QuarkNet is a long-term, research-based teacher professional development program in the United States jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy. Since 1999, QuarkNet has established centers at universities and national laboratories conducting research in particle physics (also called high-energy physics) across the United States. Mentor physicists and physics teachers collaborate to bring cutting-edge physics to high school classrooms. QuarkNet offers research experiences for teachers and students, teacher workshops and sustained follow-on support. Through these activities, teachers enhance their knowledge and understanding of scientific research and transfer this experience to their classrooms, engaging students in both the substance and processes of contemporary physics research. Teachers may receive academic credit for their participation. QuarkNet programs are designed and conducted according to “best practices” described in the National Research Council National Science Education Standards report (1995) and support the Next Generation Science Standards (2103).
Originally, QuarkNet established centers led by physicists participating in the CDF and DØ experiments at Fermilab's Tevatron in Batavia, Illinois and the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. It has expanded to include centers with participation in other particle physics experiments that are broadly representative of the field.