A discussion on disciplinary knots concerning electromagnetism and superconductivity using a Web environment in the context of an EU Project (MOSEM) for research-based in service teacher training

Research literature highlights the importance of a revisiting of disciplinary content in a didactic perspective starting from students reasoning and learning processes. A research-based on these aims, concerning in-service teacher formation, was done treating electromagnetism and superconductivity in the framework of the national project PLS and the European MOSEM Project to realize a research-based in-service teacher training based on PCK

Metaphors and analogies proposed by perspective primary teachers to support the exploration of magnetic phenomena

Analogies and Metaphors play an important role in primary science education to correlate abstract aspects and lived experiences, providing concrete meanings for pupils. They represent important educational tools that can help young pupils to approach towards abstract physics concepts like those related to magnetic phenomena. In order to improve the competencies of Prospective Primary Teacher (PPT) students related to the use of analogies and metaphors in education, a specific module of formative intervention was developed and propose

La LIM per favorire l\u2019apprendimento: proposte di attivit\ue0 per futuri insegnanti primari sui fenomeni elettrostatici e magnetici,

La lavagna Interattiva Multimediale (LIM) sta diffondendosi nelle scuole e si hanno i primi risultati sul suo impiego in classe, che troppo spesso riguardano il trasferimento in ambiente LIM di attivit\ue0 proprie di altri strumenti multimediali. Serve sviluppare contributi propri della LIM per favorire il processo di apprendimento sia in merito ai metodi dell\u2019attivit\ue0 didattica sia in merito ai contenuti degli specifici campi disciplinari. Il processo di modellizzazione e costruzione del pensiero formale in fisica \ue8 uno di questi. Vengono proposti due esempi di attivit\ue0 su elettrostatica ed elettromagnetismo destinati alla scuola di base, che impiegano semplici strumenti della LIM per stimolare alla formalizzazione anche attraverso la discussione collaborativa delle problematiche. Esse sono state proposte per una prima validazione a futuri insegnanti di scuola primaria

The IWB for the construction of formal thinking: proposals for prospective primary teachers concerning motion, electrical and magnetic phenomena

The Interactive Whiteboard is a multimedia tool that has a continuous increasing diffusion in schools, but, too often, it is used to a simple transposition of activities designed for other multimedia tools. The development of specific designed activities centered on the development of learning process as regards the methods of teaching and the contents of the specific disciplines is needed. In teaching/learning physics, IWB can become a tool for conceptual modeling. In this paper, examples of activities designed for primary school pupils are discussed in relation with motion, electrostatic, magnetism phenomena evidencing the role of simple tools of the IWB to stimulate the formalization and the collaborative discussion between pupils

Overhaul and Installation of the ICARUS-T600 Liquid Argon TPC Electronics for the FNAL Short Baseline Neutrino Program

The ICARUS T600 liquid argon (LAr) time projection chamber (TPC) underwent a major overhaul at CERN in 2016-2017 to prepare for the operation at FNAL in the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program. This included a major upgrade of the photo-multiplier system and of the TPC wire read-out electronics. The full TPC wire read-out electronics together with the new wire biasing and interconnection scheme are described. The design of a new signal feed-through flange is also a fundamental piece of this overhaul whose major feature is the integration of all electronics components onto the signal flange. Initial functionality tests of the full TPC electronics chain installed in the T600 detector at FNAL are also described

Construction techniques and performances of a full size prototype Micromegas chamber for the ATLAS muon spectrometer upgrade

A full scale prototype of a Micromegas precision tracking chamber for the upgrade of the ATLAS detector at the LHC Collider has been built between October 2015 and April 2016. This paper describes in detail the procedures used in constructing the single modules of the chamber in various INFN laboratories and the final assembly at the Frascati National Laboratories (LNF). Results of the chamber exposure to the CERN H8 beam line in June 2016 are also presented. The performances achieved in the construction and the results of the test beam are compared with the requirements, which are imposed by the severe environment during the data-taking of the LHC foreseen for the next years

Pupils explore magnetic and electromagnetic phenomena in CLOE labs

The Conceptual Laboratory of Operative Exploration (CLOE) provides an informal context for pupils that stimulates conceptual reasoning and offers anchors for the construction of the first steps in scientific knowledge from the common sense vision. Research based CLOE labs are carried out by a researcher on a specific topic, based on a semi-structured interview protocol, which represents an open work environment through the proposal of everyday life scenarios. Phenomena in everyday situations are explored following sequences of reasonings by means of simple hands-on apparatus in different contexts. A research focused on construction of formal thinking through CLOE allows to identify students' spontaneous ideas and conceptual paths into the evolution of reasoning in the interpretation of magnetic and electromagnetic phenomena. This particular activity was carried out with primary and lower secondary school students (from 6 to 13 years old; from 1 to 8 grade). Starting from the identification and the classification of magnets, students highlighted the presence of a space property described by the orientation of a compass (magnetic field) having as sources both magnetic objects and both an electric current. The quantities involved into the Lenz induction process are individuated exploring the conditions for the generation of an electric motive force, highlighting the transient nature of the phenomena. The task to explain the functioning of an unknown artifact (induced torch) give the opportunity to apply the ideas on electromagnetic induction. Data are collected using personal worksheets and recording of the activity looking in particular to: 1) how an operative exploration may help students to identified and organize electromagnetic phenomena; 2) how the exploration and the comparison between phenomena is useful to help students in the interpretation of artifact; 3) how exploratory elements are reused by students in the interpretation of artifacts