Data Activities Portfolio

The Data Portfolio is a compendium of particle physics classroom activities organized by data strand and level of student engagement. 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. While each level can be explored individually, students who start in one level and progress to more complex levels experience increasingly engaging and challenging tasks. These activities are aligned with NGSS Standards, particularly NGSS Practices.

Your students can follow a path through activities in a data strand to better understand practices that lead to discovery. Each pathway provides connections between topics routinely covered in physics class and particle physics content and methods. Use the pulldown menus (Curriculum Topics and Strand) to find activities related to the content you are currently covering. Watch this screencast to learn more about sorting these activities.

Activity Name Data Strand Level Curriculum Topics NGSS Practices
Cosmic Rays and the Sun

Students search for a specific data file in the Cosmic Ray e-Lab and look for evidence of the passage of the sun in the flux measurements derived from this file. 

 Cosmic Ray Level 2 Instrumentation, Nature of Matter, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 2, 3, 4, 6, 7
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 2, 4, 5, 7, 8
TOTEM Data Express

Use quantum physics and LHC data to estimate the size of the proton.

 LHC Level 2 Instrumentation, Kinematics, Nature of Matter, Quantum Mechanics, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
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, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Mean Lifetime Part 2: Cosmic Muons

Students learn how physicists measure muon lifetime.

 Cosmic Ray Level 2 Half-Life/Mean Lifetime, Nature of Matter, Special Relativity, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8
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 2, 4, 5, 7, 8
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, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
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
Making it ‘Round the Bend - Quantitative

Students measure the effects of electric and magnetic fields on particles. 

 LHC Level 2 Electricity & Magnetism, Instrumentation, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Graphing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
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