“Our mission is to create opportunities for teachers and students to explore the nature of scientific research. Using cosmic ray muon detectors, participants design and perform experiments to analyze data employing the cosmic ray e-lab.”

  Learning objectives.

a.   Configure a cosmic ray detector appropriately for acquisition of data for calibration and analysis of measurements.

June 4-5, 2018
Cardwell Hall, Room #224 @ KSU

Small URL for page: https://tinyurl.com/ksu2018ligo

Objectives

Participating teachers will be able to:

Lots of videos and resources at https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/LA

11 Teachers attended a 1 day QuarkNet workshop at KSU to learn more about gravity waves and LIGO.

How to Run EQUIP from Raspberry Pi

Install/update JAVA:
In Command Prompt type:  sudo apt-get install librxtx-java
Install EQUIP:
In web browser, go to cosmic ray elab.  in Library, Resources, select EQUIP java interface and download EQUIP_18JUL2014.
You can put this anywhere you want but I would suggest on the desktop. (The rest of this walkthrough is assuming the Desktop.)
To run EQUIP:
Open the terminal so you have a command prompt.
Make sure your directory is in the Equip Folder:
        cd /home/pi/Desktop/EQUIP
Make a copy of the following script and paste into the command line:
        java -Djava.library.path=/usr/lib/jni -cp /usr/share/java/RXTXcomm.jar -jar EQUIP_18JUL2014.jar
Create and save your file name before you find the port.
in log file:   
 select Choose File and assign the in the EQUIP folder on your desktop or on a USB Drive
Select     home/pi/Desktop/EQUIP/data
or
select:      media, pi,(USB Name), EQUIPDATA (if you want it to be in a folder with this name)
Create a new file name:  I suggest something like:
      2017_May_4_Stack_46cm.txt
Note: Stack_46cm indicates that I have a stacked geometry with a 46cm difference between counters 1 - 4.
You should have something like this to note your geometry to make it easier to identify your data.
Save  (you can check to see that your file got created by looking in the data folder you want it to go in)
Find your DAQ in Choose Port.  You will know you found it when the screen fills with your information.  Wait to make sure you have enough satellites, make sure you have your settings the way you want and enable counts.

Kansas State University QuarkNet Center, 2015-2016 Annual Report

The K-State group held a week-long workshop and a Masterclass (and Masterclass Orientation) in the last fiscal year. 

The Masterclass Orientation was held on February 20, 2016 and was attended by 9 teachers.

The Masterclass was held on March 4, 2016 and was attended by 8 teachers and 27 students on site and 1 teacher and 18 students participated from their high school. KSU Physics hosted a short program of demos and hands-on physics activities and we also toured the KSU Nuclear Reactor. Most KSU HEP and Cosmology graduate students helped with the Masterclass activities.

A week-long workshop was held at KSU on August 8-12, 2016. This was attended by 13 teachers. The first two days were devoted to cosmic ray detectors and four teachers brought their detectors and took data and measured the speed of muons, closing with short talks of their observations. The teachers plan to keep their cosmic ray detectors running their schools. On Wednesday the teachers built cloud chambers and got them running and will try to continue using them in their schools. Martin Shaffer ran the activities on the first three days. Tim Bolton gave two talks, on cloud chambers and on the LHC & CMS. Brian Washburn gave an extended lecture and presentation with demos on electromagnetic radiation and polarization. Four teachers stayed for the last two days and worked on CMS e-Labs with Shane Wood.

On other fronts, KSU QuarkNet teachers continued to avail themselves of national QuarkNet and other HEP-related opportunities seeded by QuarkNet. Emma Detrixhe participated in the 2016 Data Camp at Fermilab.

The KSU group remains strong in its thirteenth year of existence. Approximately two and a half dozen teachers participate, a core group of a dozen or so regularly, and the rest at the rate of once every other meeting.  We continue to specialize in serving small rural high schools throughout the state. Plans for 2016-2017 include an early spring Masterclass orientation workshop and participation in a Masterclass in late spring 2017.

Below are resources from Brian Washburn's presentation on polarized light and lasers from the 2016 summer workshop.

Cosmic Ray Workshop Aug 8-10 2016

“Our mission is to create opportunities for teachers and students to explore the nature of scientific research. Using cosmic ray muon detectors, students design and perform experiments to analyze data employing the cosmic ray e-lab.”

  Learning objectives.

• Organize data using the cosmic ray muon e-lab
• Specify limitations and assumptions of a proposed experiment.
• Manipulate apparatus using appropriate data acquisition equipment for calibration, characterization, and analysis of measurements.
• Generalize from data possible sources and scale of experimental error.
• Summarize and communicate claims, evidence and results to demonstrate the nature of scientific research.
• Implement plans to use the cosmic ray e-lab with the classroom community.

Agenda