QuarkNet at OU

A program to mentor high school science teachers



Click here to apply

QuarkNet is a new educational program funded by the National Science Foundation and centered at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago, Illinois. The aim of this program is to help improve science education in high schools by establishing a nation-wide science teacher network. In the first year it provided 4 Oklahoma high school an opportunity to participate in frontline physics research in particle physics, and thereby establishing a mentor relationships between science teachers and physics professors at the University of Oklahoma.

QuarkNet established 12 such centers in the first year, will be establishing 12 more each year over a five years period in universities and laboratories participating in hadron collider experiments at CERN in Switzerland and Fermilab in the US. Each center will include two mentor physicists and two high school science teachers. (In Oklahoma, two teachers participated with the University of Oklahoma, and two with Langston University.)

These teachers held eight-week paid summer research appointments under the mentorship of the local center physicists. During these summer appointments, the teachers participated in the research work of their mentors. This will allowed them to work with aspects of particle physics devices and applications, become familiar with modern methods of scientific inquiry, learn about how experiments in particle physics are conceived and implemented, how physicists go about acquiring and analyzing their data.

During the eight-week summer appointment, the teachers also learned through discussions with other high school teachers participating in this program. By this participation in the research work, the science teacher will established a working relationship with the scientists from an institution near their high school. After the end of the summer, the teachers went back to their high school. The mentor relationship between teacher and physicists will continues during the academic year, when the teachers will extend their research work to the classroom. They along with the physicists are designing a workshop for up to ten other area teachers who will join the center in the second year (2006). The newly recruited teachers will then also participate in a summer research experience (limited to two weeks) in the summer of 2006. Eventually this will lead to the formation of a network of science teachers, with periodic meetings during the academic year to discuss pedagogical and scientific issues.

We (P. Gutierrez and M. Strauss the principles), are physics professors in the High Energy Physics group at University of Oklahoma, are part of this program. We are both members of two large international collaborations (D0 and ATLAS) of physicists that operate (or plan to operate) huge, complicated detectors whose purpose is to help elucidate the structure and behavior of matter at the smallest scale. We are looking for about 10 high school science teachers from the state of Oklahoma to participate in the workshop this summer (2006). These teachers will part of the science teacher network for Oklahoma. If you feel a bit adventurous, are interested in learning new things and meeting new people (including "crazy physicists"), come join us!

If you want to know more about this program, visit the QuarkNet Main Site at Fermilab

How to apply

If you are interested in participating in this program, please fill out this form or send e-mail or an informal "snailmail" note (see mailing address below) with the following information:


Deadlines and facts:

Contact information:

Prof. Michael Strauss,
Office Phone (405)325-3961 ext 36343
e-mail strauss@mail.nhn.ou.edu

Prof. Phillip Gutierrez,
Office Phone (405)325-3961 ext 36339
e-mail gut@mail.nhn.ou.edu

Mailing Address
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Oklahoma
Norman, OK 73019

Back to OU QuarkNet page

last updated 6 March 1999
P. Gutierrez