Report on first European-wide Masterclasses Hands on Particle

Report on first European-wide Masterclasses „Hands on Particle Physics“ 7. 3. -19. 3. 2005 http: //wyp. teilchenphysik. org Michael Kobel Bonn University Germany EPOG outreach meeting, Valencia, 9. 4. 2004

EPOG masterclasses „Hands on Particle Physics“ Particle Physics Masterclass (MC), idea from UK Students (16 -18 year olds) spend 1 day at research institute listen to lectures (introduction to particle physics) work like real scientists: Exercises with real data European EPOG event for WYP 2005 One or more MCs in each country (20 to 80 students per day) About 60 institutes from 18 countries participating about 3000 students participating (incl. 500 at RAL) Whole activity w/in 2 weeks: March 7 to March 19, 2005 ~ 6 masterclasses joined in video conference at the end of the day Discuss results and differences Combine results (better accuracy) questions to scientists All information at http: //wyp. teilchenphysik. org

Preparation Exercise translations: Hands-on-CERN: 4 14 languages (2 older versions) Identifying Particles: 2 5 languages (2 partially) Keyhole: 2 4 languages (2 partially) THANKS to all contributing institutes (impressive work!) Christian Helzel for putting all together Schedule: 58 institutes from 18 countries evenly distributed on 12 dates worked very well, (thanks to German Science-on-Stage office) Example Lectures: proved useful for „newcomers“ happy to still add *your* talk on „wyp“ web page

Video Conferences

Technical Preparation Tool used: VRVS (www. vrvs. org) browser based, just needs PC (windows or LINUX(? )) and Webcam easy to include existing H. 323 video conference systems possible to share one desktop with all participants Preparations instructions on www. vrvs. org and http: //wyp. teilchenphysik. org continuous support from Slovak group of CALTECH VRVS team indispensible central support from CERN (Mick Draper, Joao Fernandes) TEST I: 17. -19. 1. : all 58 institutes, full 3 -day test row in groups of 6. 7. +11. +16. 2. : second try for 8 institutes Technical Issues: many institutes tried VRVS for the first time absolutely crucial to test with *real* equipment main issues: audio (microphones, echoes), firewalls, …

Web pages and CD Institute Pages: European wide collection of institute descriptions very useful for local outreach most difficult part to obtain completely, finally successful National Links: invitation to further reading Imprint: introduces and stresses EPOG role Physics: much more than just masterclass exercises Impressive Work by Christian Helzel (5 h/week) collected material, kept Web up to date, designed CDrom

CD-rom 10 Websystems with exercises in 16 languages on total online at http: //wyp. teilchenphysik. org physics offline on masterclass CDrom (6000 pieces printed) distributed to all students will stay a very useful give-away for public and schools • What are the fundamental building blocks of matter? • How can I identify them? • Which forces hold them together? • How do these forces work? • How far have forces and matter been understood? Find the answers to these and other questions by browsing, reading, and working through the Web systems collected on this CDrom in 16 languages. Most of the material contains interactive elements, some even real particle physics events for making your own measurements. System requirements: Web Browser, Java, Shockwave and Media Player • Hands-On-CERN (Ca, Cz, Dk, En, Fr, Ga, Gr, Hu, It, No, Pt, Sk, Sp, Sv) Erik Johansson et al. , Stockholm • A Keyhole To The Birth Of Time (En, It, Pl, Sp) James Gillies, Richard Jacobsson, et al CERN • Identifying Particles (En, De, Gr, It, Sk) Terry Wyatt, Univ Manchester • Ba. Bar Particle Physics Teaching Package (En) Heather Lang, David Kirk, Univ Manchester (George Lafferty) • Lancaster Particle Physics Package (En) F. Foster et al. , Lancaster Univ (Andre Sopczak) • Kwork. Quark (De) DESY (Dirk Rathje, Marc Hermann) • Teilchentour I: Reise durch die Welt der Teilchen (De) Dagmar Schmitz, Univ Bonn (Michael Kobel) • Teilchentour II: Anwendungen in Kosmologie u. Medizin (De) Alexandra Petri, Univ Bonn (Michael Kobel) • Grundlagen der Teilchenphysik (De) German Hacker, Univ Erlangen • Le Monde des Particules (Fr) Gwendoline de Hemptinne, Guillaume Leibenguth, Damien Bertrand, Univ Louvain Hands on Particle Physics Interactive educational material on Particle Physics in 16 languages The material on this CDrom was collected and translated by the European Particle Physics Outreach Group EPOG for the occasion of the First European-wide Particle Physics Masterclasses 7. 3. -19. 3. 2005 http: //wyp. teilchenphysik. org

