2018/2019

2019/2020

DM270

FIS/08 (DIDACTICS AND HISTORY OF PHYSICS)

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

Didattica e storia della fisica

2°

2nd semester (02/03/2020 - 12/06/2020)

6

48 lesson hours

Italian

ORAL TEST

INTROZZI GIANLUCA (titolare) - 3 ECTS
MALGIERI MASSIMILIANO - 3 ECTS

Basic knowledge of Relativity and Quantum mechanics, as provided by Bachelor degree courses in Physics. Student majoring in Mathematics should also acquire the knowledge of Quantum mechanics, before attending to Didattica della fisica. It is strongly suggested to pass the exam of Fondamenti della fisica in advance.

The course provides an introduction to physics teaching, both as a contribution to the training of future high school teachers, and as training for research in the field of scientific education. Concerning the first item, the goal is to provide future teachers with the tools to evaluate textbooks, and to tailor physics programs using both historical and epistemological knowledge, and recent results on teaching techniques. Regarding the second item, themes and methods of research in the fild of modern physics teaching will be illustrated.

Part 1 - A brief history of the beginnings of the discipline. Studies of the '70s and '80s on students' learning of mechanics and the development of the Force Concept Inventory. Models of conceptual change: the analogy between learning and the historical development of the discipline (model of Posner et al.); the framework theory model (Vosniadou et al.); the model of phenomenological primitives or p-prims (DiSessa). - The problem of teaching physics as a discipline endowed with internal consistency: the points of view of Hammer and Viennot. The Knowledge Integration paradigm for testing the degree of coherence in students' disciplinary ideas. - Teaching-learning quantum physics: an overview of studies on students' misconceptions and alternate models, focusing on concepts mentioned in the Italian "Indicazioni Nazionali". The main research based assessments of conceptual understanding. Examples of errors or misleading formulations in widely used textbooks. Research based teaching-learning approaches. -
Teaching quantum physics using Feynman's sum over paths approach. Comparison with other research based approaches, advantages and critical points. Development of a possible teaching-learning sequence covering the subject matter mentioned in the "Indicazioni Nazionali". (Massimiliano Malgieri)

Part 2 – Teaching Relativity at high school level: alternative approaches. Teaching Quantum Physics at high school level. Research on students’ difficulties and main
teaching proposals. The “conceptual change” perspective in the teaching/learning of Quantum Physics: a proposal. (Gianluca Introzzi)

Lectures.

a) Besson U. - Didattica della fisica – Carocci (2015) - b) Besson U., Malgieri M. - Insegnare la fisica moderna – Carocci (2018)

Oral examination.

Oral examination.