Virginia Tech QuarkNet Center Report 2019

The year 2019 was another successful year for the Virginia Tech QuarkNet Center!  Our annual summer workshop: “Catching Gravitational Waves” focused on QuarkNet’s LIGO eLab.  Many of our center teachers teach not only physics, but also astronomy and geosciences, and so it seemed in the general best interest to branch out to applications of particle and big data physics in those fields.

In addition to our annual visit to the VT Kimballton Underground Research Facility, a major focus of the workshop was for teachers to create lesson plans for incorporating eLabs into their own classrooms by first going through the LIGO eLab themselves.  A majority of our teachers work for Montgomery County Schools in Virginia, which has recently eliminated final exams from the curriculum in favor of cumulative projects. Our center teachers see an opportunity to use QuarkNet eLabs for students to do genuine research to fulfill this county requirement.  We plan to discuss the results of these student projects (and their efficacy as cumulative final assessments) at the workshop next year.

The workshop also included talks from the Virginia Tech physics department. The first excellent talk was on our astrophysics theme, given by Dr. Ian Shoemaker, about experimental searches for dark matter. This was of intense interest to all the teachers, as questions about dark matter are commonly asked by high school students!  It is certain that some key points of that talk will make their way to student ears. The second talk was given by our center leader, Dr. Camillo Mariani, about the results from the Mobile Neutrino Lab. This was also of great interest to our center teachers, as we had toured this lab in our first workshop before it was deployed at the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant, and so all were curious to see how the research panned out!  Additionally, one of our lead teachers, Rebecca Jaronski, had worked on calibrating the photomultiplier tubes for this experiment as part of her QuarkNet summer research experience. Our teacher members greatly appreciate hearing the talks given by these experts in their fields.

As the teachers attending the workshop worked through the LIGO eLab and lesson plans, one of our Lead Teachers, Rob Culbertson, was working on a separate project.  We are hoping to grow our membership in coming years, so Rob worked diligently to come up with a mailing list of teachers who might be interested in the unique opportunities for professional development that QuarkNet provides.  As there are no QuarkNet centers in West Virginia or North Carolina, it was decided that we could look farther to extend this opportunity to more secondary science (especially physics) teachers than are available in just southwestern Virginia.  A mass email was sent- with the subject header “Get Smart and Earn Money”- to determine interest level, with an online survey attached. Respondents will be contacted with further information about QuarkNet and our center here at Virginia Tech.

We look forward to a bright future for QuarkNet at Virginia Tech as we continue to learn and grow!

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Dear Colleague –

Please consider this invitation to join us at the Virginia Tech QuarkNet Center for stipend-supported, content-rich professional development, collaboration, and teaching resources.

QuarkNet is an NSF-funded partnership between Fermilab and the University of Notre Dame that provides opportunities for science teachers to develop skills and knowledge while bringing authentic research experiences into the classroom. Through our summer workshops and masterclasses, the Virginia Tech QuarkNet Center unites and supports middle and high school teachers of the physical sciences by providing insights on contemporary physics research, web-based applications, in-depth activities, and access to real data from major scientific experiments. QuarkNet also provides a daily stipend and allowances for travel expenses.

We are a community of fellow teachers and we understand the value of a program that can offer a wide range of benefits with minimal impact on a busy schedule. If you’re interested in more information, please follow this link to complete a very brief (< 2-minute) survey so we can get back in touch. We’d be grateful if you would also share this invitation with colleagues whom we may have missed.

Regards and Best Wishes for a Successful 2019-2020 School Year!