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
bubble chanber Making Tracks II

Students analyze tracks in a bubble chamber.

Cosmic Ray, LHC, Neutrino Level 1 Conservation Laws, Nature of Matter, Skill: Developing Models, Standard Model 1, 2, 4, 6, 7
totem TOTEM 1

Students use TOTEM data to determine if protons (quantum objects) obey classical conservation of momentum.

LHC Level 1 Conservation Laws, Nature of Matter 4, 5, 8
rwr_marblediagram Rolling with Rutherford

Students use statistics to make an indirect measurement they can easily confirm.

Cosmic Ray, LHC Level 1 Nature of Matter, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty, Spanish Language 1, 3, 4, 5, 7
histo Histograms: Uncertainty

Students construct histograms, identify the best value to represent the data, and report the uncertainty in their answers. 

Cosmic Ray, LHC, Neutrino Level 1 Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 4, 5
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
jpsian CMS Masterclass J/Psi

Students are physicists for a day at a university or lab where they work with physicists to learn how to analyze real particle physics data in the form of event displays.

LHC Level 2 Conservation Laws, Nature of Matter, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
This image illustrates the experimental set up. Heisenberg's Laser

The students will investigate the relationship between uncertainty in momentum and the uncertainty in position and how these relate to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.

Cosmic Ray, LHC, Neutrino Level 2 Quantum Mechanics, Skill: Coding, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Graphing, Skill: Uncertainty 4, 5, 8
atlas ATLAS Z-path Masterclass

Students are physicists for a day at a university or lab where they work with physiists to how to analyze real particle physics data in the form of event displays.

LHC Level 2 Conservation Laws, Nature of Matter, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
atlas ATLAS W-path Masterclass

Students are physicists for a day at a university or lab where they work with physicists to how to analyze real particle physics data in the form of event displays.

LHC Level 2 Conservation Laws, Nature of Matter, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
cms-event-350 CMS Masterclass WZH-path

Students are physicists for a day at a university or lab where they work with physicists to learn how to analyze real particle physics data in the form of event displays.

LHC Level 2 Conservation Laws, Nature of Matter, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8