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. All materials are available under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
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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
diagram Particle Transformations

Students discover the rules of particle transformations using transformation diagrams.

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
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
zmass-icon Calculate the Z Mass

Students use conservation laws and vector addition to calculate the Z mass from event displays.

LHC Level 2 Conservation Laws, Nature of Matter, Spanish Language, Special Relativity, Standard Model, Skill: Coding, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Uncertainty 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
top-350 Calculate the Top Quark Mass

Students use conservation laws and vector addition to calculate the top mass from event displays.

Cosmic Ray, LHC Level 2 Conservation Laws, Spanish Language, Special Relativity, Standard Model, Skill: Uncertainty 1, 4, 5, 7
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
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