Particle Physics

The Particle Physics Project was made possible by funding from the Institute of Physics and support from the Centre for Science Education at the Open University. The project devised a pack of resources to help teachers and learners to engage with one of the most dramatic areas of modem physics: the search for fundamental particles.

The teachers’ guide included study notes to help teachers to develop their own knowledge and understanding of the topic together with teaching notes for each of the eight topics. The related student sheets included information and questions.

The guidance in the teachers’ guide was designed to be read in parallel with The search for fundamental particles. At the time the resources were developed, this was unit 32 of the Open University's Science Foundation course S102, which had been published in 1987. The OU book was intended mainly for teachers to help them learn about particle physics before teaching the topic and contained information that can now be found in many A-level Physics textbooks.

Teachers' Guide Contents
Overview
Learning about particle physics
Teaching particle physics
1. Introduction
2. Observing particles
3. Leptons
4. Hadrons
5. Quarks
6. The lepton-quark symmetry
7. Guage bosons
8. Particle physics in perspective
Further reading
Book reviews
Other references
ITQ answers an comments
SAQ answers and comments
Glossary

Student Sheet Contents
1. Particle Physics Past and Present
2. Particle Accelerators and Using Special Relativity
3. Radioactivity and Leptons
4. Hadrons and Conservation Laws
5. Quarks
6. Particles and Patterns
7. Exchange Particles and Feynman Diagrams
8. Particle Physics and Cosmology