Geometry ACA Grade 10

Licenced: Math/Physics 7-12

Topic
The W boson might be extra hefty. If so, it could hint at new Physics
By Emily Conover, APRIL 7, 2022 AT 2:00 PM
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/w-boson-particle-mass-standard-model-physics

I choose this news to incorporate into my Physics lesson because it challenges one of the most
frontier and basic concepts in Physics. As one of the elementary particles, W boson build up the
modern Physics world. It is a necessary conclusion of the standard model of Physics if we
accept all the modern founds, such as Einstein’s Mass-Energy Equation, the model of atoms
and electrons, theorems of Relativity, and explanations of gravity. To understand this article, my
students must review the basic models of all topics of modern Physics and apply those
knowledges to analysis on the claim. In addition, they must apply their knowledge of advanced
Statistics to read the conclusion of the research paper. I will guide them to create a simple
experiment to reproduce the whole process of this research to let them design the experiment,
analysis the model of the elementary particles, and evaluate the results with Statistics as really
researchers.

TEKS
§112.65. Advanced Placement (AP) Physics 2: Algebra Based (One Credit).
1. The student can create representations and models of natural or man-made phenomena
and systems in the domain.
2.1 The student can justify the selection of a mathematical routine to solve problems.
7.2 The student can connect concepts in and across domain(s) to generalize or extrapolate in
and/or across enduring understandings and/or big ideas.

§111.47. Statistics, Adopted 2015 (One Credit).

(B) use a problem-solving model that incorporates analyzing given information, formulating a
plan or strategy, determining a solution, justifying the solution, and evaluating the problem-
solving process and the reasonableness of the solution;
(E) formulate a meaningful question, determine the data needed to answer the question, gather
the appropriate data, analyze the data, and draw reasonable conclusions;
(B) construct a statistical model to describe variability around the structure of a mathematical
model for a given situation;
(H) explain the meaning of the p-value in relation to the significance level in providing evidence
to reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis in the context of the situation;

Objectives:
1. My students will write down the definition and properties of W boson by reading the
article.
2. My students will summarize the conclusion and evaluate the contribution of the
publication by calculating the corresponding energy to the mismatched mass using
Einstein’s Mass-Energy Equation.
 3. My students will create models of the elementary particles by reading one of the
supportive materials.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/w-boson-particle-mass-standard-model-physics

4. My students will interpret and analyze the result of the original publication
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk1781

5. My students will measure the weight of a ball hanging on the table without touching it or
weigh it directly.

6. My students will construct research publications based on their experiments

7. My students will validate their hypothesis with the statistics of their results.
8. My students with dyslexia, high-functioning autism spectrum disorder, or visual
impairment will learn the lesson.
9. My ESL students discuss the paper with an comprehensive understanding, and conduct
the experiment as instructed.

Warm-Up

For my autism students, I will first communicate with them and make sure they feel relax
with the environment. I will also use positive enforcement to let them get used to routine
and learning environment. I will put all words in the slides and print them out. For my
dyslexia students, I will display the questions one by one with pictures. For my visual
impairment students, I will make sure I read and describe everything on the slides.

For the ESL student, they will get a vocabulary list and I will lead all students to go over
the key word. I will also guide the ESL student to read through the abstract of the paper
during the independent reading time. The graphs in the slides will also help them to
understand the concept and words.

Scientists has proved that our world is made by atoms and molecules. Furthermore, we have
studied the structure of atoms. What is it? We now know they are made by protons, neutrons,
and electrons. (show the atomic model) It seems that everything can be explained perfectly with
this model. Please draw and label the atomic model for H and O.

I will pass a 3D model of atom-molecule to my visual impairment students and encourage them
observe, touch, and play it.

The 3D model is a visualization of the corresponding concept.

Are scientists done with their job? What is the next question to scientist? That is what makes up
those particles. Modern Physics provide a model called elementary particle theorem to explain
that. This theorem has been validated by various indirect observations. The news we are going
to read about is one of them. Let’s see how the model works and how scientist validate it.
While reading the articles, I want you to answer the three questions:
1. what is W boson?
2. Which property of W boson is the publication trying to study on?
3. What is the major conclusion of the publication?
I also need you to write three questions that you do not understand after reading the article.

I will provide a reading record of the article for my dyslexia and visual impairment students. I will
ask for an assistant teacher to help my autism students on the experiments. I will make sure the
group members can assistant my dyslexia and visual impairment students.

Instructional Strategy:
I will divide the students into group of 6. Two of them will read the news. Other two of them will
read the supportive materials. The rest two of them will read the publication. Once they are
done with reading, they will try to answer each other’s questions.

I will walk around and check their questions. I will point out the paragraph if they can not find the
answer to their questions. I will guide them to focus on the major questions instead of detailed
questions.

Students with autism will have pompoms to make models. This will help them express their idea
in discussion. I will also

ESL student will be grouped together and ESL teacher will instruction them to make sure the
activity has a high degree of structure. I will post different sections of the paper on the wall, so
that the student need to walk around to read the section they are in charge.

