Minnesota 2024 QuarkNet Annual Report

Minnesota Mentor: Greg Pawloski

Minnesota Lead Teacher: Jon Anderson

This center held NOvA Masterclass on March 9, 2024. Greg Pawloski worked with Minnesota teacher and Neutrino Fellow Mike Plucinski and QuarkNet staff to plan and facilitate the day's activities. Students heard a talk on the Standard Model from Greg, had a tour of the clean room at the Physics & Nanotechnology building at the U of M, worked through the NOvA masterclass measurement, then connected via Zoom to a Fermilab-based NOvA masterclass videoconference. 
For a full agenda on this masterclass day, click on the link below:

2024 NOvA Masterclass agenda: https://quarknet.org/content/2024-nova-masterclass-u-mn

A summer workshop was held for teachers on August 5-7, 2024. During the workshop, Teaching & Learning fellow Jodi Hanson introduced teachers to the Modern Classroom approach to teaching and QuarkNet staff member Ken Cecire joined Shane Wood to facilitate a Quantum workshop. Teachers heard a talk from Ricco Venterea, a former student of a QuarkNet teacher, on his educational journey from elementary school to today as a graduate student currently studying cosmic rays in Italy. Day two featured a closer look into uncertainty in W boson mass measurements which lead into a discussion about uncertainty in physics more generally. Graduate student Ben Messerly gave a talk on Dethroning the Standard Model and Nikki Pallat gave a talk on Neutrino Oscillations and the SBN Program. 

For a full agenda of the 2024 teacher workshop, click on the link below:

2024 Teacher workshop agenda: https://quarknet.org/document/minnesota-quarknet-workshop-2024