The Masterclass in the US Ken Cecire Hampton
- Slides: 8
The Masterclass in the US Ken Cecire Hampton University / Quark. Net ken. cecire@hamptonu. edu
In the US… • Quark. Net organizes Masterclass • In 2006 and 2007, a small number of US “Masterclass Institutes” participated with Europe • In 2008, we created the US Masterclass in collaboration with EPPOG • Quark. Net fellows design program and evaluation APS April Meeting 13 th April 2008 2
US Masterclass overview • All students analyzed DELPHI Z-decays • 10 Institutes moderated from Fermilab over 3 days • 2 Institutes connected with Europe • BNL with CERN and others • UC Riverside with Faro, Portugal (obrigado, Pedro Abreu) • ~170 students / ~30 teachers • Recommended 60 min preparation plus all day Masterclass • Evaluated by Masterclass Questionnaire and Pretest/Post-test…results not ready APS April Meeting 13 th April 2008 3
US Masterclass growth APS April Meeting 13 th April 2008 4
How did it go? • Overall: well • Students excited • Too many leptons – but we’ll get better next year • US videoconferences were a little rough but worked • We were inexperienced in running the videoconference • US students and teachers ask for more interaction • Great support from Fermilab and EVO team especially moderators APS April Meeting 13 th April 2008 5
Student reactions “The masterclass changed my view of how physics is done by showing me that it is a collaborative effort…” “I had known what the scientific process was before, yet I had not completely understood it. ” “We developed our conclusions based on the data taken as a whole. Even with those conclusions in hand, we did not say they were "right" or that we had proven anything: They were just conclusions which we had developed based on our data. “ “We…had a really fun time with each other and with everyone in the video conference. We were pleasantly surprised at the casual feeling of the video conference…” APS April Meeting 13 th April 2008 6
New and different • Fermilab moderation (LHC@FNAL) • Use of blog to communicate: LHC Postings • go to http: //cosm. hamtonu. edu/vlhc and choose “LHC student blog • Students live blogged during Masterclass • Used for sum up of event • Evaluation pre-test and post-test • Tested particle physics “literacy” and understanding of science former seemed to work better • Results not ready APS April Meeting 13 th April 2008 7
Toward the future • Hope to test AMELIA this year • Keep LEP Masterclass • Intro to LHC Masterclass • Independent teacher use • May use this summer at FNAL with visiting students from Japan • May extend idea of a “US model” • Replace Quiz with more student-student interaction? • Moderators toss questions back to Institutes • Evaluation will help us decide APS April Meeting 13 th April 2008 8
