Teachers conference in early February. We have selected to hold our 2009 QuarkNet week June 22-26, 2009. We plan to introduce the Masterclass program, visit Fermilab, review use of the cosmic ray-detectors and refresh any skills that may be needed. We foresee more lectures from faculty to refresh our background knowledge and to understand the physics probed by the LHC. We look forward to see some events from colliding beams at the LHC and we hope to include more high school students in next summer program.
