Abstract
This paper presents the case for how students can be helped to increase their scientific vocation by experimental work and the introduction of particle physics into pre-university studies. These two ideas are the two main lines of work of the ADMIRA initiative, which has been created by individuals belonging to different and complementary educational and research institutions. The initiative consists of a network of schools that share Minipix devices, a readout system for the Timepix detector designed at CERN in the framework of the Medipix2 Collaboration. The schools receive logistical and technical support from the local University (the University of Barcelona) and from CERN. The centres involved and the objectives, as well as the characteristics of the project are presented. The technical and didactic materials available are also shown. Finally, some initiative data has been analysed to show its rapid growth, and some students’ research is presented showing the diversity of tasks that can be done with such detectors.
Highlights
The ADMIRA15 Project is an initiative that aims to bring particle physics to schools through experimentation, in order to promote scientific vocations amongst students, by using Timepix detectors, designed at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) by the Medipix2 Collaboration
An audible ‘Wow!’ can be heard when the tracks apear on the screen. These didactic objectives and the results obtained by students using the Timepix, represent a very large qualitative leap compared to those that can be observed in experiments using other detection systems, such as Geiger meters (Millar et al 1990). This is mainly due to the features of the Timepix detector and its ability to (a) visualize and distinguish different families of particle based on their interaction with the sensor material and (b) measure energy deposited by particles, which allows the quantitative study of concepts and models that would otherwise only be explained on a theoretical scale
The initiative started in 2017–2018 with one participating school, 4 Research Task (RT) related to MiniPIX and 27 students using the detector in the Introduction Practice
Summary
The ADMIRA15 Project is an initiative that aims to bring particle physics to schools through experimentation, in order to promote scientific vocations amongst students, by using Timepix detectors, designed at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) by the Medipix Collaboration. This activity began with the collaboration of several professionals in the field of education, research, and innovation in 2017 and is gradually being consolidated as an educational program with unique characteristics in terms of methodology and results. Some data and the results of the project’s impact on participating schools are presented in order to encourage the implementation of similar initiatives in other regions in Europe or beyond
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