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
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
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
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
quad-350 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
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
zmass-icon Z Mass Spreadsheet Extension

Students use spreadsheet coding to determine the Z Mass for a large data set.

LHC Level 2 Conservation Laws, Nature of Matter, Skill: Coding, Skill: Histograms, Special Relativity, Standard Model 2, 3, 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
hexoigon QuarkNet STEP UP Women in Physics

Lesson #3 in QuarkNet STEP UP Series on diversity and inclusion.

Level 2 Diversity & Inclusion
detector Cosmic Ray e-Lab

Students experience the excitement of scientific collaboration in this series of investigations into high-energy cosmic rays.

Cosmic Ray Level 3 Instrumentation, Nature of Matter, Skill: Developing Models, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
cms-350 CMS e-Lab

Students have an opportunity to learn how to analyze data to calibrate the CMS detector and participate in discovery science (as particle physicists do).

LHC Level 3 Conservation Laws, Instrumentation, Nature of Matter, Skill: Histograms, Skill: Uncertainty 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8