Abstract:

The flagship activity of the International Particle Physics Outreach Group (IPPOG) is the International Masterclasses (IMC) in particle physics. This very successful programme, which started in 2005 and is turning 20 this year, brings cutting-edge science to high-school students, making them scientists for a day. Invited to a university or laboratory, the students spend a day of immersion in particle physics, learning about the standard model and beyond as well as about experimental methods, detectors and accelerators. The hands-on part of the activity involves analysis of real data from an experiment, followed by discussion of the results. A videoconference at the end of the day with groups from other countries gives them the opportunity to discuss further, ask questions to scientists acting as moderators and participate in a quiz. The masterclasses programme started in Europe, was later joined by America and has now expanded to all continents, with more than 200 institutes in 60 countries participating every year. The data used for the hands-on part were initially from LEP experiments; with the turn-on of the LHC, measurements based on data from ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb were introduced. In the last years there has been a spectacular broadening of the physics content of the masterclasses, with data from the BELLE II experiment in KEK, from neutrino experiments (the MINERvA experiment at Fermilab) , from astroparticle physics (the Pierre Auger Observatory) and medical applications of our field (particle therapy). After a brief historical introduction we will present the current state of IMC, which is a key tool for outreach for our particle physics community.

This work is presented on behalf of the IPPOG Collaboration.

Keywords:

STEM, particle physics, high schools, outreach.