FIU QuarkNet Annual Report 2025

The 2025 QuarkNet workshop was held at Florida International University on July 21–22, 2025. Led by mentor Dr. Jorge L. Rodriguez and QuarkNet staff teacher Shane Wood, the workshop brought together three dedicated high school teachers—Jorge Barrosa, Rebecca G. Hernandez, and Rigel Jimenez—for an intensive and engaging program focused on particle physics and data analysis. Participants also took part in hands-on sessions that featured Cosmic Watches, Cloud Chambers, and other related activities, all designed to enrich classroom teaching with modern physics tools. The workshop emphasized not only strengthening teachers’ content knowledge but also equipping them with practical strategies to bring cutting-edge physics into their curricula.

A central theme of this year’s workshop was the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson, a landmark achievement in particle physics that continues to shape scientific inquiry and inspire science education. In recognition of the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, awarded to the international teams that made this discovery possible, Dr. Rodriguez led a seminar-style discussion on the Higgs mechanism—the process by which elementary particles (quarks and leptons) acquire mass. The session drew on ideas from Sean Carroll’s recent book on quantum fields, the second in his series The Biggest Ideas in the Universe, and served as a springboard for participants to reflect on how best to share these profound concepts with their students.

Through these discussions and activities, the workshop not only deepened the teachers’ understanding of high-energy physics but also provided them with innovative approaches to inspire the next generation of learners.