Groupe International de recherche Faculty for Mathematics and Physics The House of Experiments, European Physical Society (EPS)

sur l'enseignement de la Physique Faculty of Education Slovenian Science Centre Physics Education Division

Informal Learning and Public Understanding of Physics

GIREP book of Selected contributions
of the Third International GIREP Seminar, 5–9 September 2005, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Editors: Gorazd Planinšič, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Aleš Mohorič, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Editorial Board:
Mojca Čepič, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Michele D'Anna, Ped. Inst. for Teacher Edu, Locarno, Switzerland
Manfred Euler, University of Kiel, Germany
Marjan Hribar, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Marisa Michelini, University of Udine, Italy
Rosa Maria Sperandeo Mineo, University of Palermo, Italy
Seta Oblak, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Gorazd Planinšič, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
David Sokoloff, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
Janez Strnad, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Rajka Jurdana Šepić, University of Rijeka, Croatia
Urban Titulaer, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria
Christian Ucke, Technical University Munich, Germany
Michael Vollmer, University of Applied Science, Brandenburg, Germany

This book has been published with the support from GIREP, EPS, Faculty for Mathematics
and Physics UL and Slovenian Research Agency ARRS.
CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji
Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana

374:53(063)(082)
372.8:53(063)(082)

GROUPE international de recherche sur l'enseignement de la

physique. International Seminar (3 ; 2005 ; Ljubljana)
Informal learning and public understanding of physics
[Elektronski vir] : selected contributions / Third International
GIREP Seminar 2005 ; editors Gorazd Planinšič and Aleš Mohorič. -
Ljubljana : Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, 2006

Način dostopa (URL): www.girep2005.fmf.uni-lj.si/pdfiles/proceeding

s_GIREP_2005.pdf. - Opis temelji na verziji z dne 18.9.2006

ISBN-10 961-6619-01-2
ISBN-13 978-961-6619-01-1
1. Gl. stv. nasl. 2. Planinšič, Gorazd
228813056

© 2006 University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Jadranska 19, 1000 Ljubljana,
Slovenia
 Informal learning and
Public Understanding of Physics

Third International
GIREP Seminar 2005
Selected contributions

Editors:
Gorazd Planinšič and Aleš Mohorič
Third International GIREP Seminar, 5 – 9 September 2005, Ljubljana, Slovenia

International Advisory Board

Michele D'Anna, Ped. Inst. for Teacher Edu, Locarno, Switzerland
Ton Ellermeijer, Amsterdam University, Netherlands
Manfred Euler, University of Kiel, Germany
Nils Hornstrup, Experimentarium, Denmark
Marjan Hribar, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Stanley Micklavzina, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
Kerry Parker, Auckland Girls’ Grammar School, New Zealand
Michaele Renvillard, ECSITE, Belgium
Rosa Maria Sperandeo, University of Palermo, Italy
Gunnar Tibell, Uppsala University, Sweden
Urbaan M Titulaer, Johannes Keppler University, Linz, Austria
Christian Ucke, Tech. University Muenchen, Germany

International Organizing Committee

Nils Hornstrup, Experimentarium, Denmark
Rajka Jurdana Šepić, University of Rijeka, Croatia
Robert Lambourne, Open University, UK
Leopold Matelitsch, University of Graz, Austria
Zofia Mayer Golob, Krakow University, Poland
Marisa Michelini, University of Udine, Italy
Josip Slisko, Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico
David Sokoloff, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
Michael Vollmer, University of Appl. Sci, Brandenburg, Germany
Richard Walton, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

Local Organizing Committee

Gorazd Planinšič, Faculty for Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana (Chairman)
Mojca Čepič, Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana (Co-chairman)
Miha Kos, The House of Experiments, Slovenian science centre (Co-chairman)

Jure Bajc, Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana

Marko Budiša, Ljubljana
Ana B. Gostinčar, Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana
Riko Jerman, The House of Experiments
Vasja Kožuh, ROKUS publishing house
Samo Lasič, Faculty for Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana
Andrej Likar, Faculty for Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana
Danica Mati, Biotechnical School, Kranj
Aleš Mohorič, Faculty for Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana
Seta Oblak, Ljubljana
Nada Razpet, Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana
Barbara Rovšek, Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana
Luka Vidic, The House of Experiments
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................. 8
PART 1.................................................................................................................................... 9
HANDS-ON SCIENCE AND INFORMAL LEARNING: CHALLENGES AND POTENTIALS OF
AUTHENTIC LAB ACTIVITIES MANFRED EULER ............................................................... 9
THE LEARNING CHALLENGE: A BRIDGE BETWEEN EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE AND
SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE MARISA MICHELINI ................................................................ 18
REFLECTIONS ON REFLECTIONS –FROM OPTICAL EVERYDAY LIFE PHENOMENA TO
PHYSICAL AWARENESS H. JOACHIM SCHLICHTING ......................................................... 40
INFORMAL PHYSICS EDUCATION IN LIFELONG LEARNING, OUTREACH &
RECRUITMENT ROBERT LAMBOURNE .............................................................................. 53
BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF NON-FORMAL SCIENCE EDUCATION IN ISRAEL MOSHE
RISHPON ............................................................................................................................ 58
INVOLVING STUDENTS IN OUTREACH ACTIVITIES: THE WILHELM MACKE AWARD
URBAAN M. TITULAER ...................................................................................................... 63
BRIDGING THE GAP: TRAINING SCIENCE TEACHERS IN SCIENCE MUSEUMS AND OTHER
INFORMAL SETTINGS RICHARD WALTON ........................................................................ 69
TEACHING AND COMMUNICATING PHYSICS JANEZ STRNAD .......................................... 82
INFORMAL PHYSICS EDUCATION AND TEACHERS’ TRAINING – SOME EXAMPLES AND
EXPERIENCES LEOŠ DVOŘÁK .......................................................................................... 91
SUSPENSION BRIDGES MADE FROM PAPER CLIPS CHRISTIAN UCKE ........................... 101
PART 2................................................................................................................................ 104
A - SCIENCE CENTRES, SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES...................................... 104
DISCUSSION WORKSHOP A REPORT.............................................................................. 104
COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE SCIENCE CENTER AND UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT –
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES GORAZD PLANINŠIČ A,B, MIHA KOS B .................... 108
EDUCATIONAL GAMES IN PHYSICS VIERA BIZNAROVA,............................................... 113
TOWARDS A NEW SCIENCE MUSEUM IN TRENTO: DEVELOPING NEW TOOLS AND
METHODS TO COMBINE NATURALISTIC AND HARD SCIENCE N. CAPRA, R. TARABELLI,
M. BERTOLINI, R. GUARDINI, M. LANZINGER .................................................................. 120
ATOMIC PHYSICS FOR PUPILS: A HANDS-ON LAB BENIAMINO DANESE1,2, FABRIZIO
LOGIURATO1, SILVIA DEFRANCESCO1, LUIGI GRATTON1, STEFANO OSS1, ROBERTA
GUARDINI3, ROBERTA TARABELLI3, NEVA CAPRA3 ......................................................... 126
PLAYING WITH EINSTEIN STEFANO OSS1, LUIGI M. GRATTON1, SILVIA DEFRANCESCO1,
FABRIZIO LOGIURATO1, BENIAMINO DANESE1,2, CHRISTIAN LAVARIAN3, LAVINIA DEL
LONGO3, MARILENA GRIFÒ3 , ROBERTA GUARDINI3, MICHELE LANZINGER3 ................... 133
PHYSICS DEMONSTRATIONS ORGANIZED FOR BASIC AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS BY
INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS, JAN DŁUGOSZ UNIVERSITY IN CZĘSTOCHOWA, POLAND M.
GŁOWACKI, BOGUSŁAW KOCIK ....................................................................................... 139
INTERDISCIPLINARY DAYS: LEARNING BY EMOTIONS LOREDANA SABAZ .................. 143
PHYSICS COMMUNICATION THROUGH SCIENCE FESTIVAL- FROM BOTTOM TO THE TOP
OF THE EDUCATIONAL PIRAMIDE R. JURDANA-ŠEPIC, B. MILOTIĆ, M. ŽUVIC-BUTORAC
......................................................................................................................................... 149
"SCIENCE IS NOT MY THING". VISITORS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING IN AN
ITALIAN SCIENCE CENTRE MONIA CARDELLA1, PAOLA RODARI2 ................................ 154
AN EXAMPLE OF A SYNERGISTIC CONNECTION BETWEEN FORMAL AND INFORMAL
EDUCATION MAX BAZOVSKY ........................................................................................ 161
 A UNIQUE EUROPEAN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME – VENUS TRANSIT 2004 SONJA
JEJČIČ............................................................................................................................... 168
PHYSICS, RADIATIONS AND HEALTH LUCÍLIA MARIA PESSOA T. DOS SANTOS, MARIA DO
CARMO BAPTISTA, CARLA ALVES ................................................................................... 175
CULTURAL HISTORY OF PHYSICS IN A SUBJECTIVE WAY DOROTHY SEBESTYEN ....... 180
WHEN THE INFORMAL BECOMES FORMAL ENOUGH M. STASZEL .............................. 184
EXPERIENCES IN BUILDING A SMALL »HANDS-ON« SCIENCE CENTRE FROM SCRATCH
MIHA KOS1, GORAZD PLANINŠIČ1,2 .................................................................................. 187
B - LEARNING PHYSICS FROM THE EXPERIMENTS ........................................... 190
DISCUSSION WORKSHOP B REPORT .............................................................................. 190
COUPLED MAGNETIC PENDULUMS AND OTHER HANDS-ON EXPERIMENTS WITH
MAGNETIC TOYS D. ALLASIA AND G. RINAUDO........................................................... 196
DIGITAL RECORDING AND ANALYSIS OF PHYSICAL EXPERIMENTS JAN KOUPIL, LEOS
DVORAK .......................................................................................................................... 201
HANDS-ON SENSORS FOR THE EXPLORATION OF LIGHT POLARIZATION MARISA
MICHELINI, ALBERTO STEFANEL ..................................................................................... 207
FROM THE INTERNET TO CLASSROOMS AND A WORKSHOP TO THE FINAL PRODUCT
VALENTIN PETERNEL ....................................................................................................... 214
HANDS-ON EXPERIMENTS ON MAGNETISM AND SUPERCONDUCTIVITY GRZEGORZ
KARWASZ1,2) , ERYK RAJCH2), ANIA KAMIŃSKA2), LUIGI GRATTON1), GREG IRESON3) , WIM
PEETERS4), VEGARD ENGSTRØM5) .................................................................................... 221
LASER LIGHT THROUGH THE FOG F. LOGIURATO 1, B. DANESE 1,2, G. GRATTON 1, S.
DEFRANCESCO 1, S. OSS 1................................................................................................. 227
SELF CONTAINED PHYSICS DEMONSTRATIONS AND MIND TEASER KIT JORIS DIRCKX 1,
DIRK VAN DYCK 1, WIM PEETERS 1, ALEXANDER FISHMAN 2 .......................................... 233
EDUCATIONAL ICT TOOLS TO IMPROVE WAVE PHYSICS UNDERSTANDING C. FAZIO, I.
GUASTELLA AND G. TARANTINO ..................................................................................... 236
CONVECTION IN LIQUIDS ― SOME ILLUSTRATIVE EXPERIMENTS COLM O’SULLIVAN 1,
SLAVKO KOCIJANCIC 2 ..................................................................................................... 243
VIRTUAL AND HANDS-ON EXPERIMENTS IN STATICS: BALANCE PROPERTIES OF
ASYMMETRICAL BODIES TATYANA IGNATOVA1, ALEXANDER KAZACHKOV2,3, IGOR
SZCZYRBA4 ...................................................................................................................... 249
FRICTION HOLDING THE CLIMBER: AN EXPERIMENTAL EXAMPLE FROM PHYSICS IN
SPORTS SAMO LASIČ AND GREGA POLJŠAK ................................................................... 255
VACUUM BAZOOKA – EXTENDED ALEŠ MOHORIČ ........................................................ 262
THE MAGIC OF PHYSICS/THE PHYSICS OF MAGIC DAVID R. SOKOLOFF ..................... 267
SCIENCE SHOWS AT 3RD GIREP SEMINAR ..................................................................... 275
LIGHT AND SOUND DEMONSTRATIONS CHRIS CHIAVERINA ......................................... 275
PHYSICS NOCTURNO STANLEY MICKLAVZINA ............................................................. 282
ATOMIC COMPILATION: LASER SHOW AND CARTOONS BENIAMINO DANESE1,2,
FABRIZIO LOGIURATO1 .................................................................................................... 285
C - GAPS AND BRIDGES IN COMMUNICATING PHYSICS TO THE PUBLIC... 291
DISCUSSION WORKSHOP C REPORT.............................................................................. 291
MACH´S POPULAR LECTURES ABOUT ACOUSTICS LEOPOLD MATHELITSCH ............... 298
PHYSICS IN THE MEDIA – OPPORTUNITIES FOR TRAINING SCIENTIFIC THINKING
GESCHE POSPIECH ........................................................................................................... 305
 ON THE TRACK OF MODERN PHYSICS GRZEGORZ KARWASZ1,2) , TOMASZ
WRÓBLEWSKI1) , ERYK RAJCH1), ANNA KAMIŃSKA1), HELENA NOWAKOWSKA3), ANNA
NIEDZICKA4), ZOFIA GOŁĄB-MEYER5) , WIKTOR NIEDZICKI6) ......................................... 311
“PHYSICS: EXHIBITIONIST BY NATURE”: SCIENCE COMMUNICATION MEETS THE
WORLD OF SCHOOL NICO PITRELLI.............................................................................. 317
LEARNING TO TEACH PHYSICS FROM LESSONS OF MARIA SKLODOWSKA-CURIE J.
TURŁO, E. DĄBKOWSKA, A. KARBOWSKI, K. SŁUśEWSKI, G. OSIŃSKI, R. JANKOWSKI K.
PRZEGIETKA..................................................................................................................... 322
INTERACTIVE, LIVING AND VITAL SCIENCE P. CERRETA, C.L. TOGLIA ....................... 328
THE STUDY OF PHYSICS FOR NON-PHYSICISTS T. KRANJC ......................................... 334
SOCIAL CHANGES THROUGH PHYSICS WORKSHOPS ROBERTO SAYAVEDRA-SOTO .... 341
RESEARCH PATHS IN PHYSICS: HOW CAN WE EXHIBIT THEM? B. PECORI 1, O. LEVRINI
1
, A. SPIZZICHINO 2, A. ROSSI 1 ......................................................................................... 347
PUBLIC RELATION AND PHYSICS EDUCATION KATALIN PAPP , ANETT NAGY ............. 351
D - NEW TEACHING STRATEGIES AND LEARNING METHODS ....................... 359
DISCUSSION WORKSHOP D REPORT.............................................................................. 359
COGNITIVE LABORATORY: GRAVITY AND FREE-FALL FROM LOCAL TO GLOBAL
SITUATIONS F. BRADAMANTE, M. MICHELINI................................................................ 364
A TITRATION EXPERIMENT AS AN EXAMPLE FOR A COORDINATED APPROACH IN
SCIENCE TEACHING AT HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL MICHELE D’ANNA, PAOLO LUBINI ..... 371
CHILDREN’S NAIVE IDEAS/REASONING ABOUT SOME LOGIC CIRCUITS EXPLORED IN AN
INFORMAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT ITALO TESTA 1, MARISA MICHELINI 2 .............. 376
THE FORCE BETWEEN ELECTRIC CHARGES AND THE ORIGIN OF MAGNETISM KJELL
PRYTZ .............................................................................................................................. 384
FORMAL AND INFORMAL ASPECTS OF THE TEACHER FORMATION: AN OPEN
DISTANCE-LEARNING CONTEXT FOR EDUCATINAL DESIGN ON SIMPLE MACHINES F.
CORNI1, M. MICHELINI2 ................................................................................................... 391
INFORMAL TRAINING OF PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS ON MAGNETIC PHENOMENA
MARISA MICHELINI, ALBERTO STEFANEL ....................................................................... 397
THE DANGER OF MISREPRESENTATIONS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION JOHN C.MOORE1,
ALEXANDER KAZACHKOV1,2, ALEXANDER G.ANDERS2, COURTNEY WILLIS3 .................. 404
TEACHING ERROR THEORY USING VIRTUAL DATA SRDJAN VERBIĆ1,2 ....................... 410
EVALUATION OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY PROGRAM ERIKA MECHLOVÁ, LIBOR KONÍČEK
......................................................................................................................................... 417
WEB-BASED MULTIMEDIA APPLICATION “SOLID STATE” N.NANCHEVA, D.KIRILOVA
......................................................................................................................................... 423
AUTHOR INDEX .............................................................................................................. 430
Introduction

This book includes a selection of the contributions presented at the 3rd International GIREP
Seminar on Informal Learning and Public Understanding of Physics, held in Ljubljana,
Slovenia in September 2005. The Seminar was organized by the Groupe International de
recherche sur l'enseignement de la Physique (GIREP), European Physical Society (EPS), the
Faculty for mathematics and physics and Faculty of Education, both from University of
Ljubljana and The House of Experiments, Slovenian hands-on science centre. The 3rd
International GIREP Seminar, as the central international event in Slovenia during the World
Year of Physics 2005, was kindly supported also by the Slovenian Research Agency
(ARRS).

The GIREP Seminars are the initiative, proposed by Prof. dr. Marisa Michelini from
University of Udine, Italy and have been planned to offer the participants an opportunity to
discuss in depth the topics and problems that they work on. The contributed papers and
posters are selected in advance and presented during the first days of the Seminar. On the
following days the presented material is used in the discussion workshops on specific aspects
and problems related to the main topic of the Seminar.

The 3rd GIREP Seminar addressed several aspects of informal learning as one of the key
elements in increasing public understanding of science. It addressed informal learning of
physics that goes on in the institutions such as science centres, museums but also at student
competitions, science fairs and festivals, at workshops and in other activities organized
outside schools. It also addressed present and future relationship between Universities and
Science centres and new teaching approaches and strategies that are becoming to emerge
from collaborations between these institutions. A special section has been devoted to reports
and discussions on new experiments, their application in teaching and learning as well as on
evaluation methods that show their performance.
The selection of papers published in this volume was carried out by the group of referees
from the Editorial board. Each paper was examined by two referees, expert on the topic and
by editors. This volume contains 65 papers that have been selected among 71 submitted
papers.

Part 1 includes contributions that were presented as General talks and have given an
overview on the topics related to informal learning and public understanding of physics.
Part 2 consists of four sections that cover selected papers presented in the four thematic
Sessions and discussed at the Workshops: A-Science centres, Schools and Universities, B-
Learning physics from the experiments, C-Gaps and bridges in communicating physics to the
public and D- New teaching strategies and learning methods.
In each section, the first article covers the outcomes of the related Discussion Workshop.
Section B, Learning Physics from the experiments, includes also reports on some Science
Shows that have been presented during the Seminar. They give descriptions, practical hints
and other useful information on the experiments that has been show during the Seminar.

The 3rd International GIREP Seminar proved that the “formals” and “informals” have a lot to
benefit from each other and that the topic of this Seminar has not at all been exhausted yet.

Gorazd Planinšič
Aleš Mohorič
Ljubljana July 2006

8
PART 1

Hands-On Science and Informal Learning: Challenges and Potentials of

Authentic Lab Activities

Manfred Euler

Leibniz-Institute for Science Education (IPN), Kiel, Germany

euler@ipn.uni-kiel.de

Improving science literacy by various approaches

Physics education is under pressure. Science, technology and society are undergoing
dramatic changes. The rapid increase of knowledge in a wide range of disciplines triggers
scientific and technological developments that deeply affect our lives and transform our
culture. Accordingly, a high proficiency in science and technology is considered a major
factor for the economic prosperity of a country. Moreover, it is a prerequisite for
developments that contribute to a sustainable future on a local as well as on a global scale.
However, as international studies of educational achievements reveal, in many even highly
developed industrial countries the level of scientific literacy is only poor. Young people are
considered not enough prepared to respond to the challenges of a global and rapidly evolving
knowledge society. The development of an adequate level of science literacy and new
approaches to science education have become topics of broad national and international
concern. As a consequence, various measures to increase the public awareness of science and
programs to enhance the outcomes of science education have been launched in many places.
In Germany, programs to improve the quality of teaching and learning have been created that
focus on mathematics and science in general [1], or on special science subjects as in the so-
called context-programs such as ‘chemistry in context’ or ‘physics in context’ [2,3].
However, the ways of teaching science and the professional development of teachers respond
only very reluctantly to the above challenges. Improving the quality of teaching and learning
is a slow process, subject to many limiting constraints inherent in the system. In addition to
these top-down efforts to promote quality development, a complementary movement, largely
bottom-up, has emerged outside the formal education system. Driven by concerns about the
declining interest of youngsters in science and technology and by the declining enrolments of
students in these fields, many scientists at research sites and universities have taken up the
initiative to create new ways of engaging young people in science and technology.
In order to counteract the imminent lack of scientists and engineers and to raise students’
interest in science subjects numerous initiatives at universities, research institutes, and
industry have established science labs for school students. For short, these out of school
learning sites are called ‘school-labs’. They offer lab-courses (mostly full-day or half-day) to
complete classes or to individual students. School students have the opportunity to carry out
specially designed experiments or experimental projects which are more or less closely
related with the research carried out in the respective institutes. The labs offer an open,
informal learning environment that focuses on activating, context based approaches and
authentic learning experiences.

9
The present article provides evidence on the potential of (largely informal) learning in these
learning sites outside the traditional school system. In contrast to initial criticisms, school-
labs have a broad spectrum of beneficial effects. They have a high potential in changing the
school students’ and especially the girls’ attitudes towards ‘hard’ science and technology.
The apparent success of these projects might trigger off new developments that feed back on
formal teaching of physics and enrich the professional development of physics teachers by
components that have been neglected in the past.

Experiencing authentic science in school-labs: a success story

The school-lab initiatives are a bottom-up movement, driven to a large extent by highly
engaged individuals in research institutes. The spectrum of initiatives ranges from small labs
run by a single person to well equipped laboratories in large research institutes. In spite of
wide individual differences among school-labs they share a common philosophy and pursue
common goals. They intend to
• promote the interest of young people for science and technology
• provide a first hand experience of research or development
• support the development of adequate views of science and technology and their role
for society
• provide opportunities to get in contact with scientists and to learn about professions
related to science and technology.
The creativity of school-labs in engaging school students in authentic, interesting and
challenging problems and the originality of the respective approaches and projects are
impressive. Most labs have been created under the premise that carrying out experiments and
practical lab work in a stimulating learning arrangement are essential factors for motivating
young people. Moreover, depending on the subject area, school-labs may differ somewhat in
their focus. Most labs concentrate on secondary I and secondary II students (age group 14-
18). Chemistry labs tend to offer more courses for younger students. Physics and technology
labs set an emphasis in trying to recruit possible candidates for these subject areas. As they
focus on general methods and subjects related to the research institutes, their thematic link to
school curricula is rather loose. Biology labs primarily tend to provide an adequate view of
the methods of modern biology and biotechnology. As these subjects are also part of the
biology syllabus, the curricular link of these initiatives is much closer.
Evidently, the lab courses meet the needs of the school system. Most labs are booked-out for
months. Since the foundation of the first lab about a decade ago (cf. [4]), the school-lab
movement took up an impressive momentum. At present, in Germany roughly 200 school-
labs exist, that provide learning experiences for about 300 000 school students per year with.
The numbers are still increasing. In terms of innovative learning approaches in largely
bottom-up initiatives, the creation of the school-lab movement is a success story. For an
overview and continuously updated information see the homepage of “LeLa-Lernort Labor”
[5]. The LeLa project has been established at the Leibniz-Institute for Science Education
(IPN) with funds from BMBF, the German ministry of Education and Research. As a center
for consulting and quality development LeLa coordinates and evaluates these initiatives,
carries out research on their impact, helps the initiatives in fund raising and contributes to
their integration into the educational system.

Learning in the lab: challenges of creating a stimulating learning environment

School-labs intend to counteract an apparent paradox: Curiosity, originality and a lot of

creativity characterize research and development in science and technology. At least, this is

10
the opinion of active and successful practitioners in these areas. However, the public view of
science and technology and the image of the corresponding school subjects is in a
considerable contrast to that. Especially school physics is notorious for its bad image among
students. The subject is often considered difficult, boring, detached from everyday
experience, and socially not very attractive (for more details and further literature cf. [6]).
When physics teaching starts at school, the rather high initial interest in that subject
deteriorates rapidly. The decrease is much stronger for girls than for boys. Especially, the
negative attitudes among girls towards school physics are highly problematic and have been
diagnosed in pedagogic research since decades. However, in actual teaching, only little has
changed despite of many proposals to circumvent the dilemma (cf. [7]). The girl’s bad
experience with school physics and their negative self-concept in that domain could be one
of the reasons that only a minority of women select a career in engineering and similar
professions.
Many science labs have been established under the guiding assumption that carrying out
experiments and authentic lab work is a central factor to enhance interest in the subject and
to stimulate knowledge acquisition. Thus, the “fun factor” in doing experiments and practical
work plays a major role in the description of the pedagogic concept of the labs. Similar views
are shared by physics teachers at school, who rate experiments and practical experience
highly important for their teaching. However, as several meta-analyses on the role of lab
work in schools have shown, motivation and successful learning in labs is not an automatism
[8]. Creating stimulating learning environments that adapt to the various interests and
cognitive abilities of students is far from trivial [9,10].
Studies on the use of experiments in school teaching show that strongly guided experiments
prevail [11]. Cookbook-like procedures predominate and convey an insufficient, largely
inductive, methodological image of how science works. Students are mainly required to
manipulate apparatus and not ideas. They tend to confound following a recipe or working
through a lab manual with the scientific method. Moreover, typical school science
experiments in the introductory phase often are trivial, using strong didactic reductions. The
relation to everyday life and the real world is frequently not recognizable. Creativity and
challenges are missing, both requiring a certain degree of openness of the pedagogical
approach. Additionally, the function of the respective experiment is often not made clear by
the teachers. This applies to the role of the experiment in the teaching-learning process as
well as to its role in the scientific inquiry process. In actual teaching, students do not have a
real chance to get involved in the process of recognizing a problem, formulating a hypothesis
and planning a task or an experiment to test their assumptions.
Thus, as evidence from actual teaching demonstrates, doing experiments offers no guarantee
for motivation and successful learning unless it is integrated in a powerful teaching concept.
What makes the school-lab supporters so sure that they are on a road to success? From the
perspective of situated cognition and moderate constructivism, learning environments should
conform to a set of certain criteria to enable meaningful learning processes [12]:
• They should be authentic, allowing the learner to deal with problems in realistic and
not in artificially arranged situations.
• A problem should be presented and analyzed from multiple perspectives, using
different approaches and methods of problem-solving.
• Approaching and solving a problem in different ways is a prerequisite for a flexible
use of knowledge that allows a productive transfer of knowledge and methods to
more distant problems.
• To have sufficient possibilities to explore and evaluate one’s own ideas is a
prerequisite for successful knowledge construction. Therefore, the learning

11
 arrangement should leave sufficient space for the development of the students’ own
ideas and for following his or her own approaches.
• Knowledge construction takes place in and is facilitated by an appropriate social
context that allows for cooperative and collaborative problem solving, e.g. in team
work.
Although (at least in the initial stage) most of the labs have been created by subject matter
experts and not by pedagogical experts, a closer look at their concepts reveals that they
nicely fulfill a sufficient number of the above requirements that pedagogic theory has
identified for successful interactive engagement of the learners and active knowledge
construction.

Is it possible to motivate students by lab work?

As the above methods are highly demanding to the students as well as to the instructors, our
evaluation focuses on the question: Is it possible to raise interest by confronting school
students with authentic problems from research and to change the image of science in the
long run? In the present article, we focus on describing the motivational effects of labs with a
close affinity to physics.
Our main research question is to find out if the labs achieve their primary goal to increase
students’ interest in physics. Additionally, we try to identify factors in the design of the labs
(like authenticity, openness, cognitive challenge and others), which are relevant to achieve
that goal. In our theoretical framework, we have taken into account research on the role of
practical work (see above) and on the design of learning environments which support interest
[13]. According to the person-object theory, interest is a special relation of a person to an
object [14]. Three main components of interest can be identified:
• Emotional component (characterised by positive feelings, fun)
• personal value (how important is the experience to me)
• epistemic dimension (reflects the desire to learn more about the field).
We consider these interest dimensions also relevant for learning and engaging in science.
Therefore, we used them as the success criterion for the lab visit and designed a
questionnaire accordingly to measure these main components of interest. We use the school
students as “experts” for rating the labs, because the way the science lab is perceived by them
is decisive for promoting their interest in science and technology. We assume that lab-
specific and student-related factors and their interaction influence the potentials of science
labs to increase interest. Therefore we choose an ATI-design (Aptitude-Treatment-
Interaction). The relevant variables and their interactions are shown schematically in figure
1.

12
 Figure 1: Design of the study

The data have been collected in a pilot study in 5 different school-labs. 330 Pupils from 15
classes (5 classes per lab) took part in this investigation [15]. In a replication study, we
investigated more than 800 students in the same age group visiting 4 different labs of the
German center for air and space research (DLR) [16]. In the pilot study, we administered two
questionnaires, one immediately after the lab visit on site and a second one 10 to 12 weeks
later. In the replication study, we used a three step pre-test, post-test and follow-up design.
Both studies agree perfectly in their main findings. In the present discussion, only data from
the first study will be referred.

School-labs in action: Positive long-term effects

On a descriptive level, the study shows that science labs are well accepted by the students.
Nearly 75% would like to visit the school-lab again. This is not only because they miss
regular class, but also because they have learned something about science and scientific
research as we could conclude from their written comments. Especially, the contact with
“real” scientists and the insight in their research institution is highly appreciated by the
young visitors. Positive students’ statements prevail. A collection of students’ answers to the
question “What did you learn in the lab?” three months after the lab visit gives a vivid
impression of the level of involvement:
• I got an impression how science works. The aims of research in natural science have
been made clear.
• I learned that research in physics has consequences for everyday life. The
backgrounds of research processes were made transparent and one learns something
about application of science.
• Even though I don’t find physics very interesting, doing all the experimenting was
fun.
• I learned that experiments are fun. I learned how research works, and that lab-work
is arduous.
The laboratories work in very different ways. Whereas the student group with a high level of
interest in physics develops an equally positive attitude for the different laboratories, large
differences occur in the problem group of students with little interest. As an example, lab 2
demonstrates, that it is possible even for those students with limited initial interest in physics

13
to develop a highly positive attitude (figure 2). It is plausible to attribute this positive effect
to the specific approach of the lab. In comparison to the design of the other labs, it offers
more supervised tasks, where students work in parallel on the same problem in a guided and
stepwise manner. Obviously, weaker students favour this approach.

Students’ perceptions of the lab-related variables have a differential impact on the

components of interest. Multivariate regression shows that the emotional interest is
influenced by “cognitive challenge”, “comprehensibility” and “openness”. The value-
oriented interest is influenced by “cognitive challenge” and “authenticity”. The epistemic
interest (i.e. the desire to know more) interacts with “cognitive challenge”. “Openness” is
more important for students with high interest in science. In accordance with the finding of
fig. 2, for students with low initial interest in science “comprehensibility” is highly important
factor in raising motivation.

Figure 2: Attitude of students with different initial interest.

One of the main criticisms of the labs refers to their highly focused and temporally limited
interaction. A single lab visit is only a short intervention. Some critics could not believe that
a singular event could produce lasting effects and changes in the views of students. Our
results provide clear evidence for positive and even long-term effects. The lab visit is rated
important and the follow-up study shows that the personal significance of the visit is rated
significantly higher after 10-12 weeks (figure 3). The effect can be seen for all five labs and
for both groups of students with low and with high initial interest in physics. This
surprisingly strong long-term increase shows that even a single visit to a science lab has a
lasting impact. Obviously, the labs are effective – they have changed something in the heads
of the students, and the change even continues over time.

14
 Figure 3: Development of the personal value of the lab visit for
groups with low and high initial interest.

As a result, school-labs have not only a positive effect among groups of highly motivated
students as some critics originally surmised. The labs are definitely in the position even to
respond adequately to “problem groups”. For students with a limited initial interest and
involvement in physics, the significance of the laboratory visit is mainly dependent on the
demand level and on measures supporting the learners. Flexible concepts to react to
heterogeneous target groups require an intelligent balance between the level of demanding
(authenticity, challenge) and learner support (comprehensibility of the experiments and
projects, scaffolding). Some labs could still improve on these measures. Also, more could be
done with respect to materials supporting the visit. The results show that a visit to a lab is not
well-prepared by the teachers of the visiting classes. Only in very few cases special schemes
are established in order to prepare the visit and to maintain interest and support further
activities after the visit, for instance by offering additional learning opportunities. Such
measures could prove essential in enhancing the positive long term effect that shows up even
after a single visit.

Practically no gender gap in school-labs

In addition to their positive long term effects, the science labs manage to equally address
female and male students. Both girls and boys share similar positive attitudes regarding their
lab-experience. Only minor gender differences were detected for the three components of
interest (figure 4). The learning environment of the science labs and the possibility of
conducting experiments in a stimulating atmosphere addresses both genders in a positive
way. To some degree, this clear result came as a surprise, as most of the labs that took part in
the survey do not address gender aspects explicitly. Meanwhile, in the replication study, the
positive gender effects have been confirmed fully with a different set of physics and
technology labs. The replication study gives a largely identical pattern for the three
dimensions of interest. Therefore, we can consider the positive gender effects empirically
well founded, that arise from interactive engagement in largely authentic science processes.

15
 Figure 4: There are only minor gender effects in the ratings of boys and girls

The labs do something that regular teaching does not achieve. These findings from informal
learning are in sharp contrast to physics teaching in regular classes. Physics as a school
subject strongly polarizes between boys and girls. It is the least popular subject for girls. The
present results from interacting “informally” with physics and technology in science labs
provide clear hints what must be done to improve the “formal” learning environments in
schools. Obviously, the broad authentic and problem-oriented approaches meet the girls’
interests much better than the more narrowly focused systematic approaches of school
physics. At the same time, this approach is also in line with the boy’s interests. Both groups
have the opportunity to appreciate the experiments and learn from their lab visit according to
their widely differing own ways of approaching subjects from science and technology.
At least, such an interpretation can be concluded from an analysis of the students’ statements,
why they liked the visit to the lab. The statements of girls and boys show differences, which,
to some extent, echo gender stereotypes. Male students like a more straightforward direct
interaction with the experiments and the materials that reflects to some extent a trial-and-
error method. In contrast to that, female students prefer a more reflective approach.
Especially, they like to carry out experiments on their own and reflect about what they have
learned from the experiments. Thus, in addition to the relevance of the subjects, the style of
interacting with problems from physics and technology appears to play an equally important
role to enhance the girls’ motivation. Measures to improve the quality of school physics
should include appropriate ways to learn from these positive experiences and provide better
opportunities for both genders to interact with the methods of physics adequately, according
to their individual styles and preferences.

Outlook: Challenges of innovation transfer from the school-lab movement

The results of our study show that, in spite of some initial scepticism, science labs achieve
their main goal and enhance students’ interest in science. Especially, they have a positive
effect on girls’ attitudes towards science and technology. The positive experiences with

16
informal learning activities could be used more systematically to enrich the formal education
system by providing authentic and attractive ways of engaging young people in learning and
by doing up-to-date science in interesting and challenging projects. Moreover, school-labs
could play a leading role in supporting young talents and creative minds that our society
desperately needs to promote innovations.
It has been mentioned that the school-lab initiatives are a bottom-up movement, driven to a
large extent by highly engaged individuals. This makes up their appeal and potential.
However, it also makes up an inherent weak point, as the initiatives largely act
independently. Their public visibility is still poor, and a broad support is needed to develop a
permanent impact on educational policy. Additionally, the question of funding these
initiatives requires collective efforts and broad alliances, such as public-private partnerships.
At present, a coherent approach integrating formal and informal learning is still lacking. The
function of informal learning in these extra-curricular learning sites has to be clarified and
made explicit. Is it complementary or supplementary to learning in the formal education
system. The question, how teachers can be involved needs to be addressed more actively in
the future. Science labs could play a more prominent role in the professional development of
teachers by engaging them in different phases of their professional career. Innovation transfer
from the labs to traditional science education could be enhanced considerably. Additionally,
science labs could take up additional functions in the fields of vocational education and
lifelong learning. It is a challenge of ongoing activities that these informal learning sites will
become a reliable pillar within the traditional education system.

References
[1] Homepage of the Sinus-Project www.blk-sinus.de
[2] ChiK - Chemie im Kontext (chemistry in context) www.chemie-im-kontext.de
[3] piko – Physik im Kontext, (physics in context) www.physik-im-kontext.de
[4] U. Ringelband, M. Euler & M. Prenzel (Hrsg.), Lernort Labor. IPN. Kiel (2001)
[5] Homepage of LeLa-Lernort Labor, www.lernort-labor.de
[6] K. Engeln & M. Euler (Eds.), Physikunterricht modernisieren: Erfahrungen aus
Kooperationsprojekten zwischen Schule und Wissenschaft, IPN, Kiel (2005)
[7] W. Faißt, P. Häußler et al., Physik-Anfangsunterricht für Mädchen und Jungen, IPN, Kiel
(1994)
[8] W. Harlen, Effective Teaching of Science: A Review of Research, SCRE, Glasgow, (1999)
[9] A. Hofstein & V. Luneatta, Review of Educational Research, 52 (1982) 201-217
[10] V. Lunetta, In: B. Fraser & K. Tobin (Eds.), International Handbook on Science Education,
Dordrecht, Kluwer (1998), 249-262
[11] M. Tesch & R. Duit, ZfDN 10 (2004) 51-69
[12] J. Gerstenmeier & H. Mandl, Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 41 (1995) 876-888
[13] Hoffmann, L., Krapp, A., Renninger, K. A., & Baumert, J. (Eds.). Interest and Learning, IPN,
Kiel (1998)
[14] A. Krapp, Learning and Instruction, 12 (2002) 383-409
[15] K. Engeln, Schülerlabors: Authentische und aktivierende Lernumgebungen als Möglichkeit,
Interesse an Naturwissenschaften und Technik zu wecken, Dissertation, Kiel, Logos-Verlag,
Berlin (2004)
[16] C. Pawek, Dissertation, in preparation

17
The Learning Challenge: A Bridge between Everyday Experience and Scientific
Knowledge

Marisa Michelini

Research Unit in Physics Education, University of Udine, Italy

michelini@fisica.uniud.it

One of the main problems of scientific education is to achieve a bridge between contents and
learning strategies and the context in which they have to be applied, re-interpreting everyday
common knowledge. At school topics are dealt with in a technical and abstract way. The
students thus tend to take up an attitude of merely reproducing the contents of school texts in
order to achieve good marks. Because of this, “inert knowledge structures”, which are
useless outside the scholastic environment, are created.
Scientific and technological learning carries a local and partly tacit nature, which doesn’t
allow its carrying out through written or oral communication: knowledge cannot be conveyed
to the learner already synthesized and re-elaborated, but it must be the object of personal
analysis and setting, with reference to phenomenological contexts and interpretative models
compared in a critical way.
Various proposals of hands-on interactive exhibitions have managed to create explorative
contexts in which it is possible to have a personal experience of the phenomena and to
explore situations, asking questions. They are the context in which informal learning, which
is characterised by being an outcome intrinsically connected to taking part in situations, is
activated. The main characteristic of the learning processes activated by an operative context
is that of a shared intellectual work, organised around a common interpretative problem.
Researches based on interviews which are semi structured in cognitive laboratories and in
which the exploring of contexts is organised in a shared way have allowed attention to be
drawn on reasoning sequences and spontaneous interpretative schemes for various types of
phenomena (thermal, optical, magnetic…). They have offered a starting point for the testing
of learning strategies and for the building of formal thought. They have also allowed
operative proposals to be determined for the management of interactive exhibitions for the
carrying out of informal learning.

1. Introduction: education and popularization of science

There is a task of spreading scientific culture, which does not mean its popularization: it has
an educational and also a guiding role, but it doesn’t identify with a specific guiding action.
It is a cultural task which is connected to the link between everyday experience and the
scientific knowledge of the world. Some situations may illustrate its premises.
In people’s basic knowledge there is a substantial deficiency in the scientific field (Holbruch
2002). This is also due to the influence of a idealistic and enlightenment vision (1), which
creates mystified visions of science, that unfortunately are widespread even in the higher
levels of society. Physics is mistaken for technology and considered as a deterministic and
highly demanding discipline, which accepts only a world that can be measured and foreseen,

1
Benedetto Croce and Giovanni Gentile, idealistic basic ideas for the school reform in Italy
(1923) and following the Enlightenment.

18
through complicated formal instruments that are accessible only to the elect scientific
community.
A substantial scientific illiteracy has been noticed in young people (PISA Project, Euler
2002, 2004), who show a worrying decreasing interest in physics (Power 1999). There is a
vicious circle, which has a negative effect on the view that young people and society in
general have of this discipline (Michelini 2001), in opposition with the formative
contribution and actual importance of physics in the social and productive context (2).
The three following examples help in understanding the type of views which are sometimes
at the basis of the collective imagination, that we find difficulty to imagine.
A student following the last year of a secondary school with a bias towards classical studies
had been given an experimental problem solving activity intended to help her choose her
future career (Bosio et al 1998), and she commented on the experience saying that she
“thought it was blasphemous to expect students with no competence in scientific subjects, like
myself, to venture on predictions, interpretations and experimental activities: the risk is to
convey a wrong idea of science … as if it were an activity that anybody can undertake”. It is
therefore obvious how there is a conviction that science is a matter for only a few elect and
that there are no strategies of scientific thought. The use of the term “blasphemous”, which
conceals a mystified vision of some sort of sacredness of science, accessible only to those
who understand its esoteric nature, is the sign of the indifference and preoccupation towards
the image of science, as if its understanding weren’t everybody’s right.
A group of middle school teachers, who were presented with a discussion activity with their
students on interpretative models of optical phenomena, expressed the following difficulty:
“how can young people be prompted to discuss subjects belonging to the scientific field? if
ethical matters were being discussed, like for example peace or esthetical aspects, then each
could express their own opinion, but in science there is only one truth, which has to be
understood and doesn’t allow any space for opinions”. They were worried about the
prevailing of the wrong type of ideas in the discussion; the content of the rule to be taught
was perceived as a priority compared to the possibility of involving the students in the
interpretation process; they acknowledged the fact that scientific research involves
discussing, sharing the results and comparing ideas and information with a general model
and theoretic references, but they were afraid that the students would perceive scientific
knowledge as something that can be discussed and would therefore not believe in the
certainty of science …; they were at a loss, since they considered that the suggested activity
of discussing ideas and interpretations was a pretence …; they considered their task as being
aimed at reaching in any case a precise conclusion: some kind of answer, even when no
question has been asked!
Recently, a famous communication expert received applause in a conference, when he
expressed the following ideas: “science always provides us with new devices, the functioning
of which we don’t care about …, all we want is for them to carry out their function; we don’t
have to know everything …that is up to scientists; because the number of students in the
scientific field is decreasing, in order to not loose teaching posts, there is the trend of
organizing great exhibitions of scientific products, making believe that science is like an
interesting and fun game, but science is not for everyone … it is difficult and demanding … it
is a path full of sacrifices that can be followed by few, and it is deceiving to make it seem like
a game, where anybody who wants can play …; we must recover the narrative dimension of
events from the one governed by arguments and reasoning, rules and laws …; we need to
defend ourselves from this invasion of science at all costs, because there also exists what
cannot be measured, …because we want feelings and not only predetermined and rigorous

2
Girep International Conference, Lund, 2002.

19
paths …”. Perhaps he wanted to instigate those who hope to master science through
entertainment, and in this he was certainly right! However, it is worrying how everybody
shared the vision of science as something distant from people, as a pure and difficult research
reserved for an elect community, as a specialised work that doesn’t offer culture or
interpretative strategies for phenomena; it is worrying that the methods of science, instead of
being recognized as instruments for understanding, are compared to feelings and to things
that don’t belong to the scientific field as a defence against an all-absorbing vision, though
not scientific. Last but not least, on the epistemological level it is worrying how science and
technology are identified.
The problem of a universal scientific culture therefore puts itself in a wide cultural context.
It is necessary to offer the occasion to understand what science is and isn’t: its role in the
cognitive process, how it determines and controls the potentials and limits of its action.
This is a priority compared to offering information on avant-garde results of scientific
research, bearing in mind that this continues to represent another important social duty that
shouldn’t be neglected.
How to do so is another problem that cannot be resolved by providing information or simple
explanations: the instruments and methods of science need to be known and recognized so
that a meta-reflection on experience can take place. It is therefore from here that we must
begin.
There are three levels that shouldn’t be confused: 1) information for the spreading of
scientific research, as an update on the products of a specific profession with an important
role in society and 2) the creation of scientific bases and of the conditions for the
understanding of phenomena: this is an educational task, which leads to 3) choices on the
formative level (Michelini 1999).

