About QuarkNet

Who We Are:

QuarkNet is a nonprofit collaboration dedicated to developing and broadening participation in America’s workforce. It is a partnership between Fermilab and the University of Notre Dame. We provide science teachers the means to develop their skills and bring real research experience into the high school science classroom.

  • Through our nationwide network of QuarkNet Centers, we unite science teachers and university investigators in active research projects of contemporary physics.
  • Through the International Masterclass program, we deliver focused, hands-on workshops covering a variety of topics in physics directly to teachers and students around the world.
  • Through the Cosmic Ray and CMS  e-Labs, we provide teachers with comprehensive, web-based applications to guide students through in-depth inquiries using real data from major scientific experiments.

Teachers @ Syracuse center work on QuarkNet Workbench

Students at UIC Cosmic Ray Workshop

What QuarkNet Can Do For You:

  • Teachers gain experience in real scientific research, maximizing their talents and classroom effectiveness.
  • Researchers gain educational impact from their research and engagement with their local communities.
  • Students gain immersion in meaningful scientific research, preparing them for postsecondary education and developing critical intellectual skills.

Publications and presentations by QuarkNet teachers, students, and staff

Teachers @ QuarkNet Boot Camp Poster Session in Fermilab Atrium

Teachers @ UCRiverside center build histogram

Site Utilization Tips:

  • QuarkNet's educational materials are organized around the Data Portfolio, a tiered system of activities designed to bring guided scientific inquiry into the classroom.  It is carefully structured to help teachers present physics concepts and scientific thinking using increasingly immersive classroom projects and increasingly intensive access to real data from real experiments.
  • The site provides an excellent networking tool for teachers, researchers, mentors, and fellows in universities and high schools around the country (and Puerto Rico).  In addition, QuarkNet maintains international reach through collaboration. We have strong ties with groups in Germany, Mexico, Japan, and India, among other countries, and participate in the work of the International Particle Physics Outreach Group and the African School of Fundamental Physics and Applications.

Top view of MINOS - Data Camp