education

Workshops around the world train science teachers to incorporate particle physics into their classrooms.

From DOE, Dec. 9, 2020: Computer Science Education Week is aimed at inspiring students to discover computer science activities and careers. The national laboratories, including Fermilab, are scheduled to host a number of activities to highlight The Department of Energy’s efforts, including increasing access to computer science education, building computational literacy, and growing the cyber workforce of the future.

Fermilab and partners in northern Illinois have established the region as a leader in particle accelerator science and technology. Few places in the world boast such a concentrated effort in particle acceleration research, developing and building cutting-edge particle accelerators, and growing an accelerator-focused workforce.

Quantum computing will affect the future of every area of science, creating the need for a quantum-fluent workforce. In collaboration with two high school teachers, a group of Fermilab theorists has developed a quantum computing course for high school students. With this course, Fermilab scientists are breaking new ground in both quantum computing research and supporting the competitiveness of the STEM workforce in the quantum era.

From DOE, May 20, 2020: Lee C. Teng is now 93 years old. The internship that bears his name was created jointly by Fermilab, Argonne National Laboratory and the U.S. Particle Accelerator School in 2007. He started work at Fermilab in 1967 and spent the next 22 years working in high-energy physics. After a two-year leave of absence that started in 1983, he picked up again at Fermilab, working until 2004, when he retired.

Browse Fermilab’s many online resources to dive into the wonderful world of particle physics.

From Naperville Community Television, Feb. 10, 2020: Fermilab opened its doors once again for their 16th annual Family Open House. The free event aims to teach the community about physics while having fun doing it, which is one reason people decided to come out. The crowd of around 2,500 people met Fermilab scientists and engineers to get a closer look into the world of physics. Creating that scientific spark in the younger generation is one of the laboratory’s goals. Watch the two-minute segment.

From The Beacon-News, Feb. 9, 2020: Fermilab’s Family Open House was a day dedicated to discovering the wonders of science as the lab offered its 16th annual open house event, which organizers said was again geared toward “sharing science with our neighbors” as well as opening young minds to career possibilities.

In an educational turning of the tables, first- through fifth-graders evaluated Fermilab scientists’ abilities to illuminate and educate at their school’s first reverse science fair. Three competing groups of scientists demoed neutrino detection, muon precession and particle acceleration in fun, accessible ways, and the elementary school students got to decide who received the blue ribbon.

From Kane County Chronicle, Feb. 5, 2020: Some people might think that Fermilab physicists are unapproachable eggheads, probing the deepest mysteries of science from their secluded laboratories without personal lives or connections to the rest of humanity. At their first reverse science fair, students at J.B. Nelson Elementary found out Fermilab scientists are just like everyone else — they aren’t geniuses. They just like science a lot.