2. Physics in the basic cultural education

Physics is very important in basic cultural education because of its methodological

contribution, the way of approaching problems, its capacity to answer for and foresee in a
reproducible and formalized way states and processes (Hoolbruck 2002). Thanks to its
methodological approach, which requires the sharing of results and cooperation in comparing
the various instruments, physics teaches plurality and social behaviour. It trains to problem
solving, working as a team, flexibility and creativity, which are among the main skills
pointed out by the European Community as necessary for development, centred on human
resources (European Commission 1995). It provides an ability to communicate using verbal,
written, tabular, symbolic and graphical forms (Holbrook 1999).
The inclusion in school curricula of a proper scientific education and a good training of
teachers of all school levels for such a task are therefore the main objectives for the
development of physics (Michelini 2001; 2004).
This cannot be taken for granted!
There is still the deep-rooted idea that education, of a pre-ordained and specialized nature,
consists in transmitting strictly disciplinary notions, with all the preparatory instructions (1).
From this point of view physics is conceived as a subject that can only be taught at university
level to specialized students, who have already broached most of the necessary maths
notions, which are taught as propaedeutic. In all the other contexts (at high school level or
during the first two years of university) physics has a limited role and is seen as preparatory

20
to other specific subjects (3).The understanding of its methods and purposes is not thought to
be necessary in basic education.
Not even the failure of the teaching methods based on these assumptions has lead to reflect
upon physics learning processes and the role of educational research in improving the
conceptual tools, the interpretative way of thinking, the strategy for learning and the
knowledge of physics itself, as reported by Michael Vollmer in a recent research (4) carried
out for EPS (Vollmer 2003).
As reported in earlier studies by EUPEN (Vicentini 1997, 1998, 1999), there is a lack of
communication between the two communities, physicists and physics educators. This is due
to:
1 - the belief of scientists in the validity of the traditional way of teaching,
2 - a lack of motivation in the collaboration on the part of the researchers in education
who feel their work is not considered as valuable by the scientists,
3 - a similar lack of motivation by the scientists who feel that physics knowledge of the
researchers in education is not up to date.
The physicists’ community is starting to bring about promotional actions (5) for its discipline,
taking an interest in the spreading of knowledge and educational initiatives. The conviction
of having all the competencies necessary for this enterprise leads many to start activities
(experiments for students, seminars, visits to laboratories, pilot researches…), the
effectiveness of which is compromised by the fact of not knowing the literature on the
subject and on learning. Human and financial resources are lost, repeating activities which
have been already experimented and the potentialities and limits of which are already known,
but attention towards scientific education is rising and resources are becoming available: a
recent financial contribution from the government has been given to support degree courses
in scientific subjects, and a control room set up at national level to tackle the problems of
scientific illiteracy has aroused the interest of many academics, who had never shown any
before.

3
It is therefore given a limited role during the last years of high school and the first years of
technical and vocational training schools, respectively with an introductory and a conclusive
role.
4
Michael Vollmer draws attention to the following aspects:
- In Belgium, some physics professors think Physics Education Research (PER) is useless;
they teach so well that every student understands everything. For those physicists, the
logical consequence is to think about the necessity for PE in general. …
- Many research physicists in Poland find a PhD in PE inconceivable. Students and
advisors have to be very strong-hearted.
- In France, there also seems to be a general consensus among university physicists that
research in PE is not useful.
- Not surprisingly, didactics groups are usually not seen as regular research groups also
in other countries like e.g. the Netherlands.
- In Germany … Research scientist in general stick to the naive belief, that being an
excellent physicist is the only prerequisite for becoming a good teacher.
5
Some of the main initiatives are for orientation or for popularization of the science,
realized by research communities, as Physics On Stage (PHOS) by EPS, those carried out
in Italy by the National Institut of Nuclear Physics (INFN), the Italian week of scientific
culture promoted by the Italian Ministry of Education.

21
We hope that soon motivation will transform into competence, making it possible to deal in a
scientific way with the central problem of the strategy and methods of a basic scientific
learning.
Our task is to find research results and good examples of activities that are able to educate on
the methodological and cognitive level, overcoming prejudices.

3. Physics teaching for learning

On one side it is necessary to strengthen the role of physics in the curriculum so as to make it
really known and in order to reintroduce the educational and cultural value of science in
education, overcoming the old guidelines that subordinated it to other areas of knowledge or
entrusted it with training tasks for practice, often reducing its teaching to simply providing
information.
On the other side, scientific teaching needs to be adequately planned and managed so as not
to create a false and negative image of scientific knowledge.
The lack of attention paid to didactic aspects in the teaching of physics has led to disastrous
mistakes, which have had a bad effect on the image of the subject. We taught physics in the
same way in all the schools and at all levels. When the context allowed us to do a job which
was limited in time, and without deeper analysis, we gave precedence to results rather than to
processes. In this way, for example, we taught all types of motion and not how to make them,
starting with the law of force which produces them; we defined and used the perfect gas
instead of introducing it from an analysis of the interpretative problem of thermodynamics;
we used physical models in ideal abstract contexts, without giving experience on the way in
which they make themselves useful, starting from a real situation. Thus physics was
experienced as a school subject, talking of things which did not exist (the material point, the
perfect gas, …), with difficult laws, which nobody knew when to use: the process of
formalization was hardly ever made explicit, approximations and simplifications were
declared, but not motivated. The beauty, the usefulness and the vast use of the subject did not
emerge in physics courses. The way in which physics approaches matters, the physical
meaning of concepts were relegated to second place to then find out that physics isn’t
understood or liked, and therefore has to be taught only when a solid mathematical base has
been built for its understanding!
We must overcome the two main consequences of the methods followed until now. We must
start scientific education very early, together with the first experiments in observing and
representing the world around us, in nursery and primary school. We must teach physics in a
different way depending on the context where it is proposed, overcoming our lazy and
anthropocentric habit of reproducing the same basic, propaedeutic module. We must educate
our students to be able to use physics for viewing the world around, being aware of the
power and of the limits of the methodological tools employed: we must offer tools and
methods, rather than answers to questions which have not been asked.
Partial school reforms, projects, local experimentations have sometimes improved only parts
of the curricula, worsening the educational process as a whole in the specific subject, because
of so many notions, repeated too frequently and not integrated in a progressive cognitive
process.
Following the main results of Physics Education Research (PER), good teachers have started
to introduce strategies, which involve the students in experimental activities, modelling and
problem solving (Aiello 1999; Benciolini 2000; Caporaloni 1995; Fazio 2002; Frisina et al
1996; Martongelli et al 2001; Marucci et al 2001; Martin 2001; Meneghin et al 2000;
Michelini 2004; Pinto 2001; Pugliese et al 1999; Sperandeo 2001; Stefanel 1997). However,
the influence of the wide-ranging and in-depth work of didactic innovation which has been
conducted by a vast community of researchers is still too weak, even though it is able to offer

22
new opportunities for physics learning (Corni 1996; Knorr-Cetina 1982; Cobal et al 2002;
Michelini 2004; Pinto et al 2001; 2003; Stefanel 2002; Wirescript 1999 -
www.wirescript.com).
Our proposal implies a review of the contents and the methods in school activities, in order to
promote a knowledge of the subject matters which is not static and definitive, but in
progressive and continuous evolution, without separating the product from the process
(Anderson L W 1995; McGilley K 2000) and accomplishing a strict correlation among the
multiple dimensions of knowledge. The goal is to create "powerful learning environments",
performing different tasks, planning and manageing an articulated and complex network of
activities, able to produce coherent learning paths (Longo et al 2005).
Within an Interreg Project involving Italy and Slovenia a research is being carried out
concerning the proposal to set up learning paths that are based on experimental activity
supporting pre-service and in-service teacher training (Michelini et al 2005).

4. The bridge between everyday experience and the physics in secondary schools

Everyday life, art and sport are contexts that provide the opportunity to recognize
phenomena, ask questions, explore processes and measure the development of sizes, put
forward hypotheses and investigate their validity, build models, study their consequences and
interpretative potentiality compared with the experiments.
Information and communication technologies offer new learning opportunities, not only by
favouring activity in general, but also by offering incentives that introduce new learning
objectives (Bosio et al 1996; Michelini&Pugliese 1999; Michelini 2001), with the aid of web
interactive modules and multimedia materials (Bosio et al 1999; Meneghin et al 1999;
Pugliese et al 2001; Michelini 2001; Mossenta 2001; Pugliese et al 2001; Wirescript 2004;
URDF 2005). They make it possible for students to plan and make a series of measurements
in times and places chosen with on-line sensors, and, at the same time, visualizing the data
and the phenomenon; they allow interpretative activities with model or simulation
environments (Bosatta et al 1996; Bosio et al 1997; 1998; 2001; Corni et al 1996; Michelini
2001; 2004; 2005); they facilitate the analysis and comparison of data and of the latter with
the models’ results (Benciolini 2001; 2002; Moschetta et al 2002; Michelini 2004); they
make it possible to collaborate and to discuss even at a distance, and to reflect upon one’s
work. They allow the building of a bridge between the phenomena of the world surrounding
us and physics, which accounts for them.
Let us see some examples.

4.1 Friction and Newton Law.

The approach to mechanics from everyday experience passes through friction. It is necessary
to start from the need to interpret what is happening and therefore from the recognition of
friction and of its role as a force (Michelini, 2005).
A toy car, that was given a little push on the top of a table, starts to move, goes along for a
few centimetres and then stops. Data are collected with a motion sensor and video recording
and are used to build a learning object (LO) with which students can work at home, reflecting
upon and reporting important aspects, such as: the description of the reference frame, the
trajectory, the position-time graph. It is possible to identify two phases in the car’s motion
and in the graphs. The motion examined is correlated with its formal description. Finding the
accelerations, the following question is posed: who produces the deceleration that stops the
car?
A more in depth study is carried out in a more complex case: a trolley going down an
inclined plane. By changing the trolley’s mass it is possible to see that its speed increases
always in the same way. If the inclination of the plane is changed, then this is no longer

23
valid. Students start to master the second law, having already recognized force as a descriptor
of interactions.

4.2 The bouncing ball to learn mechanics

The bouncing ball is an everyday phenomenon, a simple interaction in which the main
conceptual knots of mechanics are involved. It is therefore a context for the study of
mechanics. We have prepared and experimented 7 units (Santi, 2001) for exploring physics
approach to phenomena from different points of view: a modular collection of cards for
students and teachers, taken from simple phenomenological explorations and more accurate
data on dynamical modelling.
The physical features of the phenomenon are iterative: each iteration is discontinuous, with a
three-step partition: fall, interaction with floor, bouncing. There is only one acting force
(weight). Kinematics’ and dynamic analysis is easy and learning difficulties are not to be
overlooked. Interaction with the floor is more complicated, but it can be described on the
phenomenological level and formalized in modelling activities. The cards have been used by
many teachers in class.
Everyday car accidents and other situations, found for example in sport, can represent the
real context for approach, as shown by Samo Lasic in his poster on the world of bouncing
bodies produced for the Interreg III Project (Michelini & Planinsic 2005).
Let us look at some more examples, which come from everyday phenomena that are
important for the understanding of physics methods, yet are overlooked by secondary
schools.

4.3 Diffraction.
We can identify it in many contexts to determine its characteristics and formulate
hypotheses. It can be the product of a white light shining through the leaves of trees (fig. 1), a
reflection of the streaks of a CD Rom (fig. 2), cutting through a crack (fig.3), the product of a
blue monochromatic light (fig. 4) on the edges of a razor for shaving (fig. 4a) and shining
through a crack (fig. 4b) and also the product of X-rays on a crystal of NaCl (fig. 5). We can
see it as a product of sound (fig. 6) and of waves on the surface of water (fig. 7). We can also
recognize it as a product of particles: electrons (figures 8 and 9) and neutrons (fig. 10). It
provides important applications for the study of the structures of matter. It establishes the
limit of optical instruments and the degree of separation for identifying distant objects
(Rayleigh’s criterion): the optical resolution (fig. 11). It achieves the separation of colours
and offers new techniques to artists (fig. 12).

Fig. 1: Difraction Fig. 2: Difraction produced by a Fig. 3

produced by trees reflection of the streaks of a CD Rom
It can be easily obtained in laboratories and quantitatively studied with optical sensors (fig.
13). Its qualitative characteristics and its dependency on the width of the fissure and on the
colour of the light can be recognized. The analysis of the data leads to the phenomenological

24
laws, which describe the position and the intensity of the maximum and minimum values
(Corni et al, 1993; Michelini, 2004). The principle of Huygens-Fresnel make a simulation
possible in which the cases of Fresnel and Fraunhofer can be recognized (fig. 14), and theory
and data can be compared in a fitting. It offers a more realistic view of the phenomena
related to interference. It can be considered as the bridge that links classical to quantum
physics.

Fig. 4a Fig. 4b Fig. 5

Fig. 6 Fig. 7: Difraction produced by Fig. 8: Electron diffraction on ZnO

waves on the surface of water

Fig. 9: Electron diffraction Fig. 10: Difraction of neutron Fig. 11: Diffraction determines
on NiSi on NaCl the limits of optical resolution
4.4 Light polarization.
Light polarization represents an important point for a conceptual synthesis. It can also act as
a cultural buffer in the transition between classical and quantum mechanics: to build
theoretical thinking and look at phenomena that do not necessarily belong to the area of
perception (Cobal et al, 2002; Michelini, 2004).
Light polarization phenomena happen every day, even if they cannot always be perceived
directly by the human eye. When light interacts with matter, in many cases it becomes at
least partly polarized, as happens to light reflected or refracted by glass or the light diffused

25
by the atmosphere. A lot of insects find their way because the light of the sky is polarized.
Different devices, common techniques and sophisticated instruments all exploit this property.
It is simple to explore light polarization in everyday phenomena by rotating a polaroid by 90°
around the direction of observation. We see that the light diffused by the sky in the sun’s
direction does not change, instead the light diffused in a direction orthogonal to the sun
changes, as do the light reflected by a floor and the laser pointer light. Malus and Brewster
identify the phenomenological laws of transmittance by means of computer on-line light
sensors and with simple apparatuses that characterize the phenomenon (Michelini et al,
2005). Double refractive crystals allow to gain further knowledge on its characteristics,
which in the first instance can be represented by a vector in an position that is orthogonal to
the vector propagating the light.
A simulated environment created to explore hypotheses, to make previsions on the explored
phenomena related with the interaction of polarized photons with a polaroid double refractive
crystals leads us to understand the meaning of quantum state, the superposition principle, the
meaning of measure in quantum physics and the basic ideas of the new mechanics.

Fig. 12: Diffraction provides the superposition of colours for pointillists. Seurat model, 1887.

Fig. 13: Data obtained by a slit with Fig. 14: Simulation obtained with 3 Huygens
width a= 0,12 mm sources on a segment with a= 0,01 cm width

4.5 Sport for learning physics

Students’ difficulties in the conceptual change from sensorial and commonsense ideas to
scientific conceptions are due to the lack of connection between everyday experience and
physics interpretation of reality. Students have to understand that physics models have the
role of: analogical formal descriptors of selected aspects of the world and not a reductive
idealized and approximate representation of phenomena.
Our purpose is in the context of curricular research to give a contribution in the construction
of learning proposals to help students to recognize physics methodology which is the base of

26
complex processes of interpretation in the context of a friendly and stimulating subject like
sport (Bradamante et al, 2004).
The Fosbury-flop method, now used in the high jump, is an interesting example of complex
motion that we can consider. The videorecorded motion can be divided into three parts: run-
up, take-off, and bar clearance.
The first level of description is the translation motion of the centre of mass of the body (fig.
15). Take-off is just a collision of the foot with the platform and can be modelled with simple
jumping toys or a bouncing ball (fig. 16). During the bar clearance phase the centre of the
rigid body’s mass describes a parabolic curve, and the angular momentum of rotational
motion is conserved. To highlight this last important aspect it is necessary to represent the
system as a rigid body: a cylinder as a first approximation, an articulated rod as a second
approximation (fig. 17). In judo the body’s motion is studied by watching it on film and the
velocity is divided into a horizontal and a vertical direction in order to create the dynamics of
the interaction between two fighters.

Fig. 15: Fosbury-flop. Center of mass translation Fig. 16: Fosbury-flop

Simulation of the take-off

Fig. 17: Fosbury-flop. Bar clearance and its simulation. Fig. 18: The Judo case
There are other contexts that can be considered in the field of thermal phenomena: the
propagation of a thermal impulse in a bar; the emission of light from a filament; the heating
and cooling of a system by light to see how light carries energy and that the absorbing
process allows us to calculate it. In our web site <www.fisica.uniud.it/URDF/> are available
various examples, related with educational materials (apparatuses, student cards, learning
objects) experimented in schools, offering the opportunity to draw interpretative models, to
make formal prevision, planning experiments, comparing previsions and collected data,
starting from real phenomena.
Competence implies the capacity to mediate between different types of knowledge and
learning in order to produce new knowledge, abilities and practices: it entails the recognition
of the situated character of learning and the important role of informal learning at all age
level to produce knowledge that can be use in different contexts.

27
5. Inert, tacit knowledge and informal learning

The technical and abstract way with which subjects are dealt with at school (Dewey &
Childs, 1933, 51) and the following tendency of the students to adopt an attitude of merely
reproducing what they have read in a text in order to get a good mark (Dewey 1906, Freire
1970, Engestrom 1987) causes the creation of “inert structures of knowledge” (Whitehead
1947) which have no use outside the school context.
The meaning of theoretical concepts is established by identifying the relation between the
various concepts (Guile 2003). Then it is elaborated and extended while those who are
learning attempt to use these concepts to interpret everyday experience or to re-examine them
in light of their appropriateness for the interpretation of the same experience (Guile 2003).
Strictly connected to taking part in situations is the informal learning. It regularly occurs in
everyday life, when people act or are involved in something the meaning of which they
understand (Lave and Wenger 1991, Rogoff 1994). Therefore it is a knowledge that is not
systematic or organized, the boundaries of which are not well defined, and it refers to actions
that aim to solve problems strictly and broadly speaking. It is also partly “tacit” (Polanyi,
1967) since the people who hold it aren’t completely aware that they do and they have
difficulty in verbalizing it.
From the cognitive point of view, informal learning is characterized by proceeding in an
analogical way, which is the way that people use to establish relations that allow to make
comparisons and to understand similarities and differences that offer the occasion for action,
creating symbolical representations of the leading experiences (Ajello 2004). It is a way to
establish contacts between different experiences, which allow to shift between differently
perceived episodes on the basis of certain aspects.
Informal knowledge has to be rendered explicit, and it is necessary to find the ways to
recognize it, since it doesn’t fall within the regular ones that can be predicted from the
beginning (Bjornavold, 2000).
Informal education (6) faces up to one of the main challenges of learning: how to overcome
the boundaries between education and its use (Tuomi-Grohn e Engestrom 2003).
This transition will determine the extent to which the pupils will develop new knowledge,
identity and ways of learning (Beach 2003). In scientific learning the passage will be
considerably mediated by the level at which the pupils are able to create theoretical
formulations, which help them put in relation the place of operability with the contents of
education (knowledge and methods) (Guile 2004).
In the context of the hands-on exhibit Games Experiment Ideas (Bosatta et al, 1994;
Michelini 2004) we carried out strategies that can help pupils to identify the situated
character of knowledge and of abilities, and to recognize the importance of using forms of
knowledge that are external to the situation, in order to mediate the existing concepts of
competence and knowledge and create new competence and knowledge. The playful context
of play offers us this opportunity.

6. Play and game

Play provides the opportunity for a de-contextualization from school activity. Its nature not
finalized stimulates and activates personal learning processes and achieves a connection with
informal and symbolical abilities.

6
In any way it presents itself, from dealing with everyday problems to working. Informal
learning occurs with actions that are included in activities the object and cause of which is
not learning as such.

28
Literature makes a distinction between game and play and between these and work in order
to identify within work (Bateson, 1972) the activity that deeply involves the subject (not in a
mechanical way), it is aimed at a final outcome, even though interest, basic ideas, creativity
and previous experiences remain important. Play remains an activity that is characterised for
being intrinsically stimulating, in which there is complete freedom in meanings and attitudes,
which can evolve towards work through the spontaneous activities that link experiences, and
stimulate intelligence. In this way Dewey expects play to be an attitude of the school and not
a didactic instrument, which involves the subject’s active participation, in activities where
rules have a cognitive role.
In play each experience receives something from the previous ones and, in turn, changes in
some way the following ones (Dewey, 1906). The rules of the game, which cannot be
missing, are related to the sphere of feelings, they become a target (work) and an object of
learning (Vygotskij, 1997). By emotionally internalising the rules, the child transforms them
and achieves the greatest results in learning (Vygotskij).
In the scientific learning is in particular important the connection between imaginative
situation, play and rules: it is the first approach in building models of reality.
The context and communication are important, because agreements are established between
the subjects participating in the communication, and as well as the messages it is important
how these messages are transmitted (meta-messages). The group of meta-messages creates a
framework. The change of framework corresponds to a change of style, and the subject
modulates its behaviour accordingly. Play allows to experiment various conditions without
conditioning and to experience different styles. The child therefore amplifies its vision of the
world and “learns the way in which thought is structured in relation to the universe”
(Bateson, 1972).
For science education the game of exploring different worlds and different ways of looking
at these worlds, through the formulation of hypotheses that create other worlds (models) for
their interpretation is fundamental. It is the real way to understand what physics is about.
This is precisely what schools are still not able to do, even though they are starting to
integrate their programmes with external activities.

7. Cognitive laboratories to play a scientific game

Fig.19: GEI exhibit: a learning environment of poor materials, validated apparatuses for
experiments, opportunities to explore ideas … to learn phenomena and to explore
phenomena… to interpret, opportunities to play and to learn
GEI exhibit offers 240 experiments to do not only to see for the exploration of phenomena
and the first level of interaction with the interpretative problem of different field of
experience (fig. 19). Cognitive laboratories carried out with the GEI apparatuses are a

29
research based proposal of a learning powerful context for the building formal thinking,
reflecting to place again what has been learnt in knowledge from each experience, re-
interpreting common everyday knowledge. The goal is a personal analysis and organization
of concepts, with reference to phenomenological contexts and interpretative models which
are to be compared with critical method (Michelini eds. 2004).
The research focus is on the reasoning sequence, the ways with which knowledge is
structured, the development of interpretative representations and the way in which the
relation between real objects and conceptual structures evolves in an abstract structure.
The main types were the following.

7.1 Map Laboratories.

Groups of classes carry out a guided research on a restricted thematic field (for example,
floating, magnetic interactions). The names of the concepts that the children recognize as
important within the activity are collected. Once this list has been reduced, for example by
eliminating synonyms, spontaneous maps (Nussubaum & Novak, 1976) are made by single
pupils or small groups. The various words, that are written on small pieces of paper that can
be freely placed on a poster, are then linked together with verbs (graphic links between the
pieces of paper). The revision of the maps leads to a class map that the students see as the
result of their work (fig. 20). For the children the map laboratory represented the occasion to
explore the specific contexts presented and create a first conceptual organization; afterwards,
the teachers that accompanied them used it a basis for continuing activity in class;
researchers collect the children’s ideas and the way in which these ideas are structured in a
first non-processed phase.

Fig.20: Spontaneous conceptual maps discussion

7.2 Cognitive Laboratories of Operative Exploration (CLOE).

The activity is carried out by a researcher on a specific topic, following a semi-structured
interview protocol, which represents an open work plan that allows to follow the student’s
conceptual paths on the basis of the incentives offered. Through the proposal of everyday life
scenarios or the recalling of common situations, an initial research is carried out on the
student’s ideas regarding conceptual knots, which are successively studied through
experimental and/or operative proposals. The CLOE laboratories offered to students and
teachers the possibility to approach contexts that are aren’t considered at primary school,
because thought to be too complex. They represented an important moment for in-service
and initial teacher training, as an example of how to deal with the topics presented. Finally,
they provided researchers the indications on the student’s conceptual paths and on the way in
which they formalize knowledge (figs.21-26).

30
Fig.21: Examples of children’s spontaneous reasoning in the Newton’s case of free fall: a)
local vision, b) prevision of circular orbita, c) the atmosphere as a limit of gravitational
attraction

Fig.22: Children’s 8 year old prevision of the temperature evolution of 3 copper cubes of
different masses on the table located in the hot water of a bacin

Fig.23: Children’s 7 year old

prevision of the temperature
exploration of different objects
on the table

Fig.24: Graphs reported by children’s: a) temperature evolution of three sensors: one of the
table, the other taken into the hand in different successive instants (7 year old children);
b & c) temperature evolution of two sensors taken into the hand from the table, being the last
one putted later in warm water (b) 7 year old children; c) 4 year old children)

31
7.3 Treasure hunt Laboratories.
Teams of 4-5 children coming from primary school were presented with situations linked to
everyday physics, as a game and a challenge. In each of the three stages foreseen for the
discussion of the phenomenological and conceptual context, single problematic situations
concerning the conceptual knots of the subject discussed were presented: floating, flight,
phase transitions, the formation of images in a lens, the motion of bodies in the gravitational
and magnetic field (fig. 21), the interaction between magnets and bodies (figs. 25, 26). For
the children who participated the treasure hunt represented a challenge to learning that was
taken as a game and was therefore motivating and involving. For the teachers assisting it was
a moment of learning an it created the incentive to continue work in class. For researchers it
was an opportunity to collect the children’s ideas on the conceptual knots studied and
important indications on how to overcome them.

Fig.25: a) and b): Situations described by Fig.26: Children’s idea of field drawn in the
6 year old children as concern the cases of a magnet interacting with a steel ball
interaction between two magnet (a and b) and with little magnet floating in a
water bacin (c).

7.4 Context Analysis Laboratories.

Starting from a certain context, a semi-structured interview of operative character is carried
out on conceptual knots. The experimental researches, actions, drawings, graphs, and texts
required at every turn of the interview constitute an instrument for the clarification of ideas
and interpretations that should be shared and discussed by a small group. Primary school
children were offered a rich group of experiments on the statics of fluids, magnetic
interactions and optical phenomena. The distinctive characteristic of these laboratories is the
development of argumentative thought on the basis of collaborative activities.

The activities of the CLOE and Treasure hunt Laboratories were integrated with school
activities carried out in innovative projects for scientific learning, which foresaw the
collaboration of about 10 schools for 3 years.

8. Research methods

The methods used for the research consisted of interviews, talks, observations and
laboratories. The last two are mostly associated to the first two.

32
There were different types of interviews:
1. free interviews. The topic is presented, often with a corresponding situation, but no
specific questions are asked, since the aim is only to stimulate free expression and
thought.
2. semi-structured interviews. A group is asked questions according to areas of interest
on which attention should focus.
3. structured interviews. A series of questions that follow an order previously
established on the basis of a protocol defined according to the research hypotheses
is asked.
4. strictly structured interviews. Questions and a choice of prepared answers are rarely
used during the second research phase or in situations involving many subjects to
accompany the qualitative analysis with the quantitative one.
The questions are direct or indirect, depending on the level of in-depth research.
The semi-structures interview activates a research path, which involves the interviewer and
interviewees in searching for concepts, reasoning sequences and interpretations. The
solutions are determined by each single person, since the interviewer provides only
emotional support (Bastianoni, 2001).
During the research the asymmetry of the interviews is compensated with group discussions
carried out with different modalities and group activities are often associated with Roger’s
type talks (Bradamante et al, 2004). During the first phase, observation is developed in
ethological terms: observation of recurring behaviours and building of models, followed by
quantitative observations of the expected behaviours. The micro-analytical analysis, with a
division into categories of the situations examined, is always carried out in association with
other forms of observation in order to avoid the risk of losing a global vision of the problem.
Three points of reference represent guidelines to be followed: 1) attention to detail, 2)
observation of the context, 3) study of the continuity of behaviours apparently with no
meaning, but useful to understand the process under research hypotheses.
It rarely happens that Piaget-type systematic continuative and detailed observations are made
to verify or refute precise hypotheses.
The semi-structured interviews which were present in all types of cognitive laboratories were
aimed at determining the characteristics of learning which occurs in informal contexts.
Attention was therefore focused on the following aspects of common behaviour, as well as
the elements that define the research methods:
• the contexts within which the subject is able to act and the activities carried out,
• the products of this activity,
• the instruments used to study the problems.

9. Main results and concluding remarks

The results of the work in informal context and in the cognitive laboratories is on three level:
a) the new perspectives activated in the school by the exploration of phenomena in hands –
on exhibits and cooperative discussion for interpretation, b) the role of ICT and the relative
tools for learning and c) our understanding of the role of operability into the identification of
the concept, the sequence of reasoning, the learning path and the strategies for overcoming
difficulties of learning and conceptual knots.
In the examples of fig. 21 the child’s reasoning in the prediction of the trajectory of the ball
emerges from drawings. The case a) is a local vision similar to those observed in the lab for a
ball rolling on the table and then falling; we see the falling down of the ball in the sheet of
paper, the Earth being the base of the sheet of paper. In the case b) we have the prevision of
circular traiectory and the child’s reasoning, that reaches and overcome Vigotsky’s zone of

33
proximal development and passes from a local vision (object falling to the Earth) to a global
vision. In the case c) the global vision is limited by an idea of the atmosphere as a limit of
gravitational attraction. In this research (Bradamante et al 2005) we find an important role of
concrete-objectual models for the building of the bridge between local experience and
general concepts.
Very often are surprising the quality and the coherence of the interpretative models of the
children in the spontaneous analisys of the explored phenomena and the use of these models
for previsions.
It is wrong to limit the proposals for scientific education of the children to the field of
experience and phenomenological observation. New ways are opening in the research on
developing formal thinking of children.
The familiarity in using graphs in the presentation of previsions in fig. 23 give us confidence
with the opportunity of using this scientific expression of ideas very earlier, in parallel with
others. The precision and the process-related description of observed graphs of fig. 24
confirm that it is possible to overcome the difficulties in reading and drawing graphs reported
in literature for pupils 14 year old. In the reported graphs are evident the ideas of thermal
equilibrium and that the temperature measure is a process of thermal interaction for the
reaching of equilibrium. It is noticeable that in the pupils graphs the reported temperature are
correct, the general behaviour of temperature vs time is correctly recognized (noise is not
taken into consideration); very attention is played into temperature scale. Laura (4 years hold
– fig.24-c) recognizes that the following temperatures are constant: of the table, of the small
fish-pond, of the teacher’s hand!.
In the case of fig. 25 as concern the interaction between two magnet: attraction-repulsion and
rotation are recognized. Magnetic phenomena can allow pupils to recognize that the space on
the surroundings of a magnet has some properties that can be detected by the interactions
with field probes. In static conditions emerge an idea of magnetic field to recognize the
process of interaction. These interactions are easily recognizable with a property of space
since they are different in every point.
Pupils should be supported in developing conceptual frameworks that aren’t confined to
particular situations and that aren’t simple generalizations of specific cases. This leads to the
development of the capacity to interpret new situations and phenomena in light of the
concepts that have been acquired, just like the capacity to manipulate different
interpretations.
It is useful to look at the connections, rather than the differences, between formal, non-formal
and informal learning.
Play has a great influence on the subject’s development: it has a role of transition from the
concreteness of action to a thought that is completely disengaged and the capacity to make
abstractions. It is a process that takes place within the child, allowing the development of
logical memory and abstract thought from reality with spontaneity: perception is the trigger
that leads to this transition and play increases the level of consciousness related to one’s
actions, and rules make play more fascinating. The place of experimentation thus becomes
the place of learning
Learning through experience implies the creation of conceptual relations: the students have
to learn by operating actively and they therefore need to be able to place what they have
learnt within what Bakhurst (2001) calls the “space of reasons”, using theoretical concepts to
mediate the understanding of experience and, on the other hand, using the latter to re-think
theoretical concepts.
A decisive factor is the way in which the pupils sometimes use language to understand
concrete events, for example making a concrete event symbolic by using a metaphor, which
allows to give a more ample meaning to this event, connecting it to an abstract visual image
of the process.

34
Scientific education in pre-school and primary school level (children’s age from 3 to12) is
particularly important and problematic, since it is the prelude to the introduction of a valid
scientific education for everyone.
Physics teaching should offer at all levels interesting and useful activities. All this should be
done by means of a process of gradual educational growth, with valued competencies,
avoiding useless repetitions or huge amounts of notions.
The current scenario requires a new professionalism on the part of teachers, which consists of
a complex set of subject, technical, pedagogical, social and organizational skills (Riel 1998;
Swan 1998; Watts 1998; Michelini 2003). In the “Europe of Knowledge” (CEC 2003; 2004)
the teacher plays the role of cultural mediator, tutor and manager of autonomous cognitive
processes.
Informal contexts as those of GEI exhibit play an important role in learning process if
associated with cognitive labs involving the pupils in operative and conceptual explorations
from the playful approach to scientific game.
Te main goal for scientific education in formal and informal contexts must be to give to
everyone the opportunity to develop personal interpretation of the phenomena and to define
interpretative models of natural processes, discussing ideas and concepts. The way in which
the formal thinking grown and become a set of scientific knowledge is one of the most
important challenges of physics education research.

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39
Reflections on Reflections –From Optical Everyday Life Phenomena to Physical
Awareness

H. Joachim Schlichting

Department of Physics, University of Münster,

D 48149 Münster, Germany

Introduction

Physical education contributes in a special way to general education of young people.

Therefore, physics lessons may not be restricted to pure physical topics but have to be
combined with everyday life phenomena and problems. However, this is not as simple as it
may appear at first sight, for the everyday life world does not contain the physical aspects for
direct reading. As the pupils and students are not trained to look at the world from a physical
point of view, they will not see what they should see, although their retinas might be exposed
by physically interesting phenomena.
We will demonstrate and further explain this problem by discussing appropriate photographs
and paintings. Some preliminary investigations show that teaching and learning physics
within the context of everyday life phenomena may be very stimulating and successful.

On the situation of physics teaching

One important goal of teaching physics in schools of general education is that physics should
help students to understand and cope with their everyday life. This implies that physical
topics have to be related to questions and phenomena, which at first sight are not physical at
all. But this is not as simple as it may appear. At least the following issues may be addressed
(for a more thoroughly discussion, see: [1]):

1. The everyday life world is familiar and taken for granted.

As a consequence in their everyday life students are not confronted with open questions or
problems which would invite them to have a closer look or even to make investigations.
Therefore, a physical approach requires taking the most obvious into question, which means
that the familiar has to be experienced as something unfamiliar.
As an illustration of this problem let’s have a look at something common like the light spots

Fig. 1: Normal images of the sun under Fig. 2: Images of the sun during an
the leaf roof of trees eclipse

40
under a tree while the sun is shining (Fig. 1) [2]. Normally the students do not find any
striking at this mélange of light and shadow although they assume that the randomly formed
openings between the leaves are the origin of the “sun talers”. And even if you ask more
specifically why the light spots are rounded, most of the answers are of the kind: How do you
expect it should be? Even if you tell them, that the light spots are images of the sun the
students sometimes think you were making fun.
But if one shows them a picture of the same situation during an eclipse of the sun (Fig. 2),
where the light spots are crescent- shaped, the situation will change immediately: Even if, at
first sight, the students would attribute the crescent form of the light spots to the moon
(which could in principle be true), the shift of perspective from the shape of the openings in
the leaf roof of the trees to the shape of the light source is sufficient to finally identify the
light spots as pictures of the sun.
Here the familiar sight is experienced in a seldom and therefore unfamiliar situation which
attracts attention and leads to the want to understand what up to now was out of question,
because “the strange challenges us and we demand the most simple of it” [3].

2. From the physical point of view the problems are complex.

At first sight, everyday life phenomena are simple in the sense that they do not suggest any
question at all. One simply got accustomed to them as e.g. to a wallpaper of a familiar room.
But if the students start to look at the phenomena with having physical questions in mind the
phenomena suddenly become rather complex: On the one hand physical aspects have to be
recognized within a nonphysical situation as such and on the other hand, there might be more
than just one physical problem to be met. This turns out to be a rather demanding task and
cannot be overcome without exercise and training. Normally students learn basic physical
laws within an extremely simple, ideal and artificially designed context. Therefore, starting
with everyday life phenomena requires another approach. One should start with the complex
phenomena, then identify the physical problems, and finally work out the basic principles.
On this background, in the following it shall be shown by means of some optical phenomena
how the “physical view” for everyday life phenomena can be sharpened and how the familiar
can be turned into fascinating physical questions and investigations. Moreover, we expect
that everyday occurrences may be revalued and experienced in a more intense way.

Reflections on Reflection

Concentrating on what we see when we look at something, and how we see it, we draw our
attention to reflections which play an important role in the process of seeing and
understanding, and enter into reflections on reflections.
By reflection we mean the turning back of light rays encountering a surface. In general, not
all the incident light is reflected. Part of it may be absorbed or – in the case of transparent
media – transmitted. The reflected light determines the appearance of the surface (color,
shape).

41
 There are two different
types of reflections. A
totally matt surface
reflects light in all
directions, so that there
is no memory of the
light source(s) in this
diffusely reflected or
scattered light. A
totally smooth surface,
a mirror, reflects light
in an ordered way
according to the law of
reflection. In this case,
the incoming light is
just returned without
changing its properties
so that things only
seem to be at another
Fig. 3: Normally, visual cliffs on Fig. 4: The „visual cliff“ by place. Therefore, ideal
glossy floors are ignored Gibbson and Walk mirrors are invisible.
Real surfaces show a
mixture of both kinds of reflection. According to the extent to which light is reflected in a
diffuse or a specular way, and according to the colors of the light sources and its sizes the
surface appears matt, dull, flaring, gleamy, lustrous, glittering, glossy, shiny etc. Normally,
we are accustomed to the different ways light is reflected without paying attention to it. But
sometimes one may get irritated by unfamiliar aspects of well known things.

When flat floors develop a third dimension

One day at an airport building, an

Fig. 5: Looking from inside the cupola of the dome of
Florence down to the floor, it suddenly seems to
evolve into a third dimension.
experiments of Eleonor Gibbson and Richard Walk [4], in which a cat was made insecure by
an optical cliff (Fig. 4).
elderly lady asked me to help her to
cross the “cliffs” which she believed
to see where other people saw a
glossy floor. Looking at the polished
tiles I suddenly became aware of
what she meant: The reflections of
rather unusual ceilings with different
levels could be interpreted as stairs or
depressions (Fig. 3).
After that incidence I encountered
many similar situations where the
gloss of smooth objects turned over
in a totally new appearance.
Sometimes the quality of the specular
reflection is so perfect that only the
non visual context helps us to
distinguish reality from virtuality.
This event may remind one of the

42
That images can dupe men and animals is known since Xeuxis, who painted grapes so
realistically that pigeons tried to pick them from the canvas. And the renaissance painters
utilized linear perspective to create impressive virtual rooms (Fig. 5).
Glossy floors are not only typical for our time.
The painting of the Delft School (Fig. 6) is an
example where the painter presents many
different reflecting surfaces. The silk dress
shows a widely distributed sheen of white
daylight coming through the window at the left.
By this reflection the color of the dress is
bleached but at the same time its crinkles are
enhanced.
The dress itself is mirrored upside down in the
polished black tiles, of which the original color
can only be inferred from the context, because it
is totally covered by a mirror image of the red
dress. But only the black tiles show specular
reflections, the color of the white tiles does not
seem to be affected at all. Are they not smooth
enough? A closer look especially on one white
tiles lying in the shadow of a piece of furniture

Fig. 6: Painting of the Delft School (1660-

5). Look at all the different reflections.

gives the clue to the answer: The diffuse reflection of white

tiles totally outshines the specular reflection. Only if the
diffuse reflection is eliminated by screening the daylight of
the window the specular reflection is strong enough to
provide a visible mirror image of the dress. Concerning the
smoothness there is no difference between black and white
tiles.
That black tiles are better mirrors becomes also apparent by
the reflected highlights of the globular fire-iron, which can
only be seen on black tiles (Fig. 7). This is a kind of
reflection of the second order because the highlights
themselves are specular reflections of the bright windows in
the spherical parts of the fire-iron. Although the fire-iron is
not a perfect mirror the specular reflection of the
anamorphically deformed pattern of the floor can be
recognized at least dimly in its spherical parts. This proves Fig. 7: Reflections of
once more that there are really spheres and not just disks. reflections. Detail from figure
Finally, let’s mention the reflections of the burnished leather 6.
tapestry on the back wall. Some vaulted parts of it are
oriented such that the light of the window is specularly reflected into the eye of the observer
(painter). At these places the color of the leather looks nearly white.

43
Anamorphic mirrors in the everyday life world

But one must not necessarily visit an art gallery to know the true promise of aesthetically
appealing reflections. Our everyday life world provides many phenomena to be detected. A
look at a window display of a household supply store may show many different reflections,
of which some examples shall be mentioned here (see Fig. 8).
The two metallised vases are almost spherical mirror mapping nearly all the surroundings.
The oval, which in reality has a bluish appearance, represents the anamorphic deformed shop
window, in which the street with the photographer and part of the blue sky are to be seen.

Fig. 8: window display of a household

Fig. 9: Wada basins: reflections of
supply store with many specular reflections
reflections of reflections… at the
place where four Christmas tree
Moreover, it shows that at the upper brim of the baubles are facing each other
reflected interior there are some spotlights which
come from halogen lamps illuminating the window display. They give also rise to light
streaks on the metal stripes in the foreground showing that the metal has tiny horizontal
scratches coming from the production process [2]. Some of the light streaks are bluish, which
apparently are caused by reflections of the blue skylight. Close inspection shows
anamorphically deformed reflections of the ambient objects. Especially the feet of the vases
being curved alternately in a concave and convex way show the ambient things alternately
upside down and right side up.
The vases also reflect each other mutually, which – at a closer look – shows mirror images of
mirror images and so forth to infinity producing a fractal structure (Wada basins [5]). This
can be verified easily by putting four metallised Christmas tree balls together to form a
tetrahedron. Figure 9 shows the parts where the balls are facing each other.

Deformed mirrors – coachwork of cars

Another example of an anamorphically deformed mirror in the everyday life world is worth
being mentioned here: the coachwork of cars (Figs. 9 – 11). A closer look shows that the
glossiness is nothing but mirror images of bright ambient objects. Again one has to switch
one’s view from a polished glossy surface to a deformed mirror. But this change of view is
worthwhile because the observer is not only rewarded by aesthetically appealing phenomena
but also by an insight into interesting physical aspects of non-physical objects.
In some cases the quality of this fancy mirror is so good that, showing somebody only an
appropriate section, it is difficult to recognize the original color of the car. The color version

44
of figure 9 shows a blue car and nothing tells us that in reality it is black. The blue color is
due to the specular reflection of the blue sky.

Fig. 9: The color of a may hidden under a Fig. 10: Coachwork as a concave mirror.
specular reflection,

Once more it becomes apparent that shiny black surfaces are very good mirrors because in
this case the diffuse reflection is minimal. The brighter the coachwork the more the specular
reflections look washed-out.
Most of the coachwork produces
anamorphic mirror images of the convex
type. But sometimes one can detect mirror
images which are upside down (Fig. 10).
In the class this curious effect can help to
give reasons for a discussion of spherical
concave and convex mirrors as two
principally different ideals of specularly
reflecting surfaces. Those ideals can help to
bring order to the different kinds of
deformed reflecting surfaces met in
everyday life. They permit to elaborate the
essential principles of reflection without the
Fig. 11: The deformation of the reflected traffic need to discuss the many variants to be
sign tells about the deformation of the car. found in reality.
Whoever has watched children and young
persons in science centers enjoying their own mirror image deformed both in a funny and
interesting manner by a distorting mirror may perhaps wonder why they almost never meet
somebody posing in front of a polished car. The reason is that they didn’t adopt the special
view to look at a car as a funny mirror. This special view could help to combine physics with
everyday life experience thus grounding physics in a vast non physical area. For several
reasons this is of great value for learning physics because at the one hand physical topics are
detached from the spatial and temporal limitations of physic lessons. On the other hand,
physics learned within an affective positive atmosphere may contribute enormously to the
learning success of the students.
The deformations of specularly reflected objects are not only funny but may help to
recognize the form of an object which for some reasons cannot be seen directly. The
distorted reflection of a simple object like e.g. a straight traffic sign provides direct
information about the form of the coachwork.

45
Of course, in the case of glossy cars this is not of much practical use (Fig. 11). But this
example may be used to illustrate how physicists get information of an unknown structure by
looking at the change the light or other radiation undergoes when being reflected. Physicists
analyze reflections to deduce the structure of the reflecting object.

Changing Deformations

Reflections are not only caused by solid surfaces, liquid surfaces, especially water surfaces,
may provide impressive reflection phenomena which in most cases are as well overlooked.

Fig. 12: Mirror image “under” the

pavement. Fig. 13: A deep virtual abyss in a
Grotto in Lanzarote.
If a flat water surface has developed (e.g. after a rainfall) or objects are covered by a thin
film of water especially bright objects may bring out a mirror world behind respectively
below the mirroring surface (Fig. 12). Due to the flat surface reflections in a puddle provide
an undistorted view. Though, according to the angle of incidence, the water only reflects a
more or less small portion of the light, the mirror images often look rather distinct and clear
because the light entering into the water is absorbed to a great extent, so that there is only
little diffuse reflected light disturbing the specular reflections.
In similar cases, e.g. if cobble-stones are covered by a thin film of water we get distorted
mirror images, where in extreme cases only the color refers to the reflected objects. The
shine and intensity of watery stones are also due to reflections. But this shall only be
mentioned here [7].

46
 In spite of the – sometimes perfect
– quality of the mirror images
produced by water puddles it is
almost always obvious, that it is
about an image and not a real
object. In rare cases, if the
reflections are observed in non
familiar situations, the appreciation
may be different. For instance,
visitors of a grotto (as shown in
figure 13) believed to stand
directly in front of a steep cliff,
though they looked only at thin
layer of water reflecting the vault.
Fig. 14: A water surface – a permanently changing This optical illusion is favored by
mirror. the fact that both the upper and the
lower parts of the grotto looked so
similar that only a careful comparison could unmask the reflection.
Not only flat water surfaces may transform to mirrors, slightly wavy water may produce
deformed reflections of the ambiance reminding of a dynamically variation of glossy
coachwork, kaleidoscopically changing without rest (Fig. 14). Due to the motion of the water
the deformed mirror images are no longer seen beneath the water surface as in the case of a
flat surface. Instead the colorless water7
seems to take on the colors of the
surroundings thus loosing its
transparency.
This observation may lead to the
discovery that transparent media like
water and glass get visible essentially by
reflections of the bright ambiance.
Examples are wine glasses which can
only be seen because the reflections
reduce the transparency (Fig. 15). If the
reflections are not strong enough
pronounced transparent objects may be
ignored: Many a person ran into a glass
Fig. 15: Transparent wine glasses visible by door because the reflections were too
reflections. faint or it was not noticed. This shows
that illusions – mirror images can be regarded as illusions – may help to better recognize
reality.
On the other hand it can be very dangerous if illusions are taken for reality. Many a bird
became a victim of a window pane because either the reflections were too weak, so that they
were overlooked, or too perfect, so that they suggested a real world behind the pane.

Window panes – transparent mirrors

When looking at the display behind a shop window pane on a bright day the view may be
disturbed by specular reflections of the ambient objects in the window pane itself.

7
Bigger volumes of water show its proper faint blue color.

47
Window panes are waterproof, airtight and impermeable for thermal radiation but are nearly
totally transparent for daylight. “Nearly” means that it is absorbed to a negligible extent and
reflected by only 4% at each boundary of the pane. This would not be worth to be mentioned
if this small effect of reflection was not of great importance in many situations.

Fig. 16: The mountain landscape is reflected Fig. 17: Detail from figure 16. The
perfectly. Only in the shadow of the photographer shadow of the photographer tears a
there is a hole in the mirror and one may recognize hole into the specular reflection of
the floor of the room behind. the pane.

On a sunny day when everything is

reflecting the sunlight, a window pane may
become a nearly perfect mirror of the
surrounding things. How does this
observation go with the small fraction of
reflection?
In order to be able to see objects behind a
window pane they must radiate visible light
to the eyes of the observer. This requires that
the objects inside the room receive daylight
traveling through the glass and reflect it
again towards the window. But as the light
received by the objects is partly absorbed
and partly reflected in all directions only a
more or less small amount is leaving the
room through the window. This amount is
the smaller the darker the objects are, i.e. the
more they absorb. If the fraction of light
leaving the room by the window is small Fig. 18: On a bright day the interior of a
compared to the specularly reflected light the room seen through an open window looks
disturbance is not very important and the dark.
pane behaves like a mirror (Fig. 16). In such
a case an open window would look like a black hole because only the light from inside
scattered in the direction of the window is seen (Fig. 18).
Curtains of a bright color can disturb the specular reflections because they are situated
directly behind the window so that a significant amount of light is reradiated back through

48
the window thus superposing the specularly reflected light. As a consequence the mirror
images are bleached accordingly.
Dark objects (e.g. those lying in the shadow or casting a shadow themselves on the window)
may tear holes in the mirror image and permit a look through this hole into the room behind
the window (Fig. 17). In this case the intensity of the light falling on the pane from outside
can be so small that the light coming from inside will be dominant. Therefore, in order to
look through the reflections of a window one can intensify the own shadow by approaching

Fig. 20: View into a shop window. Only the

context tells us what is inside and what is
outside.

Fig. 19: Windows reflect windows

which reflect windows.

the pane and putting the hands at both

sides of the eyes, thus screening the
light arriving from the sides.
Somebody who is looking from inside
a room through the window at the
bright world outside will have a good
view. He profits from the light
emitted by the bright objects and will
not be disturbed by reflections at the
inner surface of the pane, because as
we just mentioned only little light is Fig. 21: Light spots of sunlight focused by
reflected to the window from inside deformed double glazed window on the wall of the
the room. Moreover in this case, the facing house. The lower figure in the black square
light reflected specularly at the outer is a result of a calculation of the observed reflection
surface and providing excellent mirror [8].
images for the observer looking from outside, is of no importance for a person looking from
inside.
At darkness, when the homes are illuminated by artificial light the relations reverse: Now the
specular reflections at the inside of the pane become so strong that they outshine the poor
light entering from the dark outside. Conversely, passer-bys in the dark streets can observe
the events inside the bright homes as if they happened on stage – unless the curtains or
Venetian blinds are drawn.

49
Church windows display their colorful splendor only inside the church. From outside they
look rather unspectacular. In most cases a layer of dust only permits diffuse reflection.
Mirror images in window panes can themselves be object of specular reflection in other
panes. In those cases one is looking in a window seeing reflections of reflections etc. giving
rise to images which more easily remind of modern art than of familiar images (Fig. 19).
If the intensity of light specularly reflected from a window pane is of the same order of
magnitude as the light coming from objects inside the room, there may result a funny
superposition of outside and inside views. Sometimes only the context can help to decide
what is where (Fig. 20).

Double glazed windows

Nowadays, simple glass panes are more and more replaced by double glazed panes, which
from the viewpoint of heating a house is of course advantageous. Aesthetically regarded the
mirror images suffer a loss of quality because the two different reflections do not coincide
very well. On the other hand this disadvantage is compensated at least by some new physical
phenomena.
The double glazed panes are
manufactured by gluing two
panes together so that there is an
airtight space between them
enclosing a fixed portion of gas
or just air, determined by the
conditions (temperature,
pressure) which prevailed at the
day of fabrication. Now, if the
state of the atmosphere is
changing the temperature and
pressure inside may change
accordingly and thus deform the
elastic glass walls. If the
pressure of the atmosphere is
decreasing or increasing the
Fig. 22: The deformation of the double-glazed window
panes are arching to the inside or
can be deduced from the deformations of the specular
outside thus changing the optical
reflections of facing windows.
properties accordingly. As far as
specular reflections are
concerned one of the panes becomes a concave and the other a convex mirror.
One very obvious but normally overlooked effect of this deformation of the panes is that the
concave “mirror” may focus direct sunlight to a bright light spot on the wall of the opposite
building (Fig.21). The reflections have been calculated by means of a simple
thermodynamic- optical model. The result of such a calculation is enclosed in the black
square in figure 21.
Moreover, the specular reflections of bright ambient objects by double glazed panes show
characteristic doublings and distortions, which are not only interesting from a physical point
of view but also aesthetically appealing.
In figure 22 a double glazed window reflects windows of the opposite house. One easily can
recognize that the windows are reflected in each of both panes. The different sizes of the
mirror images indicate that one of the panes (which of them?) gives rise to a smaller and the
other to a greater image. The latter behaves like a huge cosmetic mirror producing an

50
enlarged picture of the object lying within the focal length. Therefore, the focal length must
at least be as long as the distance between the two facing windows reflecting each other. This
conclusion is in good agreement with the observation that the sunlight very often is focused
on the wall of the opposite building [8].
Moreover, the oppositely curved frames of the reflected windows are a direct indication for
the curvature radii of the panes being oriented opposite to each other and being smaller at the
edges than in the middle of the windows. The deformation of the double glazed pane which
may be deduced from this observation is in accordance with the results gained by the
evaluation of the focused sun light [8].
The straight parts of the windows reflected as represented in figure 22 show in a rather direct
way the curvature of the reflecting window. If a whole lattice of windows is reflected by a
lattice of the same kind the result is a pattern of horizontally and vertically straight lines bent
by the numerous deformed window panes (Fig. 24 and 25). The reflected checked pattern
individually bent by each window in a slightly different way and embedded in a large
repetitive structure gives rise to a qualitatively new view and reminds of an installation of
modern art.

Fig . 24: Array of equally Fig. 25: Detail of figure 18 showing a pattern of
looking windows at a sky similar but individually deformed reflections of
scraper in New York the facing window array.

The impressive effect of the deformed reflections is mainly due to the contrast
between the bright sunlight and the dark lattice-shaped façades of the opposing
buildings. The striking similarity of groups of adjacent reflection patterns has a
physical reason. It indicates that these windows were produced at the same place
under the same conditions.

Summary

Normally, the everyday life world is accepted without question. Like a familiar tapestry,
from which we probably could not describe the pattern in detail we experience our ambiance
for the most part in a more or less implicit way: Although our retinas are impressed by
objects we look at. But as long as nobody is standing behind them to interpret what is seen,
there will be no contribution to insight or cognition.

51
Looking at the world from an unfamiliar – in the present case physical – perspective the well
known can become a new reality. We tried to demonstrate such a change of perspective by
selected examples and to illustrate them by appropriate photographs.
In particular we wanted to show that though mirror images of the ambiance cover parts of the
reflecting object, thus destroying information, the visual perception is improved (perception
of shape, gloss of transparent objects etc.). For if specular reflections are seen as gloss they
are not seen as mirror images even if they are visually dominating. Normally, one does not
become aware of the fact that gloss is nothing more than more or less distinct specular
reflections of the surroundings.
In order to arrive at the physical perspective, by which e.g. a glossy object is regarded as a
mirror, training is needed. One has to learn to adopt the “physical view” – in the present case
for optical phenomena – and may be greatly recompensed by experiencing unexpected and
even exciting aspects of every day life.
This is not necessarily restricted to just physical experiences. The physically intensified view
may give access to an aesthetical, perhaps even artistic dimension of the daily occurrences.
In this manner there may be established connections between school physics and every day
life in an affectively positive atmosphere. This is of great importance from an educational
point of view because the restriction of physics to subjects and phenomena which only occur
within physics courses and which do not provide any possibility to be encountered in the
daily world are committed to oblivion.
To come to a conclusion one might say: The examples of optical reflection within the
everyday life world demonstrate that physics shows us not only what we don’t know but also
what we know how we don’t know it.

References
[1] Schlichting, H. Joachim: Physik – eine Perspektive der Realität. Probleme des Physikunterrichts.
Physik in der Schule 34/9,283- 288 und 34/10, 339- 342 (1996).
[2] Schlichting, H. Joachim: Sonnentaler fallen nicht vom Himmel. Der mathematische und
naturwissenschaftliche Unterricht 48/4, 199 - 207 (1995).
[3] Wagenschein, Martin: Verstehen lehren, Genetisch-Sokratisch-Exemplarisch; Beltz, Weinheim
1973, p.15.
[4] Gibson, Eleonar. J.; Walk, Richard, D.: The «Visual Cliff». Scientific American 202, (1960) p. 64-
71.
[5] Leon Poon, José Campos, Edward Ott, and Celso Grebogi: Wada Basin Boundaries in Chaotic
Scattering. Int. J. Bifurcation and Chaos 6, 251-266 (1996).
[6] Schlichting, H. Joachim: The Glitter Path - an everyday life phenomenon relating physics to other
disciplines. In: Diane J. Grayson (ed.): Proceedings of the International Physics Education
Conference "What Physics Should We Teach?" Durban SA 2005, pp. 259-256.
[7] Schlichting, H. Joachim: Glänzende Ansichten feuchter Kieselsteine. Erschienen in: Physik in
unserer Zeit 36/1 (2005) S. 47.
[8] Schlichting, H. Joachim: Fenster im Lichte der Sonne. Experimente und Simulationen. Der
mathematische und naturwissenschaftliche Unterricht 57/8 (2004) 467-474.

52
Informal Physics Education in Lifelong Learning, Outreach & Recruitment

Robert Lambourne
The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
r.j.lambourne@open.ac.uk

Introduction
This paper concerns informal physics and astronomy education in a variety of contexts and
its relationship to the recruitment of students into formal educational programmes. It draws
on my personal experience of the distance education programmes of the UK Open
University, the outreach activities of the Edinburgh International Science Festival (EISF),
and the life-long learning activities of the Oxford University Department for Continuing
Education. All of these institutions have some degree of engagement with young people
(particularly the EISF), but this paper will mainly concentrate on adult learners. Each
institution will be briefly described, along with some indication of its role in informal
education and the effect of that informal educational activity on formal recruitment.

Recruitment and informal education

Recruitment is a concern in all universities, particularly in physics departments where there
are many well documented cases of declining recruitment. Many universities would like to
recruit more physics students; all would like to recruit the best.

Informal physics education is important in its own right because of its role in supporting
scientific literacy, effective citizenship and social inclusion. It is certainly not the case that
informal education is a mere adjunct to more formal kinds of education. Nonetheless, it is a
simple fact that some of those who become involved in informal physics education develop a
deep a desire to move into more formal physics education and will do so provided they have
the appropriate opportunity. Thus, its involvement in recruitment to programmes of formal
education is another important aspect of informal education.

The Open University

The UK Open University was founded in 1969. As its name implies, it was established to
operate an open access policy and to make university education available to all those who
could benefit from it. In order to meet the goal of maximum openness, all of its courses are
modular and are primarily designed for part-time study, at a distance, though full-time study
has always been a possibility. Undergraduate students are provided with purpose produced
teaching materials in a range of media. Their learning is generally supported by a course
tutor based in their region, and their experimental work is mainly concentrated in a number
of week-long residential schools that are held in conventional universities during the summer
vacation. Course grades are determined from a combination of continuous assessment and
conventional closed-book exams held in exam centres all across the UK and beyond.
Initially, admission was limited to students over the age of 21, but that restriction was lifted
many years ago an a significant number of 18 year olds now opt to take their first degree
with the OU.
Over time the Open University has grown to become the UK’s largest university in terms of
student numbers. In total, more than 2 000 000 students have studied with the OU and there
are currently about 200 000 students enrolled in any one year, about 5000 of whom are based

53
in Continental Western Europe. Annually, about 5000 students embark on science studies at
the OU, about 500 take introductory physics, and about 600 take introductory astronomy.
The average student has a family and a full-time job, and is aged about 30. His/her OU
degree will typically take 6-8 years and will cost the student about 6000 euros in
accumulated fees.

The OU and TV broadcasting

The OU was initially conceived as a ‘university of the air’ that would work in partnership
with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to transmit filmed lectures into people’s
homes. However, this idea was soon replaced by a ‘blended teaching’ model in which a wide
range of programmes from the BBC/OU Production Centre were used alongside a range of
media, primarily print. Although the value of broadcasting as a primary teaching medium
may have been initially overestimated, the value of broadcasting in recruitment soon became
evident. Many people who saw OU broadcasts found them interesting and comprehensible,
and were thereby persuaded that might have the ability to undertake degree level study. This
prompted some of them to register as students.

Developments in technology, and changing expectations on the part of broadcasters and

audiences meant that the more didactic TV material progressively moved from broadcast
(1980s) to video (1990s) and then to DVD (2000s). Broadcasting continues, but it is
increasingly devoted to general service programming for the purposes of scientific literacy.
Nonetheless, it still has some effect on student recruitment.

It is interesting to look at two examples that illustrate this development. The TV programmes
produced for the third-level course Understanding Space and Time were typical of the course
related programming of the 1970s. These were didactic programmes, co-produced with the
University of California at Los Angeles, in which the distinguished astronomer George Abell
and physics Nobel Laureate Julian Schwinger presented cogent insights into the structure and
development of relativity and cosmology from a range of international venues. In contrast,
the general service broadcast series What the Ancients Did for Us is a typical product of the
2000s. The style is much less formal. The presenter, Adam Hart-Davis, is a well-known TV
personality, not an academic, and the emphasis is on accessibility. Despite the OU
connection, those watching the programmes are unlikely to imagine they are watching
anything like a university lecture. What the Ancients Did for Us ran for nine weeks from
February to April 2005. 2.7 million people (11% of the total UK audience) watched the
weekly broadcasts

Two other examples, both from 2005, will give some sense of the scale of impact that can be
achieved through general service broadcasting of this type:

In the case of Stardate Titan, 1 million viewers watched live reports from ESA HQ and
elsewhere as the Huygens space probe landed on Saturn’s moon Titan on 14th January 2005.
The programme had special access to the OU’s Prof John Zarnecki, a long-time member of
the Huygens science team and PI for the surface science package.

Rough Science, was broadcast weekly in January and February 2005. On average 1.7 million
people watched each broadcast as a team of scientists tackled a series of ‘survival’ challenges
on the island of Zanzibar.

54
In addition to the programmes themselves various ‘follow-up’ services are available through
the website www.open2.net. The site includes a discussion forum, broadcast schedules and
information about relevant OU courses. It has a clear role in student recruitment and is
supported by the OU because of its contribution to recruitment.

The Edinburgh International Science Festival

The Edinburgh International Science Festival is an annual event that features both a family
programme and a series of events for adults. It takes place over a period of about a week at
Easter time and occupies several venues all across the city of Edinburgh. The family
activities are mainly based in the Assembly Rooms in the elegant New Town district. The
programme of lectures for adults is mainly based in the lecture theatre of the Royal Museum
of Scotland, but a number of other venues are also used, including facilities hired from the
University of Edinburgh. (There is also a schools programme that operates outside the time
of the festival itself.)

The Festival programme is established a year in advance with advice and help from
practicing scientists who comprise a Programme Advisory Committee. Speakers are drawn
from across the UK and beyond. The Festival is concerned with science in general (including
maths and technology), but physical science is always well represented in the annual
programme, especially through astronomy and cosmology. My own contributions to the
Festival have ranged from presenting lectures on the physics of time travel and the history of
quantum physics, to fronting a live audience conversation with Sir Arthur C Clarke (via a
satellite link to his home in Sri Lanka) and chairing a press conference on Scottish
Innovation.

Over the years the total number of events in the adult programme has varied between about
60 and 100, involving a total of between 22 000 and 42 000 people. The family programme
(which also attracts adults) involves a roughly similar number of events (though they are
generally of a more ‘hands-on’ nature) and generally attracts about 45 000 participants.

Many of the events are sponsored by individual universities and/or learned societies
(University of Edinburgh, Napier University, Heriot Watt University, The OU in Scotland
etc.). The Festival organizers are sensitive to the fact that some of those who sponsor events
are educational institutions with an interest in recruitment and are happy to allow a
reasonable level of recruitment related activity during the sponsored events (handbills and
flyers can be distributed to the audience, banners placed on the stage etc.)

Universities are also encouraged to buy advertising space in festival programme which is
printed in large numbers and freely distributed to people in and around Edinburgh and
beyond.

Oxford University Department for Continuing Education

Oxford University has one of the UK’s oldest ‘external studies’ departments, now known as
the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. Its many areas of activity
include continuing professional development courses, international programmes that draw a
wide range of specialist groups to the academic environment of Oxford, online learning, and
public programmes that consist of a wide range of day and weekend events together with a
variety of ten and twenty session weekly classes (many of them evening classes) and several
residential summer schools. The Department also has strong links with Kellogg College, the
youngest of Oxford’s 35 colleges, which provides an academic base for students working
towards a number of post graduate qualifications. Thanks to this broad spectrum, the

55
educational activities of OUDCE range from highly informal to very formal, and the
Department provides members of the public with the opportunity to move from one end of
that spectrum to the other. There is also movement between the programmes of OUDCE and
the similar programmes at other universities. For example, some students who participate in
the more informal OUDCE activities will eventually enrol in formal undergraduate study at
the Open University. Similarly, some of those who have studied formally with the Open
University will choose to continue their study through OUDCE.

The OUDCE public programme in Physical Sciences is nothing if not wide-ranging. Listed
below are some of the public day and weekend events that have been presented over the last
few years, mainly at Rewley House, the Oxford home of OUDCE. The programme
encompasses the whole of physical science (including astronomy, chemistry, geology and
biophysics) but in selecting illustrative examples I have deliberately emphasised the more
strongly ‘physics’ oriented courses, even though this fails to reflect the full richness of the
programme.

2006: Magnetism and the Cosmos; Plasma - the forth state of matter.
2005: The geology of hard and soft rocks; Planets of the Sun and other stars; The Expanding
Universe; Satellites of Planets, Stars and Galaxies; The Dysfunctional Brain; Einstein on
Trial.
2004: Stars: their Birth, Life and Death; Earth’s Geological Riches; Frontiers of
Fundamental Physics; Life in the Universe; The Molecular World; Science and the Oceans.
2003: The Functioning Brain; Galaxies and the Universe; The New Universe (dark energy
and all that); Cosmic Origins The Rapidly Changing Earth; The Sounds of Science.
2002: The Beauty of Science; Understanding the Big Bang; Quantum Physics in Action The
Violent Universe; Volcano Day; Understanding Quantum Physics.
2001: Space, Time and the Universe; Frontiers of Cosmology - The Early Universe;
Introduction to Cosmology; Matter in the Universe; The Physical World; Microworlds.
2000: Frontiers of General Relativity; Introduction to General Relativity; Astronomy; the
way ahead; Highlights of 20th Century Science; Science from Space.
1999: Frontiers of Quantum Physics; Introduction to Quantum Physics; Looking into the
Sun; Astronomy Now; Approaching Absolute Zero; Antimatter: Fact, fiction and application
1998: Understanding Relativity; Time and the Earth; The Exploding Universe;
Extinctions; Marvellous Molecules.

A few highlights from earlier years include:

FTL: Faster Than Light (1997); Superstrings and Fundamental Forces (1997); Medical
Imaging; Science, technology and clinical practice (1996); The Quantum Universe (1996);
Electricity in Nature (1996); Inside the Nucleus (1995); Entropy, Chaos and the Arrow of
Time (1995); Einstein, Space and Time (1994); The Importance of Magnetism (1994); Lasers
and Holograms (1993) The Importance of Light (1993); The Importance of Gravity(1992)

As an example of the somewhat more formal weekly classes (mainly evening classes,
consisting of ten 2 hour sessions delivered over a ten week term), here are the classes offered
inside and outside Oxford in the academic year 2004-2005.
In Oxford: From E = mc2 to Black Holes; Planetary Landscapes; Earth’s riches; Matter in
the Universe; The Geology of the Ice Age; Introducing Geological science; Introducing
Astronomy.
Outside Oxford: Science in Art; Quantum Physics; An Introduction to the Universe; The
Human World in the Physical Universe; Fossils; The Amazing Universe; Worlds in Space.

56
The weekly classes provide a particularly important link between formal and informal
physics education. Many of the students are drawn to the classes purely out of interest, but
the classes are now required to offer the students the chance of obtaining formal credit. The
activities that lead to credit vary quite widely, and are sometimes resented by those with no
interest in obtaining any formal recognition of their study. Nonetheless, the accreditation is
valued by others and has been used to help some make the transition into formal university
education.

One particularly interesting example of ‘informal’ education that deserves a mention is the
physical science contribution to the Oxford Discovery Programme. This programme is
offered in the extraordinary environment of the Cunard ocean liner Queen Mary 2. The ship,
currently the world’s largest ocean liner, spends part of each year cruising, but much of its
time is devoted to Atlantic crossings between Southampton (in the UK) and New York (in
the USA). These crossings take about a week and include five full days at sea. On each
crossing the Oxford Discovery programme occupies these five ‘sea days’ and typically
consists of four or five parallel courses covering a wide range of topics. Physical science is
often one of these topics. The teaching facilities on board the Queen Mary 2 are outstanding.
In addition to well equipped lecture rooms and excellent computer facilities that provide
internet access at all times, the main lecture theatre also contains one of the ships major
attractions; the world’s only ocean-going planetarium. The planetarium shows help to give
astronomy a particular prominence on the QM2 and astronomy courses are a highly
successful part of the Oxford Discovery Programme according to the assiduously collected
audience feedback. There is not yet any direct evidence that the Oxford Discovery
programme has provided the sort of links between formal and informal education discussed
elsewhere in this paper, but Oxford does use the opportunities provided by the QM2 to make
information about its Oxford based programmes available to those who might be interested
and through this it might be expected that there will, in due course, be some formal
recruitment resulting from what the informal activities that take place on this extraordinary
ship.

Conclusions
The success of outreach activities by the OU, EISF and OUDCE show the enormous public
thirst for informal education in the physical sciences.

The activities of these bodies have been highlighted in this paper, but they are, of course, just
examples of informal education.

The flow of students from these informal activities to the more formal teaching available
from Oxford, the OU and elsewhere, illustrates the important links that exist between
informal and formal education in physics and astronomy.

57
Background and History of Non-Formal Science Education in Israel

Moshe Rishpon

Clore Garden of Science

Israel has long been aware that its survival depends to a large extent on its ability to
anticipate and meet the scientific and technological challenges of the future and that the
development of an infrastructure of scientific talent therefore is of national importance. In
the early 1960’s scientists and educators from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel’s
largest interdisciplinary research body, made this a primary goal, turning their attention to
developing new teaching programs and designing better science curricula. In 1964 the first
after-school science clubs and summer camps were held at the Weizmann Institute and in the
coming years other Israeli institutions of higher education following the lead of the
Weizmann Institute began similar extra-curricular science programs for science-oriented
youth. Representatives of these institutions, with the support of the Ministry of Education,
established the Committee for the Advancement of Science Education in 1968.

The philosophy behind the Clore Garden of Science and its activities today originated many
years before the Garden of Science was built. The following is part of an article entitled
“Extra-Curricular Science Education” that I wrote for the GIREP Conference on Physics
Teaching in 1979. This article was the result of a long process of considering the connection
between formal and informal education and then of developing extra-curricular science
programs for young people in Israel. The approach taken by the Weizmann Institute of
Science is that research scientists are uniquely qualified to serve as instructors and mentors in
these programs. It still reflects the philosophy that guides programming decisions.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that even the best of formal education systems can benefit
greatly from an extra-curricular education program. There are several reasons for this:
• Regular school curricula are designed for a large number of pupils.
Changing these programs is usually a long and complicated process.
• Although the aim of curricula planners is to encourage independent
thinking, the formal educational frameworks are not well suited for this
purpose. Every subject taught within the classroom and laboratory (if
there is one) has already been gone over thoroughly in the textbook;
answers have already been provided for most of the questions. Thus, the
pupil is not given the opportunity to gain first-hand insight into the
scientific process, nor any of the satisfaction to be derived from self-
discovery. It may well be that this lack of awareness influences many
pupils when they come to consider their future professions.
• Schools do not offer students the opportunity to experience the
interdisciplinary phenomena of science, and to deal with these phenomena
at a level determined by their own motivations and abilities.
• Schools normally do not deal successfully with exceptional pupils.
• Some pupils who do not do well in school (for reasons such as inability to
perform under pressure of examinations, etc.) may flourish within a
different framework.

58
There are those who claim that some of these problems might be solved by incorporating
scientists into the secondary school framework. Experience has shown, however, that
although scientists enjoy working with young people, they do not like to do so within the
established school system and prefer an independent, informal, extra-curricular framework.
Incidentally, extra-curricular science programs require only minimal investment, since
existing scientific talent and equipment can be exploited.

An extra-curricular program offers many advantages:

• It is flexible, and can easily be changed to suit both pupil and teacher.
• Direct contact with the scientist gives the pupil new ideas, values and
working methods. It teaches him self-criticism, and strengthens his ability
to solve unexpected problems arising in the course of work.
• The curiosity and motivation of the pupil are manifested right away in his
choice of subject and in his approach to it. Active participation in a
limited setting permits free expression without strain, and encourages
teamwork.
• It develops the ability of the youth to convey his thoughts coherently and to
accept criticism of his findings, i.e. to develop a sense of intellectual
honesty.
• Extra-curricular activities provide a framework within which youngsters
can experiment. Making errors actually becomes a constructive
experience, from which they can learn. They are encouraged to seek
further information in libraries or from experts in the field.

Even when schools are good, extra-curricular activities can play an important role. Of
course, in deprived areas short of good teachers and equipment and without the necessary
facilities or stimulation in school and at home, the help provided outside the school is of
inestimable value.

It has often been shown that scientists become more sensitive to the problems of society in
general through their involvement with education. Through the participation of its staff, the
scientific institution can make a vital contribution to the society in which it exists.”

The 1980 article then goes on to describe some of the programs the Weizmann Institute’s
Youth Activities Section offered young people.

“The Youth Activities Section has pioneered in the establishment of extra-curricular science
projects for Israeli youngsters, a program which today includes more than 20 science clubs
headquartered on campus, and nearly a dozen clubs that convene at regular intervals
elsewhere in the country; five summer science camps located on the Institute’s grounds as
well as in development towns far from the major centers of population; an annual Science
Fair; a Mathematics Olympiad; a one-to-one tutoring program for underprivileged children;
and an innovative Science Experiment Bank designed to implement a new educational
concept by servicing science clubs and school laboratories throughout Israel.

Working with maximum flexibility, since it is free of the strictures of a school system, the
Youth Activities Section is uniquely able both to carry our educational experiments and to
activate projects especially geared to provide talented youngsters with individual attention.
It gives them an opportunity to experience interdisciplinary research, and a chance to learn

59
something at close range of the workings of the day-to-day world of science – all this within
the framework of a center of scientific research having a large body of students and staff on
whose services the Section can draw.

Keeping up with the latest developments in science is beyond the means of any normal
school, and more specifically those of schools in development areas. How then to expose the
maximum number of Israeli school children to the rapid changes that take place in modern
research? This is one of the most challenging problems in science education. The Youth
Activities Section feels that a partial solution to this problem lies in the establishment of a
science center, to which children from all over Israel could come to intensive science
programs. Next year, the Section will launch a pilot scheme for laboratory work, lectures
and demonstrations, and will offer facilities beyond the scope of any normal school, such as
expensive materials and sophisticated equipment. Instructors at the center will be drawn
from three sources:
• The teaching potential of the Institute’s research staff will be tapped.
• Hand-picked specialist high school teachers will be employed on a part-
time basis.
• Class teachers of the pupils attending the center will themselves participate
in the teaching program, and will be required to attend preparatory in-
service courses beforehand.
In the first stage of the project, pupils will attend for one-day periods only: it is planned to
establish a center with overnight facilities, which would make it possible even for pupils from
more remote areas to visit the Institute for several days of curriculum enrichment. A
significant number of Israel’s high school pupils could then be accommodated in the course
of a year.

The pilot scheme will provide the opportunity to test aspects such as whom to teach, what to
teach, and how to teach it. With the cooperation of the Weizmann Institute research staff and
local high school principals, we hope to draw up a comprehensive plan for the Center by the
end of the year.

It is our belief that this project will add a new dimension to our program, thus extending and
enriching the scope of extra-curricular science education available to our children.”

Since 1980 there have naturally been many changes. It is important to compare what was
then with what is happening today and to consider the development of our original
philosophy. All of the institutions of higher education operate extra-curricular science
programs and are part of the Committee for the Advancement of Science Education, which
obtains funding for the numerous activities from the Ministry of Education. The Weizmann
Institute still has the most extensive programs and its Youth Activities Section is now called
Young@Science to express its goal of offering science programs to all people – young and
“young at heart”.

Perach, the one-to-one tutoring project has broken away and become a major, highly
successful and very important national program, funded by the Ministry of Education,
matching 46,000 underprivileged children in one-to-one tutoring as well as special learning
groups with 28,000 university students.

In Young@Science there are over 60 weekly, after-school science clubs with about 700
pupils. Three summer residential programs allow the participants to work in actual research

60
laboratories and meet like-minded young people from around the country and the world. The
pilot scheme launched in 1981 now offers a variety of programs and, thanks to the beautiful,
80-bed Laub Science Youth Village, accommodates students from all over the country for
multi-day activities. “Adventures in Science” offers advanced science single or multi-day
class programs for over 5000 10th – 12th graders each year. “Science Mornings” is geared to
junior high school and has about 10,000 participants a year learning topics such as waves,
energy, motion and the senses. The “Arrow” is a three-year project to nurture young
scientists starting in 10th grade. Students get an overview of modern science, learn about
science research and work on individual science projects under the supervision of a scientist.

These and other programs involve over 20,000 science-oriented youth and about 200
Weizmann scientists, staff and graduate students as instructors.

The intensive programs described above have reached full capacity. In order to increase
science literacy to a far wider audience, but through a less intense method, it was decided to
build a science center. The Clore Garden of Science, an interactive science museum totally
outdoors and therefore very different from other science centers, has been built as a way of
attaining this goal. As in the other programs, the Garden of Science takes advantage of
Weizmann Institute resources, both staff and equipment in developing exhibits and
educational programs. When seen in this light, the Garden of Science is a direct continuation
of almost 40 years of extra-curricular science activities at the Weizmann Institute.

When I first conceived the idea of the Garden of Science I saw an innovative way to
introduce Israel’s multidimensional public to science. By opening to the public, the
Weizmann Institute would be involved in science education for a larger population than
previously possible. Also, I took into account that Israel, although a small country already
had two science museums and seemingly, the country had neither the resources nor need for
another, similar museum. However, given the Weizmann Institute’s desire for true outreach,
the suggestion was made to create something totally different, i.e., an outdoor, open-to-the-
elements science complex.

Placing the exhibits in an outdoor setting in a beautifully landscaped park on the attractive,
award-winning Weizmann Institute campus, distinguishes the Garden of Science from other
science museums. Additionally, it allows the Weizmann Institute the ability to invest
financial resources in the exhibits themselves rather than in a building. At the same time the
visitors see that science can be taught in many locations, not only in the laboratory or
classroom nor in a traditional museum edifice. The Garden of Science creates a positive
atmosphere in which to appreciate scientific principles, and arouses curiosity as well as a
sense of aesthetics.

The Clore Garden of Science was opened in 1999 and has about 70,000 visitors a year. More
than half of the visitors are school pupils who come with their classes and the annual Science
Festival attracts over 10,000 visitors during two days. There are more than 70 exhibits that
are constantly being revised and are added to each year.

The collaboration with Weizmann Institute scientists is very important to the success of the
Garden. Scientists performing cutting-edge research often propose and plan Garden exhibits.
The Garden of Science is divided into courts, each dedicated to a different field. The outdoor
setting of all our courts facilitates the use of natural resources in demonstrations and exhibits
allowing the visitors to see, feel and use resources such as sun, wind and water.

61
The exhibits in the Court of Energy and Environment illustrate the principles of solar energy
– an important scientific field at the Weizmann Institute which has one of the most
sophisticated solar research facilities in the world. At the Solar Furnace, for instance, a thick
piece of wood bursts into flames seconds after a parabolical shaped mirror is turned towards
the sun, capturing the heat embedded within its rays.

In the Court of Planetary Sciences water sprinklers create one of the Garden's most exciting
exhibits: a rainbow in a cloud. This installation demonstrates that white light is composed of
a spectrum of "rainbow" colors, and allows visitors to enjoy the wonder of a full-circle
rainbow.

The EcoSphere, our latest addition, is a unique new educational facility. It differs from other
areas in the Garden in that it does not demonstrate principles of physics. On the other hand it
is a continuation of our philosophy of presenting scientific topics being worked on in the
Weizmann Institute. The main concept behind the EcoSphere is to enable the visitor to
explore phenomena involved in our environment and about interrelationships within the
ecosystem. The EcoSphere contains a variety of life forms that are amenable to the
demonstration of biological processes, often in environments that simulate those common to
Israel. In addition, there are exhibits that demonstrate basic themes and processes in ecology,
many being researched at the Weizmann Institute. The structure of the EcoSphere was built
on the geodesic principles first developed by Buckminster Fuller. Through its variety of
activities, the Ecosphere can host different types of visitors, from organized groups of
children and adults to teachers, research students and individual visitors to the Clore Garden
of Science and will become a significant study center for people who have an interest in the
field of ecology.

62
Involving Students in Outreach Activities: The Wilhelm Macke Award

Urbaan M. Titulaer

Institute for Theoretical Physics, Johannes Kepler University, A-4040 Linz, Austria
titulaer@tphys.uni-linz.ac.at

Introduction

Outreach activities can have a number of distinct aims. In this contribution I shall discuss in
particular activities directed mainly at high school pupils. In such activities the main purpose
is to correct misunderstandings on what physics is about and what physicists actually do. A
secondary purpose is to interest students in choosing science in general, and physics in
particular, as their future field of study. Finally, it is always an advantage when outreach
activities receive attention in the local and national media.
The activity I shall discuss was successful in all three respects. The main reason is that a
central role is played by students, who present their work on a diploma thesis, for which they
have received a prize, before a general audience. The event is open to the public, with special
invitations going to high school pupils and their teachers, as well as to the local media.
For high school pupils, students are more plausible role models than university teachers or
researchers. The fact that the subject of the presentation is research performed by the students
helps in presenting physics not as a study of established knowledge, often centuries old, but
as a problem solving activity. An additional advantage is that the subject of the talks is a
topic from recent research performed at our department (or sometimes in industry); hence the
audience has an opportunity to become acquainted with recent research performed at the
university.
In this report I shall first give the historical background concerning the Wilhelm Macke
Foundation that awards the prizes. Then I shall describe in more detail the event during
which the award is bestowed. Subsequently, I shall report on our experiences, in particular on
the reception we obtained, and speculate on the reasons for the success. Finally, I shall
briefly mention some other outreach activities of our department in which students and high
school pupils are involved.

The Wilhelm Macke Foundation and the Wilhelm Macke Prizes

Wilhelm Macke (1920-1994) was the founding professor of the physics department in Linz
University. After World War II he was able to resume his study of physics because of
financial support from Max Planck, who donated entrance fees for public lectures as
scholarships for two gifted students (see Fig. 1). Macke obtained his PhD with Werner
Heisenberg and soon became a professor in Sao Paulo and Dresden. He was the author of a
series of modern physics textbooks [1] in German, widely considered the first modern post-
war texts in that language, and widely used by universities in the German language area. In
Linz, where he was called in 1969 to set up the newly established physics department at what
is now the Johannes Kepler University, he was renowned for his clear lectures, in which his
excellent sense of humour was put to good effect.
At his death, according to his wishes, a considerable sum from his estate was used to
establish a Foundation for the support of gifted physics students from Linz University; this

63
generous gesture was also meant as a form of thanks for the support he himself had obtained
from Max Planck.
The Wilhelm Macke Fund has two main activities. The largest sums of money are spent to
support students and recent alumni for scientific stays abroad, lasting from one month to one
year. In addition, every year up to three “Wilhelm Macke Prizes” are awarded for the best
diploma (masters) theses by physics students at the Johannes Kepler University either in
technical physics or in our programme for future high school physics teachers. .

Fig. 1: Wilhelm Macke receiving a scholarship funded by public lectures held by Max
Planck.
The Prizes were first awarded in 1997, and in the first three years they were presented in the
context of a graduation ceremony. Each winner receives a sum of at present € 1.200, --, as
well as an official certificate that could be helpful with future job applications.
Starting in 2001 (for the prizes of 2000) the prizes are bestowed in a public ceremony, to
which the university community, the media, and in particular all high school pupils of the
highest three grades of secondary schools in the area and their physics teachers are invited.
The prize winners give short talks on their work for this predominantly lay audience. After
the presentations all attendants except university physics staff and graduate students take a
vote to select the winner of the “Wilhelm Macke Award” (originally called “Physics Oscar”:
the name was changed after the event obtained rather wide publicity and the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences objected). The Award consists of a trophy, designed and
crafted by technicians from the department machine shop, from copper rings as used in
building ultra high vacuum equipment (see Fig. 2); the winner also has his or her prize
money doubled to € 2.400, --. The event has been held in this format yearly since 2001.

Organisational Details

Candidates for the prizes may be proposed by all faculty members; students may also apply
themselves. The Board of the Foundation, consisting of three physicists, assisted by referees
mostly from our department, awards up to three prizes; the selection takes place on the basis
of the scientific merit of the theses, with special emphasis on originality, as well as of the
clarity of the writing and the exposition of the physics involved. No attempt is made to give
preference at this stage to candidates with “sexy” subjects, or with a reputation as good
communicators.

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The award ceremony is scheduled for a date suitable to schools (in the Easter week, after a
short break in the school year, so that few collisions with tests and other activities occur, but
also well before the end of term tests). Invitations go to all secondary schools in the state of
Upper Austria and separately to the spokespersons for the physics teachers at these schools
(In the Austrian system there are different types of high schools; our invitations are sent to all
schools that qualify their pupils for a university education). The candidates are asked to write
a short resume of their talk to be sent to the press a few weeks before the event. The talks
may last no larger than 20 minutes (including time for a few questions). Candidates are also
asked to make their power point presentations or other materials available for posting on the
Macke Foundation website, from where they can be downloaded, e.g., by high school
physics teachers for classroom use.
The attendants to the award concerning are welcomed by the Vice-Rector for Teaching and
by a (junior) faculty member, who gives a presentation of the Linz physics department with a
short (20 minutes) survey of the various topics on which our research is focused. Then the
candidates give their presentations; this part of the programme should take not much more
than 90 minutes.

Fig. 2: The 2004 winner, Ms. Ingrid Graz, with the trophy (Copyright Oberösterreichische
Nachrichten).

After the talks there is a short break during which refreshments are served; upon leaving the
lecture hall the attendants (physics staff and graduate students excluded) cast their votes
using prepared ballots, which are then counted. During the break, the candidates can discuss
their work informally with interested pupils and other attendants (as far as the representatives
of the media let them); for this purpose they have prepared small stands with posters, often
accompanied by simple demonstration experiments or computer simulations. After the break,
candidates and public are invited back into the lecture hall for the announcement of the
winner and the presentation of the trophy and the handing over of the checks for the prize
money. After the official programme, there is a possibility for visiting laboratories, or for
arranging dates for such visits at a later time.

Our Experiences

Thus far, the public award ceremony has been held five times. Right from the beginning, the
interest exceeded our expectations: the number of attendants has been fluctuating between
150 and 300, among them between 80 and 160 high school pupils. Most teachers and high

65
school pupils came from Linz and neighbouring towns, but a number came from further
away (up to 80 km). In general the reactions were positive; from several high schools regular
“delegations” visit the event every year. The schools at which a candidate has graduated are
usually especially well represented.
The media interest was another positive surprise. The main local newspaper
(Oberösterreichische Nachrichten) typically has a short story with a picture of the winner on
the next day, and a longer article with details on his or her personal background and a report
on the thesis project in the following weekend edition. Several times, the event was also
reported on local radio and television (including a longer interview with the winner on a
radio breakfast programme). A few longer articles, dealing both with the winners and with
their work, appeared in national newspapers.
Another positive feature was the in general high quality of the presentation by the candidates.
Almost all used professional presentation material, sometimes with animations that were
both entertaining and truly functional from a pedagogical point of view. Virtually all
succeeded in explaining their work without using technical jargon. One candidate included a
simple “live” demonstration experiment. A number of candidates enlivened their presentation
by cartoons; an example presented by the 2005 winner is shown in Fig. 3.
A few times the physical phenomenon was illustrated by a comparison with “everyday”
analogues. For example, the reorientation of electric dipoles in a varying electric field was
compared with a politician trying to adjust his positions to public opinion; the comparison
was carried through to discuss the losses, dielectric or political, that occur when the
relaxation time of dipoles or political positions becomes non-negligible compared with the
changes in field or (perceived) public opinion. Another presentation concerned the
hypothesised “rafts” in cell membranes, also shown in the cartoon in Fig. 3. These structures
are postulated to be enriched in certain membrane proteins, maybe to facilitate the formation
of bonds and associations between them; this was compared with a party host(ess) who
installs different types of bars (for wine, beer, fruit juices, etc.), to further contacts between
guests with similar tastes. (The raft hypothesis was strongly supported by work done in the
Linz Institute for Biophysics, with significant contributions from the two Macke Award
winners of 2003 and 2005, Manuel Mörtelmair and Mario Brameshuber).
The reactions of the pupils showed that the presentations were effective in correcting the
views on what a physicist does: our goal is not acquiring book learning, but solving novel
and concrete problems, to which students in the last stage of their studies can make
significant contributions (though, in the introductory talk, it is also admitted that during the
first years, a student must master a lot of technical material as well). Some pupils remarked
that the candidates (or at least most of them) did not correspond to their preconceptions of
“what type of person a physics student would be”. Also, several high school teachers judged
the presentations to be suitable for use in class; they asked for copies of the material and in a
few cases asked the candidates to discuss their work in more detail in their classes.

Some special reasons for our success

Though I expect similar initiatives could be successful at other institutions, there are a few
favourable local factors that may have contributed to the success.

66
Fig. 3: A cartoon used by Mario Brameshuber (Macke Award Winner 2005) to illustrate his
presentation. The title reads “proteins in the cell membrane”; “proteins” and “lipid rafts” are
identified by arrows. A “serious” representation of this structure was shown as well [2].

The main factor is our teacher training group, which is quite active in providing in-service
training for teachers. This programme is designed in cooperation with an active local
organisation of physics high school teachers. Thus, many high school physics teachers
regularly visit our department on other occasions. These contacts are enforced by other
outreach activities mentioned in the last section of this report. Clearly, teachers who know
the university well and come there regularly to update their knowledge of physics and
physics teaching methods are more likely to encourage their pupils to visit events such as the
Wilhelm Macke Award contest and to accompany them there.
The favourable media response is caused in part by the fact that Linz has in a sense just the
right size The city is large enough to have local newspapers, radio and television stations. On
the other hand, there are less competing events than would be the case in a large metropolis.
The university was founded forty years ago with important support by state ands city
government (universities in Austria are controlled by the federal government). Relations with
the local community have been good ever since, which is a reflected in media relations. The
competition element, with mostly local contestants, also helps attracting more press coverage
then a straight science event would obtain
The nature of our physics programme may also be a positive factor. We have a technical
physics programme in which subjects relevant to applications; e.g., solid state physics and
biophysics, are prominent. This helps in explaining the relevance of the research to a lay
audience. Our curriculum also emphasises communication skills, e.g., by a number of
obligatory seminars. Several research groups are also active in outreach activities, and
regularly offer excursions for high school classes.
The money we can draw from the Macke Foundation does of course help, but the costs
besides the prize money (trophy, publicity, refreshments and travel costs by public transport
for pupils and teachers from out of town) are modest, and should be affordable for a typical
physics department

Other outreach activities

In addition to the Wilhelm Macke Award, our department offers, or participates in, a number
of further outreach activities. Every year, in the week just before classes begin, there is a so
called “studies fair” where all local institutions of post-secondary education, including all

67
departments of the university, present themselves by means of small exhibits, half hour
presentations of the various fields of study, and public “trial” lectures. This event takes place
on our campus and is well attended by pupils from the highest grades of secondary schools
and by some parents as well. Thus many students already know our campus. At the fair,
attendance at events specifically related to physics is more restricted to those who already
have physics as one of their options for further studies; the Macke Award ceremony attracts a
broader audience and can convey more information.
Another programme at several Austrian universities (FIT, Frauen in die Technik) is directed
specifically at female pupils to draw their attention to scientific and engineering fields of
study. This programme includes information days on campus, and a system of
“ambassadors”, female students who regularly visit high schools to inform female pupils
about science and technology (The 2004 Macke Award winner, Ingrid Graz, was one of
these, and may thereby have learned to communicate effectively with high school pupils).
Since the start of this programme there has been a modest but significant increase in the
number of female students in physics.
Both the university and several high schools used the World Year of Physics to present
themselves to the general public. School pupils presented experiments, mostly using self-
made equipment, at a show downtown. On a Saturday at the end of the school and academic
year, we held a full day “physics party” at our campus, where these experiments by high
school pupils were shown again, side by side with demonstration experiments prepared by
university institutes. The programme also included short talks (one of them by the 2005
Macke Award winner) and tours of laboratories. Many pupils had convinced their parents
(and a surprising number of grandparents) to attend this event. In all about 100 pupils and
250 other visitors came to our campus for the occasion.

Concluding Remarks

Though, as mentioned above, there are a number of favourable factors in Linz that
contributed to the success of the activity reported. I expect that similar initiatives elsewhere
would also have good chances to succeed. In particular, I want to stress that it is unwise to
neglect one of our best public relations resources, our students, in designing an outreach
programme.

Acknowledgement

It is a pleasure to thank Dr. Helga Böhm and Dr. Peter Bauer who, as my fellow members of
the Macke Foundation Board, contributed to the design and execution of the activities
reported here. Dr. Böhm is also in charge of our web page [2].

References
[1] W. Macke: Wellen (1958), Quanten (1959), Elektromagnetische Felder (1960), Mechanik der
Teilchen, Systeme und Kontinua (1962), Thermodynamik und Statistik (1962), Quanten und
Relativität (1962), all: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Geest & Portig, Leipzig.
[2] http://www.tphys.jku.at/macke/Welcome.shtml (in German). This page contains additional
information about Wilhelm Macke, about the Wilhelm Macke Foundation and about the prize
winners, including abstracts of their work and, for the last few years, the power point
presentations.

68
Bridging the Gap: Training Science Teachers in Science Museums and Other
Informal Settings

Richard Walton

Reader in Education, Centre for Science Education, Sheffield Hallam University,

UK

The talk outlines the work being done at Sheffield Hallam University in training secondary
science teachers using the Kelham Island Industrial Museum in Sheffield. It also
demonstrates how this work integrates teaching and learning in Science Education with
practical work in informal settings that form a part of the National Science Week
programme. The talk will also show how the students contribute to the developmental work
of the museum through undertaking small-scale visitor-studies. The activity as a whole is
placed into the context of the criteria for teacher-training in the United Kingdom and the
need to provide experience of teaching science in settings other than schools. Some reference
is also made to the international context into which this approach can be placed.

Introduction

There have long been established links between museums and teacher training
establishments. In the United Kingdom a survey was conducted by Her Majesty’s Inspectors
of Schools into the use of museums within primary phase initial teacher training courses
(DES 1990). Recent revisions of the standards and requirements for teacher training (TTA,
2002, 2003) now require that those awarded Qualified Teacher Status must demonstrate:
“As relevant to the age range they are trained to teach, they are able to plan
opportunities for pupils to learn in out-of school contexts, such as school visits,
museums, theatres, field work and employment-based settings, with the help of
other staff where appropriate.”
(TTA, 2002, p.9)

Formal integration of the museum experience within science teacher education at Sheffield
Hallam University began some time ago with the founding of SCOPE – an interactive
science and technology centre based in the Centre for Science Education – in 1990 following
the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held in the city
during the previous year. SCOPE was set up at Sheffield Hallam University with the express
intention of forming close links between interactive science centres and teacher training.
Since 2001 SCOPE has been located at nearby Kelham Island the local museum of science
and industry.

Sheffield Hallam University is one of the leading providers of science teacher training in the
United Kingdom at both primary (aged 4-10) and secondary (aged 11-18) phases. Secondary
science education is based within the Centre for Science Education which is home to the
Regional Science Learning Centre for Yorkshire and the Humber and also SETPOINT South
Yorkshire – the regional body responsible for the non-statutory provision of Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in South Yorkshire. Science teacher
training at Sheffield Hallam University is founded upon a long experience of curriculum

69
development, continuing professional development and underpinned by a commitment to
active learning strategies.

The training of secondary science teachers takes place in all possible modes: 1year
Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) for science specialists; 2 year PCGE for
students whose first degree requires further science knowledge; 2 year degree for students
already holding a Higher National Diploma in a science-based subject; 3 year degree in
Science with qualified teacher status for post-A-level school leavers8. Over half of these
students are considered to be mature students aged over 21 on entry. This paper focuses upon
one element of the course followed by students undertaking the 2 and 3 year routes: the
STEM unit. This unit was set up as the vehicle through which students would engage with
the theoretical underpinning to science education through practical activity in a museum
context as well as meeting the TTA requirements for QTS.

As has previously been stated the interactive gallery originally based at Sheffield Hallam
University was transferred to Kelham Island Museum in 2001. The museum itself was set up
in 1982 in the former premises of the Sheffield Tramway generating station on a site that has
been in continuous industrial use since the middle ages. Kelham Island Museum contains a
series of galleries recreating 19th century metalworking workshops together with displays and
artefacts illustrating local manufacture. In addition to this, recent developments have
included teaching rooms and a large space for temporary exhibitions and events. Kelham
Island is one the sites forming the Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust which also includes
Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet - an 18th Century Scythe making works that contains the best
preserved example of the crucible steel making process - and the Shepherd Wheel – a 16th
century cutlery maker’s workshop.

1. The Nature of the Museum

Kelham Island Industrial museum contains elements of all four categories of museum as
identified by McManus (1992) following Friedman (1989):

• Ancestral Form Museums

An eclectic collection of exhibits forming a cabinet of curiosities: individual displays within
the museum have this feel in that they are specifically designed to show the range and
diversity of Sheffield-made products or as a result of the donation of collections from
companies and individuals.

• First Generation Science Museums

Taxonomic collections of exhibits and archives: The recent redevelopment of the museum
archives has extended this function of the museum. This development has taken place in
tandem with the setting up of a research space within the archive. There are a number of
examples of the taxonomic organisation of products from individual firms often originating
as sales and marketing materials. There has been a return to the notion of the specialised
gallery with the building of a new gallery to identify the role played by Sheffield
manufacture in transport-based industries.

8
A levels are the normal university entrance examinations taken at age 18.

70
 • Second Generation Science Museums
Museums founded with the mission to educate and train craftsmen and designers. The
Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Museum of Science and Industry set up after
the Great Exhibition of 1851 (Butler, 1992) fulfilled this function. Indeed there are a number
of exhibits within Kelham Island Museum that featured in the Great Exhibition but alongside
these are more recent examples of good manufacture emphasising skill and precision in
forging, casting and machining. The museum has a strong focus upon mass educational
activity through its public programmes.

• Third Generation Science Museums

The third generation museum is concerned with “the transmission of scientific ideas and
concepts rather than the contemplation of scientific objects” (McManus, ibid.). This moves
the museum away from being simply a collection of authentic artefacts in that a number of
interactive exhibits have been devised and produced with the aim of educating and
entertaining the visitor. Two galleries specifically use the pedagogical devise of interactivity
as a means of introducing young people to scientific ideas and processes. SCOPE, the
interactive gallery which was formerly based at Sheffield Hallam University, gives the visitor
the opportunity to engage with objects designed to “both enlighten and entertain through
contemporary, participatory exhibits” (Rennie and McClafferty, 1996). In addition, the
Melting Shop gallery was designed to give pre-school and early years pupils an environment
where, through playing in a model steel plant, they could learn about the making of steel and
its processing: moulding, rolling and forging.

If it were not a museum Kelham Island would remain an important site of local industrial
archaeology being the one-time site of the former town armourer Homer Kelham and in
almost continuous use from that time for a variety of industrial uses, finally acting as the site
of the power station supplying electricity to the former Sheffield Tramway Company. There
is therefore an important sense of place in the site itself; its genius loci has been made all the
more potent by the transfer of a number of intact historic workshops and the reconstruction
of a Victorian street from old shop fronts. This Victorian street formerly housed the
workshops of a number of traditional craftsmen – the little mesters (Tweedale, 1992). Sadly
only one of these – a forger of surgical instruments – remains. In bringing together real
things, real people and real places Kelham Island fulfils, some of the strongest criteria for a
heritage-based visitor attraction: what Moore (1997) calls the “triple power of the real”. As
the last of the working craftsmen finally reaches retirement a significant aspect of the
museum’s ethos will be lost.

2. Science Education and the Museum

From the setting up of SCOPE as an interactive gallery at Sheffield Hallam University (then
Sheffield City Polytechnic) in 1990 following the 1989 Annual meeting of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science held in Sheffield there has been a strong
intention to link science teacher education with the development of an interactive gallery
(Quin, 1990). However, the use of the museum tended to be on an ad-hoc basis until funding
from Sheffield Hallam University - under the auspices of the HEFCE Widening Participation
scheme9 - to encourage greater participation in higher education from under-represented

9
The Higher Education Funding Council for England is the government body that disburses
funding to universities in England.

71
groups was used to fund the building of an education space within the museum. This acted as
a catalyst for developing a science teacher education unit to be taught at the museum.

However, the most significant development grew out of the debate leading up to and
surrounding the publication of the Roberts report (2002) SET for Success on the supply of
people with science technology, engineering and mathematical skills. Within the Yorkshire
and Humber region – and particularly the South Yorkshire Sub-region – this was set within
an overall picture of enormous structural change with the decline of traditional industries
such as steel making and coal mining together with the rise of new industries leading to the
twin problems of pockets of high unemployment coupled with an overall skills deficit in
scientific and technical careers. In addressing this problem, Yorkshire Forward – the regional
development agency for Yorkshire and the Humber – set up a project to stimulate non-
statutory STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) coordinated through the
SETPOINTs, Museums and others.
Objective Four: To achieve a radical improvement in the development and
application of education, learening and skills, particularly high-quality vocational
skills. (Yorkshire Forward, 2002)

It is within this framework that the STEM unit was written to link the science teacher
training work of Sheffield Hallam University with the work of SETPOINT South Yorkshire
and the objectives of the Regional Economic Strategy. It should be stressed that this unit
formed only part of a strategy that ultimately delivered over 1000 30-hour learning
outcomes10 and which included teacher CPD, public STEM programmes and school-based
activity within its portfolio. It was, however, felt to be significant in that it targeted science
teacher supply at an early stage in their work and formed a natural link between classroom–
based and extra-curricular delivery of science education and so was felt to be most likely to
provide a long-term influence as teachers moved into the next stage of their careers.

3. The structure of the taught course

The link between the teacher training course and the museum can be considered as
innovative in the sense that it uses the museum as a place where the content of the museum
can be used to deliver aspects of pedagogy and didactics. There are of course a number of
initiatives that have looked at teacher use of museums or which have formed close links
between museums and education - indeed the current initiative has been reported on within a
wider YMLAC11 project Settings other than schools - but largely such initiavies have tended
to be focussed on the better use of the museum collection or in developing more effective
museum education programmes. The European project: School-Museum cooperation for
improving the teaching and learning of science is an example of such a development in that
it attempts to improve the linkage between schools, teachers and museums and particularly
the manner in which collections are used by schools (Xanthoudaki, 2002). Similarly, the
Exploratorium in San Francisco has engaged in teacher training programmes for many years
through its direct links with schools. (Diamond, et al.1987).

The STEM unit is designed as a “long-thin unit” taught over two semesters to a mixed group
of students including 3-year BSc+QTS students assessed at level 4 of the National

10
These identify 30 hours of directed learning. In this case 1000 pupils would each have
been engaged in 30 hours of learning.
11
Yorkshire Museums, Libraries and Archives Council

72
Qualifications Framework (NQF); 2year BSc+ QTS and 2year PGCE students assessed at
NQF level 6 and a small cohort of students following the unit as part of a BSc course in
science communication (Science in the Media) at NQF level 6. The range of experience and
levels of assessment posed interesting challenges for the teaching and assessment of the unit.

Ostensibly the course is two parts: the first semester concentrates upon theories of learning,
and the observation of learning taking place within the museum environment. During this
period the students engage in small-scale group research activity that focusses upon the
observation of learning behaviour within the museum of a group of visiting primary pupils.
The second semester focuses upon teaching and places the students into a teaching rôle
delivering small scale teaching tasks either in the museum itself or in primary schools around
the region as part of National Science Week.

Evaluation and assessment form an important part of the teaching and learning process
within the unit with formative feedback being delivered after the first assignment and review
points included within the course structure (see table 1).

The unit content therefore, makes a transition from teaching about cognition and theories of
learning to a consideration of the nature of the museum setting and more general discussion
of learning in informal situations. The course includes some teaching about research
techniques prior to the students engaging in small-scale group research activity. There was
also an opportunity to look at broader STEM initiatives through a visit by students to the
Venturefest12 conference in York. In the second semester the emphasis moves way from the
observation of learning behaviours towards preparing the students to engage in small scale
teaching tasks prior to producing reflection and evaluation.

Table 1: Science Education (STEM) unit outline

SEMESTER 1
Date Content 3 Year 2 Year Science in the
Route Route Media
22.9.04 Introduction: 10.00-12.00 10.00-1200 -
Theories of Learning 1:
Developmental ideas
29.9.04 Theories of Learning 2: 09.00-11.00 11.00-1300 -
Constructivism
6.10.04 Learning in Informal 11.00-1300 09.00-11.00 09.00-11.00
settings: All age learning
13.10.04 The Museum Experience: 10.00-12.00 10.00-12.00 10.00-12.00
Categories of museum –
presentation and learning
styles
20.10.04 Observational Techniques: 09.00-11.00 11.00-13.00 10.00-13.00
Approaches to and
methods of data gathering,
validity and reliability.

12
A regional conference that focused upon the links between business, industry and
education.

73
3.11.04 Planning for data gathering: 10.00-13.00 10.00-13.00 10.00-13.00
Group meetings to plan
activity and book resources.

10.11.04 Data Gathering: Groups of 10.00-13.00 10.00-13.00 10.00-13.00

4 based around the
museum.
24.11.04 School-based feedback: 09.00-12.00 09.00-12.00 09.00-12
Opportunity for follow-up
interviews.

8.12.04 Hand in assignment 1 By 4.00pm in By 4.00pm in By 4.00 pm in

Centre Centre Office School of Science
Office office.

SEMESTER 2
Date Content 3 Year 2 Year Science in the
Route Route Media
26.1.05 STEM Session (City 11.00 11.00
Campus)
2.02.05 Trip to YORK - 10.00-12.00 10.00-12.00 10.00-12.00
Venturefest
9.02.05 Role-play and Drama 09.00-11.00 11.00-13.00 11.00-13.00
16.02.05 Games and simulations 11.00-13.00 09.00-11.00 09.00-11.00
3311

23.02.05 Practice week: 10.00-12.00 10.00-12.00 10.00-12.00

Opportunity to run
through your activity
3311
9.03.05 Informal Group meetings TBA TBA TBA
3311
16.03.05 Science Week: Activities TBA TBA TBA

6.04.05 Debriefing 09.00-11.00 11.00-13.00 11.00-13.00

3311
28.4.05 Hand in assignment 2 By 4.00pm in By 4.00pm in By 4.00 pm in
Centre Office Centre Office School of Science
office.

Differentiation for this rather diverse group was addressed by means of some separate
teaching for the constituent groups but mostly through the differentiation of assessment by
outcomes as defined by the NQF level criteria. There were two assessment tasks: the first
focussing upon the observation of learning and the second on the evaluation of teaching
(Table 2).

74
Table 2.
Comparison of assessment tasks and criteria for Assignment 1 at levels 4 and 6.
Assessment: BSc (Hons) 3 Year / Year 1 Assessment: BSc (Hons) 2 Year / Year 1;
(level 4) (PGCE 2 Year / Year 1 (level 6)

Assignment 1 Assignment 1

Produce a log of observations made upon a. Working in groups, you are to

pupils working in SCOPE the interactive produce a log of observations of
science centre based at Kelham Island pupils in a museum or science
Museum, Sheffield. The observation log centre. Your log will be based
will use a range of techniques to map out upon a range of data collection
the activity of children working in an techniques. (25%)
interactive gallery. b. Write an individual report showing
analysis of the data produced by
Your observations will be made as part of a the observation. (25%)
team and will include follow-up activity
with pupils in school. You will use the data Marking Criteria (Individual Report)
collected as the basis for an individual
report. Criteria Mark
1. Identify the group under 5
Marking Criteria (Individual Report) observation and the
observation techniques to be
Criteria Mark used.
1. Identify the group under 10 2. As a group make 10
observation and the observations and record the
observation techniques to data collected.
be used. 3. Produce a brief log (500 10
2. As a group make 15 words) of the observations
observations and record made by your group.
the data collected. 4. Write an individual report 10
3. Produce a brief report 20 (1000 words) analysing the
(1000 words) Describing behaviour and learning of the
the behaviour and learning pupils observed.
of the pupils under 5. Write a summary 10
observation recommendation (500 words)
4. Correct use of spelling, 5 reflecting upon the
grammar, referencing and effectiveness of this aspect of
citation. the museum’s work.
Total 50 6. Correct use of spelling, 5
grammar, referencing and
citation.

Total 50

Similarly, the second assessment - which took place in semester 2 – had assessment criteria
which were differentiated according to the national qualification framework for levels 4 and
6 (Table 3). A separate second assessment was devised for the small number of science
communication students.

75
Table 3:
Comparison of assessment tasks and criteria for Assignment 2 at levels 4 and 6.
Assessment: BSc (Hons) 3 Year / Assessment: BSc (Hons) 2 Year / Year
Year 1 (level 4) 1; (PGCE 2 Year / Year 1 (level 6)
Assignment 2 Assignment 2

In small teams, select a STEM teaching a. As a group, you are to devise and
activity: Becky Boyle, Who Polluted the River?, deliver a teaching activity that
Science Suitcase, The Scout Packs. Deliver could be used at Key Stage 2 or 3
this activity to a group of children. Write as a means of popularising one
an individual report (1500 words) through aspect of Science, Technology,
which you reflect upon the learning that Engineering or Mathematics
has taken place and upon your own (STEM) during Science Week.
teaching. (25%)
b. You are to produce an individual
evaluative report of the teaching
and learning that took place as a
Criteria Mark result of the STEM activity. (25%)
1. Description of the 10
activity and of how it was Marking Criteria (Individual Report)
used.
2. Reflection upon the 20 Criteria Mark
pupils’ learning in terms of 1. Identify the group to be 5
skills, attitudes and taught and the material to be
knowledge covered.
3. Personal reflection upon 15 2. Produce appropriate 10
the effectiveness of your teaching materials.
own teaching. 3. Produce an outline of the 10
4. Spelling, structure, 5 activity together of your
grammar, referencing and group in action
citation 4. Write an individual report 10
Total 50 (1000 words) analysing the
behaviour and learning of the
pupils observed.
5. Write a personal account 10
evaluating your role in
planning and executing the
activity
6. Correct use of spelling, 5
grammar, referencing and
citation.

Total 50

76
4. Students as Researchers

The approach to teaching educational theory required that the students should undertake
small scale research in the museum. This has benefits not only for the students but also for
the museum as well as enabling a primary school group to engage with the museum free of
charge. The intended benefits for the students was that it enabled a practical approach to be
taken to the teaching of educational theory in which students could observe learning at first
hand. It also allows students undertake fieldwork in a controlled manner. Working in groups
of between 4 and 6, the students were encouraged to use a range of observational techniques
(Table 4) and were required to pool their data as a means of using triangulation to achieve a
measure of validity to their individual analyses. Museum staff contributed to the research
aspect of the unit by suggesting which areas might be used for observation in order that the
data collected could be used as part of the museum’s own research and evaluation strategy.
In general three main areas have been used for observation:

• SCOPE – an interactive science and technology centre focussing upon physics

based phenomena.
• The Hattersley Gallery – a collection of varied exhibits demonstrating the range of
products made in Sheffield. This gallery also contained a few interactives.
• The Melting Shop – an interactive gallery designed for pre-school and early years
pupils where, through the use of playground exhibits, the children could learn about
steel production and processing.

Students took part in a follow up visit to the school two weeks later to enable further
interviewing of the pupils to take place. On the basis of this, students prepared individual
reports using data collected within each of their groups. The reports were made available to
the museum staff.

Table 4: Data collection techniques.

Data collection Intended purpose
technique
Video Recording of To examine in depth the range of interactions with a single
individual exhibits exhibit.
Video recording of To map general movement around the space.
large areas To map use of individual exhibits
Audio recording of To record and analyse pupil discussion of exhibits
pupil interaction
Interviews To gain an understanding of individual perceptions of the
exhibits and of the museum as a whole.
Pupil shadowing To identify the individual experience of the museum
Timing To analyse the time spent at individual exhibits.
Focus group To enable pupils to reflect upon their experience of visiting
discussion in school the museum

The museum has proved to be a very data rich environment. The use of students to collect
and analyse data has enabled significant visitor research to take place which would normally
be beyond the resources of a provincial museum such as Kelham Island.

77
5. Teaching in the Museum

The second semester of the unit concentrated upon giving the students the opportunity to
perform small scale teaching tasks and reflect upon these. In the case of the students working
at level 6 this involved devising and carrying out microteaching activities in the museum. For
the students working at level 4, the teaching task was presented to them in the form of a
suitcase of interactive exhibits which was taken out into local primary schools.

For the majority of students this teaching task formed their first real experience of directing
the work of children. Although these students ultimately intend to teach at secondary level,
the use of small groups of upper primary pupils gave the students an opportunity to
concentrate upon communicating scientific ideas with which they generally felt secure
without having the added pressure of maintaining discipline. Within this framework students
working at level 6 would devise an activity to be delivered as a group of 4 or 5 repeatedly to
small groups of pupils.

From the museum’s perspective this provided an opportunity to organise themed activity for
schools within the education spaces of the museum as part of National Science week13.

6. So, did it work?

When considered from the point of view of teaching and assessment within the University,
the approach outlined in this paper presents a number of novel features:
• it introduces undergraduate students not only to a theoretical understanding of
educational ideas but also, through small scale research, to an empirical engagement
with teaching and learning;
• it provides an innovative approach to the teaching of a generally unpopular aspect of
the teacher education curriculum;
• it places learning and assessment more closely together in that students are
encouraged to learn through assessment;
• it places teaching and learning into a real situation.

For the museum the activity provides a number of benefits:

• it enables a significant level of visitor study data to be collected in a controlled way;
• it enables initial data analysis to be undertaken by the students with the presentation
of initial recommendations;
• it enables the museum to expand its range of public programmes;
• it provides a means of recruitment of volunteers, explainers and casual staff.

Student evaluations of the course are generally supportive of this approach. The students’
view of using the museum as a venue for teaching were generally positive with typical
responses being:

13
National Science Week is organised by the British Association for the Advancement of
Science in March each Year. The activities organised in South Yorkshire engaged with over
18000 pupils aged 5-16 taking part in over 300 events. Making it one of the largest regional
programmes in the UK. These events included public lectures, visits into schools by experts,
problem solving, museum based activity, industrial visits.

78
A good environment
Very good. There are extensive facilities on site that enhance lectures
The museum was an excellent location although I would have preferred more chances to be
in the museum with the children.

This latter comment identifies a distinction in some students thinking between the museum as
a venue for lectures and the museum as a venue for undertaking activities with children.
When asked to reflect upon the best aspects of the taught part of the course, some students
expressed the view that lectures could have taken place at the university with visits only
being made for microteaching and research. The lectures themselves were generally valued
with typical comments being:

It was very enjoyable and proved how children learn and think (Piaget and Vygotsky)
The taught part was more like a lecture than a lesson and was given in a relaxed manner so
you felt like you could join in.
Thinking about different methods of learning was something I’d not done before.

A utilitarian theme runs through student comments in which the emphasis upon practical
teaching is valued:

The demonstrations of teaching methods using volunteers from the audience – very
entertaining as well as informative.
The actual visits of school children visiting the museum memory retention by visiting the
school and invaluable experience gathered in science week.

7. General Benefits

It is clear that the schools involved in working with the museum benefit:
• the visit is free to the school including travel costs;
• the pupils focus directly upon science and technology in an environment they way
they could not in school;
• teachers learn from the visit and carry their ideas back to the school;
• primary pupils have scientific ideas taught to them by a specialist;
• a generally high level of excitement and enthusiasm for science and technology is
generated motivating the pupils to learn.

However, the regional development STEM project as a whole has had a significant effect for
schools in South Yorkshire. External evaluation of the project has revealed that schools
engaged with SETPOINT South Yorkshire have shown remarkable levels of improvement in
SATS performance (Table 5.)

Conclusions

This museum based activity is one aspect of a wider raft of activities co-ordinated by
SETPOINT South Yorkshire in conjunction with other partners in South Yorkshire. This, in
turn, forms part of a broader project covering the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber Which
attempts to improve the general level of scientific and technical knowledge and skill for the
workforce. Independent evaluation of the project has demonstrated particularly high levels of
improvement for primary schools in the South Yorkshire region. Although direct causal links

79
are difficult to establish, the evidence points strongly to the significant influence that
engagement with projects such as this has upon schools.

Table 5: SATS performance in South Yorkshire (Source Hoshin Report 2005)

Yorkshire and the
South Yorkshire Humber

2003 2004 Change 2003 2004 Change

KS2 Maths Level 4+ Pearson/ANOVA -0.027 0.047 9.981 -0.21 -0.11 4.43

Significance 0.302 0.183 0.002 0.203 0.338 0.035

KS2 Maths Level 5 Pearson/ANOVA -0.16 0.029 7.687 -0.054 -0.029 4.041

Significance 0.381 0.288 0.006 0.018 0.129 0.045

KS2 Science 4+ Pearson/ANOVA -0.034 0.082 10.058 0.014 0.027 0.895

Significance 0.262 0.057 0.002 0.296 0.142 0.344

KS2 Science 5 Pearson/ANOVA -0.027 0.047 7.508 -0.026 -0.009 3.216

Significance 0.306 0.184 0.006 0.153 0.362 0.073

In conducting this evaluation comparison was made between those schools involved with
SETPOINT South Yorkshire and other schools which had not had such involvement. Also
comparison was made with school performance in non science and technology subjects
(English) across the same authorities. In summary, the key points that this study reveals are:

• Involved schools show improvement

• The same change not seen in other subjects
• Raft of regional development projects stimulates improvement
• Schools look to SETPOINT when planning for improvement
• Linkage between Teacher Training, CPD and STEM I seen as an important feature.

It would seem therefore that in influencing teacher training through enabling teachers to
make better use of informal settings, a significant contribution is being made to the
enhancement of academic performance of pupils evidence for which can be found in a rise in
public examination grades.

Acknowledgments:
I would like to thank those attending the Centre for Heritage Research, University of Leeds
seminar held on 23rd June 2005 at Eureka! The Museum for Children, Halifax for the
valuable comments made upon an earlier version of this paper.

80
References
[1] Butler, S., (1992) Science and Technology Museums, Leicester, Leicester University Press.
[2] Department for Education & Science, (1990) A Survey of the use of Museums in Primary Phase
Course in Initial Teacher Training: A report by HMI, London:DfES.
[3] Diamond, J., St John, M., Cleary, B., Librero, D., (1987) The Exploratorium’s Explainer program:
The long term impacts on teenagers of teaching science to the public. Science Education 71 (5) pp
643-656.
[4] Friedman, A.J., (1989) Managing the New Science-Technology Museums, ECSITE Autumn
Newsletter pp.27-36 London, Nuffield Foundation.
[5] Friedman A.J., (1996) The Evolution of Science and Technology Museums, The Informal Science
Review 17, Mar/Apr 1996 p.1,14-17.
[6] Hoshin, (2005) Evaluation of STEM Activities: A report for Yorkshire Forward, Manchester,
Hoshin
[7] McManus, P., (1992) Topics in Museum and Science Education, Studies in Science Education, 2
(4) pp. 341-352
[8] Moore, K., (1997) Museums and Popular Culture, Leicester, Leicester Museum Press.
[9] Office of Science and Technology, (2000)Science and the Public: A Review of Science
Communication and Public attitudes to Science in Britain.
[10] Quin, M., (1990) What is Hands-on Science, and where can I find it? Physics Education, 25 (5) pp.
243-246
[11] Rennie, L.J., McClafferty, T.P. (1996) Science Centres and Science Learning, Studies in Science
Education, 27 pp.53-98.
[12] Roberts, G., (2002) SET for Success: A report on the supply of people with science technology,
engineering and mathematical skills. London: HMSO
[13] TTA, (2002) Qualifying to teach: Professional Standards for Qualified Teacher Status and
requirements for Initial Teacher Training, London, TTA
[14] TTA, (2003) Qualifying to teach: Handbook of Guidance, London, TTA
[15] Tweedale, G., (1992) Steel Metropolis: A View of Sheffield Industry at Kelham Island Museum,
Technology and Culture, 33 pp328-334
[16] Xanthoudaki, M., (2002) A place to Discover: Teaching Science and technology with Museums,
Milan, Museo Nazionale della Scienzia e della Tecnologia ‘Leonardo da Vinci’
[17] Yorkshire Forward (2002) Regional Economic Strategy: a ten year strategy for Yorkshire and the
Humber 2003-12 A Summary. Leeds: Yorkshire Forward

81
Teaching and Communicating Physics

Janez Strnad

Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

janez.strnad@fmf.uni-lj.si

Is communicating physics to the public a continuation of teaching physics by other means?

Answers are sought on the basis of personal experience.

Introduction

In a guideline for lecturers, younger ones were advised to stick to an impersonal style
whereas older ones were encouraged to refer occasionally to experience.

Forty odd years ago I began to give the introductory physics course for physics majors at our
Department. Textbooks for freshmen followed in due time and textbooks for sophomores
somewhat later. Observing the interest of freshmen in parts of modern physics, which the
introductory course did not cover, I wrote booklets on relativity and quantum physics for
interested high school students and freshmen. Later on I wrote also physics textbooks for
high school. I contributed articles to popular scientific journals, prepared broadcasts for the
radio, and wrote popular books. Now I am pursuing this full-time. Apparently, I underwent a
smooth transition from teaching to communicating.14

The experiences, which I will try to share with you, may be of some importance for
communicating physics as well as for teaching physics. Nevertheless, the majority of my
ideas can not be tested in the sense characteristic for physics. They are intended to stimulate
reflection and discussion and may cause opposition.

Three activities

Let us envisage three main activities of physicists:

• research,
• teaching,15
• communicating to the public.

Correspondingly, the group of physicists may be considered as being composed of three

subgroups: researchers, teachers, and communicators. The subgroups are overlapping, there
are few full time communicators.

• Physics is the basic natural science and is relying on the scientific method. An idea is
tested by comparison directly with observation or measurement. In case of disagreement

14
Lecturing physics to nonscience students, ``physics for poets'' or ``physics as liberal art'',
may be considered as an intermediate step.
15
``Teaching'' is used instead of the somewhat broader ``education'' and ``teachers'' and
``students'' refer to all levels.

82
 the idea is abandoned or modified. ``A theory can never be proven right.'' [1] In the
community of physicists a consensus is reached or at least a well defined majority view.
Research in physics is universal.

• Physics teaching on the one hand is tightly bound to physics. The American Association
for the Advancement of Science AAAS requires that ``science should be taught as
science is practiced at its best.'' [2] But reliable standards are lacking [3]. ``Change in
physics teaching is long in development and poorly communicated.'' [4] Development in
physics teaching is not cumulative or additive [5], it is partially circular. Experiments in
physics teaching suffer from deficiencies typical for experiments with humans [6]. The
participation in an educational experiment may influence the performance of teachers
and students [7]. So in issues typical for teaching, the scientific method cannot be
applied directly. On the other hand, in an administrative sense, with respect to journals,
the possibility to acquire academic titles, and jobs, teaching physics is an independent
activity. Educational systems in various countries differ considerably. Thus, teaching is
not universal. Seminars like this, however, give the teaching of physics a universal trait.

• Communicating physics to the public is more diversified and less standardized than
physics teaching [8].16 As in teaching, in issues typical for communicating, the scientific
method cannot be applied directly. In an administrative way, with respect to journals,
academic titles, and jobs, it may in future acquire an independent status. The first
journals, e.g. Public Understanding of Science, and departments, e.g. at the Imperial
College London, have been established already. Conditions for communicating physics
to the public vary from country to country. Thus, communicating physics is not
universal. Translations of a few popular journals and some best-selling popular books
give it a universal trait.

``Qualitative'' and ``quantitative''

In trying to analyze teaching and communicating physics on a common footing the terms
``qualitative'' and ``quantitative'' are introduced. ``Quantitative'' involves numbers, counting
or measuring, the use of symbols and equations, and ``qualitative'' expressing something with
words only. [9]17 This is a simple two-group model for a continuous spectrum, a somewhat
arbitrary one as other parameters might be taken into account: readability, human interest,
density of scientific terms or information density [10].

We study qualitative and quantitative ingredients separately in three activities in teaching

physics, which we call for short:

• lecturing,
• experimenting,
• problem solving.

• In lecturing the teacher is addressing all students or is leading a discussion with them. In
a basically similar situation is the textbook author. The initial lecturing before quantities

16
A variety of synonyms or approximate synonyms exists: popularization of physics, physics
outreach, promotion of physics, public understanding of physics, physics literacy, physics
awareness.
17
Thus, we give the terms a somewhat narrower meaning than usually.

83
 and laws are introduced, is qualitative whereas lecturing thereafter may be either
qualitative or quantitative.

Qualitative lecturing is important at the beginning of a new chapter to arise the curiosity
of students and to persuade them of the significance of the discussion to follow. It is
usually followed by quantitative lecturing introducing quantities. Finally, after the law is
obtained, the complicated topics may be considered qualitatively, giving vistas, and
describing the content of lectures to follow.

• Experiments are of primary importance in physics research. In physics teaching they

have a different role. Usually simple and inexpensive apparatus is used giving results of
limited accuracy. Demonstration experiments directly accompany the lectures and
student experiments are performed by students individually or in small groups usually in
the laboratory.

Qualitative experiments showing one outcome in unchanged conditions are rare. More
often something is changed and the increase or decrease of another thing is observed.
Let us call experiments of this kind semi quantitative. Such experiments are very
important as performing them, students can learn to ``manipulate the environment''.
``Children can measure and compare [semi] quantitatively long before they can
understand the simplifying and sophisticated concepts that we have developed.'' [11]
Such are also the hands-on experiments in museums and science centres. These
experiments can be done before quantities and laws are known [12].

Quantities are measured in quantitative experiments. Such are mainly experiments done
by students in the laboratory, often measuring the dependence of a quantity on another,
and writing a protocol.

