Friday Flyer - January 9, 2015

Spotlight on the Boston QuarkNet Center: The Boston group started in 1999 as a collaboration between Darien Wood at Boston University and Ulrich Heintz, then at Northeastern University. Later, Heinz moved to Brown University (in nearby Providence, Rhode Island) and George Alverson stepped in to fill the gap at Northeastern. The three universities still support a dedicated group of teachers that meet for dinner once each quarter and for five days each August. The group meets at Roxbury Latin School where Rick Dower teaches; Dower has been an active QuarkNet participant since 1999.

The teachers met in early December and discussed several topics. One of the more interesting ones was the efficacy of science videos that are found on outlets such as YouTube. Some are less than effective and don't address firmly held student misconceptions. Mike Wadness, another teacher in the group, recently presented an AAPT Winter Meeting talk entitled: "Using Particle Physics to Teach about the Nature of Science" in a session called "The Higgs and My Classroom."

Physics Experiment Roundup: A new website on Fermilab's Proton Improvement Plan-II, or PIP-II, is now live. Learn all about future plans for providing powerful, high-intensity proton beams to the laboratory's experiments.

Resources: Check out the new mobile app for the Particle Adventure available in the Android Play Store and the Apple App Store.

QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Tom Jordan: jordant@fnal.gov
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov