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ISE Masterclass with students of the Arsakeio school of Patras, Greece

The half day-long ISE implementation had two parts: masterclasses using the HYPATIA demonstrator and virtual visits to the CMS experiment at CERN and the ICEcube laboratory at the South Pole.

The first part was performed with about 30 students of the 1st and 2nd Lyceuum grade of the Arsakeio school of Patras (http://www.arsakeio.gr/gr/patra/patra-high-school?view=featured).

The students followed all steps of the HYPATIA demonstrator 'guided by C.Kourkoumelis and S.Vourakis- analysed the ATLAS events and answered the PISA questions on each phase. The majority of time was spent in the third phase where they used the embedded HYPATIA tool to search for Z and Higgs bosons. The students worked in groups of one or two depending on the available school PC's. The results of the PISA accessment can be found at the following link: http://goo.gl/GYO6OZ

Later in the day the students moved to the schools' House of Science amphitheater were they were joined by many more students and took part in a videoconference with CERN. Dr.C.Lazarides postdocrorate researcher and Dr.A.Tsirou technical coordinator of the CMS experiment acted as guides and gave the students a virtual tour of the CMS experiment, where its different components were explained. A.Tsirou descended at the CMS pit-200m underground- and using a camera gave the unique opportunity to the students-since the LHC tunnel was open- to have a close look in real time of the giant experiment with detailed explanations. The virtual visit lasted more than an hour and ended by discussing questions which students posed to the CERN researchers. The activity was very much appreciated especially due to the tour of the 'real' detector.

Later in the afternoon the students and the general public had the chance to participate to a virtual tour to the South Pole neutrino experiment followed by lecture by Dr.S.Sotiriou on neutrinos.

Learning outcomes

  • Acquaintance with the High-Energy Physics research and CERN
  • Familiarization with the ISE project
  • Familiarization with the HYPATIA demonstrator, event analysis techniques and answers to PISA-like assessment questions