• Problem solving is a quantitative activity. After the respective quantities have been
introduced and the law was arrived at, the teacher usually solves some problems to show
the quantities and the law at work. Thereafter the students do problems as homework.
``The homework problems are undoubtedly the key to the system. [...] Each problem
creates what is technically known as Need To Know.'' [13]

An important goal is to connect problem solving with semi quantitative-type discussions

of the features of their solutions. Has the result the right order of magnitude? Does the
obtained dependence make sense? This is a crucial link between quantitative and
qualitative, or conceptual, reasoning. In this case semi quantitative reasoning is
following the quantitative one, not preceding it. ``In solving a physics problem, getting
on to an algebraic expression which is `the answer' is only half the fun. The other half is
examining the expression to find whether it has the characteristics that you expect.'' [14]
Some call this method ``reading the equations''. [15] Qualitative questions, which are
considered to be very important, also follow quantitative and semi quantitative
considerations. Conceptual physics stresses the semi quantitative discussion after the
laws have been established.

Lecturing, experimenting, and problem solving were considered as mutually

independent and analyzed separately but, in fact, they are often used in combination.

84
Communicating physics

Various reasons are given why communicating physics to the public is important. Let as
quote some of them.

An understanding of physics is necessary for a full participation in society.

Physics is an important part of our future. Society becomes intertwined with physics.

In a society that is functioning effectively, an understanding of physics and its methods is a

basic requirement for all.

Without understanding of physics and its methods, the public will not be equipped to make
rational choices concerning the risks and benefits of technologies.

Popularizing should transmit to nonphysicists the inherent excitement and underlying goals
of the discipline.

The laymen may appreciate that physics is a rational result of cognitive processes and not
magic.

Modern physics is the most positive achievement arrived at in the last century.

Physics awareness should curb the declining numbers of physics students.

Physics awareness is necessary to keep back the flood of pseudoscience.

In the above statements ``physics'' is sometimes replaced by ``science'' and/or ``technology''.

Physicists take part in this activity for various reasons, often because they simply like it. The
academic bonus is modest, and the earnings small, except for best-selling books.

Individual scientists and institutions attempt through communicating to the public to promote
their work: ``Popularizing physics means disseminating research results to nonexpert
audience. That dissemination is a natural extension of physicists' efforts in writing journal
articles and presenting conference talks.'' [16]. Thus, this kind of communicating physics to
the public is connected directly with research.

Data on the participation of physicists in communicating physics are scarce. Of practicing

scientists, members of the U.S. scientific society Sigma Xi, ``74 % did not have time for
public outreach, and 41 % believed their involvement makes no difference''. [16]

Sources of science and technology information in the U.S. in 2001. (The left hand side
corresponds mainly to qualitative and the right hand side to quantitative reasoning.)

Science and technology Specific scientific issue

news

Television 44 % Internet 44 %
Magazine 16 Books 24
Newspaper 16 Magazine ~8

85
 Internet ~9 Other ~8
Other ~5 Television ~6
Radio ~3 Don't know ~5
Family, friend, colleague ~3 Newspaper ~4
Books ~2 Family, friend, colleague ~1
Don't know ~2

Preliminary data for over ten thousand members of the French Centre National des
Researches Scientifique CNRS from July 2003 to June 2004 show that 76 % did not get
involved in physics outreach. 21 % have carried out some activity, on the average once or
twice a year, and 3 % on the average 6 activities. The most active 10 % contributed 70 % and
the top 5 % contributed 50 %. The activities increase moderately with age from 0,45 of an
activity per year for those aged 31-35 to 0,7 for those aged 56-60. The proportion of
scientists carrying out activities varies from 17 % for general physics, chemistry, and biology
to 30 % for astrophysics and 41 % for social sciences. Speaking on conferences on popular
science is the most common activity (25 %), followed by writing newspaper articles (23 %)
or giving radio or television presentations (17 %). Social scientists appear on radio or
television much more frequently [17].

This data, although sketchy, hint that the community of physicists would have to put much
more efforts to communicating to the public if the suggestion [18] should be fulfilled: ``[...]
that the physics community undertakes to devote 5% of its aggregated effort to the nurture of
Public Understanding of Science. To their traditional responsibilities for research, teaching,
and service, university departments should add an obligation, not unlike the pro bono work
of doctors and lawyers, to perform this task. The work might fall on one physicists in 20, full
time, or it might be shared among many.''

In teaching, physics is presented systematically and the knowledge continuously assessed.

On the contrary, it is typical for communicating physics that the consumer chooses freely
when and how to participate, often in an unsystematic way. However, this bears witness of
special interest on the side of the consumer.

Physics is communicated to the public in a qualitative way, mostly by qualitative lecturing

without explicitly referring to the laws of physics. Thus, the main distinction between
teaching and communicating is that in the former quantitative reasoning is used but not in the
latter, at most semi quantitative ingredients being admitted. So the means of communicating
physics are much more limited than of teaching. Besides talks, also on radio, and
publications remain semi quantitative hands-on experiments in museums and science centres.
The presentation is less restricted on television where phenomena and experiments can be
shown directly. So teaching and learning enable one to use physics, whereas communicating
and reflecting on physics do not. As R. Hazen and J. Trefil in Science Matters clearly state:
``[...] scientific literacy constitutes the knowledge you need to understand public issues. It is
a mix of facts, vocabulary, concepts, history, and philosophy. It is not the specialized stuff of
the experts [...]. The fact of matter is that doing science is clearly distinct from using science.
Scientific literacy concerns only the latter.'' [2]

Limitations

One should not avoid to mention the limitations of communicating physics to the public.
There are indications that pupils at an early age, e.g. between 10 and 14, by a personal

86
decision accept science or reject it. This phenomenon has not received such attention as
``math anxiety''. ``What appears to link students of very diverse mathematical `ability' is a
collection of what might be called ideological beliefs or prejudices about the subject.
Students' early experiences with mathematics typically give them false impressions not only
of the nature of the subject, but also, and more perniciously, of the kind of skills required to
master it. [...] The problem [...is] not residing in a particular pedagogy, not even in `poor
teaching’, but rather in students' self-perceptions and in a belief system that rests on the
presumptions that either one is mathematical or is not. [...] Among physics students or
potential physics students there appear to be two non-overlapping populations: those whose
anxiety is a result of exposure to physics courses and those whose anxiety, or better stated,
apprehension, keeps them from trying physics even once. In the case of math, the anxiety is
usually the result of exposure to math courses, whether the student is successful or not. [...]
Not so, it appears in physics. [...] Hence, either the preselection process in physics is more
effective in weeding out the timorous and the underprepared or the anxiety-by-doing in
physics is somewhat less of a problem.'' [19]

Paraphrasing a statement for students: ``there is another factor, which is overlooked: Perhaps
some people just aren't interested in science, no matter what we do to capture their interest.''
[20] An extreme case was the poet Sylvia Plath who wrote: ``The day I went into physics
class it was death.'' [15] This phenomenon is probably the root of Ch. P. Snow's two cultures.
Thus, an appreciable part of the population is almost inaccessible for communication of
physics and only the natural-sciences-friendly part can be informed. This shows how
important it is to bring natural science in general and physics in particular to the young. Of
course, the picture of two distinct groups is oversimplified, the other extreme would be to
consider a continuous spectrum.

Further, there is a somewhat related weakness. ``Physics and the scientific worldview often
elicit hostility and anxiety because we have become a society where `bad' news sell papers.''
[21] ``Globally, it [indifference towards physics] characterizes the attitude of virtually 100 %
of the population. The trouble is that although science affects the life of every human being,
it does so indirectly. [...] In order to reach the public, we must engage its feelings and
passions by exposing our own. We must give something of ourselves, even if it is only an
anecdote of our youth, a private observation, an admission of what moves us. Contrary to
everything we have been taught about scientific discourse, we must learn to express our
feelings if we are to communicate more effectively with the public.’’ [18]

Not many emotions can be shown in considering quarks and quasars, which are far away
from human problems. But this may be done in discussing our environment: the limited
resources on earth, energy shortage, danger of overpopulation, global warming, the ozone
hole etc. As physics and other natural sciences are often accused for the deterioration of the
environment, here is the opportunity to emphasize that physics is in fact environment-
friendly. Its measuring devices monitor changes in the environment and within its framework
new environment-friendly processes and apparatus are developed.

In communicating to the public, physics should not be presented in an unrealistic fashion,

with physicists ``as infallible creatures on the path to certain truth''. ``Portraying science in
this unrealistic way just creates unrealistic expectations that fuel `antiscientific' reactions
when those expectations are not met''. Bruce Lewenstein, editor of Public Understanding of
Science, asserts that the public should know the scientific method, but not the idealized one
of hypotheses and testing, ``but rather the messiness of how we come to have reliable
knowledge of the natural world''. ``The public would then understand why scientists cannot

87
provide `the' answer to various questions.'' According to John Durant, professor in the public
understanding of science at the Imperial College London ``scientists need to be candid about
what is and isn't known. [...] They should remember that scientific knowledge is not always
certain and complete.'' [22] On the other hand one should neither overstress the boundaries of
our knowledge. Before somebody can understand the ``messiness'' and the boundaries of our
knowledge she or he should have an impression of what the body of knowledge is.

Experiences

I was contributing in Slovenian to a newspaper, radio18, and popular journals, wrote books,
and gave lectures for nonphysicists. I have some, not a good one, experience with television.
To illustrate my activity the titles of the most recent five texts are quoted.

• Delo (Work), science supplement of a newspaper:

Einstein's first work in the miraculous year. On the emission and absorption of
light, 2005,

Einstein's Ph.D. Thesis. His mostly cited work, 2005,

Einstein's third work in the miraculous year. Brown's motion, 2005,

A neutron generator with a pyroelectric crystal. ``Table top fusion'', 2005,

Einstein's fourth work in the miraculous year. The special theory of relativity,
2005.
The texts are qualitative.

• Radio Slovenija (Slovenian radio):

I have presented stories of famous physicists. In the first part of a story the times and the life
of the scientist are described and in the second part her or his contributions to physics. From
1995 to now these stories were published in five volumes. Therewith I have anticipated the
recommendation of the European Physical Society: ``Tell stories about the life and
discoveries of scientists. Stories can be easily followed and into the text of a story even some
technical details can be incorporated without loosing the interest of a wide audience.''

• Proteus, a popular scientific journal:

Polarized light, 2004,

The Nobel physics prize for 2004, 2004,

How to teach science, 2004,

On physics, science, and teaching, 2005,

The International Physics Year 2005. 2005.
The texts are qualitative, only exceptionally an equation may appear as a label.

• Presek (Intersection), a journal for young mathematicians, physicists, and computer

scientists:

On friction (in three parts), 2004,

The 125th anniversary of Einstein's birth, 2004,

The ship and the bubble, 2004,

The speed of light is the limit, 2004,

The mass of energy revisited, 2004.

18
Radio is a powerful agent against quantitative reasoning.

88
The texts usually consist of two parts, the first being qualitative and the second one, which
the reader may drop, quantitative.

• Spika, a popular astronomical journal:

Light in the universe, 2001,

The new standard model of the universe, 2002,

Light in the ``new standard model'' of the universe, 2004,

J. Vega and planetary masses, 2004,

Astronomy and optics, 2004.
In some texts the model of the universe was considered quantitatively.

• Fizika v šoli (Physics in School), a journal for physics teachers:

Galileo (and GPS) and the teaching of physics, 2003,

Ten men towards the law of refraction, 2003,

On Newton's law of motion, with G. Planinšič, 2003,

Aristotle's law of free fall, 2004,

Hundred years of physics, 2004.
The texts contain equations and derivations.

• Obzornik za matematiko in fiziko (Review of Mathematics and Physics), a journal of the

Society of Mathematicians, Physicists, and Astronomers of Slovenia:

A new Millikan's experiment, 2004,

On Einstein's first paper, 2004,

The first estimates of molecular radii, 2005,

Rewarded asymptotic freedom, 2005,

The way to the special theory, 2005.
The texts are quantitative. In the list of articles a step-wise transition from qualitative to
quantitative reasoning can be followed.

• Books, textbooks excluded:

The World of Measurements, 2001,

A Hundred Years of Physiscs/ From 1900 to 2000, 2001,

Physicists, Fourth volume, 2004,

Einstein. His Life, His Work (two volumes), 2005.

Physicists, Fifth volume, 2005.

The books are qualitative with the exception of The World od Measurements and Einstein.
His Work.

In working with newspapers and radio the cooperation with editors and journalists was
important19 Thereby occasionally some tension arose which, from a sociologist's point of
view, is natural. Physicists on the one hand and journalists and editors on the other have
different professional standards. There was not much feedback and requests for texts, the
most interest was shown for nuclear weapons and rockets. I got occasionally appreciative
remarks, mostly from fellow physicists.

19
The role of science journalists, which is very important in communicating physics to the
public, would deserve a separate discussion.

89
A consensus exists that at present communicating physics to the public in our society is
becoming a necessity. Thereby we should not wait that communicating to the public ``should
qualify for the customary awards of the academy including merit raises, promotions, and
honors.'' [18] This may prove to be a long-term project as communicating to the public is less
standardized and more diversified than teaching. It is not easy to judge the performance even
in teaching and the existing hierarchy in university departments is based mostly upon the
performance in research. So at present a personal preference towards communicating physics
to the public and the decision to do it is of primary importance. To those of you who up to
now have not communicating physics to the public but shall do it in future I wish to have as
much fun as I had.

References
[1] Feynman R P, 1965, The Character of Physical Law, (London; Cox and Wyman)
[2] Wehrbein W M, 199,6 What shall we teach nonscience students about science?, Am. J. Phys. 64,
363
[3] Reif F, 1996, Standards and measurements in physics -- Why not in physics education, Am. J.
Phys. 64, 687
[4] Wilson J M, 1988, Changing the introductory physics sequence to prepare the physics student of
the 1990s, Proceedings of the Conference on Computers in Physics Instruction, J Risley (ed),
(Reading, Mass.; Addison-Wesley)
[5] French A P, 1999, Learning from the past; looking to the future, Am. J. Phys. 57, 587
[6] Swartz C, 1994, Research has shown, Phys. Teach. 32, 6
[7] Romer R H, 1989, Spin-½ quantum mechanics? -Not in my introductory course, Am. J. Phys. 57,
491
[8] Simmons E H, 1995, How to popularize physics, Phys. Today 58, 42 No 1
[9] Strnad J, 1998, The role of qualitative and quantitative reasoning in physics education Conference
New Tendencies in Physics Education, Puebla, Mexico 1998 (unpublished)
[10] Strnad J, 1985, On communicating physics to the public, International conference on physics
education (Duisburg) p 382
[11] Swartz C, 1991, A quantitative misconception, Phys. Teach. 29, 486
[12] Gregory R, 1990, Hands-on science: its contribution to physics and education, Phys. Educ. 12, 233
[13] Swartz C, 1993, Book learning, Phys. Teach. 31, 134
[14] Styer D F, 1998, Getting there is half the fun, Am. J. Phys. 66, 105
[15] Romer R H, 1993, Reading the equations and confronting the phenomena -- The delights and
dilemmas of physics teaching, Am. J. Phys. 61, 128
[16] Augenbraun E, 2005, Weapon of mass attraction, Nature 433, 357
[17] Jensen P, 2005, Who's helping to bring science to the people, Nature 434, 956
[18] von Baeyer H C, 1998, Science under siege, Am. J. Phys. 66, 943
[19] Tobias S, 1985, Math anxiety and physics: Some thoughts on learning ''difficult'' subjects, Phys.
Today 38, 61 No 6
[20] Ciparick J D, 1992, Culture, values and the wish to learn science, Phys. Today, 45, 108 No 6
[21] Patel K, 1990, Communicating physics to the public, Phys. Today 43, 23 No 11
[22] Durrani M, 1999, Physicists must learn to love the public, Phys. World 12, 71 No 12

90
Informal Physics Education and Teachers’ Training – Some Examples and
Experiences

Leoš Dvořák

Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic

Leos.Dvorak@mff.cuni.cz

1. Introduction: where, when and what

In this article I will describe 3 intertwined activities concerning informal physics education
and training of physics teachers:
• Summer math-phys camps for high school students
• Spring camps for future physics teachers
• Activities in Heureka project aimed at teachers at schools

Some of them were already shortly mentioned in [1] and [2]; here they will be described in a
bit more detail. To put them in some context it is perhaps reasonable to start with the
information where and since when we organize them.
Our activities are aimed mainly at Czech students and teachers so they take place mostly in
Czech Republic – not only in Prague but also at various other places. Perhaps it is worth
mentioning that several teachers from Slovakia are also involved and we try to attract other
foreign visitors to some seminars.
The origins of our activities can be traced to 1980’s or even to previous years. They evolved
from small roots (popular lectures on physics, physics clubs for high school students, then
first summer camps etc.) to more sophisticated forms. In about last 3-5 years they may be
regarded as quite “mature” but we still learn how to do them better and more effectively, try
to find new inspiration, add new perspectives… We feel to be not at the end but on the road.

■ What can emerge from such activities: First example

The important point in most of our activities is the fact that the participants should “touch
physics with their own hands”. Often it is meant very literally – and sometimes it can lead to
unexpected and inspiring results.
The purpose of the first version of the indicator described below (with just 2 transistors, see
Fig. 1) was just to show people that they are not “infinitely resistive”, i.e. that a small current
can go through their bodies. The scheme was quite simple and also the construction was
transparent: a small wooden plate with several brass nails in it to which pins of transistors
etc. were soldered. No black box, everything clearly visible.

Trying to increase the sensitivity I added the third transistor and discovered it is so sensitive
that it reacts to electrostatic charges!
The scheme shown at Fig. 2 was already published in [1] (and in Czech in some proceedings
before); here I add some comments on its use.

91
 Fig. 1: Simple version of the Fig. 2: Electrostatic indicator with bipolar
indicator transistors

You can use this scheme as an indicator of conductive connection between contacts A and B
with resistance of the order of GΩ or less. Or it can indicate small currents with the
sensitivity of the order of 1 nA. (If you unscrew the light bulb, the sensitivity is higher.) You
can demonstrate charging and discharging of the capacitor made from two aluminium foils
separated by a thin plastic foil. (The indicator may serve better for this purpose than a normal
multimeter because we can see even a short flash of a light bulb or a LED.)
Finally, you can use it to indicate an electrostatic charge – or rather the changes of the
charge. Connect a piece of wire (10-20 cm) to the contact B. Now rub the plastic rod and
move it closer and farther from the wire. You can discuss the results with your students: Why
the indicator with NPN transistor flashes when the plastic rod moves away from the contact
B? How it would be with a glass rod? The advantage of our indicator is that you can clearly
determine the polarity of the charge – your students see that the bulb shines if they connect
contact B to a plus pole of the battery (i.e. in case the charge flows into the base of the
transistor T1).
It is not the purpose of this article to discuss in more details this or further experiments with
the indicator. I just wanted to illustrate that the intention to give students and other people
something simple to touch may sometimes lead to a nice experimentation and to further
interesting and perhaps useful results

2. Summer math-phys camps for high school students

Can you imagine a group of 30-35 high school students (14-19 years old) voluntarily
spending part of their holidays with mathematics and physics? (Well, you, reader of these
proceedings, probably know many such young people...) In fact, our Faculty organizes 2-3
summer math-phys camps. I will describe here one a bit special.
Our summer camp takes place every July at various places outside Prague, lasts two weeks,
combines scholarly and non-scholarly program and in last years it is aimed at projects. (See
web pages [3]. It is mostly in Czech but there is also a short English summary and the
photographs speak about the atmosphere more than words can tell.)

How it all evolved:

The tradition of our summer camps lasts for more than 20 years. For years the program
consisted of lectures + some sport and games. (I remember that, inspired by my former
physics studies, I gave there lectures on relativity, curved spacetime, black holes and
cosmology...)
Then some seminars and exercises supplemented the lectures and games became more
sophisticated. (We found it useful to let participants learn actively some introductory parts of

92
calculus as well as to let them relax by playing challenging games, sometimes even during
part of the night.)
Then we realized that, to some extent, “all theory is gray and green the golden tree of life” –
and we added some physics experiments to our scholarly program. And, gradually,
experiments started to play more and more important role in it. (Well, cosmology is very
attractive but sometimes it appeared that for some participants it was so easy to just talk
about it. And we realized that to do something with their own hands would be for students
more useful and important.) About ten years ago also the games started to be combined into
one “camp legend”.

What is the “state of the art” of our summer camps:

• There is one main theme of the scholarly program (different for each year).
• There are math and physics courses (each course in 2-3 levels).
• Several “special lecturers” (scientists from various scientific institutions) give their
lectures (some of them as optional lectures in the evening).
• The important component of our camp is projects. They take about half of the time of
the scholarly program.
• The participants present results of projects at final conference.
• The games and other activities of non-scholarly part of the camp are connected by one
sophisticated legend or “camp game”, also different in each year.
• In the non-scholarly program participants form several teams which have to both
compete and cooperate. It must be said that the non-scholarly program does not mean
only distraction and relaxation. It is also “delicately” aimed at personality growth of
participants, helps to develop their communication skills etc. etc.
• The non-scholarly program culminates in one complex large final activity, which may
last up to 24 hours or be challenging in other aspects.

To be more specific, let us look at the main themes and non-scholarly program legends of our
camps in last years.
Main themes: Let there be light (1999), Time (2000), The music of spheres (sound, 2001),
E=mc2 (energy in all forms, 2002), Forces and interactions (2003), Smaller and smaller
(2004), Resonance (2005).
Themes of legends: Old Greece (1997), The Holy Grail (1998), “Legend without legend”
(1999), Expedition to the Past (2000), The Unseen University (2001), Old Mayas (2002),
Treasure Island (2003), The three musketeers (2004), Colonization (2005).

As it was already stated, specific and very important part of our camps is active work on
projects. Our projects are:
• Open. (They are not strictly directed according to fixed instructions. Sometimes the
results of a project are new and inspiring even for the organizer who suggested its theme
and took care of it.)
• Based on team work. (They are solved by groups of 2-3 participants, only sometimes
there is “one member group”.)
• Requiring active work. (Each project has one consultant from the team of organizers.
We deliberately do not call him/her the “leader” of the project. He/she should be rather a
guide who helps participants to solve the project.)
• Developing cooperation instead of competition. (There is no contest at the end but he
conference where all participants can appreciate results of other groups.)

93
• Aimed at both work (which is most important for the participants) and the results (which
are sometimes so inspiring that they may be presented also at other conferences and
seminars after the end of the camp).

Examples of themes of projects from various years include e.g.: Catapult, Steam engine,
Compressed-air motor, Solar stove, Electrometer, Energy of a man, The speed of sound,
Fourier analysis, Various loudspeakers, Oscillations of a string, Sirens and a model of
Hammond organ, Laser microphone, Foucault pendulum, Forced pendulum, Measurement of
solar constant, etc. Altogether there were more than 80 projects solved at our camps in last 7
years.

Could we generalize some experience from the camps? Yes. Here is what we have found that
works:
• It is important that there is not only mathematics and physics there. Non-scholarly
program is equally important. It helps participants to cooperate, freely communicate
with each other and unites all people together. (Especially for some students more
oriented to “hard science” it is quite important to develop these and related
competencies!)
• Mixing students of different ages (from 14 to about 19) works quite well both in non-
scholarly and scholarly program.
• Several levels of math and physics courses offered to the participants proved to be very
useful.
• An active work on projects is appreciated by the participants a lot. But to do only
projects would not work well. A proportion of time devoted to projects and to other
activities of scholarly program of about 1:1 proved to be optimal.
Of course, such type of summer camp is quite demanding to preparation, organization etc.
There are several key points we found necessary for a successful run of the camp:
• Good team of organizers! In our case it consists of two subteams: for scholarly and non-
scholarly program. Together it is about 16 people.
• Suitable place for the camp. We need rooms for a “lab” (for more than 30 people), small
workshop (for harder work), at least 2 lecture rooms – and a neighborhood suitable for
games and activities of a non-scholarly program. And, of course, the price of
accommodation should not be prohibitive and the personnel must be tolerant to our
experimentation and a lot of “non-standard activities”.
• Material support. The projects (especially open ones) require a lot of material and
equipment. We also take with us several tens of books, some computers etc.

What is perhaps not strictly necessary but useful is a change and evolution. We try not to
repeat things and activities routinely – to make our camp interesting both for participants
who come again next year and also for us. In fact the need for change I perceived was the
reason why I passed the leadership of the summer camp to younger generation in 2004 – and
it really proved they have new nice ideas! We all hope the summer camps will evolve further
in the future. See [3] for both the history and future plans.

■ What can emerge from…: Second example

As it was already stated, the work on projects on summer camps sometimes leads to new
inspiring ideas, experiments (or variants or details of experiments etc.). As an example I will
shortly describe an instrument which developed from one project I led at the camp with the
main theme Sound.

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I call the experiment “A singing Styrofoam plate”.

Fig. 3: “A singing Styrofoam plate”

Wind several tens turns of a thin isolated (enameled) wire around a small Styrofoam plate.
Put the plate between two magnets. Now, if you connect the ends of this coil (via a thin
flexible cable) to the battery, you can see that Lorentz force pushes the plate up or down (see
Fig.3). If you switch the current on and off, the plate moves back and forth – it would vibrate
if switching was fast enough. In fact, you now have a simple model of an electrodynamic
loudspeaker. Connect the contacts to the output of an amplifier and put some music signal
into it – the plate, your speaker, will play and sing! For a lot of people it is quite surprising
but it is really so.
Some technical comments should be added:
The wire of the diameter of about 0.2 mm works well. Check the resistance of your coil. It
should not be too low not to damage your amplifier. Too large resistance lowers the output
power. About 10 Ω is a reasonable value. What is very important is to fasten the wire to the
plate – otherwise it is just the wire that vibrates instead of the entire plate and the sound is
barely audible. A good solution is to wound the plate with wire by a plastic tape. Anyway, do
not expect any loud sound from your speaker. But in a silent room (even in a classroom) you
can hear it quite well.

3. Spring camps for future physics teachers

More than eight years ago we decided that various activities done at the summer camps
would be extremely useful for future physics teachers – i.e. in pre-service training of teachers
at our faculty. That is why we started an informal “spring camp” for future physics teachers.
First one, in 1997, was nearly a private “business” with just 10 people (both organizers and
participants). Next year the number of participants was higher, then even higher… and the
spring camp became a tradition. At present years the number of participants settled at about
30.
The spring camp is shorter than the summer one, lasting just 4-5 days at the beginning of
May. And it takes place in much “modest conditions” – two wooden shacks, no personnel to
care for kitchen and accommodation etc. etc. (See web pages [4], again in Czech but again
with photographs showing a lot about the atmosphere of the camp.)

95
The “philosophy” of first years of our spring camp was shortly described in [5]. Now I would
like to add just some more comments. The participants are students, Ph.D. students and also
some teachers from schools, mainly former students of our faculty. We return to the same
place near a small village Mala Hrastice, less than 40 km far from Prague. There are really
not luxurious conditions there but a beautiful countryside. It is an ideal place to check
whether physics works not only in school labs but also in the real world – with very simple
instruments and equipment.
There is again scholarly as well as non-scholarly program at the camp, both very informal.
Scholarly program has a form of “miniprojects” often having rather vaguely suggested
themes. Students in small groups choose what they would like to do, to try, to investigate…
There is no formal conference at the end, however, each day in the mid-afternoon we present
each other what we did. In last years the main theme of the spring camp was the same as the
theme of the summer camp – and the spring camp proved to be the ideal “laboratory” for
developing, “tuning” and “debugging” the ideas of projects for the summer. But it is much
more than that. It is also an ideal environment for removing various barriers: between
“school physics” and “real world”, between “university physics” and “physics for high
schools” and, last but not least, between “us” and “them” in many senses of these words.
Again, what works proved to be: an informal atmosphere, collaboration, mixing of students
of different ages (from 1st course to Ph.D. students), usage of simple tools and instruments,
often made at the place, non-scholarly program as an essential part of the camp.
The results are encouraging. Students like to return to the spring camp. And I must say we
like it too. To put it a bit poetically, we may say that for us Mala Hrastice is not only a place,
but rather the state of our souls and the approach to people and to the world… To be more
pragmatic: The results are so encouraging that we already started other – not a whole camp
but a weekend – for students who will become students of teaching physics (i.e. just before
they enter the 1st course at the university).

■ What can emerge …: Third example

As an example how “miniprojects” can be inspiring a simple model for demonstration of

waves can be shortly mentioned. We can demonstrate both traveling and standing waves at
the piece of rubber rope – and show how it is possible to measure the frequency by an
ordinary ruler!
Take about 5 m of thin rubber rope (may be obtained in haberdashery as a rope to anoraks
etc.), fix one end and hold the other end in your hand making the rope moderately stretched.
Then, moving your hand quickly up and down (or using the other hand) you can create the
pulse which travels along the rope, bounces at the other end, bounces at your hand etc. You
can measure the total time till ten returns to your hand (the total length being 100 m for 5 m
long rope) and so determine the velocity v of traveling waves. (It depends on the tension of
the rubber rope; usually it is between 15-30 m/s.)
Then you can demonstrate a standing wave just by moving the end up and down by your
hand with the right frequency. The wavelength λ is now 10 m (for the basic frequency when
there is no node between the ends). Measuring period of these standing waves we can check
that the velocity v= λ·f is the same for standing waves as it was for traveling waves. It is well
known that oscillating with the end of the rope with higher frequencies (2f, 3f etc.) you can
demonstrate waves with 1, 2,… nodes – at least qualitatively demonstrating the formula f = v
/λ.
To generate waves with higher frequencies, an electric drill is quite useful. Fix a piece of a
thick wire in the chuck and bend it slightly so that it rotates in small circles (with a diameter
of about 1 cm) when you switch on the drill. When it touches the rubber rope, it moves it up
and down – and you can see a lot of nodes on the rope. By measuring the distance between

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the nodes by a ruler you can measure λ and from the known v determine the frequency f. Try
this also with a thinner rubber rope and an electric shaver as the oscillator!

4. Activities in Heureka project aimed at teachers

Heureka (“Eureka” in English) is a project that started and developed “from bottom up”,
from the ideas and efforts of a few teachers nearly 14 years ago. What is interesting is the
fact that it not only still lives but develops further and attracts more teachers than before.
Heureka is oriented to both pupils and physics teachers. Here we will look closer at the
“teachers’ side” of the project. (Its “pupils’ face” was shortly described in [2].) We need not
to be too detailed here – if interested, see web pages [6] where you can find basic
information on the project. (There are several English pages there and, of course, many more
in Czech, but with photographs illustrating the atmosphere of our seminars.)
For many years Heureka was nearly private activity of just a few people, with no official
support. Then, some 5 years ago, further people started to be involved, the cooperation with
the Department of Physics Education became closer and things began to accelerate.
Now there are about 80 people actively participating at the project: students, physics
teachers, several university teachers and some other people. (This is in spite of the fact that
teachers do not obtain any official certificate for training in the Heureka seminars, they came
quite voluntarily, sleep at weekend seminars in their sleeping bags in classes etc. – you see
this is really very informal training!) The project became quite known and is also (since
2003) supported by grants of the Ministry of Education of Czech Republic. And what is more
important – it really lives! Just, for example, look at the activities in 2004:
• 3 common weekend seminars for “traditional participants” + 3 regional seminars for
these participants,
• 4 weekend seminars for “new participants” (these seminars form two-years course),
• 3 special weekend seminars (one of them in Bratislava, Slovak Republic),
• regular seminars for students (future teachers),
• 1 bus trip to laboratories DESY (Hamburg), “House of Science” (Stockholm) and
“Experimentarium” (Copenhagen),
• 1 annual conference (not very traditional; it had the form of a series of workshops) with
more than 50 participants.
At the conference we had already one guest from UK, see “report” [7]. In 2005 we published
proceedings [8] from conferences in 2003 and 2004 and invited one guest from the
Netherlands and one from Slovenia. (We do not expect such exponential growth will
continue endlessly. :-) Now in November 2005 we will present Heureka on the European
festival Science On Stage.
Taking it all together, it is perhaps not so bad for a project started as an initiative of a few
teachers. But we still feel to be rather closer to the beginning than to the end of the road…

■ What can …: Fourth example

To give an idea of the possible content and character of workshops at Heureka “annual
conference” I would like to present very shortly the workshop I lead in 2004. Its title was
“Don’t be afraid of soldering”.
The aim was to enable people to train working with a (transformer) soldering iron. But just to
solder wires together would be boring. So I came to the idea that everybody may make a
simple tester with just a battery, 2 LEDs and one resistor (see the scheme at Fig.4). Despite
of the simplicity, it appeared that one can use the tester for more than 15 simple tests and
experiments.

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 Fig. 4: Scheme of a simple tester Fig. 5: The tester

The construction of the tester was quite simple (see Fig.5): wooden plate and small brass
nails as soldering points. It appeared that everybody from 40 participants who went through
the workshop managed to build the tester in time and to try a few experiments with it – even
people who said they were holding soldering iron maybe for the first time in their lives. (The
workshop lasted 1,5 hour, maximum number of participants was 10, the workshop was
repeated four times.) At the end the participants took their products proudly away.
Of course, for some participants soldering was nothing new. These people could build a bit
more complicated version of a tester which included one transistor and enabled some further
experiments.

5. Further impacts?

The natural question now could be: Are these activities still not too limited? Have they any
further impact?
It has to be said that they are not isolated. Three other activities, in some sense more far-
reaching, may be mentioned:
• Fair of Inventions of Physics Teachers. It is an annual conference of Czech physics
teachers from all types of schools. These conferences started in 1996 and are oriented
mainly to school experiments. They take place in Prague (typically every second year)
and in other towns (Plzeň, Příbram, Olomouc, Brno). The number of participants
typically exceeds 150. These conferences provide a nice opportunity to present new
ideas, results of some projects (even projects from summer math-phys camp) etc. See for
example English web page [9]. Apart from normal proceedings printed each year we
published in 2005 an “electronic superproceedings” [10] with 226 selected contributions
from first nine years of this event plus 12 “extended articles” and other materials.
• Web server Fyzweb [11] aimed at students, physics teachers and at any people interested
in physics in Czech Republic. This server started several years ago as a part of a Ph.D.
work. Now it runs mainly due to work of students and Ph.D. students of our faculty. To
describe it would require writing a special article. Here we could just mention that
Fyzweb is now quite well known and used by both physics teachers and students.
• We also participate at some activities aimed at “general public”. This year we presented
simple physics experiments at a special exhibition “Science at the streets”, which took
place at various parts of Prague for two days in June 2005. (By coincidence just at this
very month our department moved to another building… In these circumstances the help
of our students, future physics teachers, proved to be extremely vital before as well as

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 during and after the presentation.) Some photographs illustrating the atmosphere may be
found in the article [12].

■ What …: Fifth example (the last one)

There is a little space left for description of some more experiments. Let’s finish with just
one experiment from a bit funny series “Happy Cow physics”. In this series I use a really
very simple tool – small round box for cheese. Initially I meant this idea as a joke and as a
slight challenge to “invent” physics experiments with such a tool. Then I was surprised that it
is possible to think out more that 15 experiments – and that other people (e.g. at the
conference [9]) seem to like at least some of them.
The example I chose is a centrifuge. The axis is made from a skewer, as a motor we use a
small electric drill for modelers. The frequency of its rotation may be quite high: more than
100 Hz or even more. (Manual says it could be up to 18000 rpm but I have never tried for the
“cheese box centrifuge” more than half of it, i.e. about 150 Hz.)

Fig. 6: A centrifuge Fig. 7: A centrifuge at work

A natural object to put into our centrifuge is a piece of cheese. (It is sufficiently soft to
demonstrate the deformation.) We should put there two pieces to maintain the balance. After
few moments in the centrifuge the cheese will spread to a thin layer.
Warning: Cover the cheese box well. Otherwise the cheese will spread everywhere… And be
careful not to put into the centrifuge anything hard or heavy – the forces and accelerations
are not small!

In fact, this is just what is interesting at our centrifuge: the acceleration. At the frequency of
rotation of 100 Hz the resulting acceleration exceeds 20 000 m/s2, so it is two thousand times
greater than normal gravity acceleration! Of course, this results from a simple very well
known formula – but the resulting number may be surprising perhaps not only for pupils…
That’s why one must be careful: 5 grams of cheese push the cheese box wall by the same
force as normally 10 kg weight pushes the ground. And the force increases with square of the
frequency.
Such discussions may turn the “gray theoretical formula” F = mrω2 to something vivid,
interesting and applicable. Then you can discuss for example the forces acting on rotating
CDs’ etc. etc.

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6. Conclusions: why?

I began this article with answering questions like “Where?”, “When?” and “What?”. One
important question remains: “Why?”. Why we do it all?
A sincere answer is very simple: Because we like it.
But, of course, there are more reasons than just our pleasure. The important point is that
the participants (students, teachers etc.) like it, too. We know it from both formal and
informal questionnaires and other forms of feedback, we can feel it very intensively during
the activities and we are also assured by the fact that the participants come back on further
occasions.
The other reason is that it seems to work. Many activities described above really motivate
people, help to destroy barriers in our understanding and between us, move things further and
enable all of us to evolve. It may be interesting to check such (rather vague) statements by
some formal research. Up to now, they are more or less verified by practice and by the life
itself. Maybe that “verified” is too strong a word in this context. But our experience is
encouraging. At least for us they are encouraging enough to push us to go on.
There is also the other side of the question “why”. Why to bother with it you, the reader?
For us it is clear. We try to be open and we think that exchange of ideas and experiences is
both important and exciting. That’s why we look for new contacts with people “tuned at
similar wavelength”.
Let me to address the last question to you, the reader of this article. Have you found some
similarities in what you do and what we try to do? And do you think some mutual inspiration
might be fruitful? If yes, let us know. To exchange ideas and experiences may be really both
useful and exciting…

References
[1] Dvořák L 2004 Hands- and Minds-on Physics for All. In: Teaching and Learning Physics in New
Contexts: Proc. GIREP 2004. (Ostrava: University of Ostrava) p 211-2
[2] Dvořák L and Koudelková I 2004 Hands- and Minds-on Physics at School. In: Teaching and
Learning Physics in New Context: Proc. GIREP 2004. (Ostrava: University of Ostrava) p 209-10
[3] http://kdf.mff.cuni.cz/tabor/
[4] http://kdf.mff.cuni.cz/hrastice/
[5] Dvořák L 2000 On the road to Hrastice Tables. In: Science and Technology Education in New
Millenium: Proc. IOSTE conference (Prague: PERES Publishers) p 238-42
[6] http://kdf.mff.cuni.cz/heureka/
[7] Swinbank E 2005 Reporting from a mattress in Nachod… Phys.Ed. 40, No 1 p 5
[8] Dílny Heuréky 2003-2004. Sborník konferencí projektu Heuréka. 2005 (Heureka workshops 2003-
2004. Proceedings of the conferences of Heureka project.) Ed.: Dvořák L. In Czech. (Prague:
Prometheus) ISBN 80-7196-316-X
[9] http://kdf.mff.cuni.cz/veletrh/2005/index_en.php
[10] Veletrh nápadů pro fyzikální vzdělávání. 2005 (Fair of inventions for physics education.) CD. Ed.:
Dvořák L and Broklová Z. In Czech. (Prague: Prometheus)
[11] http://fyzweb.cuni.cz/
[12] Dolejší J 2005 Lidi se fyziky nebojí! (People are not afraid of physics.) In: Čs.čas.fyz. 4/2005, p
399-402 In Czech. Available also at http://www.cscasfyz.fzu.cz/

100
Suspension Bridges Made From Paper Clips

Christian Ucke

Technical University Munich, Germany

ucke@mytum.de

With paper clips can be done even hands-on experiments with an ambitious background. In
this paper is shown the difference between a catenary curve and a parabola with paper clips.
The application to suspension bridges is pointed out. Physics simulation programs can verify
the experiments. Short mathematical reflections complete the paper.

Chains made from paper clips

What shape does the curve of a chain or a flexible cable or rope suspended from its two ends
take? Galileo Galilei asked himself this question – and answered it incorrectly. He thought it
was a parabola. The correct curve wasn’t derived until the end of the 17th century, by the
brothers Jacob and Johann Bernoulli as well as by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Christiaan
Huyghens. It is the so-called catenary curve, which is the hyperbolic cosine function (cosh),
which can also be expressed as a sum of two exponential functions. The derivation of the
catenary curve can be found in many mathematical as well as mechanics textbooks and is
therefore not shown here.

The catenary curve can be constructed well with an

adequate number of paper clips. The more paper clips
used, the better the approximation to the ideal curve. In
figure 1, a chain made from 16 paper clips is shown.
An ideal catenary curve fits almost perfectly to this
paper clip chain. The difference between a catenary
curve and a parabola is especially distinctive with a
relatively strong sag as in figure 1 (see also Fig. 4).
Fig. 1: Catenary curve with 16
If heavy weights hang from each link of a chain, as for paper clips
example with suspension bridges, the curve really
changes from a catenary curve to a parabola (see info
box). This case can also be constructed with paper
clips.

Admittedly, the construction described below is

mathematically not entirely correct, but in real life it
leads to a very good result at the first attempt. Hang
the chain of paper clips in front of a piece of paper,
mark the joints on the piece of paper and draw
straight vertical lines from the marks. In fig. 2, this is Fig. 2: Construction of a
shown together with the paper clips. A horizontal suspension bridge with paper
line depicts the load (=road) held by the main cable clips. The numbers describe the
of the suspension bridge. The part of the road (grey) horizontal distance between the
suspended from the lowest point is both the biggest
suspension cables in millimeters.

101
and the heaviest part. It stretches from the centre of the right paper clip to the centre of the
left paper clip. From this lowest point, hang, e.g., as many paper clips as this part of the road
has millimetres on the piece of paper. The adjacent part of the road (black) is shorter. From
its joint also hang a number of paper clips corresponding to the number of millimetres which
this part of the road has on the paper. In this way, each joint bears its corresponding weight.
In fig. 2, the numbers next to the chain refer to the number of millimetres (and paper clips)
obtained.

Only a few paper clips hang near the end points of the chain. The ratio of the weight of paper
clips simulating the road to the weight of the main cable is only 1 to 3 here. At the lowest
point, this ratio is about 20. This difference in ratios is caused by our construction, which
presupposes equal distances between the joints
from which the vertical cables hang. With real
suspension bridges, the horizontal distances of
the vertical cables are the same. The – constant –
weight ratio is between about 10 to 1 and 15 to
1. Since there is no ideal weightless main cable,
the shape of a real main cable is a mixture of a
catenary and a parabola. In reality, this does not
pose a problem for the design engineers, because
a small sag makes the difference between a
catenary and a parabola negligible.

The shape of the curve in figure 3 is that of an

ideal parabola to within a very small margin of
error.
Fig. 3: Parabola with 16 clips and
With physics simulation programs like weights. The complete weights with
Interactive Physics [1] or XYZet [2] you can the clip chains are not shown here.
also very nicely illustrate the situations
described above. In figure 4, you can see the
simulation of a catenary curve with 16
unweighted links (grey line) and a 'suspension
bridge' equipped with corresponding weights
(black parabola), both superimposed on one
another. With a real suspension bridge, the
vertical suspender cables are equidistant from
one another (this can also be simulated with the
program). In figure 4, however, the points on the
main suspension cable where the vertical
suspender cables are fastened are equidistant
from one another.

