Data Activities Portfolio

The Data Portfolio is a compendium of particle physics classroom activities organized by Data Strand, Level of student engagement, Curriculum Topics and NGSS Standards. Follow the links provided for information about using the Data Portfolio to plan your students’ experience. Level descriptions explain the data analysis skills that students apply at each level: tasks in Level 0 are simpler than those in Levels 1 and 2...

Activity Name Data Strand Level Curriculum Topics NGSS Practices
ttbar The Case of the Hidden Neutrino

Students use momentum conservation to examine the decay of top-antitop pairs to determine what is missing from the event.

LHC, Neutrino Level 1 Conservation Laws, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Uncertainty, Spanish Language, Special Relativity, Standard Model 2, 4, 5, 6, 7
The purpose of this activity is to come to a consensus for the “best” value for the mass of the Z Boson. Plotting a Concensus

The purpose of this activity is to come to a consensus for the “best” value for the mass of the Z Boson.

LHC Level 0 Conservation Laws, Nature of Matter, Standard Model, Skill: Graphing, Skill: Histograms 3, 4, 5
Code image Introduction to Coding Using Jupyter

Students will learn the basics of coding using Jupyter style notebooks.

Cosmic Ray, LHC, Neutrino Level 0 Skill: Coding 1, 2, 4
hexigon QuarkNet: Changing the Culture

Lesson #1 in QuarkNet STEP UP Series on diversity and inclusion.

Level 0 Diversity & Inclusion
cloud chamber Making Tracks I

Students analyze tracks in a cloud chamber.

Cosmic Ray, LHC, Neutrino Level 0 Nature of Matter, Skill: Developing Models, Standard Model 1, 2, 4, 6, 7
index Dice, Histograms & Probability

Students roll dice, record the resulting individual values as well as the sum of the values, create histograms of the data and develop insight into the concept of “degrees of freedom." 

Cosmic Ray, LHC Level 0 Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty, Spanish Language 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
sn Signal and Noise: The Basics

Students analyze signals and noise first in audio and video forms and then look at signals and noise from physics measurements.

Cosmic Ray, LHC, Neutrino Level 0 Instrumentation, Skill: Uncertainty, Waves & Interference 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
uspenny Mass of U.S. Pennies

Students create and interpret a histogram of penny masses.

Cosmic Ray, LHC Level 0 Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
wokbench Quark Workbench 2D/3D

Students use Standard Model rules to build hadrons and mesons from quarks.

Cosmic Ray, LHC Level 0 Conservation Laws, Nature of Matter, Skill: Developing Models, Standard Model 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7
quad Mapping the Poles

Students explore some basics of magnetic fields that can be related to experimental particle physics.

LHC Level 0 Electricity & Magnetism, Skill: Developing Models 2, 4, 6, 7