Un approccio fenomenologico alla superconduttivit\ue0 e i processi di apprendimento degli studenti

Superconductivity is an important part of modern physics. Its discussion in school connects with that of electromagnetism, allowing experimental exploration aimed at the construction of phenomenological laws, describing it. In the framework of the Model of Educational Reconstruction, an educational path in vertical perspective was designed. It pass from the exploration of Magnetic and Electric Properties of Materials, to the construction of phenomenological laws, describing the superconducting state. Research experiments, conducted with more than 300 students from High Schools and monitored with the use of tutorials and pre / post questionnaires, document positive learning paths, in which the peculiar properties of superconductors are more often correlate each Other in models based on electromagnetism, rather than remain separate descriptors of phenomena

Implementing Dirac Approach to Quantum Mechanics in a Hungarian Secondary School

Quantum mechanics is included in many curricula across countries because of its cultural value and technological application. In the last decades, two-state approaches to quantum mechanics became popular because of the age of quantum computers. This article presents an experiment with 24 Hungarian high school students on teaching/learning quantum mechanics according to Dirac’s approach to concepts and basic formalism developed in the context of light polarization. Tutorials, pre/post-tests, and oral interviews are the main monitoring tools used to collect data on the students’ learning path. From the qualitative and quantitative data analysis, learning progressions emerged in the phenomenology exploration and on the probabilistic nature of single quantum measurement. The students’ conceptions of quantum state are enriched, confirming the importance to focus educational approaches on fundamental topics. For one section of students, the complex relationship between quantum state and property remained problematic, but the students’ interpretations of a quantum state can be categorized. Two lines of reasoning emerged regarding the impossibility to attribute a trajectory to a quantum system, one more orthodox and one that seeks to avoid the probabilistic nature of the quantum world

Thermal sensors interfaced with computer as extension of senses in Kindergarten and Primary School

New technologies offer new learning opportunities for teaching science also in primary. Simple experimental situations based on on-line sensors are proposed for interactive activities as a powerful extension of senses. In particular they can allow a phenomenological exploration of thermal processes based on a thermodynamic approach. The exploration of thermal properties by tactile sensation is widened by the use of on-line sensors. In the proposed didactical approach, pupils correlate the processes they realize with the real time graphs they observe, activating imaginative reduction of the concepts under study

Atwood’s Machine and Electromagnetic Induction: A Real Quantitative Experiment to Analyze Students’ Ways of Reasoning

We report a research-based proposal on electromagnetic induction within the theoretical framework of the Model of Educational Reconstruction. The proposal is based on a sequence of inquiry-based experimental activities centered on hands-on materials and Real-Time quantitative experiments, through which students explore the phenomenology of electromagnetic induction. The sequence was planned to address Faraday-Neumann-Lenz law analyzing the involved physics quantities and constructing quantitative relationships between them. Our hypothesis was based on the idea that phenomenological explorations performed through online sensors promote a functional understanding of electromagnetic induction and help students to face the conceptual knots highlighted by international literature about these phenomena.The educational sequence was proposed to a sample of 87 high school students with the aim of analyzing the evolution of the educational processes employing a set of inquiry-based tutorials. The qualitative analysis of students’ answers demonstrates that students increased their knowledges in the analysis of electromagnetic induction phenomena recognizing the fundamental role of time-variation of the magnetic field flux in the Faraday-Neumann-Lenz la