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
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
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
hexigon QuarkNet STEP UP: Careers in Physics

Lesson #2 in QuarkNet STEP UP Series on encouraging the study of physics.

Level 1
dicedecay Mean Lifetime Part 1: Dice

Rolling dice serves as the model for decaying particles.

Cosmic Ray, LHC Level 1 Half-Life/Mean Lifetime, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Histograms, Spanish Language 2, 4, 5, 7
tot Signal and Noise: Cosmic Muons

In this introductory tutorial that, students learn about how to distinguish muon signals from background and instrumental noise.

Cosmic Ray Level 1 Instrumentation, Quantum Mechanics, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty, Waves & Interference 4, 5, 6, 7, 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
epmlogy Energy, Momentum, and Mass

Students examine data to find how energy, momentum, and mass are related.

Cosmic Ray, LHC, Neutrino Level 1 Conservation Laws, Electricity & Magnetism, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Graphing, Special Relativity 2, 4, 5, 7, 8
dpdx What Heisenberg Knew

Heisenberg knew that, at the quantum level, we cannot know everything, at least not all at once. Students explore uncertainties in measurements of complimentary variables to find this out for themselves.

Neutrino Level 1 Kinematics, Quantum Mechanics, Skill: Coding, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Graphing 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
quad-350 Making it ‘Round the Bend - Qualitative

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

LHC Level 1 Electricity & Magnetism, Kinematics, Spanish Language 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7