University of California, Irvine
Contact Information
Mu-Chun Chen muchunc@uci.edu
We hosted our annual QuarkNet Workshop during June 25–27, 2008. This was the 7th year UCI has been part of the national QuarkNet program. This year, ten teachers participated in the workshop, four of whom had participated in the QuarkNet program before and the remaining ones were newly recruited teachers. There were three female teachers and seven male teachers representing several communities around Irvine and the greater Los Angeles area. The teachers came from diverse backgrounds, both culturally and economically. The workshop program included talks in the morning and lab in the afternoon. The talks included "Cosmic Ray Science and Search for High Energy Neutrinos" by Dr. Andrea Silvestri (UCI particle experimental postdoc), "Introduction to Particle Physics" by Prof. Mu-Chun Chen (UCI particle theory faculty), "Particle Detection and the LHC" by Dr. Mario Bondioli (UCI particle experimental postdoc) and "Extra Dimensions" by Prof. Yuri Shirman (UCI particle theory faculty). There were also presentations by two teachers, Robert Baker and Sherry Kittrell, on their experiences using the classroom cosmic ray detectors. Robert Baker also brought the old version of the CRMD to show the other teachers. During the lab sessions, which were assisted by QuarkNet staff teachers Kris Whelan and Ken Cecire, the teachers built a new CRMD and took overnight data for two nights. They also successfully uploaded all data and analyzed them through Cosmic Ray e-Lab. In addition to the formal activities described above, teachers and physicists also had lunches together to discuss possible ways to implement particle physics into the high school curriculum as well as potential future collaborations.
For the 2008-2009 academic year, the UCI particle physicists, along with several teachers and their students, will be participating in Masterclass 2009. In addition, a few days before the Masterclass, we will be hosting a Teachers' Day as a follow-up of our June 08 summer workshop as well as an orientation for the masterclass. A three-day workshop for teachers has also been planned for the summer of 2009.
