The Italian delegation of Science on Stage 2

Abstract

• To save electricity..., to use warm air in all the house..., to cook by induction cooking griddles..., nanosomes..., anti UV filters....
• Advertising, images, themes and languages borrowed from the scientific world to non specialist-press.
• Could we derive ideas from newspapers and magazines to realise a laboratory which will lead students from initial curiosity to further motivation during the weekly path of physics and mathematics?
• Could we take from non specialist press, daily experiences to put in evidence the links and achieve a closer examination in the field of physics and mathematics to rouse a reasonable study of the textbook?
• A seven steps path in the scientific laboratory will lead the students through preparatory tests, work sessions according to the methodology of cooperative learning. They could achieve critical competences to reading and analysing a text or an image even in the scientific field, up to level 7bis of reading and understanding a simple article or a scientific one (lectio, meditatio, contemplatio).
• Written and oral tests, production of educational literature worked out by the students, translation of the work produced into English, will allow a monitoring in itinere and an assessment of the results in terms of contents, teaching methods, acquisition of a specific language.

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Description

Introduction

I'm a teacher of Mathematics and Physics at the Liceo Classico G. Galilei, a grammar school. Subjects as literature, history, latin, have many hours of lessons, however the target is unity and plurality of knowledge. At the end of five years, students should know what science is about, and its place in the world.

• Our target is also to enable students to study physics, engineering or biology at the university, and provide interesting and stimulating scientific knowledge for the student who does not pursue these subjects further.
• I have been selecting newspaper physics related articles and advertisements for the past two years.
• Daily examples aim at showing students how close the relationship between simple daily activity and physics is.
  • Physics in magazines means: How many Physics related articles, news, can we find in daily or weekly non specialist press?
  • Physics of magazines means: If we find in magazines or in newspapers Physics related articles or references, are they correct? Are they comprehensible? Are the students (people) good at understanding this information?
  • Physics from m. means: Is it possible to derive ideas from non specialist daily press to check our knowledge or to improve it?

Motivation

• Everyday a lot of scoops, data, reach us.
• The risk is to become passive.
• We read, we hear, and we often forget.
• Advertising reaches young people.
• Pupils are well-read people but...
• They often read without paying attention.
• Let us take the opportunity to try a new didactic experience. Why not?

Aims 1

Laboratory:

• From articles and images to physics phenomena... to scientific language... to mathematic relations...
• From newspapers to the textbook, ...to a reasonable study of the textbook.

Aims 2

• At the end of secondary school students are able to translate, to analyze, to understand literary and original texts.
• They should be able to read, to analyze... even in the scientific field, to discuss, to communicate also with appropriate language and technical terminology/
• From newspapers:
  • Curiosity ...interest.
  • Knowledge check.
  • Group work.

Aims 3

Students like new technologies, but new technologies can't take the place of the brain, of the mind, of life. It's important to work in group, but also to be able to study by oneself.

Methodology

I have adapted to my students the cooperative learning methodology, a successful teaching strategy in which small teams use a variety of learning activities The main important things:

• Work schedule must be strict and carefully prepared.
• To share resources.
• To produce final poster.
• To explain each other and to other groups.
• Better to improve the method than to have a lot of contents.

Strategy: to surprise, to organize a course step by step, a workable course, strict, but no hurried, to gratify and reward students for the result.

Final plan

The final plan is a flexible proposal. It can be adapted to every level of school. It's a proposal for a class during school lessons, or as extra curricular activity It's very cheap.

Resources: Physics textbooks of various authors and different publisher, Cdrom, White sheets of paper, markers, post it, magazines, newspapers.