In the WEB you can find many links under the

term ‘catenary curve’, and also historical
remarks and derivations. Furthermore, there are
Fig. 4: Simulation of a catenary curve
very descriptive applets that clarify the
(grey) and a parabola (black) using
difference between the catenary curve and the
‘Interactive Physics’
parabola.

102
Info-box (suspension bridge parabola)

Overly simplified and idealized, the form of the curve of the main cable of a suspension
bridge can be derived in the following way:
Three forces, whose vectorial sum must yield exactly zero (figure 5), act in a point P of the
main cable of a suspension bridge. First, the force G of a part of the road with the length x
acts vertically downward. Secondly, a horizontal force S is exerted by the tension of the
cable. This force is constant over the whole cable. Thirdly, a force F acts in the direction of
the tangent to the cable. This tangential force corresponds exactly to the slope at point P.

Let’s take µ as the weight per unit of length of the roadway suspended at the cable. The
coordinate origin 0 is located at the y S
vertex of the curve. The weight G G
F
acting at the point P is then exactly G F
= µ·x. If we denote the height of the S P
cable at the point x by y, then the G x
slope at this point is 0
suspended roadway
G µ⋅x x
y′ = =
S S
Fig. 5: A parabola emerges as a curve form for
By integrating this equation we get the main cable of a suspension bridge.

µ⋅x µ
y=∫ dx = x2 + C
S 2S
Since the origin 0 of the curve is located at the vertex, the integration constant is C = 0 .
Consequently, the curve is a parabola.

References
[1] http://www.interactivephysics.com/ (in English)
[2] http://www.ipn.uni-kiel.de/persons/michael/xyzet/ (in English)

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PART 2

A - SCIENCE CENTRES, SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES

Discussion Workshop A Report

Reporter: Richard Walton,

Centre for Science Education, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
DW Leader: Katarina Teplanova,
Schola Ludus, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

1. Introduction: the perspective of the group

It was clear from the outset that our group represented in microcosm the very diverse range
of groups and individuals who have an interest in physics education and science
communication. Alongside physics researchers were those involved in teacher training,
specialists from the field of science communication and those working in museums and
interactive galleries. Although it must be pointed out that these are not fields with hard and
fast boundaries and that there is a degree of interpenetration and overlap between the
interests and expertise of the participants. As a group the participants were able to bring to
the discussion a wide range of insights and concerns.

The discussions were structured in the following way:

• An initial expression of the concerns of the group;
• An opportunity to define the ideal situation towards which Physics Education
should be moving;
• A discussion of means of overcoming barriers to progress;
• The outlining of some practical actions for moving forward;
• The forming of a statement of caveats and principles that should inform policy.

2. Concerns Identified by the Group

There was significant discussion of the social and cultural appropriateness of Physics
communication. The strong case was made that physics has an important role to play in
society. Alongside the utilitarian value of physics and the physical sciences the point was
made that an understanding of physics is as much part of our cultural heritage as are the arts.
Newton and Einstein are seen as important figures of high culture who should be regarded as
on a par with Shakespeare and Goethe. But the point was also made that physics should be
presented as part of general popular culture in ways that made in inclusive for the public.
This means that there needs to be an engagement between the world of physics and the world
of popular culture through media such as: dance, music and drama. Indeed within the group
the fundamental point was expressed that any formal learning should begin with informal
experience.

The group returned to the oft-expressed view that there is a problem with the image of
physics and of physics related careers: it is viewed as male, middle class and difficult. Many
of the images portrayed in the media of physicists represent them as eccentric and ill-

104
socialised individuals working on projects of baffling complexity. There was also expressed
the view that some university physics departments rather like to shelter behind this image as
a means of preserving their status. It was clear from the discussions of the group that children
need to be influenced at an early age with regard to forming their attitudes towards physics
but that this attitude change needs to go hand in hand with building better partnerships
between the physics community and sources of informal education including science centres.

The concerns of the group centred upon the complex nature of the relationship between
learning in informal settings and the formal world of physics research and physics-based
industry. In particular the need to provide an appropriate role for evaluation in this process
was emphasised as a means of providing objective evidence for the effect of learning in
informal situations upon transition to formal education. The point was made that science
centres and other informal activities can provide a powerful critique of the way in which
physics is often taught in schools. It is necessary therefore not just to influence the attitudes
of children and parents but also those of science teachers – a process which might involve the
introduction of new educational methods into mainstream education. The difficulty of this
latter task was stressed by the group since it was felt this would require some science
teachers to work outside their ‘comfort zone’ in embracing new approaches.

3. Defining the Vision

Discussion within the group shifted to trying to identify an ideal scenario as an end point
towards which the process of physics communication would aim. This was a useful
discussion in that it enabled the participants to identify what they really saw as the important
features of effective science communication and of good relationships between science
centres, schools and universities. The discussion inevitably grew out of the concerns that had
been raised previously but it generally painted a picture of effective and dynamic
communication between partners working towards common goals.

Central to the vision was the view that physics formed part of mainstream culture in which
science communication started with the young. But the point was made strongly that the
means of communication should be inspiring in itself. To emphasise this aspect the group
was introduced to the Faroese notion of Eldsál - which means ‘the heart is on fire’ - as a
measure of the commitment and skill of those who communicate physics to the public. This
was seen as countering some of the public perceptions of physics as a dry and difficult area
of academic study.

In an ideal world, of course, there would be such a commitment to physics education that
science centres would enjoy the support of government and industry. This was expressed not
simply as a vain hope but as a way of expressing the current lack of support felt in some
areas. There was also the view expressed that commercial pressures can act to draw science
centres away from their central educational rôle towards a situation in which their work is
seen as subservient to promoting the products or services of sponsors. The ideal situation was
viewed as one in which physics communication would be seen as significant enough in its
own right to deserve central support on a sufficiently long-term basis in ways that would
enable effective strategic planning to take place.

Of course, in discussing the relationship between the informal and formal sectors, the point
was made that the major influence upon science education are classroom teachers. The
comment was made that these teachers should be ‘relaxed and happy’. This sounds like a
superficial remark but it relates to the deeper issues of uncertainty and stress faced in the

105
classroom. The introduction of new approaches – however desirable – can be viewed either
as a threat to current practice or as a means of provoking increased workload. The view was
expressed that, if the relationship between schools, science centres and universities was right
then teachers would themselves be happy to participate in the process. Indeed, this triangular
relationship was seen as symbiotic with each partner benefiting from being involved with the
other: schools would become more motivating places with access to contemporary ideas in
physics; Science centres would have increased numbers of visitors with access to the physics
community for support and advice; universities would have an increased supply of well-
motivated students with a better understanding of the purpose of their research.

The discussion also wanted to place science centres into a wider network of informal science
providers and activities. In part this reflected the general desire for physics to be seen as part
of the mainstream culture but also recognition that informal learning takes place in a wide
variety of settings and situations of which the interactive centre is a part. There would be
dialogue between each of the participants sharing ideas as equals which would serve to
prevent science centres being seen as an interesting, but rather unusual, sideline for physics
education.

4. Overcoming Barriers

In trying to realise the ideal situation outlined above it became clear that a number of
practical actions need to be taken. In the main these are actions that could be taken
immediately as stepping-stones towards improving the general level of physics education.
The use of good rôle models was seen as key element in addressing many of the image
problems beset by physics. This means that young people should be used to challenge some
of the stereotypes of physics. It was suggested that the best mentoring relationships do not
normally have an age difference of more that 7 years and that rôle models themselves should
be chosen to be culturally relevant.

The relationship between teachers and universities was also discussed. In the main it was felt
that more collaborative working practices should be adopted between universities and
schools. There was felt to be some reluctance on the part of teachers in asking questions for
fear that they may be seen as saying something that was perceived as inappropriate or
irrelevant. What was stressed was the belief that the authority of the university could be used
to validate the questions asked by teachers. This may require a change in approach in some
university departments to build up the confidence of the teachers with whom they work.

Schools themselves were felt to have a part to play in establishing a more active approach to
promoting physics. To this end it was suggested that each school should have an individual
‘physics champion’ who would have a responsibility for promoting links between the formal
and informal sectors. In this way it was hoped that schools would engage strongly with
physics promotional activity whether this took place within the curriculum, in university or
in the science centre. In saying this, the point was made that it would be unreasonable to
expect teachers to do such a job without giving them appropriate support. In particular the
effective use of science centres by teachers requires preparation before the visit as well as the
provision of appropriate supporting materials.

5. Moving forward

It is clear from the comments of the group that a number of practical changes need to be
made to the ways in which schools, universities and science centres work together if the

106
physics community as a whole is to benefit. The main recommendation is that there should
be more effective links between each of the partners but for this to happen there needs to be a
modification in attitudes and in structural relationships. Currently there exits a hierarchy in
which universities stand at the top of the structure and feed down to schools within the
formal education system who then interact with science centres as places offering an
informal quasi-educational / quasi-entertainment experience. What is suggested is that a
more democratic, horizontal structure should exist where each participant is seen as having
equal status.

The effect of this suggested re-alignment is that each party can more easily understand –
from a position of enlightened self-interest – that they are working to the mutual benefit of
all because each has an important part in the process. Of course this also requires those
taking part to modify their working practices. In the same way that universities can act as a
forum for disseminating ideas at the forefront of research, so the science centres and schools
can offer support to researchers in developing their communication skills.

6. In conclusion

It is clear that the group felt that there is enormous potential in developing more effective
links between schools, science centres and universities but that for these links to be effective
there need to be changes both in working practices and relationships. It was also felt that
there needs to be a further systemic change in attitude amongst those who are in positions of
influence in government and universities.

The first change was one of attitude: physics communication should be accorded the same
parity of esteem as research. This has enormous benefits particularly for academics who
work to promote the wider public understanding of physics. At present this is often seen as
an ancillary or voluntary activity subordinate to the main work which is physics research.
However, the case has been made that science researchers and science communicators co-
exist in a symbiotic relationship in which each is needed for the other’s well-being.

Similarly, recognition should be given for physics communication work within the academic
structures and career paths of universities. At present little recognition is given for promoting
the public understanding of physics and, indeed, in some cases it has been viewed as a
diversion away from the central academic task of physics research and mainstream teaching.
A better understanding is required by the physics community as a whole of the importance of
physics communication as a cultural tool for disseminating the products of research but also
for recruiting the rising generation of researchers.

Clearly such change will not take place without the support of those in positions of authority.
In universities and schools this means that rectors, deans, directors and heads of department
need to be convinced of the need for more effective physics communication. For Science
centres it means that there should also exist an appropriate career structure offering rewards
and progression that is on a par with work in the formal education sector.

Finally, physics should never be viewed in isolation. It was the strong view of the group that
the social, cultural and economic importance of physics should be stressed and that this
should act as the spur to ever closer working between schools, universities and science
centres.
Dr Richard Walton
September 2005

107
Collaboration Between the Science Center and University Department –
Opportunities and Challenges

Gorazd Planinšič a,b, Miha Kos b

a
Faculty for Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
b
Hiša Eksperimentov, Ljubljana, Slovenia

The majority of Science Centres has been created or in other way initiated by the people
directly emerging from Universities20. Therefore, the close collaboration between these two
types of institution would seem natural. The practice, however, shows that such collaboration
is not easy to establish and even harder to keep. Though many common goals can easily be
identified, the question how to achieve a balanced motivation, which can sustain long-term
collaboration, remains to be the biggest challenge. The following article describes our
experiences from collaboration between the Physics Education group at Faculty for
Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana and the House of Experiments, the first
Slovenian hands-on science centre.

Any collaboration can start and be successful only if clear benefits from such collaboration
can be perceived from both sides. So, the first question that has to be answered is why to start
such collaboration at all.

WHY?
Since the Science centres are focussed mainly on informal forms of learning, it is reasonable
to expect that the motivation for collaboration with Universities will potentially be strongest
at the departments that offer special science education courses (Physics Education course for
future high-school teachers in our case) or departments that work on education in general. In
our opinion the following motivation elements are among the key reasons for the
collaboration between Science Centre and Science department:

Motivation elements at the Science Centres side

• Better position in winning specific projects, in particularly international projects that

require the involvement of different institutions from several countries.

• Advantages, that emerges from personal contacts with academics and experts in
various fields, such as direct access to the top knowledge, experience, and
information about the frontiers of science and current trends.

• Some academics and researchers still tend to look at the Science Centres as
primarily the places where kids have fun. Personal contacts and engagement in
common activities change this prejudice.

20
There are some exemplary cases where Science Centre has been founded by University
(see article in this book, written by Richard Walton).

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 • Collaboration represents source of ideas for new exhibits, science shows, events and
thematic projects.

• It also provides direct access to number of motivated students who wish to get
experiences in communicating science and in designing and building new exhibits.

Motivation elements at the University side

• Science Centres are typically better than Universities in explaining science to

general public and therefore more attractive for public media. Joint projects can
result in more frequent appearance of University Departments in media and thus
promote their name in public eyes. Public appearance of Universities in new
contexts may also result in higher public appreciation of science and
consequentially higher enrolment.

• Better position in winning specific projects, in particularly international projects that

require the involvement of different institutions from several countries.
Collaboration with Science Centre may be an important advantage in applying for
projects especially for the departments that are involved in physics education
research (PER).

• Collaboration proves to be a new source for student projects and thesis ideas.
Several ideas that emerge from brain-storming between Science Centre – University
staff can be tested and even improved by students. In our case such new type of
student projects proved to be very well accepted by the students and eventually
resulted in complete renovation of one experimental subject.

• Training of physics education students and in-service physics teachers in Science

Centres adds a new value to future teachers’ education. Science Centres represent a
special environment that challenges future and active teachers to improve their skills
in communicating science to general public by working as explainers or science
show presenters. Science Centres represent non-threatening environment where
children and adults react spontaneously and dare to ask any question. It request from
teachers-explainers to be more flexible and more interdisciplinary than in the
classroom. In addition, the high flux of visitors in Science Centres gives explainer
opportunity to improve her or his didactical approach practically on-line and thus
make a progress at faster rate than in school.

• Science Centres can be a unique “polygons” for PER. Aforementioned high flux of
visitors and the fact that visitors range in age, social status and regional affiliation
makes Science Centres ideal for performing PER analysis with ability to get good
statistics in reasonably short time. Research work like this would require
development of new techniques for getting data, such as combining ICT with
microprocessors installed in the exhibits and video recording.

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HOW?
So far the possible motives for collaboration have been described and analysed on the
general level, which becomes important when the situation is ripe for formal collaboration.
But everything really starts at informal, personal collaboration, which at least at the
beginning is powered by enthusiasm and believe in high importance of science education.
Let us give some examples from our collaboration.

At the exhibit called “The bigger the weight, the higher the pitch” visitors are asked to step
on a lever and play on a string which is tensioned by the visitor’s weight (Figure 1a).

a) b)
Figure 1: a) Exhibit “The bigger the weight, the higher the pitch”, b) copy of the
calculations for the exhibit design.

The top end of the string is attached to the circular metal plate that works as a loudspeaker.
The designer of the exhibit needs to know what should be the optimal thickness of the plate,
so that the plate will not brake or deform under the weight of the visitors (taking into account
all possible scenarios such as three boys jumping on the step etc). This is an example of the
problem that can be given to students, physics majors in the second or third year. A
calculation of the tension force that acts on the string is simple problem that is suitable for
any first year basic physics course (Figure 1b). The connection of the problems with the
exhibits in the House of Experiments surely raised students’ motivation.

A design of well known exhibit “Floating in the air”, where images in the mirrors give visitor
an impression that he is floating in the air, requires only knowledge of basic geometrical
optics and can be used as a problem on any first year physics course (Figure 2a,b).

110
 a) b)
Figure 2: a) Exhibit “Floating in the air”, b) copy of the calculation for the exhibit design.

New exhibit resulted from brain storming which initially started by observing a Cartesian
diver, a popular demonstration experiment and typical problems that students have with
understanding the physical concepts behind it. Two-liquid Cartesian diver (to our knowledge,
an original idea) has been designed, first as a simple prototype experiment (Figure 3a) and
than as a large scale exhibit for the House of Experiments (Figure 3b). The description of the
two-liquid Cartesian diver along with the students’ interpretation of the basic physics
involved in this experiment has been reported in article published in Physics Education [1].

a) b)
Figure 3: Two-liquid Cartesian diver: a) simple experiment, b) large scale exhibit in Science
Centre.

Project laboratory is a new subject for first and second year students at the Faculty for
Mathematics and Physics. The report on the design and integration of this subject into the
post graduate physics education course has been given on the previous GIREP Seminar in
2003 in Udine [2]. The important characteristic of this subject is that every year every group
of the students gets a new project task to be solved. This gives students opportunity to use the
knowledge that they passively acquires during the lectures in a most creative way but it also
presents a big challenge for the responsible lecturer to create or find about twenty new
project ideas every year. It is the collaboration with the House of Experiments that represents
the important source of student project ideas. Often the principles behind the ideas that
emerge from brain storming between the collaborators are first tested as a student projects.

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CONCLUSIONS
Due to political, economical and social changes in Europe during the last decade, education
is becoming one of the important “products” on the global market, even in small countries. In
such circumstances it can be expected that collaborations between Universities and Science
Centres will become increasingly important in future, so better start planning today.

References
[1] PLANINŠIČ, Gorazd, KOS, Miha, JERMAN, Riko. Two liquid Cartesian diver. Phys. Educ.,
39(2004) p58-64.
[2] PLANINŠIČ, Gorazd. Revitalization of the laboratory activities and integration of the subject into
the post-graduate physics and educational physics program. V: LONGHETTO, Claudia (Ed).
Second International Girep Seminar: Developing Formal Thinking in Physics, 1-6 September
2003, University of Udine, Italy. Quality development in teacher education and training; seminar
book. Udine: University of Udine (2003) p84-89.

112
Educational Games in Physics

Viera Biznarova,

SCHOLA LUDUS, Faculty of mathematics, physics and informatics, Comenius

University in Bratislava, Slovakia
biznarova@fmph.uniba.sk

Introduction

Educational games are an illustration of the in-formal educational SCHOLA LUDUS

approach in school education. The general basis of the SCHOLA LUDUS approach is [1]:
• complexity and complex approach to real physical experiments;
• parallel method of learning and teaching;
• authentic learning through play and active experimentation.
In order to prepare an educational game we specify basic requirements:
• theme, content of the game should be familiar to children’s experience;
• questions asked in the game should be challenging;
• the game should enable the teacher to assess the actual state of pupils’ knowledge;
• the game should alert both - students and teachers on discrepancies and misconceptions;
• playing the game should encourage cognitive progress.
The challenge and stimulus for learning is in SCHOLA LUDUS games realised by the key
case. Parallel cases – each task or question is presented by several situations – awake
similarities and differences and encourage generation of students’ own ideas. The run of the
game, the manner of questioning and looking for answers support development of cognitive
skills (questioning, formulating hypothesis, verifying them, evaluate the observed
phenomena).

Structure of the labyrinth-like game

One of the structures fulfilled above mentioned requirements is inspired by cross-country

games. There are several stations in the play-area (e.g. schoolyard). Each station consists of a
written question and several alternative
answers. The player should choose the verification
answer which she/he considers as the experiment A
best. Alternative answers fit the most + question focused
incorrect correct
frequent of the pupils’ alternative on experiment B

conceptions. The player is routed to next

incorrect
incorrect

Problem1 correct Problem 2

station according to her/his answer. In
the case of the correct answer the player incorrect verification correct
experiment B
is routed closer towards the finish. In
other cases the player is routed to a + question focused
on experiment A
station with a simple verification
experiment that helps to awake the
pupils to the invalidity of their
alternative conceptions (figure 1).
Figure 1: Structure of the labyrinth-like game

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To play the game and complete it is not the end

Common discussion follows immediately after the play. All participants discus:
• nuances of alternative answers;
• arguments for choosing the best of alternatives;
• the meaning of presented experiments, with respect to the particular questions and
answers;
• other possible experiments to verify particular hypothesis;
• particular conditions and their influence on presented phenomena.

“The Diver”

The game named “The Diver” is focused on mechanics of fluids at the secondary school
level (pupils aged about 12 years). The aim of the game is to assess pupils’ conceptions about
pressure and pressure force, its’ dependence on depth and density of liquid and independence
on contact surface orientation. The context (diving) is attractive to children and allows us to
capitalise on the pupils’ spontaneous interest and common experience.
The game is intended to be played in a larger area such as schoolyard. Each player has a map
of the stations as arranged in the yard. The player should choose one answer on each station
(which he consider as most credible), continue to next station (in accordance with the chosen
answer) and record the path from the beginning to the finish. Pupils play the game either
individually (the teacher assesses the conceptions of each individual) or in teams (team
members can discuss presented problems, with ample opportunity to develop communication
skills, mutual learning is possible among team members).
Preparation of the stations takes approximately 30-40 minutes (according to the area). To
play the complete game (from beginning to the finish) takes approximately 30-40 minutes.
The best team can usually finish in about 15 minutes. Pupils who complete the game early
should visit the originally skipped stations and do all the experiments.

References
[1] Teplanova, K.: Comenius SCHOLA LUDUS in the 21st Century, In: Proceedings of the
International Seminar Inter-Academia, Bratislava: Comenius University 2002,
ISBN: 80-968253-6-4, pp.61-70

APPENDIX – The Diver - assignment

Introduction
Novice diver, Adam Careful, has decided that he will prepare himself seriously before he
dives into the unknown depths of the deep. He wants to know what awaits him there.

Instructions
Thirteen workstations are positioned in the "school yard". Each one has a question with
alternative answers. Select the best answer
Go to the station indicated by that answer.
Keep a record of the sequence in which you visit the stations.
The beginning is at the station R.

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 Station R
The first situation, which Adam conceived:
Each aquarium, indicated by numbers, 1, 2, 3, contains a diver.

Which of Adam's hypotheses do you consider correct?

a) The divers feel the same pressure in each case. Go to B
b) Divers 1 and 3 feel the same pressure. Go to E
c) Divers 2 and 3 feel the same pressure. Go to Y

Station B
Experiment: Place the bottles on the platform. Note the
water flowing out. (If there are more of you
at the same time, put all the bottles on the
platform. If there is only one person, he may
investigate the bottles two by two.)
Question: Does the flow rate depend on the height of
the hole from the bottom? Try the
experiment!

Question: Imagine situation as in the figure. At the beginning

of the flow, is the flow rate of the two bottles equal?
a) Yes (Go to E)
b) No. (Go to Y)

Station Y
Experiment: Place the bottles on the platform. Note the
water flowing out. (If there are more of you at the same time,
put all the bottles on the platform. If there is only one person,
he/she may investigate the bottles two by two.)
Question: At the beginning of the flow, is the flow rate
from the wider bottle larger? Try the
experiment!

Question: Imagine situation as in the figure. At the beginning

of the flow, is the flow rate of the two bottles equal?
a) Yes (Go to E)
b) No. (Go to B)

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 Station I
Adam would like to know what he can expect if during his underwater travels he gets himself
under a stone overhang, a boat, or an oil slick.

Which one of Adam's hypotheses is correct?

a) In positions 1, 2, 3 and 4 the diver feels the same pressure and in position 5, stronger
pressure (Go to R)
b) In position 1 the diver feels the most pressure, and in positions 4, 5 the least pressure
(Go to U)
c) In positions 4,5 the diver feels the most pressure, and in 1 the least pressure (go to
S)
d) The diver feels the same pressure at all the positions. (Go to V)

Station S
Experiment: Place the arrangement of the bottles on the
platform. Observe the outflow.
Question: Is the flow rate from the smaller vessel
smaller (as long as the connecting tube is full
of water)? Try the experiment!

Question: Imagine the situation as in the figure. At the

beginning of the flow, is the flow rate of the two bottles equal?

Yes. (Go to V)
No. (Go to U)

Station U
Experiment: Place the bottles on the platform. Observe
the flow rate out of the bottles.
Question: At the beginning, is the flow rate the same
for both containers? Try the experiment!

Question: Imagine the situation as in the figure. At the

beginning of the flow, is the flow rate of the two bottles equal?

Yes. (Go to V)
No. (Go to S)

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 Station V
Adam would like to know what to expect when he dives in,
(1) the "Big Basin Swimming Pool" (filled with rather cold water),
(2) the "Hot Thermal Swimming Spot" (quite warm water),
(3) the pleasantly warm sea water.

Which one of Adam's hypotheses is correct?

a) The diver will not register any difference except for the scenery. (Go to O)
b) The diver will feel the same pressure in cases 1 and 2, but less pressure than in case 3
(Go to P)
c) The diver feels the same pressure in cases 2 and 3, and less pressure in case 1. (Go to
I)

Station O
Note: In the U-tube there is water and oil with a bead at their
interface as shown in the figure. (Oil has a lower density than water).
For the bead to be at the lowest position of the U-tube, the pressure
from the waterside must equal the pressure from the oil side, and thus
the level of the oil must be higher than the level of the water.

Question: Imagine that the U-tube is divided in the middle with an elastic membrane
(e.g., a balloon). To one side we pour hot water, and to the other side we
pour cold water so that their levels are equal. To which side will the elastic
membrane bulge?
a) towards the cold water (Go to P)
b) towards the hot water (Go to I)

Station P
Experiment: Compare the mass of equal volumes of hot and cold water.
Question: Imagine the situation illustrated in the figure – two containers, (1) one for
salty water and (2) one for pure water, are separated by a balloon-like
membrane. The water levels are equal. Which figure best describes the
resulting shape of the membrane?

a) Go to I b) Go to O

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 Station I
Adam would like to know what a diver feels when he makes a somersault in the water.

phase 1 phase 2 phase 3

Which of Adam's hypotheses is the right one?

a) The diver feels the most pressure in phase 2 (Go to A)
b) The diver does not feel any pressure in phase 2 (go to T)
c) The diver feels the same pressure in all cases (Go to D)

Station A
Experiment: With the help of a thread pull a thin disk
to be the bottom of a glass cylinder.
Submerge the lower end of the cylinder
without loosening the thread. What
happens when you now let go?

Question: Imagine the situation illustrated in

the figures.
The thin end of a funnel is attached to a tube. The wide
end of the funnel is closed-off with a balloon-like
membrane. The tube is filled with water.
Is the water level in the tube the same when the
orientation of the funnel goes from that in figure a) to
that in figure b)?

a) Yes (Go to D)
b) No (Go to T)

Station T
Experiment: Immerse the membrane end of the funnel into
the water. Note the water level in the tube.
Now rotate the mouth of the funnel without
changing its depth. Does the water level in the
tube change? What happens to the water
column in the tube?

Question: Imagine the situation illustrated in the figures.

A thin metal disk is held by a thread to be the bottom of a glass cylinder.
What happens when the thread is cut?

a) The disk falls to the bottom (Go to A)

b) The disk remains at cylinder (Go to D)

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__________________________________________________________________________

Station D
Congratulations! You managed the challenges of today's game.
Maybe you were lucky. Maybe you are persistent.

If this is exactly the fifth station that you are visiting (in the order R°E V I D) you have the
thinking to dive into the deep depths of physics.
We wish you lots of luck and happiness searching for discoveries.

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Towards a New Science Museum in Trento: Developing New Tools and
Methods to Combine Naturalistic and Hard Science

N. Capra, R. Tarabelli, M. Bertolini, R. Guardini, M. Lanzinger

Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, Trento, Italy,

neva.capra@mtsn.tn.it

Introduction

In a few years a new science museum will be built in Trento. In the “Museum of Sciences”
aspects coming from the tradition of a Natural History Museum will be joint with features
typical of Science Centres. To achieve this goal, new educational methods and didactic tools
have been adopted. To build bridges between topics belonging to different disciplines, new
interdisciplinary educational activities have been developed and multidisciplinary temporary
exhibitions have been proposed to the public.
In the society of “global citizenship”, the education of the young generations must provide
them the instruments to realize not only a geographical and professional mobility, but also a
cultural one, a new way of organizing their knowledge. Teaching and learning must be
interdisciplinary, because the knowledge itself is made up of a network of information
coming from different fields.

Section

To start, a few words about the Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali (MTSN): its mission is
typical of a Natural History Museum: exhibition conservation and research. Moreover,
educational activities have been subject of lot of work, research and development in the last
ten years.
MTSN leads a network made of six museum branches: the Botanical Garden and an
Astronomical observing site both located on the mountain of Trento, the “Gianni Caproni”
Aeronautic Museum in Mattarello, the Pile-Dwelling Museum in Ledro and a Limnological
Field Station near lake Tovel. The MTSN has also five sister institutions: the Aquarium of
Trento, the Adamello Glaciological Research Centre, the Fossil Museum in Brentonico, the
Geological Museum in Predazzo, the “Villino Campi” institution for studies on the Garda
Lake and its naturalistic surroundings.
The Museo Tridentino has therefore a long tradition of networks of knowledge and skills,
thus interdisciplinary seems to be not just a choice for the new Museum, but also a
“vocation” to combine different sciences.
The museum network affects almost the whole region and the strong relation of the MTSN
with its environment and the local people and government have been important starting
points of the following developments. To understand the reasons for the new museum to be
built, we have to go back to the end of 90’s when a new season of interactive exhibitions
started. Among these, the temporary exhibition “Il Diluvio Universale” - “The Flood” - that,
for the first time at MTSN, investigated a topic from different points of view. The tour
started in the courtyard where a big diorama, reproducing the animals trying to escape the
Flood on the Noah’s Ark, introduced the visitors to the exhibition. It symbolized the
importance of preserving the biodiversity and the naturalistic heritage threatened by the
expansion of humans’ needs. Other current issues investigated were genetic manipulations,

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biological ethic and new strategies to realize a sustainable development. A scientific
approach to the matter of climate changes has been also proposed by the introduction, in the
traditional exposition area, of interactive exhibits which invited the visitors to understand and
solve problems by doing, not only by reading and learning. A recent scientific explanation of
the Flood invited the visitors to intriguing remarks and comments. A part on the myth of the
Flood in the different cultures completed the interdisciplinary offer of the exhibition.
Considering the perspective of the choice of the interdisciplinary method for the new
Museum, “Il Diluvio Universale” can be considered the turning point of it all.
Other interactive exhibitions, on many different subjects (Energia 2001, Destinazione Stelle,
Tutti a Nanna, Survival Festival: obiettivo sicurezza, etc.) followed.

Figure 1: the reproduction of the Noah's Ark in the courtyard of the museum during the
temporary exhibition »Il Diluvio Universale«.

The great success of all these interactive exhibitions and the subsequent need of the museum
to expand met the will of the local government to reclaim an ex-industrial area located near
the historic city centre. The will to give this area a strong cultural value found in a new
“Museum of Sciences” the answer and in year 2002 the study of feasibility started.
Because of the strong relation existing between the museum and its setting, the alpine
environment will be the main character of the new museum, in fair balance between its duty
to preserve the naturalistic heritage and the need to look for new solutions to adapt the setting
we live in. The new museum will become a “platform” for discussions on global challenges
such as climate changes and new technologies. Slopes and curves resembling the profile of
mountains will characterize the new building, designed by Architect Renzo Piano.

Figure 2: cross section of the new Museum of Sciences to be built.

As previously said, in the new museum, interdisciplinarity will be the educational method
chosen to guide visitors through aspects belonging to the tradition of a Natural History

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Museum (mainly the contents) combined with tools and features typical of Science Centres:
hands-on exhibitions, multisensory experiences and so on.
Now focusing on the word “interdisciplinarity”: what does it mean? At least two different
interpretations are possible. Interdisciplinarity may be a method to apply when exploring a
topic. To investigate facts concerning “Atoms and molecules”, for instance, the perspective
of physics or that of chemistry can be used. Moreover, analyzing the evolution of the debate
about “Atoms and molecules” in the history of philosophy would be very useful in order to
have an ensemble view of the matter. We can call this way to look at interdisciplinarity
“model centred on a theme”[1].
Moreover, when considering the most topic scientific events we live everyday, we notice that
it is hard to find someone who really knows everything about that matter because it is
possible to look at it from different angles. Thus, interdisciplinarity may be considered a
bridging tool between disciplines, which are all necessary to outline the issue. For example,
deciding to talk about the strange weather we have experienced the last two summers needs
some statistical data about former ice ages which have been studied by glaciologists,
geologists, paleonthologists, and so on. We can call this second type of interdisciplinarity,
“model centred on a method”[1]. It can be very useful for young students to develop a way of
looking at topics that tries to find overlaps and parallelisms in other disciplines, especially in
order to get the cognitive instruments to reprocess and reorganise their knowledge for the
third test of High school’s Final Examination that has to deal at least with five different
disciplines at the same time. According to these considerations, different types of
interdisciplinarity will be realized in the new museum.
The interdisciplinary approach has many advantages: it promotes curiosity and makes reality
readable through instruments belonging to different disciplines. Moreover, interdisciplinarity
favours the learning process in its phases, as also Jorge Wagensberg[2] underlined in one of
his articles. In addition, it arouses curiosity thus encouraging a deeper knowledge and giving
way to a perfect contamination of the informal method with the formal one of school.
The Content Plan, which will provide the guidelines for the development of the exhibition
area, will be concluded by the end of year 2005. Project teams, composed by experts
belonging to different disciplines, are working on the definition of the different meaningful
themes to be represented in the new museum and on relationships between each other. An
example of how the different topics could be related is here reported: starting from a glacier
(faithfully reproduced and located at the top floor of the “building-mountain”), for instance,
it will be possible to talk about climate changes and the periodical withdrawal of glaciers’
fronts. Or, then again, physics of ice could be an unexpected point of view from which
looking at the issue “glacier”. This is an application of what previously called
“interdisciplinarity centred on a theme”.

Talking about climate changes will also provide the opportunity to link up to topics
belonging to Earth Sciences; dealing with creatures that have adapt to inhabit the different
situations could be one of the many chances available. Finally, starting from the glacier,
visitors will have the opportunity to choose among different paths to develop their personal
route, following their own interests and curiosities. Giving this way an application of the
“model centred on a method”.

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 Figure 3: example of possible links between meaningful topics represented in the new
museum.

Coming now to the state of art: the museum promotes educational activities (and exhibitions)
about natural science, about hard science, and about history. These activities are normally
chosen separately, but in the last years the demand for Special Projects that combine
laboratories concerning different disciplines rose. Every Special Project consists of three, or
more, of appointments and during the preliminary phase educators of the different branches
of the museum work together to create bridges and overlaps between naturalistic and hard
science.
As example of a Special Projects, one developed during the last school year: a botanical
activity about the colours of flowers offered the opportunity to speak about the physiology of
vision and the physics of light. An interactive laboratory about the “Geometry of optical
illusions” completed the offer. In September a new Special Project involving the first classes
of an Elementary School has started. The project, called “Physics in Nature”, will offer the
children the opportunity to experiment multisensorially. Main purpose of the activities
proposed is getting the kids used to observe the reality with curiosity. The five senses will
become investigation tools of the natural environment they usually live in.
Not only Special Projects combining existing activities belonging to different disciplines, but
also new interdisciplinary offers. During the last winter, “Sci & Scienza” (Ski and Science)
combined activities typical of a holiday on snow (skiing, taking strolls on snow with the
“ciaspole”, etc.) with formative interludes as the identification of animals’ tracks, a nocturnal
observation of the sky, orienteering activities, lectures on the geological history of the
surroundings and an interactive laboratory on the physics and mathematics of snow flakes.
The interactive lab “Nonsolomusica” (Not-only-music) deals with the scientific aspects of
musical phenomena, particularly the ones concerning with physics, mathematics, physiology
and physiology showing that these arguments are unexpectedly and surprisingly linked each
other.

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 Figure 4: students engaged in the activities proposed during »Nonsolomusica«

To introduce themselves to the topic, students must act as ancient Greeks and find out the
relation existing between the length of a string played and the height of the sound produced
using a »mono-chord«, the instrument that Pythagoras seems to have used himself. Going on
with the laboratory, students can train their math by going through an algorithm to calculate
the lengths of the string corresponding to the different musical notes of the Pythagoric scale.
Another amusing activity is the concert with the Savart's Siren that brings students to
understand the relationship between the impact frequency of a plastic wand against different
gear wheels and the height of the sound produced. Unpredicted sound effects introduce the
audience to the part dedicated to psychoacoustic, important aspect if one wants to have a
curious (and competent!) look at the fantastic world of sound.
Also on the side of temporary exhibitions much work has been done. “In volo” which was
open until September 11, was dedicated to the issue of “flying” dealing with knowledge
gained from studies about birds’ flight paired up with elements of aerodynamics and physics.
The exhibition was hosted by the permanent exposure of vintage aeroplanes of the “Museum
“G. Caproni”, giving this way the opportunity also for historical, artistic and technological
contaminations.
In the near future: the traditional physics laboratories will be enriched with naturalistic spots
in the form of “Did you know that?” which will give the students the opportunity to discover
the wonder of physics in nature and to understand that subjects like density and centre of
gravity, normally “labelled as boring”, have more to share with the everyday life than meets
the eye.

Conclusions

The new museum will provide a great opportunity to develop and test new strategies for
teaching and learning.
Some needs of the actual teaching and learning system seem to be
• the “recovery of elementariness”, meaning not what is simple to understand, but
everything that can be useful and propaedeutic for building more complex knowledge;
• a modular organisation of learning because knowledge does not consist in a “linear
build-up of information”, but in active and creative research paths;
• networks of knowledge (interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity).
Focusing on the third test of the High School Final Examination, it requires more than a
consistent and well-organised exposition of concepts and notions, it has to evaluate the
students’ general knowledge. Emphasis must be placed on skills and not just on contents.
Structuring knowledge by skills does not unhinge disciplines that remain necessary
organizing structures of the educational activity. Because nowadays what should be known
and things to learn change rapidly, it has become necessary not only to learn things but also

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to acquire new strategies to reorganise knowledge. This way, interdisciplinarity can become
a “new frontier” of tomorrow’s school.
Interdisciplinarity doesn’t mean that all the different disciplines are “drowned” together in a
mixed and messy way. Interdisciplinarity means that to look at reality it is necessary, from
time to time, to wear different kinds of “glasses” corresponding to the different way of seeing
things of the different disciplines. An interdisciplinary approach to the different cultural areas
becomes a fundamental aspect of the formation of a student, so that besides learning
disciplinary contents there will be also a critical understanding of them.

References
[1] Mario Trombino 2000 I filosofi e le città: modelli e proposte per un insegnamento
multidisciplinare Relazione tenuta al Convegno Nazionale della Società Filosofica Italiana
[2] Jorge Wagensberg 2004 The “Total Museum”, a tool for social change 4th Science Centre World
Congress

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Atomic Physics for Pupils: A Hands-On Lab

Beniamino Danese1,2, Fabrizio Logiurato1, Silvia Defrancesco1, Luigi Gratton1,

Stefano Oss1, Roberta Guardini3, Roberta Tarabelli3, Neva Capra3
1
Λ cos φ - Physics Department, University of Trento, Povo (TN), Italy
2
IPRASE (Istituto Provinciale per la Ricerca, l'Aggiornamento e la Sperimentazione
Educativi), Trento, Italy
3
Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, Trento, Italy
danese@science.unitn.it

Introduction

We describe our work devoted to middle school teaching of the basic concepts of atomic
physics. We developed materials and techniques, both formal and informal, to deal with this
subject in an effective and beautiful way. Such an improvement is urged from teachers and
physicists. We put together their perspectives, with the addition of a « science center »
perspective that, as argued, is very important also in schools at this stage.

We focused on the core of such three perspectives and could therefore see clearly many
different approaches and criteria that are needed in physics teaching. Here we review these
approaches and criteria together with the new didactic material that we developed in this
framework.

We specify the various phases of the work, of the interaction between faculty staff, school
teachers and museum educators. The materials and techniques developed are used in an «
interactive lab » at the museum. Their « export » in ordinary teaching in classrooms is on the
way.

Perspectives: School Teachers, Faculty Staff and Science Centers Crew

Since this Panel Session is dedicated to “Science centers, schools and Universities”, it may
be not considered inappropriate to briefly recall the respective specificities and concerns of
the different kinds of educators. Basic points need to be spelled out again and again,
otherwise they slowly slip out of sight.

School Teachers may say “… we do not only have to teach the fundamentals of physics…”.
They are focused on pupils. Pupils need to… grow up. Teachers are thus concerned with
their whole development. “Pupils need to learn… to pay attention, to speak, to discuss, to
work with other pupils, to carry on with the daily duty…”

Faculty Staff i.e. physicists, the depositaries of the discipline of physics. They may underline
that “The subject is physics, and it’s overall important…”. They have specific concerns
about the goals of teaching. “Pupils must… learn the fundamentals (with rigor, not make
banal), be able to do experiments, to handle formulas…”.

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Science Centers Crew, the chief articulators of informal teaching, have an important word to
say about both pupils and methods. “Pupils need… to run, to play, to explore, to discover, to
use hands, to marvel, to have fun…”. Their remark that “particularly in young age, learning
has to pass through this” has a little touch of irony towards self-appointed “experts”
neglecting this.

So much, in a nutshell, about the three perspectives (Fig. 1), while each of them has reached
a very deep level of systematization, with a broad set of different theories, as well as
dedicated books, journals, conferences, and so forth.

Figure 1: the three perspectives. From left to right, Teachers, Science Centers Crew, Faculty
Staff

A huge amount of work has been done worldwide also in putting together the different
perspectives. The interaction between School Teachers and Faculty Staff has been going on
since the birth of mass education, and is at the root of most school textbooks. Mixed
committees developed new courses, curricula, movies and materials [1]. Science Faculties
and Departments started to act as places for teacher training and specialization.

It might have been that the coming on the scene of the third actor, Science Centers Crew, far
from being just a fashion of the times, had been prompted by gaps swarming in programs,
curricula, and praxis’s in the schools, especially at the earlier stages. As a result, Museums
and Science Centers are increasingly becoming places for teacher meetings and teacher
training [2].

Interweaving these three perspectives is the background of our work about the teaching of
atomic physics for pupils. Let us discuss the approaches and criteria elaborated, and show
how the materials we developed satisfy every and each perspective.

Criteria, Approaches and Materials

We developed an atomic model for the construction of molecules. The « marble & spring »
model (Fig. 2). Its chief novelty and usefulness is the fact that the bonding is obtained via
spring superposition, representing electron wavefunction superposition [3].

These objects (atomic models of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon) are the basis of
activities about molecules. Pupils seat in pairs, and have a sheet with drawings and formulas

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of molecules. The educators walk around, stop by, answer and ask questions, work together
with each pair for a while. Pupils build molecules with simple, double, and triple bonds (Fig.
2a); they build little structures (radicals, rings), and they recognize these structures in more
complex molecules (caffeine); a sort of chemical « synthesis »; they build polimers (Fig. 2b)
and graphite planes.

