Using Detector Construction to Generate Community and Excitement over Nuclear Physics

Lehigh University is the site for the construction of the NSF MRI funded sPHENIX Event Plane (sEPD) detector. The sPHENIX detector is currently under construction at Brookhaven National Labs, with first collisions planned for February 2023. This has offered a unique opportunity for students of a variety of starting skill levels to learn about nuclear physics research with a hands on approach. We took a constructivist approach to education, with each person in the lab taking on the role of both student and teacher at different times. This built a peer-to-peer learning environment, and formed a community of practice. This procedure was mirrored with the analysis component of the project, where common starting projects were used to build the community, before each student started on their individual project. A key component is for each student in the lab to feel that they are completing something important, and to have ownership of the tasks they are asked to work on. In this talk I will share how this influenced student views on nuclear physics and physics in general.