Teaching Elementary Particle Physics: Part I1
Art Hobson · The Physics Teacher · 2010
I'll outline suggestions for teaching elementary particle physics, often called high energy physics, in high school or introductory college courses for non-scientists or scientists. Some presentations of this topic simply list the various particles along with their properties, with little overarching structure. Such a laundry list approach is a great way to make a fascinating topic meaningless. Students need a conceptual framework from which to view the elementary particles. That conceptual framework is quantum field theory (QFT). Teachers and students alike tend to quake at this topic, but bear with me. We're talking here about concepts, not technicalities. My approach will be conceptual and suitable for non-scientists and scientists; if mathematical details are added in courses for future scientists, they should be simple and sparse. Introductory students should not be expected to do QFT, but only to understand its concepts. Those concepts take some getting used to, but they are simple and can be understood by any literate person, be she plumber, attorney, musician, or physicist.