QuarkNet

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

Quarknet has been funded as a partnership among the ESIE program of EHR ; the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities and the Elementary Particle Physics Program (Division of Physics) , both within MPS; as well as the Division of High Energy Physics at DOE. QuarkNet is a national program that partners high school science teachers with particle physicists working in forefront experiments at the scientific frontier. These experiments are searching for answers to fundamental questions about the origin of mass and about the nature of symmetries that govern physical processes. QuarkNet provides valuable research experience to teachers enabling them to teach the basic concepts of introductory physics in a context that students find exciting. QuarkNet's goals are to establish a lasting national community of researchers that includes high school teachers and students as well as physicists, to attract young students to careers in science and technology, to help develop scientific literacy in society, and to develop links between the high school classroom and experiments and techniques used to explore the scientific frontier. QuarkNet is led by a group of teachers, educators and physicists with many years of experience in particle physics workshops and institutes, materials development and teacher research programs. Five "staff" teachers help design, coordinate and run the project. QuarkNet has been envisaged and designed as a multi-decade-long program with a "growth" phase of 5 years followed by an "operational" phase of at least twice that duration. In this schema, the growth phase admits twelve new centers per year until a maximum of 60 centers is reached; the operational phase oversees the maturation of the centers into an inclusive and engaging community of researchers. Currently completing its third year, QuarkNet comprises 36 centers located at universities and laboratories around the country. Under this five-year proposal, QuarkNet will complete the growth phase by the end of the second proposal year, with science education centers participating in a variety of experiments at Fermilab, CERN, SLAC, and in non-accelerator and astrophysics programs. In this two-year period 48 "lead" teachers, two from each new center, will hold 8-week research appointments and will work under the guidance of physicists from a university or laboratory near their homes. In the operational period to follow (proposal years 3-5), QuarkNet will revisit existing centers (again in groups of 12) to offer 8-week scientific appointments, and to strengthen ongoing research experiences and activities by engaging high school students directly in research projects under the direction of physicists and supervising teachers, for periods up to 8 weeks duration. Key features of QuarkNet are the establishment of mentor relationships between teachers and scientists, summer research experiences of up to 8-weeks for lead and supervising teachers and 1-3 weeks for associate teachers, the inclusion of high school students as researchers, and the development of scientific "community" within and among centers. Over the five years 2002-2006, this proposal is expected to reach up to 720 teachers, more than 100 physicists, and eventually more than 50,000 students, approximately 300 of whom will have summer research experiences.