Teacher Academy


Creating Access to World Class Science and Engineering for K-12 Teachers and Students

BCCP Homepage Academy Activity Instructors For Students For Teachers For Berkeley Lab Staff Facilities Center for Science and Engineering Education Academy Homepage
		History and Structure of the Universe

		Nikhil Padmanabhan– Dark Matter and Dark Energy Dr. Padmanabhan discussed Dark Matter and Dark Energy, explaining that regular matter only comprises about 4% of the universe. The rest is composed of dark matter and dark energy. He also presented supporting scientific evidence. Lecture summary. Video clip: Gravity and universe expansion Video clip: Universe structure Video clip: Sloan Digital Sky Survey PPT Video PDF of Powerpoint Presentation
		Hubble Constant and the Age of the Universe Sean Fotrell Sean Fottrell explained how the age of the universe is determined by using a supernova’s redshift to calculate the Hubble Constant, and how this has changed over time. Expanding Universe exercise Expanding Universe data Teacher Resources: Accelerating Universe activity This lesson examines the acceleration of the expansion rate of the universe as evidence of Dark Energy.
		Connecting Cosmic Rays to Particle Physics - Stu Loken A proton from outer space (yellow) hits the upper atmosphere, and produces a shower of other particles (green). Some of these particles (mostly pions) decay into muons (red). Only a small fraction of the muons reaches the earth's surface, because most decay in flight. Therefore, at higher altitudes there are more muons, because fewer have decayed. At sea level, one muon goes through an area the size of your fingernail about every minute! Powerpoint Presentation pdf
		Discovery Station Earth's Gravity - Rollie Otto - Vernier / LoggerPro Dr. Otto used the Vernier program to teach students how to graph objects and find the acceleration caused by gravity. The students made short videos of themselves throwing a variety of balls. The videos were then imported into Vernier where the data was graphically analyzed to determine the value of g on earth.
		Relativity and Time Dilation Glen Melnik Glen Melnik illustrated Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity using a theoretical scenario of a person in a room traveling at relativistic speed. There is a clock in the room consisting of a photon beam bouncing between the ceiling and the floor. The photon beam must travel a larger distance when set in motion than when at rest - making the clock "tick" slower. Glen used simple trigonometry and algebra to show the students a derivation of the Lorentz Transformations from the assumptions of Special Relativity.
		Day one: Cosmology for the 21st Century Day two: History and Structure of the Universe Day four: Standard Model of Particles and Interactions Day five: Beyond the Standard Model of Particles and Interactions Day six: Cosmologists for the 21st Century Workshop homepage