1. PARTICLE Classroom Cosmic Ray Physics
Kevin McFarland
University of Rochester
Department of Physics and Astronomy
29 March 2003
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

2. Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE
Overview of PARTICLE
Goals:
Teacher and Student Enrichment
Support Student Experimentation
Build University-Secondary School Ties
Popularize/Publicize Particle Physics Research
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

3. Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE
Overview of PARTICLE
Methods:
Summer Teacher Institute
Particle Physics, Cosmic Rays, Other Modern Physics Topics, Pedagogy
Construct Classroom Equipment
Classroom Outreach
Visits by Physicists to Classrooms
Research Support
“PARTICLE day” student conference
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

4. Particle Physics and NY State Curriculum
2001 NYS Regents’ Curriculum
Mostly covers taxonomy, not “big picture”
but with some extra effort, can do both!
E.g., students should be able to explain how quarks make up a proton or neutron (“nucleon”)
But the nucleon is a perfect lab for understanding about the four fundamental forces of nature!
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

5. Focal Point: Cosmic Ray Telescope
Primary “hook” is the cosmic ray telescope for the classroom
Easy to build
About $400/unit
So we can donate
Computer-based DAQ
Flexible data analysis
Export data to Excel, etc.
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

6. PARTICLE Teacher Summer Institutes
Program:
⅜ Lecture and Discussion
Taxonomy and big picture of particle physics
Including experimental methods, lab tours, etc.
Other modern physics: relativity, quantum mech.
½ Lab work
Construct cosmic ray telescopes
Prototype student labs
⅛ Discussion of Pedagogy, Classroom Applications
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

7. PARTICLE Teacher Summer Institutes
“Lead teachers”, faculty mentors, University students all work together to run institute
“Lead” and returning teachers especially important for productive discussions of classroom applications and realities!
Bulk of time is self-directed work
Laboratory time builds relationships
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

8. Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE
Classroom Activity
Physicist (student or faculty) contact can be a catalyst for classroom research
Short lecture, Q&A, demonstrations
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

9. Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE
Classroom Activity
Innovative example from year
Naples classroom has a proposal/evaluation process to allocate telescope time to research teams throughout the school year!
In other classrooms, used as enrichment or just during “standard model” unit
Telescope in Joe Willie’s classroom, Naples, NY, Central School District
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

10. Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE
“PARTICLE Day”
For students, gives a concrete research goal and positive feedback
Program: lectures, student presentations, poster session, lab tours. 75 students from 8 schools in 2002
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

11. Student Results Cosmic Ray absorption in material
Absorption in different materials
Greece Arcadia student measures cosmic rays beneath swimming pool
Answers are not always correct!
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

12. Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE
Student Results
Time variation and atmospheric conditions
Naples students observed and evaluated statistical significance of correlation between vertical rate and barometric pressure (!)
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

13. Student Results Pittsford students measured tm (2.2 ms)
see muon stop in detector and measure time until decay electron (m→enn) observed
excerpt from student presentation
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

14. Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE
Student Results
Pittsford tm (cont’d)
Data analysis included noise subtraction and fit
Guided by example with Excel prepared by graduate student
Lifetime (tick)=
69.00
Lifetime (msec)=
2.16
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

15. Other Recent Student Studies
Correlations between rates in California (SLAC online telescope) and Rochester
Searches for daily/seasonal rate dependence
Analog pulse-shaping of phototube output
Investigated bandpass filtering of the ~50MHz pulse
Absorption of horizontal cosmic rays
Students (correctly) concluded low rate led to a background problem!
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE

16. Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE
Conclusions
PARTICLE at Rochester is an exciting program
participants from Rochester, rural surrounding areas and Syracuse
Buffalo too? hint, hint…
have funding through 2006
application process for this year is underway; due May 1st
Please come join us!
29 March 2003
Kevin McFarland, U of Rochester, PARTICLE