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SLAS Regular Meeting
Friday, April 20, 2012
7:30pm
McDonnell Hall
Washington University
Particle Physics in the High School Classroom
by
Mr. Jim Small, St. Louis Astronomical Society
and Tim Morrison, Parkway South High School
Particle physics is the study of the sub-microscopic pieces of matter that make up the atoms,
ions, and molecules of the physical universe. Experiments involving particle physics generally
require monster machines – accelerators and "atom smashers". Consequently, particle physics
would seem to be far beyond the reach of high school science. However, a government supported
program for science teachers, called QuarkNet, provides teachers with the opportunity to
work with physicists over the summer on a particle physics experiment. They then work their
experiences into the high school curriculum. A section of this program, called Virtual QuarkNet, with additional support from the University of Notre Dame, extends this opportunity to a
wider range of teachers. A group of Parkway South High school students participated in a
March 2012 Virtual QuarkNet program called the US Masterclass that brought them experiment
results and data from CERN, a European particle accelerator. The students worked with
experimental data from over 2,000 Z-particle collisions, and concluded their project with a videoconference
with the European scientists and two other high school classes. Jim Small and
Tim Morrison guided the Parkway South students. They will talk about this project and about
the next step in the program – setting up a cosmic ray detector in the school.
Jim Small is one of the Virtual QuarkNet mentors. A veteran instructor of high school and
community college science courses, Mr. Small, assists local educators who wish to participate
in QuarkNet programs. Tim Morrison teaches physics at Parkway South. Mr. Morrison spent a
summer at the Fermilab national laboratory near Chicago, then led is students in a QuarkNet
project during the school year.
Astro 101 - The Latest From Mars
Jim Melka
St. Louis Astronomical Society
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