• (A) Metacultural: an organic and coherent research-based path on a specific topic
is proposed to teachers. During this phase, time is dedicated to discussion of
disciplinary contents, educational choices, methods, and instruments with respect
to the rationale of the path.
• (B) Experiential: teachers play the role of students, testing materials, exercises,
lab activities.
• (C) Situated: teachers choose and design a customized FIM (4–12 h) to be
experimented in their classes (addressing specific crucial aspects and/or the
whole path).
At the end of the course, every participant revised individually the contents
addressed and two rubrics guided the planning of the teaching intervention, demanding them to point out the founding cores and the conceptual knots together with a
conceptual map, the proposed activities and the sequence of stimulus question for at
last one topic among the ones addressed. The outcomes of the various experimentations have been shared with our research group, allowing the monitoring both of
the work done by the teachers in designing a didactical proposal on modern physics,
and of the learning outcomes of the students involved.
14.3 Contents and Setting
The structure of MQ_P course aimed at addressing the following topics:
• Analysis of guidelines for innovation in curriculum on modern physics.
• Educational proposals on photoelectric effect, wave optics, optical spectroscopy
and Bohr’s interpretation.
• Focus on crucial experiments interpretation
3 (Compton and photoelectric effect,
Bertozzi’s experiment on relativistic energy of electrons).
• Laboratorial activities on measurement of the ratio e/m (electric charge and mass
of the electron), Franck and Hertz experiment, optical polarization and Malus’
law, measure of the speed of light, measurements of atomic spectra wavelengths
and energies.
• From structured to open problem solving (Maloney 2001) on Compton effect,
photoelectric effect, de Broglie wavelength, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle
and spectroscopy (derivation of energy level structure from discrete spectra and
prevision of spectral line formation in different physical conditions).
Twenty-five Italian physics secondary school teachers from three different scientific high schools attended MQ_P course. 12/25 teachers attended only (A) and/or
(B) phases in order to grasp the main issue concerning educational approach; 13/25
3 Crucial experiment interpretation consists in discussion of those experiments which interpretation
founds the physics of quanta interpretational proposal in the passage from classic physics to
quantum mechanics.
178
D. Buongiorno et al.
is proposed to teachers. During this phase, time is dedicated to discussion of
disciplinary contents, educational choices, methods, and instruments with respect
to the rationale of the path.
• (B) Experiential: teachers play the role of students, testing materials, exercises,
lab activities.
• (C) Situated: teachers choose and design a customized FIM (4–12 h) to be
experimented in their classes (addressing specific crucial aspects and/or the
whole path).
At the end of the course, every participant revised individually the contents
addressed and two rubrics guided the planning of the teaching intervention, demanding them to point out the founding cores and the conceptual knots together with a
conceptual map, the proposed activities and the sequence of stimulus question for at
last one topic among the ones addressed. The outcomes of the various experimentations have been shared with our research group, allowing the monitoring both of
the work done by the teachers in designing a didactical proposal on modern physics,
and of the learning outcomes of the students involved.
14.3 Contents and Setting
The structure of MQ_P course aimed at addressing the following topics:
• Analysis of guidelines for innovation in curriculum on modern physics.
• Educational proposals on photoelectric effect, wave optics, optical spectroscopy
and Bohr’s interpretation.
• Focus on crucial experiments interpretation
3 (Compton and photoelectric effect,
Bertozzi’s experiment on relativistic energy of electrons).
• Laboratorial activities on measurement of the ratio e/m (electric charge and mass
of the electron), Franck and Hertz experiment, optical polarization and Malus’
law, measure of the speed of light, measurements of atomic spectra wavelengths
and energies.
• From structured to open problem solving (Maloney 2001) on Compton effect,
photoelectric effect, de Broglie wavelength, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle
and spectroscopy (derivation of energy level structure from discrete spectra and
prevision of spectral line formation in different physical conditions).
Twenty-five Italian physics secondary school teachers from three different scientific high schools attended MQ_P course. 12/25 teachers attended only (A) and/or
(B) phases in order to grasp the main issue concerning educational approach; 13/25
3 Crucial experiment interpretation consists in discussion of those experiments which interpretation
founds the physics of quanta interpretational proposal in the passage from classic physics to
quantum mechanics.
178
D. Buongiorno et al.