Exercises 3 central mandatory exercises: Z branching ratios: (one picked by each institute): „Identifying Particles“ (T. Wyatt, Manchester) mandatory: Z BR‘s from OPAL (UK, GR, D, I, SK) optional: WW pairs, 4 f events „Hands on CERN“ (E. Johannsson et al, Stockholm) mandatory: Z BR‘s from DELPHI (UK, SE, I, F, DK, HU, E(x 3), NO, CZ, SK, GR, PT) optional: WW pairs, alpha_s „Keyhole to the birth of Time“ (J. Gillies, R. Jacobsson, CERN) mandatory: Z BR‘s from DELPHI (UK, PL, E, I) optional: alpha_s other teaching systems (some better for home) BABAR (English) relativistic kinematics, Eigentime, K 0‘s Lancaster (English) laws of collisions, momentum measurement Kworkquark (German) DESY‘s introduction to particle physics Bonn I+II (German) bubble chamber pictures, cosmology Erlangen (German) quiz and animations Louvain (French) Z mass, lineshape

The actual event complete evaluation currently being done by IPN Kiel < 500 questionnaires received back. (expected more…) will report on results at next EPOG meeting local specialities video linkup from schools, setup by students (Lodz, Warsaw) competition during video conference (19. 3. , Lodz and Belgium) German Quiz for participation at DESY(HH+Zeuthen) and CERN particle physics show at Bonn (30 of 500 students continuing w/ MC) common components lectures exercise video linkup

Exercises Done *very* seriously by students different speed fast groups went on with WW most problematic tt events discuss physics and statistics

Video Linkup An international collaboration of students! learn about discussing physics (systematic differences, questions to scientists)

Learning conferencing Marvellous Job by moderators: Silvia Schuh and Dave Barney Good to have a LEP scientist on Board at CERN each day: Pippa Wells‚ Mike Lamont, Michael Hauschild, Frederic Teubert, Richard Jacobsson, Alain Blondel‚ Tatsuo Kawamoto learning curve in technical and moderation issues one institute with bad audio spoils whole conference shared desktop becoming reliable after initial problems moderation increasingly efficient 1. 5 h still (too? ) long after a 7 h long day? less institutes/day? keep students awake! (competition? ) Still, students liked the idea having fun, reporting results, asking questions liked contact to other sites English language no (big) obstacle

Give-aways All sites: Masterclass CDrom CERN: Comic World of Particles DESY: HERA Brochure Participation Certificate local gimmicks (AT: T-shirt, DE: Kworkquark card game, …) small problems somewhat too few CERN and DESY brochures (~10%) (student number increase 2500 3000) rest of CERN comics sent out in April parcel delivery to few institutes delayed or failed VERY well received by students

Some first look at Questionnaires (Bonn+Berlin, 70 students total) How did you like the particle physics masterclass? 1: very much 2 3 4 5: not at all 28 (42%) 9 (13%) 2 (3%) 0 28 (42%) What did you like most? Lectures Exercises Video linkup Berlin 12 9 9 Bonn I 8 13 5 Bonn II 9 9 1 TOTAL 29 31 15

The level of the masterclass was 1: too easy 2 3: just right 4 5: too difficult Berlin 3 9 12 2 0 Bonn I 0 3 17 3 1 Bonn II 0 8 10 1 0 TOTAL 3 (4%) 20 (29%) 39 (57%) 6 (9%) 1 (1%) After attending my interest in physics in general is 1: smaller 2 3: unchanged 4 5: bigger 0 0 32 (46%) 11 (16%) 26 (38%)

Some citations The quality of the video link was absolutely desastrous (Bonn I) The video linkup had good quality and good interaction between universities (Bonn II) The technical quality of the video link was far from excellent (Bonn II) The video linkup was better than expected and had a high entertainment value (Bonn. II) I learned a new method of scientific work and that I could apply this myself in the exercises (Bonn II) The exercises were fun. The tutors were friendly and helpful (Bonn II) I liked that the data came from a renowned institute and have an relation to real research (MK), but the exercise was too easy/boring (Bonn II) The lectures assumed that we never heard the term „physics“ before…. . which prohibited dealing with complex themes (Bonn II) The lectures were complicated, lacking to explain basic knowledge (Bonn II) It was „cool“ to compare our own results with those from other countries and other experiments (Bonn II)

Very interesting to ask scientists from CERN, tried to answer every question, really good Got the feeling that I do sth. which physicists do every day in their experiments, I felt involved The Lectures were very interesting, the exercises much fun, the scientists and the tutors very friendly, I learned very much I liked the idea of contacting other pupils and discussing our results. It is sad that the technology is not perfectly developed (Berlin) liked, that video linkup was something new w. r. t normal schoolwork interesting to learn how physical information is exchanged around the globe The exercises were too easy, after 2 min You understand it, and then it was boring (Bonn II) exercises a bit difficult to understand, but very much and good help, (Berlin) I liked the funny guys at CERN (Berlin) enough and good food All was great!!!

Thanks! To all of You making this event a success! Should we continue? How? (including video linkup? , personpower? finances? ) When?