Particle Physics

Back in 2000, I had the opportunity to tour Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and was awestruck by the size and the scale of the facility. A tunnel two miles long, detectors larger than life all constructed to allow physicists the ability to probe deeper and to learn more about particles that are way smaller the human eye can see. As a matter of fact, the best microscopes ever designed would not even come close to identifying these mysterious particles traveling all around us. Of course, at the time I had no idea what particle physics was really all about...I never studied this in high school, college or graduate school. So, although I knew enough to be amazed, I truly did not understand anything about what I was looking at.

As luck would have it, later that school year I was presented with the opportunity of joining a program called QuarkNet. An NSF/DOE funded program aimed at providing particle physics workshops for high school teachers with the aim of empowering teachers with the knowledge and the materials to begin teaching particle physics in their own classrooms. I am not going to say that the first workshop was an easy one or inspired me to teach particle physics, but I did decide to try and introduce particle physics into my classroom, at least, a couple of lessons. So, I took on the challenge of going outside of my comfort zone and to try and teach content that honestly I really did not understand. It was rough and the students certainly asked a lot of questions that I had no idea how to answer, but we struggled through and

to my amazement they loved it! Well, that was all that I needed to motivate me to do even more and to create a whole unit on particle physics. I currently teach a 3 week unit on particle physics to my honors physics students and, on occasion, teach a few beyond the Standard Model lessons to my AP Physics students. I love it! And, over the years my students have, too!

With the help of the QuarkNet staff and the other teachers that I have met, I have always felt comfortable in going places that I never thought I could with my teaching. Through QuarkNet, I have had the opportunity to travel to Fermilab on numerous occasions, collaborate with numerous amazing teachers and professors, and to belong to an organization that has allowed me to grow professionally beyond what I ever thought possible. I have given numerous presentations at AAPT meetings on my particle physics work, traveled all across the country presenting workshops for QuarkNet, and in the summer of 2012 I had the unbelievable opportunity to travel to Beijing, China to teach a particle physics orkshop to students and teachers for two weeks. I would highly recommend QuarkNet to any teacher looking for an opportunity to challenge themselves and their students.

What I have included in this section of the website are all of the particle physics activities that I have used over the years. Some of the exercises I have written myself, but many I have borrowed from QuarkNet or other online sources and I have modified to meet the needs of my students. Please take whatever you want and use with your students. I am always interested to learn about other ways that teachers use these activities and, of course, I am always interested in "borrowing" ideas, as well. I hope you are able to find something useful on the site and please do not hesitate to email me.

One more piece to this section...you may still be asking "What exactly is particle physics?" Well, rather than me trying to explain it, I thought I should just let one of the leading physicists of our time, Dr. Brian Cox, explain it to you. The video is a little old, but the idea of what its all about is not...I really like his comparison to the snowflake and I use this analogy throughout the unit. This is the opening video that I share with my students to begin my particle physics unit.