Running on a track is boring. Run like a proton at Fermilab’s new playground!!

[DreamGypsy]

5. I assume that you want to make a copy of the playground...

...making a full copy of Fermilab would require a lot of space and could be expensive.



Just kidding, of course!

There is a organization, Fermilab Friends for Science Education, that helped to fund/build the accelerator park.

From a modest, grass-roots organization at its inception in 1983, FFSE has grown to become a national leader in precollege science education. From the first Summer Institute for Science Teachers held in the very early years, programs sponsored by FFSE have increased in number, size and quality. Last year over 37,000 students, and 2,500 teachers participated in programs through the Education Office. Over the years participants have come from over 500 schools for programs like: Summer Secondary Science Institutes, Beauty and Charm, Particles and Prairies, Science Adventures and others to use the resources at the Lederman Science Center, Teacher Resource Center and the greater resources of Fermilab. Participants in FFSE programs come from an increasingly diverse demographics with onsite programs and with the use of technology. Programs continue to be developed through a partnership between FFSE and the Education Office at Fermilab.

For more information contact Susan Dahl at 630-840-3094 or [email protected].

I bet you could contact them and get some ideas about how you could work with your children's schools to improve science education. Here's a link for resources that they have for educators: http://ed.fnal.gov/home/educators.shtml. You could probably mock up the accelerator pathways on grass with marking paint for a temporary 'accelerator'.

Here's a large scale picture of the Physics Playground :

We have started a multi-year program to create our physics playground. With a grant from the Kane County Riverboat Fund and other sources, in 2012, Fermilab Friends for Science Education supported the construction of "Run like a Proton," the outdoor accelerator complex exhibit. At the same time, Fermilab's Sustainable Energy Club installed a tracking solar array , an exhibit on sustainable energy, and Roads and Grounds began preparing a switch grass plot, an exhibit on biofuels,

"Run Like a Proton" joins two other exhibits, a human sundial and a bubble chamber window in front of the Lederman Science Center. Stay tuned for additions to our playground.

Have fun! Hope your protons and antiproton offspring have fun colliding, too!

DG