QuarkNet provides professional development and on-going support for physics teachers who join the program. The professional development occurs in many different ways during a teacher's involvement, these include:
The summer of the first year:
- A one-week Boot Camp at Fermilab in Illinois, during which the teachers work closely with other physics teachers on a research scenario and attend seminars given by acclaimed scientists.
- A seven-week research appointment at a research institution near the teacher's home in which a pair of teachers works closely with mentor physicists.
- Membership in our e-mail listserve which hosts discusssions on many issues related to teaching and learning physics.
The balance of the first year:
- Frequent meetings with their mentor during the academic year.
- Visits to the teachers' classrooms by a member of the QuarkNet staff; this individual is an experienced physics teacher who can provide both coaching and content support.
- Communication with the colleagues that they meet at Fermilab via the e-mail listserve.
These teachers also access on-line activites and datasets designed to allow high school students to investigate introductory physics through the lens of particle physics. QuarkNet staff and teachers create on-line learning materials and share them via our webserver.
The teachers continue in the program by recruiting up to ten more local physics teachers to participate during the following summer. The number of teachers working at QuarkNet Centers is now twelve. The professional development work continues:
The summer of the second year:
- A three-week workshop at the local research institution designed by the original pair of teachers and attended by all twelve.
- Membership in our e-mail listserve which hosts discusssions on many issues related to teaching and learning physics.
The balance of the second year:
- Contact with their mentor during the academic year.
- Visits to the teachers' classrooms by a member of the QuarkNet staff; this individual is an experienced physiscs teacher who can provide both coaching and content support.
- Communication with teaching colleagues via the e-mail listserve.
QuarkNet is a long-term program that provides modest participant support beyond the first two years. The purpose of that support is to recognize the effort that goes into keeping a "research and learning community" going. Centers may choose a variety of ways to use this support from one-week summer workshops to academic-year, alliance-style meetings and ideas inbetween. We encourage centers to leverage this support.
We recognize that a university physics department may have a number of education and outreach activities, and we welcome the opportunity to blend the QuarkNet center activities with these efforts as long as they support our long-term goals.
The third year and beyond initial support:
- A one-week equivalent program to be determined by the center.
Options after five years:
- Support a team of one teacher and four high school students for summer research each summer.
- Support two teachers to attend the Boot Camp at Fermilab, one summer only.
- Continue initial support only.QuarkNet also funds support to the centers so that participants can purchase equipment, software or other material to help teach. We can also support travel to meetings so that participants from different centers can remain in contact.
QuarkNet has limited funds to support participants who want to purchase instructional equipment, software or other material. We can also support travel to meetings so that participants from different centers can remain in contact. A center can request support via an RFP.
QuarkNet receives support from the United States National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Energy, as well as ATLAS, CMS and Fermilab. Centers also receive in-kind contributions from their host institutions, and some have leveraged funds from other sources.
