Versione Italiana
Research Unit in Physics Education
realized by
Research Unit in Physics Education, University of Udine (Italy)
project and supervision
Marisa Michelini
realization
G. Bosatta, M. Bosia, S. Bosio, G. Candussio, V. Capocchiani, D. Ceccolin, L. Marcolini, M.C. Mazzadi, M. Michelini, S. Pugliese Jona, L. Santi, C. Sartori, M.L. Scillia, A. Stefanel
photography and technical work
Plinio De Zorzi
cooperation
AIF - Association for Physics Teaching
GIREP - Groupe International de Recherche sur l'Enseignement de la Physique
The hands-on exhibit Games, Experiments, Ideas (GEI) was born in April
1994 as contribution to the IVth Week of Scientific Culture. It was developed
at the University of Udine by the Center Laboratory for Physics Education
(CLDF) of the Research Unit in Physics Education (CIRD), in collaboration
with the Italian Association for Physics Teaching (AIF - Associazione per
l'Insegnamento della Fisica), from an idea of Marisa Michelini.
In its first showing it offered 60 experiments prepared by Maritza Bosia, Plinio
De Zorzi, Marisa Michelini and Maria Luisa Scillia. The AIF local section
of Pordenone borrowed the exhibit in January-February 1995. Maria Carla
Mazzadi, Maria Luisa Scillia and Chiara Sartori grouped the activities
thematically and rewrote and improved the presentation of each experiment.
They then organized the exhibit in the Museum of the Science of that city.
In that occasion GEI was visited by about 3000 primary and middle school
pupils and their teachers.
GEI was afterwards reviewed and enlarged by
the Research Unit in Physics Education of Udine University in the persons
of Giulietta Bosatta, Stefania Bosio, Giuliana Candussio, Vilma Capocchiani,
Donatella Ceccolin, Lorenzo Marcolini, Marisa Michelini, Gian Luigi Michelutti,
Silvia Pugliese, Lorenzo Santi and Alberto Stefanel. It was exhibited again
in Udine during the Vth Week of Scientific Culture (April 1995) when it
was visited by about 2200 students and 150 teachers. It subsequently acted
as source of activities for about 100 teachers who followed in service
courses organized by M Michelini and G Candussio in Udine and in Gorizia
by the University of Udine and by IRRSAE Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In these
courses the teachers worked on how to introduce practical explorative activities
in the school science curriculum for 11-16 year olds.
An english version
of the materials was prepared for the GIREP-ICPE International Conference
on Teaching the Science of Condensed Matter and New Materials (Udine, August
1995), when the exhibit was visited by more than 250 Conference attendants
from 32 countries and by many Italian teachers.
In January 1996 GEI was
requested by two important Museums: the National Museum of Science and
Technology in Milano and the Balance Museum and National Documentation
Center of Modena.
Seeing the interest aroused by GEI and the many requests
the organizers decided to replicate the materials. In the future this would
also allow to contribute to the improvement of science teaching by lending
parts of the exhibit to schools. Finally, in the occasion of the VIth Week
of Scientific Culture (Spring 1996), the exhibit was contemporarily shown
at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Milano, at the Balance
Museum in Campogalliano (Modena), in Udine and in Gorizia.
For this achievement
we mostly thank Plinio De Zorzi who, in a few months of untiring and perseverant
efforts, replicated all the necessary parts in the workshops of the University
of Udine and Donatella Ceccolin who looked after all the administrative
and paper work. Our thanks must also go to the personnel of the Advanced
Course for Teachers and to the Tutoring and Guidance Centre of Udine University.
A special thanks goes to prof. Marzio Strassoldo, Rector of the University
of Udine, and to prof. Cesare Scalon, Director of the Advanced Course for
Teachers, who believed in the importance of this initiative and supported
its development.
Today GEI is a collection of 120 simple experiments in mechanics, heat
and temperature, electricity, electro-magnetism, optics, chemistry and
astronomy. The equipment goes from cheap and easily reproducible materials
to new technologies such as on-line sensors and computers.
GEI aims to
be a source of activities to try, to play with, to experiment with... exploring
ideas and using ideas to explore phenomena. It is not something to only
look at - it is intended as a tool to be used, in school or in a more open
environment, for analysing and understanding phenomena. It can be enjoyed
in a number of ways: pupils can work with their teachers, alone or in groups,
with schoolmates or friends, with university researchers or parents.
GEI can be lended to teachers who wish to enrich their science teaching with
practical activities. The familiar materials are unthreatening to any user.
They encourage the user to make personal explorations, to perform simple
experiments and to answer the questions posed by the accompanying cards.
The exhibit stresses the playful aspect of individual discovery, so important
in eliciting the personal involvement necessary when learning scientific
subjects especially at the age when developing scientific culture requires
the maximum effort, i.e. when children are forming their basic knowledge.
The experiments allow to acquire fundamental scientific knowledge and can
be organised as monothematic educational mini-courses. Without any presumption
of completeness, they indicate the correct way of posing questions to oneself
and of using ones knowledge and ability to obtain appropriate answers through
appropriate experiments.
Four kinds of written materials are available
for each experiment: a) photographs of the experiments with captions, b)
short and easy-to-read cards suggesting a first operational approach to
each experiment, c) cards offering guidance to a thoughtful performance
of the activities, d) articulated texts for a more formal school-based
approach, containing tools for investigating the children's learning patterns.
Several didactical paths through the materials have already been opened.
Other paths will be opened with time by the children and by their teachers.
We hope that the exhibit will continue to spread and grow and prove its
usefulness to science education.
A.
FORCES AND EQUILIBRIUM
B.
FLUIDS
C.
ELECTROLYSIS AND BATTERIES
D.
ELECTRICITY
E.
ELECTRIC CIRCUITS
F.
LOGIC CIRCUITS
G.
MAGNETISM
H.
HEART WITH THE ON-LINE COMPUTER
I.
LIGHT
L.
VISION
M.
THE PATH OF THE SUN
N.
ANALYZING FOOD
O.
CHEMISTRY OF LIFE
Versione Italiana
© Research Unit in Physics Education, University of Udine (Italy)
Last Updated on April 19 1997