The Italian national project Piano Lauree Scientifiche (PLS)
is addressed to high school students in order to promote
their interest in physics and science with the aim of increasing professional vocations and
enrollments in scientific faculties.
In the PLS framework, at Roma Tre University we developed an itinerant educational
laboratory based on meteorites analysis by means of a portable kit. The activity is performed
at school and the students are directly involved in the study of meteorite features and in
measurements of physical properties of the samples. Students are intriguingly introduced in
the scientific method working together in acquisition and analysis of data, and writing a final
report.
Lessons and laboratories were developed in collaboration between researchers and high
school teachers. Thanks to their multidisciplinary character the activities represent an
excellent tool for stimulating the interest in different fields of science as astronomy, physics,
geology and biology.
From a collection of meteorite samples we developed portable kits for a use in the schools.
Siderite sections are dried by means of an evaporator, to prepare the samples for a protective
coating. Thin sections of meteorite samples are also available for polarized light analysis.
In our laboratory a set of instruments enables a multiparametric study of meteorites for both
scientific and educational purposes. A 200-1000x microscope and a stereomicroscope are
suited to the visual investigation of geological and structural features of meteorite samples.
An UV/Vis/NIR spectrophotometer with integrating sphere enables transmission, absorbance
and reflectance analysis; coupled with a cryostat, such instrumentation can reproduce
thermodynamic conditions similar to the ones in the space.
With the aim of such equipment intriguing hands-on activities and scientific researches can be
performed on meteorite samples by means of non-destructive methods
