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
atlaseming ATLAS Data Express

ATLAS Data Express is a short investigation in which students inspect and characterize Z events in the LHC and distinguish muons from electrons.

LHC Level 2 Conservation Laws, Instrumentation, Nature of Matter, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
cms data express CMS Data Express

CMS Data Express is a short investigation in which students inspect and characterize W or Z events from the LHC.

LHC Level 2 Conservation Laws, Nature of Matter, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 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
minerva Mean Lifetime Part 3: MINERvA

Students collect data from muons which decay in the MINERvA detector in the Fermilab NuMi beamline to understand particle decay and determine the muon lifetime.

Cosmic Ray, Neutrino Level 2 Half-Life/Mean Lifetime, Kinematics, Nature of Matter, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8
mltplotlet Mean Lifetime Part 2: Cosmic Muons

Students learn how physicists measure muon lifetime.

Cosmic Ray Level 2 Half-Life/Mean Lifetime, Nature of Matter, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty, Spanish Language, Special Relativity 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8
Hypatia image Angles and Dimuons

This activity is based on the data analysis used for World Wide Data Day,

Cosmic Ray, LHC Level 1 Conservation Laws, Nature of Matter, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Speedy mnoun How Speedy are These Muons?

In this activity, students use authentic detector data to apply simple 1D kinematics (v=d/t), interpret graphical data, and evaluate measurement uncertainties.

Cosmic Ray Level 1 Kinematics, Nature of Matter, Skill: Graphing, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8
Stacked Cosmic Watches Cosmic Watch Lab Suite

This Cosmic Watch Suite of data activities describes experiments that can be done either at the singles or two-fold rate.

Cosmic Ray Level 1 Nature of Matter, Quantum Mechanics, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Graphing, Skill: Uncertainty 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7