High school students
High school students' exposure to modern particle physics
0 Michael Kobel Department ofPhysics and Astronomy, Bonn University , Nussallee 12, D-S311.5 Bonn , Germany
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odern physics of the 20lh and 21si century is hardly taught in
M science courses at high schools in Europe. Nevertheless,
introducing results of modern physics research at high-school
level could positively influence the students' perception of today's
role of physics, and along with it, their general interest in physics.
On the other hand, discussing modern physics in too much
detail or on too high a level might have the opposite effect.
Therefore, appropriate topics and teaching material have to be
identified and developed in close collaboration between scien
tists and educators. An evaluation is needed to assess the success
and to optimize both the material and its channels of distribution.
Like all of us, young people from time to time seek to answer
fundamental questions, such as what are we made of, where did
matter come from, how did the Universe begin and how will it
end? This would suggest that particle physics and cosmology is a
topic of modern physics well suited for high schools. In recent
years a wide range of material for the public understanding of
particle physics has been developed, e.g. UK masterclass work
shop exercises [IJ, German web-based teaching systems [2), or
t.1.e material described by K.E.Johannson in tt..is issue. This article
will focus on evaluations of such material with 16-19 year-old
high-school students, recently performed at several locations in
the UK and Germany. The spectrum of these events covers visits
to exhibitions, "masterclasses" at universities, and particle physics
in the classroom as a part of the curriculum, thus ranging from
mainly passive visits, through active but short-term workshops,
to longer-term science teaching and assessment.
"TESLA-Light of the Future'; an exhibition on particle
physics and more
From 16.1. to 17.2.2002 a "journey to the origin of matter" and
"insights into the most tiny dimensions of life" were offered to
about 22,000 visitors to an exhibition in the centre of Berlin [3].
Among them were more than 70 school classes, mostly from
grades 12 and 13 (17-19 year-olds). The topics of the exhibition
were the forefront of particle physics research with the planned
Electron-Positron Linear Collider TESLA, along with the
exploitation of its accelerator technology for a Free Electron Laser
light source with unprecedented brilliance, having applications in
chemistry, biology and material science. The exhibition was real
ized by DESY in the basement of the Volkswagen Automobile
Forum where original equipment, models, posters, videos, and
hands-on material were displayed in an area of700 m2•
More than 250 students were interviewed [4J after the visit,
which included an introductory talk and a tour guided by particle
physicists or Ph.D. students. On a scale from 1 to 5 the students
ranked particle physics to be quite interesting, with an average
score of 3.9 for the male and 3.6 for the female students. Although
this score is less enthusiastic
than the one from the other
visitors (4.3 and 3.9, respec
tively), the general physics
interest of the students
increased about 8% more
than that of the public: 45%
of the male and 52% of the
female students responded
that their general interest in
physics had grown strongly
during the visit. This
increase was higWy correlat
ed (correlation coefficient
p=26%) to the ability of the
guides to stimulate this
interest. In turn, the success
of the guides was very much
facilitated (p=42%), if the r~"~"·-~-~·-~"~-_·'-·
physics interest of the stu . A Fig.ll"Hands-on" activities at the
dents before the visit was TESLA exhibition in Berlin:
already large. Independent \ a) accelerating a ball surfing on a wave
of the guides' explanations, 1 with adjustable phase velocity
those students who knew 1 b} focussing an electron beam using
least about particle physics l q-u-a_dr.u._pole-m-ag-ne-ts - - - , - -
before coming to the exhibi
tion gained most in their general interest in physics (p=-13%).
Regarding the type of presentation, apart from the guides, the 3
dimensional models, the videos, and the eight hands-on stations
(Figure 1) were the clear favourites. All visitors agreed, that only a
few things could be improved, and that even more hands-on
exhibits would be very good.
For about 6 years particle physics groups at universities in the
UK have invited 17-18 year old high school students to spend a
day in the university [5], for a mixture of talks and practical
computer activities [
1
], such as identifying particles. After rela
tively little training the students are able to recognize various
types of particles through real images of their tracks on comput
er, in a way that mirrors exactly the activities of working particle
physicists. Deep insights into the properties of elementary parti
cles, such as the universality of the three ty (...truncated)