16.1 State of Art in Condensed Matter Physics Instruction
at Undergraduate and Graduate Levels
A traditional lecture-based teaching on Condensed Matter Physics provides Physics/
Engineering students with a theoretical background regarding relevant concepts as
the effective mass, the band structure, the dispersion relation, the phonon-induced
scattering mechanisms, the correlated particles behavior, etc. However, a valid and
efficacious instruction should train the students toward a full comprehension of the
fundamental notions of materials science and, at the same time, strengthen their
reasoning abilities and transversal skills. Graduate Scientists should demonstrate
specialist-discipline knowledge, capability to solve everyday problems, and modeling skills based on innovative thinking (Borrego and Bernhard 2011). At the
University, Condensed Matter Physics courses offer learners a theoretical application of mathematical methods, sometimes forgetting to focus on hands-on projects to
improve the students’ learning curve. Besides, a mere theoretical approach is hardly
successful in teaching science, because any mental construction is based on experience and learners seldom fully understand a theory if it is left far from an experimental investigation (Greca and Moreira 2000). Recent research studies ask for
university curricula including “integrative laboratory experiences that promote
inquiry, relevance, and hands-on activities” and recommend the learning experiences replace the lecture, embracing active learning, i.e., laboratories, internships,
and all forms of cooperative learning (from NSF Report 1996). A new concept of
active construction of significant knowledge and inspiration of high levels of critical
thinking skills has been suggested, switching from a passive lecture-style teaching to
a more active and student-centered teaching approach (Altbach et al. 2009). The
analysis of “how people learn” should guide design, assessment, and estimation of
teaching and learning transformations. The most suitable scaffolding of a learning
environment should foster learning by inquiry and transform the experience at
University from a “culture of receivers into a culture of inquirers, in which faculty,
graduate and undergraduate students share in an adventure of discovery” (from
Boyer Commission 1998).
16.1.1 Inquiry-Based Science Education: IBSE
In this framework, inquiry-based education represents the natural context to generate
possibilities of learning science notions in terms of an active building of effective
understanding and promotion of high levels of critical reasoning abilities. Inquiry is
a method of active learning in which students are involved in numerous integrated
activities of identifying queries, gathering experimental data in a laboratory or real
life setting, constructing descriptions and explicative models, communicating and
sharing their results (Llewellyn 2002; Pizzolato et al. 2014; Wei et al. 2014; PersanoAdorno et al. 2018a). Rather than a distributor of information, the educator is a
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D. Persano-Adorno
at Undergraduate and Graduate Levels
A traditional lecture-based teaching on Condensed Matter Physics provides Physics/
Engineering students with a theoretical background regarding relevant concepts as
the effective mass, the band structure, the dispersion relation, the phonon-induced
scattering mechanisms, the correlated particles behavior, etc. However, a valid and
efficacious instruction should train the students toward a full comprehension of the
fundamental notions of materials science and, at the same time, strengthen their
reasoning abilities and transversal skills. Graduate Scientists should demonstrate
specialist-discipline knowledge, capability to solve everyday problems, and modeling skills based on innovative thinking (Borrego and Bernhard 2011). At the
University, Condensed Matter Physics courses offer learners a theoretical application of mathematical methods, sometimes forgetting to focus on hands-on projects to
improve the students’ learning curve. Besides, a mere theoretical approach is hardly
successful in teaching science, because any mental construction is based on experience and learners seldom fully understand a theory if it is left far from an experimental investigation (Greca and Moreira 2000). Recent research studies ask for
university curricula including “integrative laboratory experiences that promote
inquiry, relevance, and hands-on activities” and recommend the learning experiences replace the lecture, embracing active learning, i.e., laboratories, internships,
and all forms of cooperative learning (from NSF Report 1996). A new concept of
active construction of significant knowledge and inspiration of high levels of critical
thinking skills has been suggested, switching from a passive lecture-style teaching to
a more active and student-centered teaching approach (Altbach et al. 2009). The
analysis of “how people learn” should guide design, assessment, and estimation of
teaching and learning transformations. The most suitable scaffolding of a learning
environment should foster learning by inquiry and transform the experience at
University from a “culture of receivers into a culture of inquirers, in which faculty,
graduate and undergraduate students share in an adventure of discovery” (from
Boyer Commission 1998).
16.1.1 Inquiry-Based Science Education: IBSE
In this framework, inquiry-based education represents the natural context to generate
possibilities of learning science notions in terms of an active building of effective
understanding and promotion of high levels of critical reasoning abilities. Inquiry is
a method of active learning in which students are involved in numerous integrated
activities of identifying queries, gathering experimental data in a laboratory or real
life setting, constructing descriptions and explicative models, communicating and
sharing their results (Llewellyn 2002; Pizzolato et al. 2014; Wei et al. 2014; PersanoAdorno et al. 2018a). Rather than a distributor of information, the educator is a
202
D. Persano-Adorno