Speaker
Description
OCRA (Outreach Cosmic Ray Activities) is an INFN outreach program designed to introduce students to the scientific method through experimental activities on cosmic radiation. Within this framework, we developed in Trento an educational path on atmospheric muons, involving high-school students in a series of hands-on measurements carried out both underground and at high altitude, with the contribution of IEEE to the implementation and dissemination of these activities.
The program combined classroom preparation, detector operation, field excursions, and data analysis, allowing students to take an active role in all phases of the work. In the Piedicastello tunnels, students performed underground measurements of the muon flux, comparing counting rates in different shielding conditions and discussing the attenuation of cosmic radiation below ground. In a second set of activities, carried out during mountain excursions in the Trentino area, students measured the muon flux at increasing altitude, observing its rise with height. These measurements provided an accessible experimental framework to discuss the production of atmospheric muons in cosmic-ray showers and the role of relativistic time dilation in their propagation through the atmosphere down to ground level.
Beyond the scientific content, the initiative was conceived primarily as an outreach and educational experience, in which students were directly involved in measurement, comparison of experimental results, and physical interpretation. The combination of underground and mountain activities proved particularly effective in linking key concepts of modern physics with direct observation, while also fostering curiosity, teamwork, and awareness of experimental research practices. In this contribution we present the structure of the OCRA activities, the role of the outdoor and underground experiences, and we try to quantify the main outcomes of this educational pathway.