encouraged the undergraduates to explore the electron transport for different values
of the doping density. As ionized impurities scattering appear to be important
principally at low field amplitudes and/or at low temperatures, the learners concluded that the impurity scattering rate reduces when the electron energy growths,
becoming neglectable in the high-field range (Persano-Adorno et al. 2015a).
The inquiry-based learning cycle, generated by unforeseen outcomes from
numerical simulations, developing through a sequence of explorations and promoting working hypothesis, was enriched by an explicative stage where learners were
stimulated to share their opinions and debate about the conclusive evidence. Students’ reasoned inquiries, successful in overcoming the impasses, together with the
procedure for the numerical simulations and the evaluation of the outcomes from the
simulated experiments, strengthened the concepts on the physics underlying the
charge transport in semiconductors.
16.3 Workshop 2: The Different Features of the Hall Effect
The different features of the Hall Effect and the related quantum transport phenomena in two-dimensional structures received considerable attention in last decades.
Nevertheless, the quantum Hall effect explication is frequently away from the
program of the typical undergraduate courses and beyond the knowledge of most
nonspecialist physicists. The Hall Effect, characteristic of systems with free or nearly
free charged particles, whose motion is affected by the concurrent action of a
magnetic field and an electric one, represents the most amazing demonstration of
the Landau quantization (Stormer 1999; Tsui 1999). Furthermore, it represents a rare
example of microscopic effects detectable on a macroscopic scale; it permits to
determine very accurate values of microscopic quantities, such as the electron charge
and the Planck constant (Persano-Adorno et al. 2019).
The 5E-learning cycle is a pedagogical approach aimed to develop student critical
thinking and to help them to explore and assess their own understanding (Banchi and
Bell 2008). In particular, the 5E cycle is a constructivist student-centered instructional model where the learner fulfills five “steps” of instruction. These stages are
Engagement (learners switch on and evaluate previous knowledge linking “the new
to the known”), Exploration (learners analyze a real-world problem), Explanation
(learners enlighten their thinking), Elaboration/Extention (learners process their
reasoning and reinforce their knowledge), and Evaluation (learners evaluate their
own learning).
16.3.1 Engagement Phase
In the ENGAGE phase, the classical Hall Effect is reminded. This effect, discovered
by Edwin Hall in 1879, describes the onset of a voltage difference across a thin
208
D. Persano-Adorno
of the doping density. As ionized impurities scattering appear to be important
principally at low field amplitudes and/or at low temperatures, the learners concluded that the impurity scattering rate reduces when the electron energy growths,
becoming neglectable in the high-field range (Persano-Adorno et al. 2015a).
The inquiry-based learning cycle, generated by unforeseen outcomes from
numerical simulations, developing through a sequence of explorations and promoting working hypothesis, was enriched by an explicative stage where learners were
stimulated to share their opinions and debate about the conclusive evidence. Students’ reasoned inquiries, successful in overcoming the impasses, together with the
procedure for the numerical simulations and the evaluation of the outcomes from the
simulated experiments, strengthened the concepts on the physics underlying the
charge transport in semiconductors.
16.3 Workshop 2: The Different Features of the Hall Effect
The different features of the Hall Effect and the related quantum transport phenomena in two-dimensional structures received considerable attention in last decades.
Nevertheless, the quantum Hall effect explication is frequently away from the
program of the typical undergraduate courses and beyond the knowledge of most
nonspecialist physicists. The Hall Effect, characteristic of systems with free or nearly
free charged particles, whose motion is affected by the concurrent action of a
magnetic field and an electric one, represents the most amazing demonstration of
the Landau quantization (Stormer 1999; Tsui 1999). Furthermore, it represents a rare
example of microscopic effects detectable on a macroscopic scale; it permits to
determine very accurate values of microscopic quantities, such as the electron charge
and the Planck constant (Persano-Adorno et al. 2019).
The 5E-learning cycle is a pedagogical approach aimed to develop student critical
thinking and to help them to explore and assess their own understanding (Banchi and
Bell 2008). In particular, the 5E cycle is a constructivist student-centered instructional model where the learner fulfills five “steps” of instruction. These stages are
Engagement (learners switch on and evaluate previous knowledge linking “the new
to the known”), Exploration (learners analyze a real-world problem), Explanation
(learners enlighten their thinking), Elaboration/Extention (learners process their
reasoning and reinforce their knowledge), and Evaluation (learners evaluate their
own learning).
16.3.1 Engagement Phase
In the ENGAGE phase, the classical Hall Effect is reminded. This effect, discovered
by Edwin Hall in 1879, describes the onset of a voltage difference across a thin
208
D. Persano-Adorno