Lesson:
I will keep asking questions. Based on their answers, I will not get into depth if I feel
some content is beyond their ability. Instead I will give them extra time on completing
previous work and leave the hard content as additional readings.

Still in their groups I will lead the class discussion about the conclusion that is the mismatch of
the mass and evaluate this conclusion by calculating the corresponding energy to the
mismatched mass using Einstein’s Mass-Energy Equation.

The major result of the publication is the mass of the W boson is measured to be 80424.2+-8.7
MeV, while the expectation is 80357+-6 MeV. The student will convert this mass into equivalent
energy. I will ask them the meaning of the unit before they start to solve to give them a hint.

Physics cross-curriculum:
In particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a subatomic particle that is
not composed of other particles. Particles currently thought to be elementary include the
fundamental fermions (quarks, leptons, antiquarks, and antileptons), which generally are "matter
particles" and "antimatter particles", as well as the fundamental bosons (gauge bosons and the
Higgs boson), which generally are "force particles" that mediate interactions among fermions. A
particle containing two or more elementary particles is a composite particle.
Ordinary matter is composed of atoms, once presumed to be elementary particles – atomos
meaning "unable to be cut" in Greek – although the atom's existence remained controversial
until about 1905, as some leading physicists regarded molecules as mathematical illusions, and
matter as ultimately composed of energy. Subatomic constituents of the atom were first
identified in the early 1930s, the electron and the proton, along with the photon, the particle of
electromagnetic radiation. At that time, the recent advent of quantum mechanics was radically
altering the conception of particles, as a single particle could seemingly span a field as would a
wave, a paradox still eluding satisfactory explanation.

Show them the graph and ask them to find W boson. Let them discuss what is W boson and
What property does it have.

In the news, FermiLab use their particle accelerator to measure the mass of W bosons which
only exists in a short period of time. The challenge is that due to it’s property, W bosons can not
be weighed directly. The scientists must use indirect method to measure it. Please discuss how
they achieve this goal. Draw the process with a system graph.

We are going to simulate the research by measuring the mass of a ball hanging on your table
without any direct method. The rule is you can not weigh it directly. You can not touch it with
your hand. Your tools can touch it for no more than 5 second each time you measure it. Please
follow your system graph. Design your experiment, Record your result and put everything into
documentation.

I will provide them the list of materials.

I will group Special Education students together. I will provide specialized experiment with better
setup for them.

In this section, I will regroup ESL students with other students so that they can walk around and
discuss with others.

Giacomelli, G., Spurio, M., Braibant, S. (2011). Particles and Fundamental Interactions: An
Introduction to Particle Physics. Germany: Springer Netherlands.

I will leave this part optional for the Special Education students.

I will scaffold this section with ESL students and other students if needed.
Math cross-curriculum:
Scientists not only get the best fit for their measure of the mass, but also analyze it by check the
uncertainties as the following table. You can do the same thing to analyze your result. Now let’s
apply different distribution to your data and get your best fit. Once you get your result, draw
them in a similar table. Does your result support your hypothesis?

Closing:
Whether some research is worth to be published or not? Who makes this decision? Do some
scientists waste their time and funding on some meaningless activities? A process called peer
review is used to make sure scientist are not playing. The researchers need to show the
reviewers that their work is meaningful and contribute to human’s understanding of the natural
world. In this science publication, they compare their result with results in other experiments as
in the next figure. What is your conclusion from looking at this figure? Do you think they
enhanced our understanding of the world or challenged it?

Share your results with other groups. Please give comments to each other’s result. What is your
conclusion? What is the contribution of your work? Write it down.

Assignment: I want each group to create their own research report. In the report, you need to
introduce the background by reciting the original publication, state the hypothesis quantitatively,
explain the method, describe the experiment, show the result in tables and figures, validate the
result, compare with other experiments, and conclude.

Formative Assessment: I will walk around the room and check their work throughout the
lesson, I will ask them questions intermittently, and I will observe how they work together.

Summative Assessment: I will grade their report and check to make sure their calculations
make sense and they used the publication format appropriately.

Materials:

1. Hanging weight
2. Ruler
3. Timer
4. Cup
5. Scale
6. Thread
7. Tape
8. Paper
9. Material List

Staff:
1. ESL teacher

Technology:
1. SmartBoard
Theoretical Approaches:
The targeted ESL students are Hispanic-Americans. They prefer:
1. A cool environment,
I will lower the blinds in my classroom to keep a cool room temperature while still receiving
enough natural lights.
2. Conformity,
3. Peer-oriented learning,
I will group them together and let the ESL teacher give them additional instructions.
4. Kinesthetic instructional resources,
5. A high degree of structure,
6. Late morning and afternoon peak energy levels,
I will post all materials on Canvas in case they want to review after school.
7. Variety as opposed to routines, and
8. A field-dependent cognitive style.