1. WG7 – BL4S

2. Misconceptions related to particle physics in proposals for the BL4S competition
A misconception is a conclusion that's wrong because it's based on faulty thinking or facts that are wrong

3. Did you realize during these three weeks that you had misconceptions in (particle) physics too?

4. So what gives the particles their mass? Higgs field or Higgs boson?

5. Some misconceptions about theory and what is
experimentally feasible from a few of the proposals:
How the detectors work and what they can measure?
Fixed muon-target. Trapped. Feasible?
Proton / antiprotons have same mass
No particles will decay / transform unless they crash heads on with something
Expecting neutral kaons in the secondary beam
Detecting gravitational waves
Proton scattering with very high energy
Claiming that their experiments have never been done before (not only in BL4S)
Some of them helped us change the BL4S-documentation!

6. The original technical document http://beamline-for-schools. web. cern
Hard to understand
Too little, yet very specific information
Detailed but not detailed enough
Used terminology that is unknown to high school students

7. How we felt about it
A lot of the misconceptions in the proposals stem from the fact that the document describing the particle beam and the detectors at their disposal was unclear and overly technical
STUDENTS CANNOT LEARN “ALL OF PARTICLE PHYSICS” in order to decide on their project focus

8. What we did
Made substantial changes to the text in the original document
Added pictures
Added links to educational videos
Added links to animations

9. What we think we accomplished
Made the document more focused on high school students and teachers
Gave them clearer instructions
Pointed out some frequent misconceptions
Illustrated the operation of the experimental setup in detail

10. Example – Original document
Multi Gap Resistive Place Chamber (MRPC)
Our two MRPC detectors have a surface of 30 x 30 cm. They provide, as the DWCs tracking information but with a smaller resolution. Their main advantage is that they can provide a very accurate time information for the passage of a particle. In a well calibrated system values as low as 100 ps (pico seconds) can be reached. Therefore, the MRPCs are very useful detectors for time of flight measurements.

11. Example – New document Multi Gap Resistive Place Chamber (MRPC)
Our two MRPC detectors have a surface of 30 x 30 cm. They provide, like the DWCs, tracking information but with a smaller resolution. Their main advantage is that they can provide a very accurate time information for the passage of a particle. In a well calibrated system values as low as 100 ps (pico seconds) can be reached. Therefore, the MRPCs are very useful detectors for time of flight measurements.
The MRPC consists of a stack of resistive plates where spacers between these plates define a series of gas gaps. An anode and cathode electrodes are placed on the outer surfaces of outermost resistive plates while all interior plates are left electrically floating. The two basic principles of the multi gap RPC are:

12. Example – New document
1. The resistive plates are transparent to the fast signals generated by the avalanches inside each gas gap. The induced signal on the external electrodes is the sum of the activities of all the gaps.
2.  The internal resistive plates are all electrically floating. They take the correct voltage initially due to electrostatics however they are kept at the correct voltage due to the flow of electrons and positive ions created by the avalanches in the gaps. The stable state is equal gain in all gaps.

13. Example - Original document
Figure 2
Figure 1

14. Example - New document

15. Videos !
You might consider watching a short introductory video about hadrons, mesons, pions and kaons: Hadrons, mesons, pions and kaons
You might consider watching this short instructional video, which shows how charged particles move when influenced by a magnetic field: Particle movement in magnetic field
You might want to see this instructional video explaining Cherenkov light: Particle physics and Cherenkov light

16. Because…..
This is the setup…

17. BL4S

18. BL4S

19. BL4S
a little bit too complicated for non engineers and physicists

20. OPPORTUNITIES FOR PARTICIPATING IN THE BL4S COMPETITION
IN UPPER SECONDARY
GENERAL EDUCATION SCHOOLS
IN POLAND

21. GENERAL INFORMATION Students’ age: 16-19
Obligatory in the first year: basic level physics
Optional in the second and third years: advanced level physics, science, medical physics
Physics at advanced level
- An optional subject in state final exams

22. BASIC LEVEL PHYSICS One 45-minute lesson per week in the first year
No particle physics
Basic information on astrophysics, atomic physics and nuclear physics
One optional lesson on CERN

23. ADVANCED LEVEL Schools obliged to provide such a course as an option
Three 45-minute-long lessons
per week in the second year
and four in the third year
In total, special relativity – 6,
nuclear physics – 7, astrophysics
and particle physics – 5 lessons
Course ending in a state exam on advanced level – optional

24. SCIENCE
Schools obliged to provide such a course for students doing humanities on advanced level
Two 45-minute-long lessons per week in the second and third years, one third of which devoted to physics (the remaining lessons devoted to chemistry or biology)
For students not interested in physics

25. MEDICAL PHYSICS Schools not obliged to provide such a course
Two options – one or three 45-minute-long lessons per week in the second and third year
Considerable freedom in choosing the material to teach
Usually chosen by students not interested in doing physics or maths at high level

26. CONCLUSIONS
No room for encouraging or preparing students to take part in BL4S competition in the school curriculum
But: an option for keen students and devoted teachers as a form of extracurricular activity

27. BL4S Beamline For Schools
How may BL4S be incorporated into the Norwegian curriculum?

28. Very short overview: Norwegian high school physics / science curriculum
5+5+5 hours a week over three years
Not a flexible curriculum with almost guaranteed final national exams at the end
Tight time constraints
Fundamental elementary particle physics is not a big part of the total curriculum, but medical applications, awareness of radioactivity, cosmic rays as in aurora borealis, is at qualitative level

29. From a Norwegian high school physics book

30. Does a BL4S proposal need to include things like these?

31. NO!

32. Example experiments which could be used in a Norwegian proposal
AND are covered by the curriculum
Medicine:
Looking at Bragg-peaks in different conditions

33. Web camera Italy (2015, Italy) / smart phone detectors
Sensors

34. For more artistically inclined groups (Cosmic particle, France)
Basic signal processing

35. Radiation, planes/spacecrafts
Testing materials / protecting astronauts

36. Denmark 3 physics levels, C, B and A
Physics-C mandatory for all pupils
Physics-B. Pupils can choose physics-B after having finished physics-C
Physics-A. For pupils interested in physics when they start school. The second or third year might be a possibility for BL4S