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 Ratings
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| Reviewed: |
Jul 11, 2001 by Physics |
| Overview: |
This large, award-winning website has a wide range of sources of information on particle physics. It includes research, education, and news links relating to particle physics. The core of the site is the "Adventure". Using essentially no mathematics, the material introduces the Standard Model, its limitations, and its empirical bases. The Particle Adventure comprises 9 sections: What is Fundamental?, What is the World Made Of?, What Holds it Together?, Particle Decays And Annihilations, Unsolved Mysteries, How Do We Know Any Of This?, How Do We Detect What's Happening?, How Do We Experiment With Tiny Particles?, and How Do We Interpret Our Data? |
| Learning Goals: |
Give a qualitative but accurate outline of fundamental particles and interactions. |
| Target Student Population: |
High school students, undergraduate nonscience majors, and lower-level science majors. |
| Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills: |
Although very qualitative, this site does require students have a working knowledge of fundamental physics. |
| Type of Material: |
HTML Tutorial |
| Technical Requirements: |
The Flash plugin is required, standard with most recent browser releases. |
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| Strengths: |
Presenting faithfully a complex theory such as the Standard Model with only minimal mathematics is a daunting task. The Particle Adventure is a stunning success. This site elegantly brings to nonscience and also science students a basic understanding of the Standard Model of fundamental particles and interactions. The most impressive aspect of this work is its comprehensive scope. Particular features that stand out include:
The clickable, interactive particle chart is superb, as are the summary and history of particle physics linked to the home page.
The side-link regarding the discovery of the top quark is very interesting.
The presentation of the physics of scattering experiments is quite vivid and will help students understand a somewhat obscure subject.
The links describing the major accelerators in the world are very useful.
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| Concerns: |
There are a few physics statements in the Particle Adventure, due to its qualitative nature, that might require some explanation by an instructor. These include:
In parts of the narrative, it is stated that physicists are fairly sure that quarks are fundamental, but then in others the possible composite nature of quarks is discussed.
The attraction between neutral atoms is labelled the "Residual E&M Force" and is not explained any further. Some students may understand this better if it is related to the interaction between dipoles.
The statement is made for fermions that "For reasons we do not fully understand, a consequence of the odd half-integer spin is that fermions obey the Pauli Exclusion Principle...". Instructors might explain that a deeper understanding comes from relativistic quantum mechanics and the Dirac equation.
General Comments on Quality: This site is a model of a well-written,
clear, but non-technical description of science. It is a result of a 12 year collaboration of eminent physicists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and high school and college teachers in the Contemporary Physics Education Project (CPEP).
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Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool |
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| Strengths: |
Recommended Use for Material: Tutorial
- Some simple interactive quizzes are provided at the end of most sections as a wrap-up for students.
- The material is understandable and non-quantitative.
- This material uses, and thus reinforces, some basic physics properties students should have previously encountered, such as charge, energy, mass, etc.
- The ilustrations are attractive and very useful.
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| Concerns: |
This material consists mostly of static html pages, and either static or animated gifs. Interactivity with students is essentially just the clicking through links. The quiz questions are answered just by clicking on a link, and don't really give feedback to student answers.
General Comments on Effectiveness: The material on this site is presented in a very understandable and interesting fashion.
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Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty |
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| Strengths: |
The graphics are clear and interesting. The layout of the pages and navigation through the site is straight forward. Indications are always given of where in the material the page being displayed resides.
The material is divided very well into small, understandable pieces, yet the flow of the instruction is maintained. Sidebar information is shown in smaller pop-up windows. This approach caters well to the younger generation that measures time in nanoseconds.
A glossary of terms is always handy for students' questions.
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| Concerns: |
The answers to quiz questions are provided in a number of different ways,
including pop-up windows, inline text, or pull down menus. Some of these may be a little confusing to users. The answers at the end of the site given in long pull down menus are rather unusual.
General Comments on Usability: This site is easy to understand and navigate, and has many features that make it very pleasant to browse.
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