Thus the teacher is satisfied, becouse these simple objects may help a great deal in
introducing, explaining, deepening and recalling many topics. Objects have their own magic
in communicating the content, in objecting to the mind and alerting it [4].
This model pleases the physicist more than the usual « ball & stick », because it is deeper. It
features the representation of electron wavefunctions superposition, it easily allows double
and triple bonds, it sketches bonding angles (water, benzene) and atomic shapes (« tetrahedal
carbon »).
The science center educator is also satisfied. Pupils may memorize many chemical formulas,
many molecular structures, many concepts... just playing. It is a game with simple rules. It is
a hands-on activity. The little models, in their simplicity, are attractive.

Figure 2: « marble & spring » model. (a) H atoms, O2 and N2 molecules. (b) polyethilene.

These objects embed and allow many approaches and criteria (listed below, underlined), used
also elsewhere in the laboratory. We now review them with some detail.

(1) Hands On philosophy may have become a shibboleth for every pourpose, from the
teaching of English to touristic guides and volunteer organizations. Still, in science teaching,
the use of objects is unavoidable.

(2) The use of these little objects enhances Manuality. Pupils do not hold high hand-ability
from birth. Hand-ability has to be exercised (Fig. 3a). There may also take place a « silent
stimulus », a sound hunger for improving, when one sees others ahead in the construction.

(3) Improving of manuality goes hand in hand with performing the First « Little Experiments
». In high schools, students are supposed to do « serious lab work »: quantitative, data and
linear regressions, repetion of landmark experiments, and so on. The soil for this has to be
prepared. In middle school, performing of little experiments must be done, and in our opinion
it shall consist in first place of: careful observation; description; use of scientific instruments
(even if « scratch » they are scientific). In our interactive lab pupils also use spectroscopes
and monochords.

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 Figure 3: « marble & spring » molecule construction gems (a) manuality (b) marvel.

(4) A most important criterion is that the activity must allow the springing of Marvel from
pupil-side. Marvel is not made to gush by something external, artificiously attached to an
object or a phenomenon. But by the inner reason inscribed in the phenomenon itself.
This point has been splendidly clarified by Faraday. «I hope you will now see that the
perfection of a process - that is, its utility - is the better point of beauty about it. It is not the
best looking thing, but the best acting thing, which is the most advantageous to us. This
good-looking candle is a bad-burning one. » [5]. What is true for a burning candle must be
done also for a molecular model (e.g. Fig. 3b) or for a ball rolling down an inclined plane.

(5) As widely known, hands-on objects prompt a direct, active partecipation. The pupil is no
longer a spectator. There is a Personal Engagement. He may also work and develop even
further than what is requested, come up with really useful proposals, or good questions. And
then he may feel rightly proud for the results he achieved.

(6) These activities also permit the pupils to take a Little Breath. There are moments when
they are challenged up to some high standard, requiring all their efforts for concentration.
Every teacher knows that it is important to punctuate these moments with other ones in
which pupils may take a little breath. They relax the mind a bit, assemble what they have
heard, prepare for the next topic.

(7) Objects are really helpful in preparing for the discussion. Becouse they raise questions,
they call for an explanation. Two kinds of Explanations are possible in this laboratory. The
first is seating side-by-side during the hands-on activity, a deep and targeted explanation. It
may be given from the teacher as well as from the educator. And there is a kind of broad
explanation, when the whole classroom is addressed. Many techniques and tools are
important in this respect.

(8) A very important technique in « lecturing », and in physics lecturing nevertheless, is

Narration or storytelling. The application of storytelling in science teaching has been often
avoided, especially in high-schools. Strict formality has often been preferred.
It may be assumed that stories are neglected simply because they are not known, but this tells
something about the lack of interest of the average physicist in the history of his subject. The
difficult avaliability (and the scarce reading) of the writings of the scientists readily follows.
Still, many scientists were masters in telling stories, and we use a few of them in the lab. The
description of the cycle of Plasmodium is an example [6], and is very useful in describing the
respective sizes and properties of humans, dapple-wing mosquitoes, plasmodium bacteria

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and chlorochine molecules. It also vividly illustrates the interconnectedness of micro, meso
and macro.

(9) Another very important technique is to call a pupil, putting him (or her) at the centre of
the stage: welcoming him, asking him question, doing experiments together with him. He
catalizes the attention of his mates, he may also point out concepts. This Pupil Involvment
takes place by an experiment – like ripple tank (Fig. 6a) and string « modes of vibration » –
or drawing at the blackboard (Fig. 4), that we use in a peculiar way – see point (13) –
projecting the computer over it.

Figure 4: discussing trajectory. A pupil is drawing the trajectory of a ball on « blackboard +

PC »
(10) all these factors contribute to set the Discussion in a « Learning Atmosphere ». This
atmosphere signals the interest of the pupil for the content of the lecture, and also that he is
granting the lecturer with his confidence.
The construction of such an atmosphere is also important because it helps the pupil to put
forward his own ideas. Discussion, confrontation, correction (if it is the case) and learning
take place.

(11) it may be too early for formulas in middle-school, but it is surely not too early for
Remarks on Physics Concepts. What physicists call « the physical meaning ». It calls for
utmost clarity. The whole ensamble of hands-on, stories, questions... have this pourpose, to
convey the physical meaning. Its grasping by the pupil is in a sense a discovery, it enhances
his creativity.

An example are the remarks on the inadequacy of the concept of trajectory in describing the
motion of waves. First, together with the pupil, we focus on trajectory (Fig. 4), define it, and
illustrate its broad applicability. Then we try to use the trajectory in the description of waves
propagation (Fig. 6). Finally, we discuss its inapplicability. Wave motion needs other means
of description.

It is not always possible to achieve this goal of « re-discovery » or « critical understanding »,

especially when the pupils have no other mean that relying on what the lecturer is saying. His
remarks should in these cases form a seed of correct information.
The different models of the atom are an example. To underline the different quantitative
properties of the atom (its combinatory power, the respective sizes of its parts, its shapes, the

130
properties of the electron) various analogies and models are used. Examples of different
portraits of the atom are the « marble and spring » (combinatory power) and the « dandelion
» (electronic orbital) (Fig 5).

Figure 5: portraits of hydrogen emphasizing different properties.

(a) combinatory power (b) electronic orbital

(12) When possible, Experiments must be performed. In this lab analogies are drawn
between processes at atomic scale and waves or harmonics. Experiments are needed to
clarify the macroscopic part of the analogy. Every part of the experimental apparatus has to
be presented, even if hidden. The question « what's going on here? » must be continuously
answered and reformulated.

Most probably, these experiments (ripple tank, monochords, electron diffraction,

spectroscopy) are among the first ones the pupils witness. The experimenter has therefore to
take care of many things.
Questioning on the experimental setup and slight changes in the conditions are important.
They lead to the recognition that the setup has been set up such and such so that a certain
phenomenon was observable in the clearest way. Pupils may sometimes suggest
modifications of the experimental conditions for the observation of correlated phenomena.
Anyway, they see that experiments need careful preparation. A lot of theory, of observations,
goes therein. Caution and safety rules are also needed.

Even if « pre-quantitative » or « illustrative » experiments are more than hands-on. They

require pupil concentration since these many things (what, why so, and if...) are
simultaneously at work.

Experiments of atomic physics are performed: electron diffraction and gas discharge
spectra. The sharp and precise lines of the latter are a forceful illustration of the fact that
whetever the « mode of staying » of the electron around the nucleus, it must be characterized
by some sharp and precise quantities.

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 Figure 6: by the ripple tank. (a) pupil at the centre (b) experiment and computer

(13) The laboratory makes Use of the Computer again and again. It may be used for
simulations, applets, physlets, animations, images and fancy dialogues between scientists to
support storytelling, music and excerpts from movies.
A further use of the computer is the « blackboard + computer » approach (Fig. 4). We
project on a white blackboard. And it is possible to draw on it (sometimes with the help of a
ladder). Trajectories, rays, wavefronts, orbits... Pupils like this physical interaction with the
computer.

How the interaction took place

This « interactive lab » has been first ideated in Dipartimento di Fisica and experimented in
schools together with teachers. With the support of Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali it
has been upgraded and (after another experimentation) adapted to this new context. It is part
of the didactical offer of the Museo. In its 1st year it has been attended by 20 classes, more
than 400 pupils.

At the moment there is « work in progress » to prepare booklets (on « marble & spring »
model, and on spectroscopes) that make materials, ideas and resources easily available to the
teacher, for everyday use in school activities.

References
[1] The Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC) directed by Jerrold Zacharias dates back to 1956
[2] The chief example is the Exploratorium Teacher Institute since 1984
[3] a resource on physical molecular models is at http://molvis.sdsc.edu/visres/sculpture/titles.jsp
[4] Jaki S 1999 Means to Message (Eerdmans) 13-23
[5] Faraday M 1859-60 The Chemical History of a Candle (Dover 2003) (1st Ed Chautauqua Press)
[6] Sherrington C 1937-38 Man On His Nature (Cambridge University Press, 2nd Ed 1963) 264-72

132
Playing with Einstein

Stefano Oss1, Luigi M. Gratton1, Silvia Defrancesco1, Fabrizio Logiurato1,

Beniamino Danese1,2, Christian Lavarian3, Lavinia Del Longo3, Marilena Grifò3 ,
Roberta Guardini3, Michele Lanzinger3
1
Physics Department, University of Trento, Povo (TN), Italy
2
IPRASE, Trento, Italy
3
Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, Trento, Italy
guardini@mtsn.tn.it

Introduction

One hundred years ago, Einstein made an exceptional contribution to modern physics by
publishing a number of articles that became milestones in the history of physics. To celebrate
this marvellous year, the United Nations designated 2005 as the “World Year of Physics”. A
decision that gives recognition to a discipline that is essential to scientific and technological
development, and promotes endeavours to bridge the gap between physics and non-experts.
In response to the United Nation’s designation, many museums and other scientific
institutions organized events for the public on the topic of physics. In this spirit, Museo
Tridentino di Scienze Naturali and the Physics Department of the University of Trento
developed the interactive temporary exhibition “Playing with Einstein”.
Guided by Albert Einstein’s quotations from his “Scientific Autobiography” [1] visitors can
explore physics at the turn between the XIX and XX century to share his wonder for the
natural world and to marvel at the revolutionary theories that the scientist formulated in
many different fields of physics.
They may contemplate, through the eyes of Einstein, how scientific thought evolved in those
very special years: in so doing, they come to terms with the difficulties and mysteries which
are the main stimuli of researchers.
“Playing with Einstein” is the result of the synergic cooperation between Museo Tridentino
di Scienze Naturali and the Physics Department of the University of Trento, who combined
their different skills during the concept, development and construction phases.
The exhibition opened on March 12th 2005 and was expected to close on October 30th 2005.
But the date of closure was postponed to the end of January 2006, due to the many requests
made by schools.

The exhibition itinerary

Based on the hands-on philosophy, the exhibition is a place where adults and children “can
touch, play and experiment with the exhibits” [2]. Aided by explainers, adults and children –
as new scientists – are stimulated to experiment and think about the whys and wherefores of
the things [3]. Written explanations on labels have been reduced to the essential and insight
into the more complicated aspects is provided in the form of computer simulations that are
placed next to the exhibits.
The exhibition set-up is organized in six spaces which represent significant moments in the
history of scientific knowledge. Not just moments related to Einstein. His genius without
doubt marked for all time the evolution of knowledge and our understanding of the Universe.
But it is important not to forget the contributions of dozens of other scholars, scientists,

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inventors, and passionate devotees who, together, passed through these periods of doubt,
questions, hypotheses, and theories.
The journey starts in the courtyard of the museum where a train and a rotating platform
provide an introduction to Galilean relativity of motion and inertial and non-inertial reference
systems. On the train visitors throw a ball in the air and catch it in a net to see that their linear
uniform motion does not affect the ball’s downward motion, and thus that nothing in the
ball’s behaviour gives away the fact that they are not sitting still with respect to the ground
(Fig. 1).
On the rotating platform two or more people roll a ball towards each other and notice that to
them it bends instead of moving in a straight line. However to watchers that are observing the
scene from outside the ball appears to go straight, while it is the table that rotates beneath it
(Fig. 2).

Figure 1 Figure 2

Inside the museum, visitors first encounter a large panel of pictures, documents and short
texts which present the many different facets of the Einstein’s personality, reminding us that
his contributions were not limited to science [4].
The main part of the exhibition is then entered: the first section shows XIX Century physics
through toys such as spinning tops and rolling cylinders (Fig. 3), set in a room which could
have been Einstein’s own as a child and which also contains the compass (Fig. 4) and
examples of Euclidean geometry that had struck the scientist at an early age.

Figure 3 Figure 4
The sense of wonder increases in the second section, dedicated to light. There are mirages,
lasers, prisms… The question “what is light?” begins to be tackled, with a first tentative
answer suggested by the comparison between interference patterns and the ripples that form
on the surface of water (Fig. 5).

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This hypothesis gains confidence in the third section of the exhibition, where electromagnetic
phenomena are presented in greater detail. So we have a large-scale version of Oersted’s
experiment, a simple setup of Faraday’s law (Fig. 6), a television with a remote control to
experiment with.
The hypothesis on the wave-like nature of light receives a serious blow in the next section,
dedicated to the phenomena that XIX physics could not explain: the distribution of energy
among different wavelengths for blackbody radiation (Fig. 7), the structure of matter and its
interaction with light, the photoelectric effect and the Brownian motion.

Figure 5 Figure 6
In this section visitors come into contact with the non-intuitive phenomena of modern
physics and begin to make acquaintance with Einstein’s own contributions, by interacting
with exhibits grouped in pairs. In his explanation of the photoelectric effect, Einstein regards
light as a stream of “energy packages”, called quanta. In the dedicated exhibit (Fig. 8) the
visitor simulates the expulsion of electrons from a metal, illustrating the basic concepts of the
photoelectric effect. Close by, a “lab-like” experimental setup illustrates the actual
phenomenon.

Figure 7 Figure 8

A macroscopic model of Brownian motion is reproduced by means of ping-pong balls (Fig.

9). A microscope at its side allows to visualize the true Brownian motion of rubber
microparticles suspended in water.
Using a similar approach, reproductions on panels and three-dimensional models illustrate
the history of atomic models, while the same topic is presented more playfully using a game

135
of minigolf that simulates the experiment that allowed Rutherford to discover of the structure
of the atom (Fig. 10).

Figure 9 Figure 10

The final part of the exhibition is devoted to Einstein’s special and general relativity: a
relativistic bus takes visitors on a ride to discover how the world would look if we travelled
at a speed close to that of light (Fig. 11).

Figure 11 Figure 12

In Einstein’s theory of gravity, the effects of gravity on the motion of bodies are described by
a deformation of space-time geometry. A Funnel-like device with balls that roll represents a
model of the motion of planets (Fig. 12).
Visitors may proceed to learn about current-day physics research in Trento in a poster
display that illustrated the work carried out at the Physics department of Trento University
and at the Institute for Research in Science and Technology (ITC-irst).

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Educational Programmes

Teachers of the three Italian school levels – elementary, middle and high – gave their support
to define the educational activities linked to the exhibition, with proposals targeted to the
three different age groups.
The educational programmes include guided visits to the exhibition, an option chosen by
almost all visiting teachers. Furthermore, groups are given the opportunity to end their
experience in a “follow-up session”, with support material to encourage students to comment
on the exhibits seen and on the discoveries made in the exhibition. Teachers may conduct
these sessions autonomously or request the support of an explainer.
High school students may also assist physics lab demonstrations of the photoelectric effect,
diffraction phenomena or spectroscopy.
Lastly, the exhibition development team gave guided visits for teachers of the different
school levels in the three days immediately following the exhibition opening. These were
greatly appreciated by teachers, with over 200 of them attending.
The guided visits and the additional activities are conducted by explainers. There is a team of
25 explainers specifically for the exhibition. These are students of physics, mathematics and
engineering who passed a selection that the museum made two months before the exhibition
started and took part in a preliminary training session that lasted 20 hours. The group of
teachers that took part in the development of the educational activities also participated in the
explainer training and went through the exhibition with the explainers to illustrate to them
the different approaches devised for the three target groups and to provide insight on possible
links between the exhibition content and school activities.
From March to August 2005, outreach activities were organized to promote the diffusion of
scientific culture. These started right after the exhibition opening in March, with a “relative
birthday party” in which anyone could celebrate their birthday together with Albert
Einstein’s stunt man and continued with many different events: from scientific theatre, to
shows in the town square, to workshops for families, science cafés…

Conclusions

Although the quantitative data (questionnaires that visitors can fill in on a voluntary basis at
the end of the visit) is still under evaluation, we can already say that the exhibition has been a
success, with many teachers booking repeat visits with different classes.
Visiting students (at end of school year ’04 – ’05) were over 11.000, with 596 school groups
in total. The total number of visitors, after six months from the opening, is of over 45.000,
whereas the participants to special programs were over 6.500.
We have gathered many positive comments on the exhibition in general, as well as some
negative comments regarding the fact that the exhibition space is too tight. The lack of space
is a general problem in our museum, which we hope to solve once and for all with the
opening of the new science museum in Trento which is due probably by the end of 2009.
But what can we say more specifically about the relationship between visitors and physics
through the exhibition?
One first important point – from the overall number of visitors – is the fact that people are
willing to come and visit an exhibition on physics. The comments left at their exit show that
they also appreciate the exhibition as a whole.
From interviews with the explainers we find that the interactive aspect of the exhibition is
much appreciated by the visitors. As we also found in previous exhibitions, the most popular
exhibits are the ones in which the visitors are most involved: the rotating platform, the train,
the relativistic bus… so ones with which the visitor could relate to others (the platform), or to

137
direct experience (the train) or could “pretend” to live a special situation (the bus)… all
elements that encourage interaction that goes beyond the mere push button.
Other exhibits were liked because they were surprising (the large mirage, or the ferrofluid);
and others still were greatly appreciated with the support of the explainers, who could help
visitors overcome an initial shyness with the more exhibits that gave the idea of lab apparatus
(such as the prism setup, the electron diffraction or the photoelectric effect).
On the level of disciplinary content, as expected school groups on guided visits are the ones
who “take away” the most. In this case, we have found the “follow-up” sessions to be
extremely effective, because they allow students and teachers to discuss and comment what
they have seen while it is still fresh in their mind, with the support of an explainer who helps
them build a structured discussion.
The general visitors are given “the gist” of the physics underlying the exhibits, but to tackle
the concepts presented – especially in the case of those most far removed from everyday
experience – they rely on the support of the explainers to go into some detail.
The exhibition isn’t the final solution to the issue of present modern physics to the public, but
it is certainly a positive experience that encourages visitors to speak and think of topics that
they normally would never even consider.

So we can conclude that our games and Einstein’s thoughts have brought physics closer to
those who have visited the exhibition, to experience the wonder, excitement and also the
doubts lived by scientists.

References
[1] Einstein A, 1949, Scientific autobiography in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-scientist, Vol. 7
Library of Living Philosophers ( P. A Schilpp editor, Tudor, Evanston)
[2] Quin M 1990, What is hands-on science, and where can I find it?, Physics Education 25, 243-246
[3] Wellington J, 1990, Formal and informal learning in science: the role of the interactive science
centres, Physics Education 25, 247-252
[4] Pais A, 1983, Subtle is the Lord: The science and the life of Albert Einstein (Oxford University
Press)

138
Physics Demonstrations Organized For Basic And Middle Schools By Institute
Of Physics, Jan Długosz University In Częstochowa, Poland

M. Głowacki, Bogusław Kocik

Institute of Physics, Jan Długosz University in Częstochowa, Poland

The paper presents the experiences of physics demonstrations and science shows, organised
for basic and middle schools by Department of Physics and Astronomy of Institute of
Physics, Jan Długosz University ( till 2004, Pedagogical University) in Częstochowa.
These shows have been organised since 1996 and there have taken place 420 of them till
now, and there have attended and participated about nineteen thousands of students and
pupils. Every demonstration’s subject matter was chosen as teachers and students wished.
According to their opinion, the physics and science shows are very useful for increasing
learning physics and for developing interest in the subject.

Below, there are presented statistics of these demonstrations. Table 1 and Fig.1 present the
amount of students participating in them in the 1996 - 2004 period and show the areas of
physics considered in these demonstrations

Electromag Hydrostatics, Thermodyn

year Mechanics Electrostatics Optics Waves Astronomy other
netism hydrodynamics amics
1996-1997 504 550 223 773 102 62 80 233 64
1998 535 550 223 464 132 62 80 233 64
1999 681 722 452 378 37 77 99 526 263
2000 584 450 330 615 355 147 178 75 299
2001 240 770 500 390 435 120 158 160 335
2002 365 422 540 370 550 50 0 165 120
2003 320 165 180 395 310 30 45 189 515
2004 427 236 110 525 142 43 60 160 288
all 3656 3865 2558 3910 2063 591 700 1741 1948
Table 1. The amount of students participating in the demonstrations in the 1996 - 2004
period

and the areas of physics considered in these demonstrations

other

Termodynamics

Waves

Elecrostatics

Mechanics

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000

Number of students

Fig.1: The amount of students participating in the demonstrations in the 1996 - 2004 period
regarding the areas of physics considered in the demonstrations

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Table 2 and Fig.2 present the number of demonstrations carried out in the 1996 - 2004 period
and point out the areas of physics considered in these demonstrations.

Hydrostatics,
Electromagnet Electrostatic hydrodynamic Thermodyna Astronom number
year Mechanics ism s Optics Waves s mics y other in year
1996-
1997 16 11 8 13 5 4 2 2 3 64
1998 12 11 2 7 2 1 4 1 1 41
1999 12 17 8 8 1 2 2 10 4 64
2000 10 8 5 10 7 3 3 2 7 55
2001 5 13 8 7 7 3 4 4 7 58
2002 7 8 9 8 8 1 0 5 3 49
2003 5 4 3 7 5 1 1 6 11 43
2004 7 4 3 9 3 1 1 4 6 38
all 74 76 46 69 38 16 17 34 42 412

Table 2. The number of demonstrations carried out in the 1996 - 2004 period regarding the
areas of physics considered in these demonstrations.

other

Astronomy

Termodynamics

Hydrostatics, hydrodynamics

Waves

Optics

Elecrostatics

Electromagnetism

Mechanics

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Number of demostrations

Fig.2: The number of demonstrations carried out in the 1996 – 2004 period regarding
the areas of physics considered in these demonstrations.

In 1999 the system of education in Poland was changed. Until then, there had been two
stages of the system of education: 1. basic school (eight years), and 2. middle school (four
years) or middle technical school (five years). After the reform of education in September
1999, there have been three stages of the system of education: 1. basic school (six years), 2.
gymnasium (three years) and 3. middle school-lyceum (three years). The subject of physics
in basic school has no longer existed since then. In classes 4 – 6 there is a subject called
“nature” and it consists of 4 elements: physics, chemistry, biology and geography.
Fig-s 3-5 present the number of pupils and students from basic schools, gymnasiums and
lyceums participating in the demonstrations carried out after the reform, from 1999 to the end
of 2004 regarding the areas of physics in these demonstrations.

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 nature

property of substance

other

Astronomy

Termodynamics

Hydrostatics, hydrodynamics

Waves

Optics

Elecrostatics

Electromagnetism

Mechanics

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

Number of pupils

Fig.3: The number of pupils of basic schools participating in the demonstrations since 1999
to the end of 2004, regarding the areas of physics in these demonstrations.

other

Astronomy

Termodynamics

Hydrostatics, hydrodynamics

Waves

Optics

Elecrostatics

Electromagnetism

Mechanics

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

Number of students

Fig.4: The number of gymnasium students participating in the demonstrations since 1999 to
the end of 2004, regarding the areas of physics in these demonstrations.

other

Astronomy

Termodynamics

Hydrostatics, hydrodynamics

Waves

Optics

Elecrostatics

Electromagnetism

Mechanics

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

Number of students

Fig.5: The number of lyceum students participating in the demonstrations since 1999 to the
end of 2004, regarding the areas of physics in these demonstrations.

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The authors carried out some research on information transmission during the shows [1].
It appeared that showing and explaining the experiments is not enough, because students are
not always able to notice some important phenomena. That is why it is necessary to inform
them before a demonstration, what they should pay attention to.
The research also revealed that students sometimes have problems with describing the
observed phenomena. They very often bend their relations to their expectations regardless of
the real run of the phenomenon. It mostly happened while presenting seemingly paradoxical
phenomena denying students’ common knowledge, i.e.: hydrodynamics experiments.

References
[1] Głowacki M, Kocik B 2000 Przekaz informacji podczas pokazów doświadczeń fizycznych
organizowanych dla uczniów szkół podstawowych i ponadpodstawowych Prace Naukowe WSP w
Częstochowie Fizyka III Wydawnictwo WSP Częstochowa 91–104.

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Interdisciplinary Days: Learning by Emotions

Loredana Sabaz

Ginnasio Gian Rinaldo Carli, Koper-Capodistria, Slovenia

Nature offers many topics which can be treated in an informal and interdisciplinary way
during a school day. The organization, objectives, results and the evaluation of two
interdisciplinary days are presented: The Surprise Egg and We Need a Flower…

Introduction

A typical, classical exercise of physics teaching in secondary schools is the following:

Determine the density of a liquid if the buoyant force on a body is 2 N and the volume of
the displaced liquid is 200 mm3.
For almost 70% of the students this problem is:
- difficult
- not attractive
- insignificant
- they have no idea how to solve it.
One example of a “solution” is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1: Answer of a student to the problem stated in the text.

By sure, a task of this kind excludes motivation for physics. Formal teaching, and the
problem is a typical example of it, has only success:
• If students have already a spectrum of everyday experiences which permit them to
elaborate and to construct abstract concepts.
• If students have already developed a good level of logical-abstract thinking.

The question is how much a teacher can or must contribute to this process. To my opinion,
the role of the teacher is very important, but the guidance should be done with care
considering the ability and interest of the students. Informal teaching can be one way to this
goal.

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Starting from the students

A teacher can observe during a physics lesson, introducing an example from the everyday
life, that some students are convinced they know the situation very well, others explain the
same situation in a very different way, a third group is in doubt and part of the students have
no idea, but they become curious.
One example with regard to buoyancy: the teacher asks “In your opinion, which egg sinks in
the water: a fresh one, a hard-boiled egg or a one-week-old egg?”. One part of the students
are very convinced that only the fresh egg sinks in the water, another part claims, also
convinced, that all eggs float in the water.
Another example could be the interpretation how water from the earth reaches the flower in a
plant: part of the students explain that the flowers absorb the water from the earth; another
part explain that water goes to the flower via tin tubes.
It is very important for a teacher to know the opinions, ideas, the conceptions of the students.
He/she must construct the own teaching based on this knowledge. Then he/she will be able to
develop the knowledge and ability of the students.
The mental development in the adolescent phase is mainly influenced by three factors!):
1. An adolescent is critic, provocative: he/she wants to construct, to inquire, to communicate,
2. An adolescent is stimulated in a positive or negative way by groups,
3. An adolescent acquires everyday experiences in a total way, he/she wants to know and to
discuss about all aspects of a situation.

Interdisciplinary days

Nature offers many topics which can be treated in an interdisciplinary way, also during a
single school day. Stimulated by the discussion about eggs and buoyancy during a physics
lesson I decided two years ago to organize an interdisciplinary day dedicated to eggs with the
title “The Surprise Egg”. I proposed eight workshops to 40 students from 14 to 17 years old
and to 8 teachers:
• egg on internet
• cooking with eggs
• the egg in the bottle (chemistry)
• the shape of the egg (mathematics)
• which egg sinks? (physics)
• egg in the European traditions
• painting with eggs
• inside the egg (biology)
The students decided to participate in the workshop following their own interest. In groups of
4-5 students, distributed in different corners in the school, students discussed, proposed and
made activities, experiments, pictures, internet researches, cooked, videotaped, interviewed,
composed songs….all coordinated by the teachers. At the end of the school day, each group
presented the results of their work to the others. Materials, collected and selected, have been
published.
At the request of my students and also of some parents I repeated this experience last year
dedicating it to flowers. We entitled the day “We Need a Flower…” and students worked
again in eight different workshops:
• flower on the internet
• cooking with flowers,
• flowers are fractals (mathematics)
• capillarity and osmosis (physics)

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• colors of flowers (chemistry)
• flowers in poetry and music
• flowers as symbols (art)
• flowers and health (biology)

Impressions of the interdisciplinary days

Which egg sinks?

The discussion in the group of students started revisiting Archimedes’ law. Students opened
a fresh egg, a one-week old egg and a hard-boiled egg. The analysis convinced them that an
egg is a non-homogeneous body. They delegated to the internet-group to find the theoretical
explanation of buoyant force on non-homogeneous bodies2).
They tried to construct a model of eggs floating in water (Fig. 2, 3, 4).

Fig. 2: A fresh egg, a one-week-old egg and a hard-boiled egg in water

Fig. 3: A fresh egg, a one-week-old egg and a hard-boiled egg in a solution of water and
sugar

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 Fig. 4: Student determined the average density of a fresh egg.

The egg in the bottle

A hard-boiled egg without shell can slip into a bottle when one takes away the air in the
bottle with a water pump. This was the central event of the day, all students circulated in the
chemistry laboratory observing and discussing how and when the event will happen.

Chemistry of an egg shell

Another concrete result was to develop a method for measuring the quantity of CaCO3 in the
egg shell. At the end the group of students, coordinated by chemistry teacher, determined that
in the shell of an egg the mass of CaCO3 is 1,35 g which represents 75% of the whole mass
of the shell.

Flowers are fractals

The math teacher proposed to a group of five students to open spring flowers: tulips, snow-
drops, violets, narcissus, etc. They should reproduce them in the same dimensions on a
millimeter paper and find geometrical figures. One of the students supported the group
researching in the internet how fractals can help for understanding the flowers structure. For
example, opening the tulip they found a succession of rotated equilateral triangles with sides
in a ratio of 10:4:1 ( Fig. 5)

Fig. 5: Geometrical objects in a tulip

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Capillarity and osmosis

The physics and biology teachers proposed to a group of students to investigate and
reproduce the model of flower stalks for explaining in which way the water reaches the
leaves of plants starting from roots. The students cut longitudinally stalks observing inside
capillaries. In a glass with blue-colored water they put stalks and tubes with different
diameters (Fig. 6). In an easy way they concluded that h~1/r where h is the height of water
and r is the radius of the capillary / tube. In the flower stalk the colored water reached half
the length of the stalk within a few minutes ( Fig. 7)

Fig. 6: Experiments with tubes of different diameters.

Fig. 7: Colored water ascending a flower stalk.

An evaluation of the experiences

Proposing the program of these days we had in mind two aims:

1. with guided experiences to try to give the most complete explanation to well-known
objects (egg, flower). The students should “feel” by the quantitative analysis how
necessary and important scientific theories and scientific methods are.
2. give to students the possibility for investigation, following their own interest,
collaborating in a dynamical, informal way with other students and with teachers.
Students responded very enthusiastically to these experiences. Collecting their impressions
two aspects were underlined:
- social aspects, to be together with other students in a close, different way, and

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- all things they have learned in such an active and complete way they will never forget.

We agreed with the colleagues that the two days showed:

• Learning by “discovering” is a learning for life
• Each student constructs his own way of learning because she/he decides what to do and
how to interact with teachers and with other students
• A mixed group with students of different ages work better
• Students learn and are active when the level of socialization is very high

During the two days students were very curious and interactive. This kind of learning is not a
usual one; this is informal learning where not only brain and logic are active but also and in
first place emotions created by the surprise of discoveries.
I have had many occasions later to verify that the students’ experiences made during the two
interdisciplinary days remained and were used in different situations. For example, a month
ago I asked one of the students who had investigated about the egg and buoyancy in which
way it is possible to measure the volume of a coil. Without hesitation he said: ”Putting it in
the water and measuring the difference of volume it produces”. Then he continued with a
smile “ Egg! I will never forget!” The student did not only keep in mind the example, he had
made some abstraction and could apply it to a different situation.

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Dr. Leopold Mathelitsch from the Institute of Physics, University of Graz for
his help and useful suggestions he gave to me during the elaboration of this article.

References
[1] G.Petter, L’adolescente impara a ragionare e a decidere, Giunti Gruppo Editoriale Firenze, 2005
[2] Didactical material: CD Rom “ Why do boats float?” developed inside the Comenius 2.1 in-
service training project “ Introducing new methods of teaching physics on the European level”
,2000-2003

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Physics Communication through Science Festival- From Bottom to the Top of
the Educational Piramide

R. Jurdana-Šepic, B. Milotić, M. Žuvic-Butorac

Physics Department, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Rijeka, Croatia

jurdana@ffri.hr

Introduction

The general aim of the Science Festival is to increase public awareness regarding science, to
present its results in a popular and appealing way, to connect the public, the youth, science
and the media, or stated shortly, to communicate science. Communicating science is highly
significant particularly for physics and mathematics, in which a decline in interest has been
observed in recent years.

The Science Festival took place for the first time in Croatia in 2002, at the British Council’s
initiative (www.festivalznanosti.hr). Since then, the Festival activities have been organized
every year in all major Croatian cities (Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek, and Split) usually during the
last week of April.

The organization of the Science Festival has two levels, national and local. National board
provides some general solutions about the programme issues (year’s main topic) and general
logistics (logo design, wallpapers and large exhibitions), while the final programme
definition and organization of all Festival events is responsibility of local organization
boards.

Figure 1: The
organization board with
the Rector and Vice rector
of University of Reject,
Ministry of science and
education representative,
Mayor and County Mayor
at the opening of 2005
Science Festival in Rijeka.

149
The Science Festival is supported and sponsored nationally by the Ministry of Science,
Education and Sport of the Republic of Croatia, while our local sponsors were the City of
Rijeka, the County of Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Hypo-Alpe-Adria Bank.

The organization of Science Festival in Rijeka has some particularities. Apart from the
University of Rijeka, other societies such as the Golden Section (whose mission is the
promotion of teaching and enhancing the popularity of natural sciences and mathematics)
and the Society of Mathematicians and Physicists of Rijeka, participate in the organisation.
Therefore, although the Festival Programme usually features numerous subject matters,
physics and mathematics are always held in high regard, especially concerning educational
issues of the subjects. The organization board of Rijeka Science Festival consists of eight
enthusiasts (women) who are all professionally involved in the field of education, but with
the notion that, regarding their professional vocation, they do not only belong to the field of
natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy) and mathematics, but also to the
field of humanities (pedagogy, psychology).

Communicating science through Science festival

This year 2005. the Science Festival in Rijeka offered an abundance of subject matters; some
drew attention just by their title in the media announcement, some by the unconventional
realization and some simply impressed at the location of the event. Here are just some of the
examples: scientific performances (Gorazd Planinšič and Luka Vidic: Physics Nocturno,
Petar Pervan: Foam – from soap bubbles to quantum gravity, Franka Miriam Buckler:
Topology – Maths with Bands, Ropes and Ties), acting performances (Mathematics, the
Birth – or How I Was Brought into This World), lectures as multimedia spectacles, for which
the special equipment was made at the theatre (S. Ostojić: Do You Need Genetic Counselling
Too?), rarely shown performances which demand special preparation, such as Cabaret with a
scientific topic, the quiz show with astronomy topics, based on ‘Who wants to be a
Millionaire?’, a workshop of cultural confrontation with a scientific theme, in which the
public actively participated and influenced its course.

Figure 2: A scene from the Physics

Nocturno, performance by Gorazd
Planinšič and Luka Vidic.

Furthermore, the lectures that treated intriguing topics, received exceptional attendance:
SETI - Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (K. Korlević), Artificial Life & Artificial
Intelligence (Z. Car), Technologies of Modern Communications (N. Stojković), as well as
the themes related to the Day of Planet Earth: North-Eastern Wind (bura) and Caribbean
Hurricane (D. Belušić), Tsunami (M. Herak, M. Orlić) and Climate Change (V. Vujnović).

150
Additional particularities of Rijeka’s Festival were the workshops for the youngest ones,
which were held during the festival week in numerous schools around Rijeka. Workshops
were held by scientists and/or university lecturers in collaboration with students of
educational courses. Some of the workshop titles were: Maths – Path to Victory, Surface
Tension, Tale about the Air, How Do We See Objects?, Centre of Mass and Equilibrium,
Golden Section, Experimental Determination of the Ludolf Number, Models of Molecules,
and so on. One of the most attractive events for pupils was an organised sailboat trip and
fishing with a net, within which biology, chemistry and ecology workshops were held.

During the Festival Week, four Café Scientifiques were held, the gatherings of scientists and
public in a relaxed café atmosphere, in which immediate communication regarding scientific
topics was encouraged. The open discussions intended for scientists of the University of
Rijeka regarding the prospects of the development of Croatian science and education, while
considering the process of Croatia entering the EU, were also visited extensively.

Apart from exceptional attendance, which is a qualitative indicator of the festival’s success,
the most significant qualitative outcomes of the event are considered to be the encouraged
enthusiasm of the youth, the students and the future teachers, who were actively involved in
the Festival’s organisation, who were carried away by the enthusiasm of their teachers – the
organisers, and the magnificent positive atmosphere of the event. Their engagement is the
guarantee of holding future Science Festivals in Rijeka.

Communicating Physics with youngest

A special value to the physics communication is brought about by organizing physics

workshops for school pupils of all age groups, including pre-physics teaching children.

Workshops on simple experiments in physics use the constructivist approach, through which
the experimental methodology is applied for building concepts and models that make linkage
between physical quantities and the natural phenomena.

Workshops were held on six themes with titles A tale about the air, A tale about the
equilibrium, How do we see things?, Surface tension, The flow of fluids and Sink or swim?.
Workshops use a serial of simple experiments with everyday materials and objects,
upcoming in a line of growing complexity, but with a constant demand that every experiment
should be repeatable at home. The first presented experiments usually deal with
preconceptions and misconceptions that are frequent for the subject, and are followed by
serial of experiments where the new, correctly formed concepts can be employed to shape the
models of presented phenomena. The learning environment is pupil centred, collaborative
and interactive – participants are just pushed to observe and answer simple questions (while
having a possibility to repeat the experiment themselves during the workshop), which help
them to form a logical concept and build a model that relate simple phenomena together.

The workshops are run by two moderators, one being a scientist and/or university teacher and
the other a student, a future physics teacher that participated in preparation of the workshop.
Such a team work serves a good purpose of active engagement for the university teacher and
the student in the classroom work with children, providing a valuable and new experience for
all parties in the process of education.

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 Figure 3: Workshops with school pupils.

The success with workshops (schools do constantly demand the workshops to be held in
schools regularly, not only within the Science Festival week) encouraged the authors to
prepare and transform the material to form virtual interactive web workshops that would be
uploaded to e-school of physics managed by Croatian Physical Society (http://e-skola.hfd.hr).

Science Festival in Rijeka – an event that evolves into brand

The 2004. Festival in Rijeka had already accomplished an extraordinary public interest,
especially in the youth. This year, 2005., the number of visitors of the Festival Week
increased by 45% in comparison to last year’s attendance, and exceeded the number of 5,000
visitors, which we believe is an extraordinary success for the area of some 250 000
inhabitants. Hence, our choice of the biggest city hall (with 400 seats) was justified for the
central events. The most laconic way to express this year’s guiding concept of the Festival
would be ‘to impress’, which has also contributed to the good marketing of the event.
Through over sixty Festival’s subject matters, aiming at communication, gatherings, lectures,
performances, shows, workshops and so on, to be an occasion, an impression, a delight, an
unforgettable experience, featuring the enthusiasm and laughter of the participants.

Figure 4: The auditorium of the Science Festival Hall was crowded with visitors.

152
This event also carried an educational value, even though this value was not put in the
limelight this year, nor was it set as a priority, as it was written by Plutarch a long time ago:
‘… the human mind is not a container which should be filled yet a fire that should be lit.’

We wished to make the Science Festival 2005 in Rijeka an event that everybody would talk
about and think we have succeeded. Already now, after just 3 occasions of Science Festival
events, people expect next Science Festival and do ask about next year’s happenings.

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"Science Is Not My Thing". Visitors’ Attitudes towards Learning in An Italian
Science Centre

Monia Cardella1, Paola Rodari2

1
freelance science communicator, Osimo, Italy
2
ICS, SISSA - International School for Advanced Studies , Trieste, Italy
paola@ulisse.sissa.it

The mission of hands-on science centres is to create a friendly, fun experimental setting
where all kinds of visitors will feel encouraged to explore the world and where they can find
the instruments to do so.
Part of a relatively recent but increasingly rich and complex tradition of studies on the
subject, our inquiry sets out to contribute to answering the question if there really is a re-
awakening of the spirit of scientific exploration in hands-on museums and if so, do all
visitors experience it.
The research project we are about to describe began as a degree thesis in a Masters in
Science Communication of Trieste (student Monia Cardella, supervisor Paola Rodari), and
therefore has the limits of a degree thesis: tackling such a complex theme and conducting
more in-depth studies in the field would have required a much longer time-scale and greater
resources. We believe, however, that both the method used and the results, although
preliminary, are sufficiently significant to be of interest.

The theoretical context

The nature and modes of learning in an informal setting is one of the most keenly debated
themes in museum studies, since research on museum visitors began in the 1940s. Over the
decades, thinking on the educational impact of museums has tended to converge on a number
of almost unanimously shared acquired notions.
The visitor's experience in a museum can only tangentially be described as the passing on of
notions from the exhibition curator to the visitor. To a large extent the outcome of a museum
visit is an interweaving of the visitor’s interests, beliefs and expectations (psychological
context) with those sharing the experience and their reference community (social context)
and, lastly, with the objects and texts in the exhibition (physical context).1,2,3 This means
there are many variable factors combining to shape the museum experience in visitors:
demographic features (gender, age, social and educational background), but also specific
motivations for visiting, and the group with which the visit is shared.4,5 In fact current studies
focus on the family, as the context in which learning takes place, especially through
conversations between members of the group.6
Learning effects on a visitor, moreover, do not have a precise time frame. It is not simply a
question of learning here and now, but a cognitive experience which is part of the temporal
flow of innumerable other experiences taking place during the course of a lifetime, creating
reinforcements, conflicts or adjustments.7,8
Given that, science centres are places where free individual learning is especially
encouraged, and indeed where it should be stimulated even in those who have lost the habit
(i.e. adults), we thought it was particularly important to investigate what really happens when
visitors interact with exhibits in a hands-on exhibition. Are all visitors, albeit in different
ways, intrigued by the exhibits? Do they really experience the science centre settings as

154
places in which they can exercise their skills at reasoning in scientific terms? And what do
they take away from each individual exhibit?
We chose to observe individual visitors and not groups, so as to focus attention on any
possible learning at a given exhibit, and especially on the variations that could be observed in
visitors with different characteristics at exhibits with different characteristics.
We thus set ourselves the following objectives: 1) try out a simple method, within the means
of even small museums, to evaluate the degrees of learning in visitors in relation to a specific
exhibition; 2) compare what happens with exhibits with different communicative features; 3)
highlight how visitors' attitudes to learning vary according to factors such as age and gender.

