Extend the curriculum with student-built interferometer projects and a Bayesian parameter-estimation unit¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The authors' forward-looking recommendations for the integrated curriculum. First, independent study projects in which students "design and build their own interferometric detector" from relatively cheap components (laser, beamsplitter, photodiode, tabletop, two mirrors), then experiment with improving sensitivity and reducing environmental noise. Second, condensing the year's material into a single self-contained unit and adding parameter estimation, since lessons on the Bayesian methods used by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration have yet to be developed and would expose students to computational science, statistics, and applied math.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• For the detector project: a laser, beamsplitter, photodiode, tabletop, and two mirrors; an optical table is ideal but expensive, so cheaper wooden tables could be built as part of the project

Constraints¶

• The authors note an optical table could be quite expensive to obtain, and that lessons focusing on the currently used Bayesian methods have yet to be developed

Target Learners¶

• high school students in physics or astronomy, and introductory college students

Target Learning Goals¶

• experimental detector design, noise reduction, parameter estimation, interdisciplinary STEM exposure

Related Strategies¶

• Iterative improvements and interdisciplinary integration for the next course iteration
• Use freely available gravitational-wave education tools and resources, including Black Hole Hunter and Einstein's Messengers

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Farr, Schelbert, & Trouille. (2012). Gravitational-wave science in the high school classroom. https://arxiv.org/abs/1109.3720. doi:10.48550/arxiv.1109.3720