theory. Its disciplinary contribution to the teaching of modern physics concerns the
phenomena of quantized emission and absorption of radiation which are basilar
concepts representing the main investigative tool based on light–matter interaction.
Optical spectroscopy, from an epistemological point of view, is a methodological
and experimental context in which the role of the energy is pivotal, a validation
instrument of interpretative models through indirect measures, a way through which
interpret a code, hidden in the emitted light, in order to obtain information
concerning states and changes of a microscopic system, as the atom, allowing to
highlight the link between light emissions and atomic energy levels. From an
educational point of view, competence concerning specific inquiry modalities
employed in physics can be gained during physics lectures. Existing educational
proposals (Luo and Gerritsen 1993; Oupseph 2007; Scheeline 2010; Amrani 2014;
Onorato et al. 2015) include simple experiments allowing qualitative and quantitative measures, but those proposals have been designed and implemented in limited
contexts, since students obtain the bare measurement without focusing on the
emission process or the functioning of the experimental setup. Obtaining optical
spectra from luminous sources is quite easy: a CD or a cheap diffraction grating are
easily available objects and the produced spectra can be collected with a digital
camera or a smartphone and analyzed (quantitatively or qualitatively) with specific
APPs. On the other side, commercial experimental devices are often implemented in
expensive and excessively structured setups that limit students’ understanding of
their principles of functioning, limiting one again to the bare measure itself. The
general problem is thus that laboratorial educational proposals on optical spectroscopy in secondary school are offered in the form of sterile commercial devices,
leaving teacher having the task of integrating them in a coherent educational path
embedding the physics of the emission process and the importance of controlling the
measuring process.
The aim of Physics Education Research Unit from Udine University (IT) is to
build an educational path on optical spectroscopy allowing students to be directly
involved in experimental and interpretative tasks. The pivotal laboratorial activity to
effectively teach and learn physics could be supported by the opportunities offered
by ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). An example has been
already discussed in Gervasio and Michelini (2009) and Michelini and Stefanel
(2015) in the case of an educational path on single-slit optical diffraction
implementing inquiries activities based on measurements performed by students
themselves searching for models explaining the observed phenomena. With this in
mind, our research group analyzed the most popular commercial devices and APPs
performing spectroscopic measurements, in order to design a prototype for a digital
spectrometer implementing some proposals based on ICT making use of a specifically designed software allowing qualitative and quantitative analysis of a digitalized
spectrum. The developing of the complete low-cost technical solution will be
illustrated in the following with examples of significant measures.
272
D. Buongiorno et al.
phenomena of quantized emission and absorption of radiation which are basilar
concepts representing the main investigative tool based on light–matter interaction.
Optical spectroscopy, from an epistemological point of view, is a methodological
and experimental context in which the role of the energy is pivotal, a validation
instrument of interpretative models through indirect measures, a way through which
interpret a code, hidden in the emitted light, in order to obtain information
concerning states and changes of a microscopic system, as the atom, allowing to
highlight the link between light emissions and atomic energy levels. From an
educational point of view, competence concerning specific inquiry modalities
employed in physics can be gained during physics lectures. Existing educational
proposals (Luo and Gerritsen 1993; Oupseph 2007; Scheeline 2010; Amrani 2014;
Onorato et al. 2015) include simple experiments allowing qualitative and quantitative measures, but those proposals have been designed and implemented in limited
contexts, since students obtain the bare measurement without focusing on the
emission process or the functioning of the experimental setup. Obtaining optical
spectra from luminous sources is quite easy: a CD or a cheap diffraction grating are
easily available objects and the produced spectra can be collected with a digital
camera or a smartphone and analyzed (quantitatively or qualitatively) with specific
APPs. On the other side, commercial experimental devices are often implemented in
expensive and excessively structured setups that limit students’ understanding of
their principles of functioning, limiting one again to the bare measure itself. The
general problem is thus that laboratorial educational proposals on optical spectroscopy in secondary school are offered in the form of sterile commercial devices,
leaving teacher having the task of integrating them in a coherent educational path
embedding the physics of the emission process and the importance of controlling the
measuring process.
The aim of Physics Education Research Unit from Udine University (IT) is to
build an educational path on optical spectroscopy allowing students to be directly
involved in experimental and interpretative tasks. The pivotal laboratorial activity to
effectively teach and learn physics could be supported by the opportunities offered
by ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). An example has been
already discussed in Gervasio and Michelini (2009) and Michelini and Stefanel
(2015) in the case of an educational path on single-slit optical diffraction
implementing inquiries activities based on measurements performed by students
themselves searching for models explaining the observed phenomena. With this in
mind, our research group analyzed the most popular commercial devices and APPs
performing spectroscopic measurements, in order to design a prototype for a digital
spectrometer implementing some proposals based on ICT making use of a specifically designed software allowing qualitative and quantitative analysis of a digitalized
spectrum. The developing of the complete low-cost technical solution will be
illustrated in the following with examples of significant measures.
272
D. Buongiorno et al.