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
		A QuarkNet Leadership Workshop for High School Teachers and Their Students July 7 -17, 2009

		The BCCP Global Teacher Academy and the Berkeley Lab Physics Division's QuarkNet program hosted 7 QuarkNet teachers, 21 high school students, and 5 Cal Teach undergraduate students at the 2009 workshop. The 10 day program was an intensive, technology-rich teaching and learning experience focused on cosmology. Each day began with a lecture by a BCCP or LBNL physicist on topics including: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, particle physics, and nuclear science. Current research in these fields was also discussed. Activities, lessons, and student presentations were filmed and are in post production. Please check these pages to see new videos as they are added. BCCP Teacher Academy Director Rollie Otto led a tour of The Advanced Light Source (ALS), a division of Berkeley Lab. Workshop Photos Day one - 21st Century Cosmology Day two - Astronomy Day three - Particle Physics Day four - Nuclear Science Day five - Cosmic Ray Detectors on Mt. Diablo Day six - Dark Energy Day seven - Dark Matter Day eight - The Large Hadron Collider Day nine - Cal Teach Cosmology Stations Day ten - Conclusion and student presentations Workshop Instructors What: A workshop for teaching and learning modern physics by exploring the big questions in Cosmology Who: High school physics teachers and their students Where: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory When: Summer 2009 (July 7-17) "I have been going to engineering/scientific seminars/workshops here and in Europe for more than 30 years...the Cosmology workshop over the summer was simply fabulous. I consider myself and the students who attended exceptionally lucky. We received a rare gift - we learned about the latest happenings in physics directly from the people doing the work. It has become my gold standard for workshops! I doubt that one could top that event, but I would like to encourage people to try." Dick Damien, Physics Teacher, Washington High School, San Francisco Scientists present the current scientific view of the history and structure of the universe Students and teachers learned how scientists seek answers to the “big questions” in cosmology and related “big questions” in particle physics Teachers shared lessons for teaching foundational concepts in the high school and introductory college physics and astronomy curriculum linked to cosmology Did inflation happen? How? What is dark matter? What is dark energy? What generated the matter-antimatter asymmetry? Are there other relics to be found? (e.g. cosmic strings)? Are there extra dimensions? Do fundamental constants vary? What other exotic forces might come in play? Related “Big Questions” researched at the Large Hadron Collider: How did our universe come to be the way it is? What kind of Universe do we live in? What happened in the Big Bang? Where is the antimatter? Why do particles have mass? What is our Universe made of? A 10 day workshop for 10 teams of high school physics teachers and their students. Each team consists of one teacher and 3 to 6 students. 10 days include talks and presentations by scientists. Teachers participate as learners along with the students in the morning lectures and presentations and share the teaching of hands-on lessons in late mornings and afternoons. Teachers facilitate student learning and present model physics lessons. Student participants are the primary audience for all content and instruction. Location Perseverance Hall, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Personnel Lead Organizers: Stu Loken, George Smoot, Rollie Otto Workshop media development: Rosemary Nocera Targeted Teachers Participants in 2007-2008 Cosmology Workshops (QuarkNet Teachers) Bay Area QuarkNet Teachers Potential International Partners Student Recruitment: Participating teachers have first opportunity to select 2 to 3 students from their classes An Expanding Universe: My Experience with the 2008 Cosmology Workshop "In one’s education, there are always one or two learning experiences that change one’s outlook on life forever...After completing he 2008 Physics in and through Cosmology Workshop, I feel it fully deserves the title educational milestone." Read more from Serena Physics In and Through Cosmology 2008 Physics In and Through Cosmology 2007 Contact: Rollie Otto, Ph.D. Teacher Academy Director Education Outreach and Global Teacher Academy RJOtto@lbl.gov 925-451-5530