Research methods

Officially opened on 15 May 2004 at Saltara (Province of Pesaro and Urbino), the Museo del
Balì can claim to be a science centre to all effects and purposes. It is a state of the art
interactive science museum inspired by the hands-on philosophy, designed for visitors of all
ages and educational backgrounds. In addition to a planetarium, an astronomical observatory
for teaching purposes, a conference area and two school workshops, the museum has a
permanent interactive exhibition with thirty-five exhibits.
We deliberately chose two very different exhibits for our research: "Colour your shadow",
consisting of a screen on which light is projected from three different coloured spotlights,
producing areas of shadow and light with different colours; and "Falling upwards",
consisting of two inclined diverging metal rods on which is placed a double-cone roller. The
angle of opening of the rods is such that when the roller is let go, it "rises" instead of
"falling" (this is an optical effect, in fact the roller descends, since its centre of gravity is
lowered).
The first exhibit is what we could generally be described as exploratory, i.e. it alludes to
various phenomena related to the properties of light and is very theatrical. There is no single
action to be performed or a pre-established sequence, and the visitors can simply "mess
about" for as long as and how they like. It is also not immediately obvious what visitors
should understand: they can experiment on how to change the colour in the shadow and
change the spotlights, but also how its forms change according to distance and inclination of
the object casting the shadow, etc.
The mechanical exhibit, on the other hand, allows the user to focus on a single phenomenon,
the apparently anomalous motion of a body. In this case understanding the exhibit has a
much narrower sense: it means observing the apparently unnatural behaviour of the double
cone and understanding that in fact there is nothing unnatural at all, since its behaviour can
be explained by well-known laws of physics.
We considered a small sample: a total of 52 people – 27 at the optics exhibit and 25 on the
mechanics exhibit. We chose visitors who did not interact with a demonstrator. The
demonstrator is obviously an integral part of museum communications, and therefore of the
visitor's learning experience. However, according to the hands-on museum philosophy, even
interacting alone with the exhibit should produce a significant experience. Hence the decision
to consider interactions taking place independently.
To try out the method under the most general conditions possible, there was no selection of
specific age groups. We did not question pre-school children, however, so that we could have
a sample of users who, if they so wished, could read the texts besides the exhibits.
In the first research stage, in addition to analysing the exhibits and the material available for
visitors, we also interviewed four demonstrators. The demonstrators expressed their
evaluation of visitors' behaviours, especially as regards the two exhibits being considered.
In the second stage the behaviour of visitors interacting with the exhibits was observed in an
unobtrusive way. In addition to the characteristics of the various subjects (gender, age group)

155
who stopped at the exhibit for over a minute, we noted if they had understood the correct
functioning and had read the accompanying text.
Then, after the visitors had had finished interacting with the exhibit, we stopped them and
interviewed them briefly.
Lastly their statements were classified according to a scale of levels of comprehension.
Although fully aware that what a visitor is willing to say is not an absolute measure of his or
her learning (many may not be able to explain in words a very important interior experience,
or might simply not wish to speak to the interviewer), we assumed that: 1. The interviewer's
statements still allow us to find elements revealing their degree of understanding, if we take
into account the context of the interview and if we record the non-verbal behaviour; 2. Even
in the cases when people did not wish to speak, the reasons for their refusal were considered
and turned out to be extremely revealing about the attitude of some given types of visitors to
the museum and/or science.
We established five levels of comprehension, ordered from a minimum (1) to a maximum
(5), corresponding to five different types of discourse:9
1. Refusal to speak of the experience (e.g. "Ask him, because I have never understood
this kind of stuff", woman 60 years old);
2. Appreciation and willingness to pass judgement but only in terms of whether the
visitor liked the exhibit or not (e.g. "It's really nice, because you can do all sorts of
things", girl 7 years old);
3. Description of how the exhibit works (e.g. "You have to press the button and see
what happens", girl 12 years old);
4. Looking for analogies with other events (e.g. "it shows lots of colours, a bit like the
colours in the rainbow", boy 10 years old);
5. Explanation of the phenomenon (e.g. "It's obvious, it shows you the sum of the three
primary colours", woman 70 years old).
Lastly, the results of the visitor inquiry were compared with the evaluations made by the
demonstrators.

Results - quantitative aspects

Of the 52 visitors observed, 27 (5 females and 12 males) interacted with the exhibit entitled
"Colour your shadow", and 25 (8 females and 12 males) with the "Falling upwards" exhibit10.
They were chosen at random during a few days' observation in the museum (21st November,
5th December and 12th December 2004). The age distribution confirmed what the
demonstrators had already told us: the visitors show fairly clear specific preferences for
exhibits. Children prefer the "Colour your shadow" exhibit, which adults tend to pass by,
whereas adults, especially men, prefer the mechanics exhibit.
The different power of attraction exercised by the two exhibits may be interpreted in the light
of their different nature. "Colour your shadow" is a explorative-type exhibit and not
surprisingly children, who are more willing to let themselves go and grasp the playful
dimension of exploration, are the main users. On the other hand "Falling upwards" is a single
theme one-off exhibit, mainly appreciated by adults, more inclined to focus on a single
problem and find solutions to precise questions.
Of the 52 visitors observed, 43 visibly understood how the exhibit worked and they used it
correctly. How far and how much they understood, or rather how much they got in terms of
satisfaction, stimuli and ideas is summarised in Table 1. Some individuals obviously
expressed several comments classifiable in different categories, and therefore they were
counted more than once in the Table.

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As we see, the majority of visitors not only expressed appreciation, but also described the
exhibit and attempted an explanation (we shall discuss the ten who refused to comment
below).
Interestingly, analogies are less frequent than explanations (10 and 38, respectively) and all
those who expressed an analogy also attempted to give an explanation. Whereas we expected
that resorting to analogies with familiar phenomena or objects would be simpler than
attempting to supply a causal explanation of the phenomenon observed, we noted that only
people able to produce an explanation then went on to suggest examples or analogies.
Providing analogies, therefore, would seem to indicate more complex thinking than an
explanation alone: i.e., first I explain what happens, and then I think of something similar.
After some initial interviews, we then re-ordered the provisional hierarchy of the various
levels and gave it the following definitive form:

• comprehension 0: refusal to comment

• comprehension 1: appreciation and judgement
• comprehension 2: description of how the exhibit works
• comprehension 3: explanation of the phenomenon
• comprehension 4: analogies with another phenomenon

In Table 2 we classified the visitors' answers according to this second scale: thus each visitor
only appears once, namely at the highest level reached with his or her statements.
It is difficult to classify these explanations in terms of right or wrong, and perhaps not even
very correct to do so. The typical philosophy of the hands-on museum considers personal
cognitive paths to differ greatly and they must be respected. We may, however, also attempt
to interpret the interviewees' answers in terms of accuracy.
There were very few right and complete answers – as they might be considered in a school
context: 5 out of 27 interviewees for the optics exhibits and 6 out of 25 for the mechanics
exhibit. As far as the optics exhibit is concerned, 21 visitors out of 27 were willing to explain
the exhibit: 5 of them did so correctly; 4 wrongly, and 12 incompletely and/or confusedly.
For the mechanics exhibit: 17 out of 25 were willing to explain; 6 did so correctly; 7
wrongly; and 4 incompletely and/or confusedly.
The explanations provided by visitors to the optics exhibit were thus usually not complete, in
the sense that they did not speak at the same time about the combination of colours and the
formation of the shadows but referred to one or the other phenomenon. But they were rarely
totally inaccurate. For "Falling upwards", on the other hand, the answer was usually either
wholly accurate or wrong. When faced with this apparent paradox, people tended to overtly
admit they did not know why what is happening happens: of the 11 people who did not
supply a correct interpretation of the phenomenon, 5 said they could not find an answer or
were very uncertain about their suggested explanations.
With the "Colour your shadow" exhibit, on the other hand, visitors did not feel uncertain,
despite the fact the number of correct answers was much fewer than for the mechanics
paradox and there were plenty of incomplete answers (12 out of 16 were incorrect). The
optical phenomenon thus probably appears more familiar than "Falling upwards" and less of
a surprise, even though in fact it alludes to not particularly well-known physical laws.
This difference between the two exhibits was re-confirmed by the kind of value judgement
made: the appreciation of the aesthetic aspect and the fact it was fun ("nice", "cool",
"exciting", "fun") prevailed when speaking about "Colour your shadow", which is apparently
interpreted as being pleasing but familiar, whereas in "Falling upwards", the accent is shifted
to the strangeness and unusual nature of the phenomenon ("strange", "unusual", "not
normal", "must be rigged").

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Results – the qualitative aspects

So far we have noted that the vast majority of visitors enjoy interacting with the exhibits and
that the majority feel able to explain and describe them more or less correctly. It also
emerged that the different exhibits attract different kinds of people and present different
problems of understanding.
Now we should like to discuss what in medical research language would be called "non-
responders", i.e. those who literally did not respond to our questions.
Ten people in our sample of 52 declared they had nothing to say about the exhibit just
experienced. The non-responders for the optics exhibits were visitors who were not attracted
to the exhibit and therefore did not even attempt to interact and understand the phenomenon
observed. The non-responders in the mechanics exhibit, on the other hand, included two
people who interacted at length and used the exhibit correctly, but despite this failed to
understand it.
Significantly, all the non-responders were adults.
This not unexpected result confirms a situation well known to those who work in the sector:
as we grow up, we lose the curiosity and intellectual willingness typical of children.
According to the demonstrators:
“Usually the elderly – at least those that I have met – listen and if they have any
doubts they keep them to themselves. I've often seen this, you can see if people
don't understand from their faces, even young people. It's the children who ask more
questions. They're not afraid to stick their necks out, or to say something even about
many of the other exhibits. Before setting the exhibit in motion we ask them: What
do you think will happen? For example, when I let the balls go… the children rush
in to say that they will start and arrive together. Their parents, the adults, are little
less inclined to do so – they are more passive. I have often asked the same question
"What do you think will happen?" and they reply: "You will have to tell me"…
Children don't have this inhibitory brake. They are more – how can we put it? – they
dive in”.
(Michelangelo)
Apart from a couple of cases of people who were intrigued by the museum but then did not
wish to be interviewed, all the other non-responders tended to stress not that they did not
want to speak but that they could not. They blamed this inability on various factors: they had
not yet had time to ask or listen to the demonstrator; they did not have an adequate training in
science or had never understood anything about it; or they were not at the museum for
themselves but simply to accompany children, friends or a relative who was particularly
passionate or knowledgeable. Most of the non-responders were women (above fifty years
old) who delegated the task of understanding to others (husband, friend, a demonstrator).
Interestingly, mothers accompanying children are viceversa among the visitors who make the
biggest effort: they read the texts out loud, encourage their children and follow their
progress, while they, too, have fun, almost as if the fact of having to help their children learn
justifies the fact they are interested and having fun.
The overall gathered comments seem to reveal a conviction that the science centre, precisely
because it features science, is a place mainly suited to children or adults endowed with
special skills or interests.
The definition given by the woman mentioned above is emblematic: the museum contains
"intelligent games". The hands-on exhibits mean you have to be "on your toes" and you are
on your toes when you are still young (an elderly man commented "these things are meant
for young people"), or if you are intelligent and have a more than average interest in
scientific subjects (as one grandfather proudly claimed: "I've always been a rather inventive

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type"). Therefore either you are children (and therefore the joy in experimenting will
overcome any fear of outside judgements) or you are special (and feel you can speak because
you know the facts). Otherwise it is better to keep away from anything that has to do with
science – like those who admit that the museum "is not their thing". People are afraid of
making a fool of themselves, being caught out messing about with something they are not up
to.
Most visitors, although declaring they had fun and recognising the educational value of the
museum, feel far removed from science and in a certain sense unable to come nearer.10

Conclusions

At the beginning of this inquiry we had three objectives: 1) test a simple method within the
means of even small museum structures to evaluate visitors’ degrees of appreciation and
learning; 2) compare what happens with exhibits with different communication features; 3)
highlight how visitors' attitudes towards learning science vary according to factors such as
age and gender.

Despite a limited number of observations and the brevity of the interviews, we were able to
bring to light interesting issues, useful both for the general debate on learning in an informal
context and the evaluation of the specific context of the museum observed. If systematically
conducted by museum demonstrators, short enquiries on various exhibits would enable them
to deepen their intuitions as natural observers of visitors, suggest possible improvements to
the exhibits, and be more aware of comprehension problems when interacting with visitors.

Our research revealed considerable communications differences in the two exhibits chosen.
Their attractiveness, capacity to stimulate scientific thinking and give satisfaction vary
considerably from visitor to visitor. We believe it would be very interesting to conduct more
in-depth research aimed at cataloguing exhibits according to their communication
characteristics in terms of the cognitive paths they encourage in visitors. This research could
cast new light on an aspect of the more general problem of learning in an interactive
exhibition. It must be said that this kind of research is almost non-existent in the literature
and very few experts have spoken out in its favour.11

As for visitors' attitudes, we know that science centres have to face deeply entrenched
cultural resistance. The prejudice that interactive museums are basically for children and the
self-conviction that adults are not up to science, which can only be approached by scientists
or people with special skills (those who have been bitten by the knowledge "bug") mean that
most adult visitors do not make full use of interactive exhibitions and their opportunities for
fun and cultural development.

In this case, too, if the demonstrators and all the museum staff were more aware of
differences in visitors, of how some categories of visitors are more refractory (e.g. woman of
a certain age), then they could devise specific ways of intervening or simply take more care
over encouraging these kinds of visitors.

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Tables

Colour your shadow Falling upwards

(27 people) (25 people)
Refusal 5 5
Appreciation 22 20
Description 22 19
Analogy 6 4
Explanation 21 17

Table 1. Recurrences of the five levels of indicators in the comments made by the visitors
questioned

Colour your shadow Falling upwards

(27 people) (25 people)
Comprehension 0 – 5 5
Refusal
Comprehension 1 - 0 1
Appreciation
Comprehension 2 - 1 2
Description
Comprehension 3 - 15 13
Explanation
Comprehension 4 - 6 4
Analysis

Table 2. Classification of visitors according to maximum level of comprehension shown.

References
[1] J. H. Falk and D. Lynn, The Museum Experience. Whalesback, Washington 1992
[2] G. E. Hein, Learning in the Museum, Routledge, London 1998
[3] E. Hooper-Greenhill (ed), The educational role of the Museum, Routledge, London 1994
[4] J. H. Falk, T. Moussouri and D. Coulson, The Effect of Visitor’s Agenda on Museum learning,
Curator 1998, 41(2), 107-120
[5] T. Moussouri, "Negotiated Agendas: Families in Science and Technology Museums",
International Journal of Technology Management 2003, 25(5), 477-489
[6] G. Leinhardt, K. Crowley and K. Knutson, Learning Conversation in Museum. Mahwah, NJ,
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000
[7] S. MacDonald, "Cultural imaging among museum visitors: a case study", Museum Management
and Curatorship 1992, 11(4):401-9
[8] G. Dirbin (ed), Developing museum exhibitions for lifelong learning, GEM – Group for Education
in Museums, Norwich (UK) 1996
[9] In many ways this categorisation is like the system used in research by Borun et al, which we only
read after having completed our inquiry: M. Borun, M. Chambers and A. Cleghorn, "Families are
learning in science museums", Curator 39 (2) June 1996
[10] For greater detail on this research, see M. Cardella, "Apprendere con gli exhibit hands-on: un case
study". Degree thesis for a Masters in Science Communication, Trieste, SISSA 2005
[11] Daniel Spock, "Is it interactive yet?" Curator 47 (4) October 2004

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An Example of a Synergistic Connection between Formal and Informal
Education

Max Bazovsky

SCHOLA LUDUS, FMFI, Commenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia

This paper describes a synergistic alteration of formal and informal science education based
on teaching and learning methods that the author has developed in Schola Ludus, in a
sequence of Schola Ludus seminars and some visits to Bratislava high schools. The
preliminary finding is that the students and teachers “love” it. It is based on alternating
formal and informal phases in a synergistic and coordinated way so that the students are
“continuously” motivated and re-motivated in the various phases of the lesson plan. The
teacher/presenter also uses WEB quest methodology to round out his/her presentation with
interesting facts to stimulate and encourage the students into scientific fields and interests.
The example presented here involves a lesson unit that starts out by telling a story, by asking
some simple questions raised by the story. Then, it follows the discussions with a live
simulation of the “physics in the dream” This leads to some interesting kinematics and
modeling problems that the students are very motivated to follow and understand, because
they want to explain a paradox that they perceive through the story. The lesson unit closes
with a project for the students to gather information on the Internet by means of a formally
described and control method, called a WEB QUEST. The method has been recognized in
part by the Science on Stage committee, and by being described and presented this
November 21, 2005, in CERN, Switzerland, (Ref 1).

1. Introduction

Nowadays, it is evident that physics education is being redefined for a variety of important
reasons such as:
a. the economic necessities of the modern competitive world depend on sophisticated
science understanding of the “hi tech” work force
b. the new relevance of science to a knowledge-based society in the new
consciousness about the infosphere society. Such a society is a knowledge based
society where people are supposed to act ethically (responsibly) and deliberately, as
they are informed, by validated insights, into the probable consequences of their
behavioral habits, life phase projects, and their life plans
c. the nter-subject and inter discipline relationships that are leading the way for
discovery and innovation in many fields such as nanotechnology, biomimickry or
biomimetics, biotechnology, etc.
d. the new findings of researchers in formal and informal education ( constructivism,
project based learning, problem based learning, minds on as well as hands on, etc)
e. the new technology tools for teaching and learning ( WEB, multimedia, BBC
science programs, Discovery Channel, scientist and engineer visits to classrooms,
etc)
f. the new possibilities of play and leisure time activities which can, and should be, so
as to help develop scientifically conscious individuals who use their scientific
understanding in daily, economic and in political decision making ,

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2. Motivation

We need innovative methods, to teach more and better physics in less time, to show the
students how to do their own physics research, and to induce them to “love” it. And the
important thing is that much of the traditional physics program teaches things that have
marginal importance, while the really important things relevant to the modern development
of science are regarded as being too inaccessible to high school students. One such very
important piece of physics concerns the Doppler effect and its myriad of uses. As any WEB
quest will soon show, the Doppler effect has an amazingly wide scope of applications in both
pure and applied sciences

3. WEB Quest

WEB quests will become an important part of European science education, as they already
are in parts of the USA and the UK. E.g., The author’s University of Commenius lectures
(Ref 2) were developed very much with a WEB quest methodology. Einstein’s dream and
the jumping Doppler cows (Ref 1) was developed in part by using WEB Quest methodology.
All the lectures given in Bratislava high schools involved some new aspect of the Doppler
effect that the students have just learned by actually doing and seeing a live simulation that
shows the Doppler shifts in both frequency and in the period. Between consecutive events
when the source and the observers are in relative motion.
A WEB QUEST is a teaching- technology tool for gaining more information for enhancing
the effectiveness of one’s own creative efforts. Bernie Dodge (Ref 4,5) This applies to all
web users; students, teachers, lay people, etc.
Definition: A Web Quest is defined as "an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of
the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet",
Back in the early days of the Web (was it really only 1995?), Professor Bernie Dodge began
developing the WebQuest strategy at San Diego State University to help teachers integrate
the power of the Web with student learning.
Why use WEB QUESTS? With the information explosion, education took a new turn. The
information is easy to find, in books, with search engines, etc. The problem is to evaluate it
and to use it. The problem is also to know what sort of information to look for, and to
recognize it when it “comes up. How do we discern the good information from the bad?
What organizations retain their quality control and their reliability, dependability?”. These
are questions that need to be learned by doing projects like WEB quests. A WEB quest is
also desirable to use for innovation and creativity in a synergistic mixture of alternating
formal and informal teaching phases. If the lesson plan content is to be kept current, up to
date, and of timely interest, better check for the latest and greatest results on the WEB, with a
WEB quest. The basic tool of the informal part is to use a WEB quest, to “round out” the
formal part of the teaching with less structured, less academic projects, which give the
students something to do actively, a project of their own to pursue and shape according to
their own interests - - as they have been informed, motivated and stimulated by the formal
part of the lesson/unit plan.
The author has used this Formal/Informal interplay, together with the WEB QUEST results,
with success at a Schola Ludus seminar for teachers (Ref 6,7), both for A. Einstein’s’ Dream
and its generalizations (Ref 8) and for Shadows and Inverse Modeling (Ref 9), as well as
with students.

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4. Description Of A Concrete Example

Schola Ludus has presented A. Einstein’s dream in many presentations to school children,
and developed materials, such as several versions of the board for the token model and such
as a step-by-step teacher’s aids for running the simulation, together with detailed colored
pictures, power point presentations, and explanations of a minimalist effectiveness. Now a
multimedia presentation is being developed for the 2005 Science on Stage festival in CERN,
Switzerland (Ref 1). The CD will include also a collection of articles and solved problems
that develop the author’s plans and initial lectures on Einstein’s Dream and the Doppler
effect into a beautiful theatrical presentation, fit for pedagogically effective presentations,
and now presented in Science on Stage, CERN (Ref 1) A Schola Ludus CD has been
promised and is planned to be developed soon.

4.1 What?:
The synergy and effectiveness of the work stems from a combination of the Doppler effect, a
WEB quest on the Doppler effect, and a very nice “dream” scenario described by J.
Magueijo, (Ref 10). The author has improved the effectiveness of the presented, described
method over the last two years of presentations in Bratislava, by developing a concrete set of
teaching plans, papers, and by involving Schola Ludus in the enhancement thereof. In
published papers, high school classes and informal summer camp Schola Ludus activities,
the author, in interaction with Schola Ludus, has developed a layered education sequence, or
unit, that consists of one to four lessons (depending on how many layers are used). The
“unit” consists of (a) resenting the Einstein’s Dream story, (b) involving the pupils in a live
presentation, (c) leading the various modeling phases, (d) including the identification of the
Doppler effect, for a moving source (e) identifying the Doppler effect for moving observers,
(f) presenting problems to be solved, and (g) assigning a WEB quest project on the Doppler
effect, its applications, its history, etc.

4.2 Significance
The unit, as described above, shows how informal considerations can transit smoothly in a
fun way first into the first stage of formalization, and then to formal quantitative studies, that
directly link to informal descriptions of current scientific interest. Students experience the
fun and thrill of informally navigating over a large area of the physics concept network
connecting the examined concepts (as developed in the unit’s content) and some of their
scientific/technological uses. Most significantly, however, the students experience a vertical
growth that is within their ability and reach, which is at the same time very informative and
which brings them almost to the forefront of science in several alternative areas.

5. An Outline of the Specific Example

5.1 First Layer/Stage The first informal part starts with a science
fiction story (originally called “Einstein’s Dream, Who is Right?) that uses some emerging
technologies as a background scenario and some imagined phenomena to highlight some
interesting concepts and pose questions about the motion of a) some traveling causes, and b)
the transmission of information about the effects of those causes to observers.

5.2 Second Layer/Stage This is followed by the first stage of

formalization in which live student simulations and measurements visually help develop a
common vocabulary, as well as student understanding and explanation of the claims of the
story.

163
NOTE: The measurement attempts are VERY important. They are sloppy,
because of the variability of the people in the live simulation. But this motivates the Token
Step model as first developed by the author (Ref 11) and further unfolded in great beauty by
schola Ludus in Ref 1.

5.3 Third Layer/Stage The middle lessons of the unit help students
develop a formal model of the story phenomena, study the model, relate it to the Doppler
effect, and generalize the model still further (generalized Doppler effect) by deconstructing
the original meanings.

5.4 Concluding Layer/Stage The unit closes with another informal phase that applies
the Doppler models previously highlighted, studied, used and developed, to different
contexts of classical and modern physics that are of current interest to physicists and
educated laymen (parts of low temperature methods, medical technology, and astronomy).
This is done in Ref 1..

The interesting thing about WEB quests is that they can often connect things that are
surprising. E.g., Einstein’s Dream is the name of a book ( Ref 12), a Play, and a musical.
There is even a related opera by a famous American composer Philip Glass ( Ref 13).
Certainly not only budding young physicists can benefit from the WEB quest for Einstein’s
dream. And the author learned that many researchers in cosmology and particle physics call
Einstein’s search for the Theory of Everything, as “Einstein’s dream. Perhaps that was, and
is, Einstein’s biggest dream, and his best dream, that will soon be realized. But whether it
can even be realized is still a controversial point among leading physicists.

NOTE 1: The concluding stage lesson is not really an end to the modeling, Doppler,
generalized Doppler activity. Rather it is the beginning. Toward the end of the concluding
stage, (and after this stage, e.g., as homework, and projects work), the students begin to
navigate the WEB to gain validation and empowerment about using the concepts and hints
that they have learned during the earlier phases of the multilevel lesson plan presented
herein. They participate in a project (as in project based learning, or PBL), that opens up
their creative energies, their creative instincts, and lets them “go their own way” while
navigating the web for relevant things related to their lessons and their recent realizations

NOTE 2 The unit and lessons plans described encourage and liberate students who want to
go farther, who can go farther, and who do go farther, according to their own interests and
abilities. There is no limit to open-ended questions. Once interest is awakened it is almost a
crime to limit it abruptly, because abrupt limiting of newly stimulated interest, eagerness, or
enthusiasm will dull the will power and the force to self-assertion. This in turn will either
remove those unfortunate people from the quest for science by self discovery/
constructivism, or by dulling creative impulses it will tame the “wild visions” and turn even
geniuses into decent, well behaved, “YES-MEN instead of dreamers, and speculators,
explorers and seekers.

6. Schola ludus Methods

Schola Ludus is an organization devoted mainly to informal science education the training of
teachers, design and presentation of festivals, exhibitions, and research into new methods. In
keeping to this, the author has shown a concrete example, very powerful one, that unites
formal and informal education in a dramatic way by developing many formal kinematics and
Doppler effect problems to round-out the informal part (Ref 15). This joining of informal

164
with formal has created a stronger, Schola Ludus. But the method is general, and available
for all organizations and teachers, not only informal science education.

In addition, there is a strong correlation between the author’s methods and the parallel
method, with one exception. E.g.,

a. The key example in this case is the A Einstein dream scenario, which started the
whole work, Ref 14.
b. This was followed by parallel graphs, parallel problems of kinematics and Doppler
effects, and parallel examples ( Ref 15).
c. Then some top cases were developed, first where singers on a boat were heard in
different sequences with reversal of notes due to reflection or echoes with moving
source (Ref 6). Next, both time and space were “layered” and this lead to the GDE,
generalized Doppler effect. (Ref 6) Next the parallel case of a winding river was
developed (Ref 15). In this case the “information” carriers were in fact “demanders
for service”. So in a sense this generalized Doppler effect example is a Doppler
effect in Queuing theory, a subject in the broader category of Operations Research.
Later, “another” top case of two dimensional Doppler effect was developed, also
with demands for services showing a Doppler shift in frequency due to a moving
source ( Ref 16)

6.1 Deciding What Is Top Case

As discussed above, the author considered several top cases as Einstein’s Dream lesson plans
and Unit plans developed. This leads to the question, “How do we decide what is the ‘top
case’?” Can we really define “top case” apriori? It is a matter of judgment and
understanding as well as personal preference as to what is taken as the “top case”. Pursuing
this question lead to another modification to the Schola Ludus method. I.e., the author did not
psychologically admit any such “limitation” as a “real top case” might imply when
understood at it primary meaning in the English language. I.e., the phrase “top case” is a
matter of semantics and language as understood by Alfred Korzybsky, Sapir, Whorf etc. See
for example Ref 17. So “top case” has to be taken in the sense of “an example with different
quality”. In this sense, it has no association with finality. it is actually like the “best yet”, or
like the “greatest and latest” phrases used in advanced American engineering design circles.
These do NOT imply in any way that there is nothing higher than the current “top” as it is
momentarily understood.

Note, It is currently the author’s hypothesis, that this interpretation of Top Case, as the
“greatest and latest” case or idea, is what provided the author with the energy and guidance,
to continue researching the key example in a vertical direction, and that lead to so much
stepped vertical development from such as simple beginning as a live simulation, based in
part on what the author saw being done in Schola Ludus theatre plays and also in San Jose,
CA, USA education circles by some innovative teachers. But then this is exactly the author’s
experience when dealing with complex engineering systems that continue to be developed
and improved in a cyclic manner, not only during the design phase itself, but also during the
data logging of the users and operators of those systems, - - in a never ending continual
improvement of cycle following cycle. And this is also what the parallel method should
become.

Appendix WHY Web Quests and Informal Education Should Be Synergistically Joined in
Lesson Plans and in Unit Plans

165
 a. There is more and more science to be done. We want to understand, in an
operational and predictable way, ALL things that are interesting, or that could lead
to interesting applications. But the person who learns science the traditional way, is
already bored, “turned off” and “lost” to science very quickly
b. The need for science knowledge in a Knowledge Based Society, or in the
INFOSPHERE society, is becoming more and more evident. E.g., in the more
enlightened societies, the case against public smoking is very strong and smoking is
regarded as a rather “unfortunate habit that is to be dropped”. In less developed
societies, the people still feel “strong and much” about smoking” They want the
right to smoke in restaurants. They are not aware of the physics neither of second
hand smoke, nor of the chemistry or biology of the toxic chemicals therein.
c. Students are busier than ever, and live a faster paced life. What they learn in their
early university days can be obsolete, and “low tech” by the time they graduate.. So
the professors and teachers too, can benefit from doing their own WEB quests, and
from encouraging all students to follow a more individual path of studies, a more
“independent” path of study, as Einstein himself recommended.
d. With the idea that informal learning precedes the formal part, the WEB quest can be
a magical means to prevent professors from becoming pedantic wizards left behind
in the backwaters of change.
e. New education tools and concepts are available, to help teachers and students to
skip over/ from the “DEAD, OLD stuff, to the relevant, PROMISING
CURRENTLY ALIVE stuff; to the content that is being used by current
researchers; to the content that points directly to the state of the art. The Doppler
effect is one such very powerful area that the auhor has tested even on twelve year
olds. (Ref 18).

References
[1] M. Bazovsky, K. Teplanova, M. Polonska, V. Biznarova, and the Schola Ludus team
Einstein’s Dream and the Jumping Doppler Cows, , To be presented in SOS, and to be developed
in a CD per plans for Science on Stage (SOS) festival, November 21, 2005 CERN, Switzerland
[2] Bazovsky, Science, Ethics and Government, An Idea for a New Ethics, 2004 lectures at FMFI,
UK, Bratislava, . , and, Latest Science Findings Discussed and Reported, 2004 lectures at FMFI,
UK, Bratislava , Slovakia
[3] Bazovsky, I., Teplanová, K.: Komunikácia medzi vedou, vládou a etikou – zmeny vo veku
infosféry. In: Academia ročník XV 2/2004 Súčasnosť a perspektívy vysokých škôl a vedy. Ústav
informácii a prognóz školstva MŠ SR, Bratislava, 2003, s.9-15
[4] http://www.ozline.com/webquests/intro.html
[5] http://www.elko.k12.nv.us/scmiddle/webquest/webquest.html
[6] Bazovsky, Presentation on the Doppler Effect and the Generalized Doppler Effect, Schola Ludus
Seminar for Physics Teachers, 2004
i. . Bazovsky, Presentation on Shadows and their generalization as
examples of Inverse Modeling, Seminar for Physics Teachers, 2004
[7] M. Bazovsky, Observer’s Dilemma, Examples from Kinematics, Konvferencia Slovenskych
Fyzikov, 11-15, October, 2004, ISBN 80-969124-1-0
[8] Bazovsky, Inverse Models, From Shadows to Modern Physics, Konvferencia Slovenskych
Fyzikov, 11-15, October, 2004, ISBN 80-969124-1-0
[9] J. Magueijo, Faster Than the Speed of Light, The Story of a Scientific Speculation, William
Heineman, 2003, ISBN 0434009482
[10] Bazovsky, The Token Step Model ,as first developed and used, Schola Ludus Summer Camp for
Kids, Summer of 2004, FMFI, UK, Bratislava, SR,
[11] Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams, Bloombury, Classics, ISBN0747518599
[12] P Glass., R. Wilson, Einstein on the Beach, (an opera in four acts, and five hours!)
[13] Bazovsky, Presentation To Dr. Biznarova’s physics students, Bratislava, SR, February 2004

166
[14] Bazovsky, Honorable Mention – or third prize-2004, in the annual pedagogical competition at the
physics pedagogy department of FMFI, UK, Bratislava, Slovakia
1. Bazovsky, unpublished communication to K.Teplanova, and to
Schola Ludus
[15] A, Korzybsky, Science And Sanity,
[16] Bazovsky, Einstein’s Dream, with picture drawing, and live simulation, Milk Chovanova’s class.
April 2004, Primary School at Vychodna, Slovakia

167
A Unique European Educational Programme – Venus Transit 2004

Sonja Jejčič

Technical school centre of Nova Gorica, Slovenia

sonja.jejcic@tscng.net

1. Introduction

Astronomy of rare astronomical events such as the total solar eclipse, the Venus transit,
comets, supernova explosions attract attention of millions of people in the world, especially
if young people are targeted. Therefore, such events can be used as a bridge between science
and public. With the help of astronomy we could increase the interest of young people in
science, make them familiar with scientific methods of examining the world and involve
them in international projects. During the last 10 years we were lucky to have opportunity to
observe the Hale-Bopp comet in 1997, the total solar eclipse in 1999 and the Venus transit in
2004.

Figure 1: Left: Venus on the solar disk, June 8 2004 Right: Venus Transit attracted attention
of millions of people on all continents.

In general young people like discussing about universe and some natural phenomena linked
to the sky. Also astronomical instruments could be a source of great interest. For example,
watching how the cupola opens and how the mechanism works and of course observing
celestial objects will find enthusiastic response.

2. Description of the project

We will focus on the educational meaning of the last astronomical event called the Venus
Transit which occurred on June 8 2004. The event lasted about 6 hours and was visible from
Europe, Africa and Asia. The international project showed that collaboration between
scientific centres, universities and schools is very fruitful. The most important participants
were schools since in this way the broadest and the youngest public could be reached. Good
response with the public was due to the campaign in media and among the teachers and to the
well prepared websites with all information regarding the event at different levels and in
many European languages.

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The main goals of the project VT-2004 (e.g. [1]) were to increase the interest in science
among young people, to establish a closer contact between students scientists and scientific
organizations, to explain the scientific methods of examining the world, to involve young
people in an international project with the website to exchange information between
participants, to show them a method for preparing a scientific experiment and measurements
with scientific value, to give them knowledge of the historical background closely related to
the measurement of the Solar System (methods, distances, motions of the celestial bodies,
exoplanets …) and to perform and participate in the real time measurements of the Earth-Sun
distance. The astronomical unit (AU) was to be measured in the same way as it had been
done in the past. The main difference was that in the previous centuries the measurements
were done by scientists who needed several years to get the results. The advantage of modern
communications and advanced technology enabled immediate calculation of the AU at the
Paris Observatory where all the data were sent via internet.

3. Determining the astronomical unit (AU)

The Earth-Sun distance known as the astronomical unit AU is the base unit in measuring the
distances in the universe and cannot be measured directly. Historically it has been
determined with triangulation or the parallax method by measuring angles from two different
places on the Earth. The solar diurnal parallax β d is the angle at which the Earth’s radius R
is seen from the Sun
R
βd = . (1)
AU
The method of the parallax allows us to measure only distances to objects that are close to
Earth, since the baseline cannot be greater then the Earth’s radius. Using this method for
determining the solar parallax is not practical during a normal day, when only the Sun is
visible, since the parallax is too small to be measured with sufficient precision without
another marker in the sky.
Venus and Mars can help as position markers in the sky. One possibility to calculate the
Earth-Sun distance is to determine the solar parallax by finding the Venus’s parallax during
Venus Transit. The method has historical meaning and makes an interesting exercise in the
classroom with more able pupils. The scientists at the Paris observatory organized the
worldwide observation of the last Venus transit for the on-line determination of AU.

- In the classroom

To explain the idea in the secondary school, we use a simple model where we assume that
the Sun, Venus and Earth are in the same plane, that Venus and Earth orbits are circular and
that two places on Earth are on the same meridian (have the same longitude). The
mathematics is much more difficult if we use two observations taken from two places with
different longitudes.

169
 Figure 2: Determination of the Earth-Sun distance from parallax method.

Consider the plane that is defined by tree points: the centre of the Earth (O), the centre of the
Sun (C) and the centre of Venus (Venus) (e.g. Fig. 2). Two observers situated at two different
places on the Earth at points A and B (on the same meridian, but at different latitudes) see
Venus as a small dot projected on the solar disk at points A' and B'. Let re be the Earth-Sun
distance and rV be the Venus-Sun distance. Consider the angle β s = ∠ACB :
AB⊥
βs = , (2)
re
where AB⊥ is the distance between two observers on the Earth perpendicular toward the
Sun, and the angle β V = ∠AVenus B :
AB⊥
βV = . (3)
re − rV
If we observe the movement of Venus and draw its path during the whole transit, we observe
that it is a straight line. The two observers from places A and B will draw two parallel
lines. The separation of the two lines - the parallax displacement is: ∆β = β 2 − β1 (e.g.
Fig.2). Considering the two triangles APVenus and BPC, we note that they share a common
angle at P, therefore it follows that β 1 + β V = β 2 + β s , so that we get using Eqs. 2, 3:
AB⊥ rV 1 AB⊥ 1
∆β = βV − β s = ⋅ ⋅ = ⋅ (4)
re re rV re re
(1 − ) ( − 1)
re rV
r 3 t 2
Using Eq. 4 and the third Kepler’s law ( e ) = ( e ) , where te and tV are the revolution
rV tV
periods of the Earth (365.25 days) and of Venus (224.7 days); one finds
AB⊥
∆β = 2,61453 (5)
re
Finally, the Earth-Sun distance can be calculated as

170
 AB⊥
re = 2,61453 ⋅ (6)
∆β
So, the Earth-Sun distance is proportional to the distance AB⊥ between two observers on
the Earth perpendicular toward the Sun and inversely proportional with the parallax ∆β .
The distance AB⊥ can be deduced from the latitudes of the two observing places; since
Vardö and Papeete are almost exactly on opposing meridians, they are on the same great
circle, note however that while the transit started at 20:15 and ended after local midnight at
2:35 at Vardö (the Sun did not set at Vardö!) it was observed from 8:15 until 14:35 at
Papeete [e.g. Fig. 3]:
180 0 − Φ 1 − Φ 2 180 0 − Φ 1 + Φ 2
AB⊥ = 2 R sin( ) ⋅ cos( − δ ) , (7)
2 2
where R is the radius of Earth, Φ 1 and Φ 2 are the latitudes of both places and δ is the
declination of the Sun. Observations of 1769 from Vardö (Lapland) and Papeete (Tahiti) with
latitudesΦ 1 = 70 0 21′ N and Φ 2 = 17 0 32′ S were done with the baseline AB⊥ for R =
6378 km, and δ = 22 26′ :
0

AB⊥ = 10470 km . (8)

Figure 3: Finding the distance AB⊥ between Vardö and Papeete situated in different
hemispheres and on opposing meridians.

171
 Figure 4: Observations of data from 1761 and 1769.

The solar parallax between those two places can be read off the data showing in Fig. 4 as
follows. We note that ∆β is the angle between the two tracers of the transit path projected
on the solar disk. Thus (e.g. Fig. 2)
A′B⊥′
∆β = , (9)
re
and also
A′B⊥′ 2 RS
∆β = ⋅ . (10)
2 RS re
A′B⊥′ 2 RS
The ratio can be read off the Fig. 4 and is the angular diameter of the Sun
2 RS re
( 30′ ). Finally, we calculate from Eqs. 6, 8, 10 that the distance from the Earth to the Sun is
re = 145 ⋅ 10 6 km , (11)
6
which differs from the true value for 4,6 ·10 km.

- The On-Line Calculation of the Astronomical Unit

It happened for the first time in history that it had been attempted to ensure the real time
calculation of the value of AU from all measurements that came in. However, this was not
done in the way as astronomers did in the past by selecting optimally located sites.

The measurement of the AU by observing the contacts of Venus is a measure based on the
measurement of time of contacts, not of distance, and this time is different for all observers.
The real time calculation of the AU from the observed time was done by the function F that
connects the time of contacts, the position of the observer, the AU, the diameter of the Sun
and Venus, the equatorial radius of the Earth and the flatness of our planet, as well as the
spatial position of the centers of Venus and the Sun at any time. Using this method it is
possible to calculate the AU for each contact timing observation received from exact position

172
of the observer as an independent measurement, since nowadays we already know the exact
values of other parameters in function F. The algorithm was the following: the first
measurement received was averaged with the second one and so on until the n-th observation
was averaged with all the (n-1)-th measurements.

One of the problems doing this was how to make sure that bad observation would not corrupt
the average computed value. Any observation far from the theoretical value because of low
accuracy or the geographical location may have the result in an infinitely large value of the
AU. Therefore good measurements must be accurate enough and its site must fulfil two
criteria – the parallax must be as large as possible in be as far away as possible from the
intersection of the penumbra and the terrestrial ellipsoid. The system was partially
constrained in the way that it tried to keep the triangle the Sun, the observing site and the
centre of the Earth as finite triangle. This meant the advantage of having a finite solution of
the calculated AU for all permitted values.

The distribution of the calculated values of the AU [e.g. Fig. 5] was nearly Gaussian. It was
further improved when obviously false values were rejected from the database. The average
N

∑n
i =1
i ⋅ ai
of the calculated AU was determined as a= , where ai is the calculated AU for
N
each observation, ni the number of observers with ai and N the number of observations.
The standard deviation was found by dividing the Gaussian dispersion σ by the square root
of the number of observations. The final result for the value of the AU based on 4367
observed timings of all four contacts was determined as:

1 AU = 149 529 684 km ± 55059 km,

which differs from the true value of the AU by 68 186 km. This topic is discussed in a more
detailed way in [1].

Figure 5: Distribution of the calculated value of the AU using all timings in the database.

173
4. Conclusion and outlook

The measured value of astronomical unit was the best of all times in the terms of accuracy. It
is a remarkable achievement considering the fact that most measurements were made by
amateur observers in Europe and shows how important the technological progress was in the
last century. The success was so good because accurate timing was available, because
geographic locations were more accurate. Better optics, digital image recording and
advanced image processing software were also importantly added to the success.

As the Venus transit project was so successful it would be good to use already established
networks. In order to keep it alive it would be sensible to organize a new annual public
educational program EUROPEAN ASTRONOMY DAY aimed at the broad public in general
and the schools in particular, since celestial events are usually very rare and some of them
even unpredictable. It would have the same basic goal, namely to transform curiosity into
knowledge and to increase the interest in science and in the way it works, emphasizing the
relations between science and society.

One possible suggestion for the European astronomy day could be the measurement of the
circumference of the Earth using Eratosthenes method which also requires a geographical
distance as it was the case in VT-2004 project. The main idea is to shift the accent from the
celestial event too much wider spectrum of possible activities, aimed at different target
groups. Main activities would include setting-up a central website with background
information, overall program of the event and all related links as well as opportunities for
contact between participant, solar observations during daytime (sunspots or other activity),
evening and night observations of selected dark-sky objects, exhibitions to emphasize the
universality of astronomy, competitions at different levels with interesting prizes to stimulate
active participation, related media activities and accompanying cultural activities (concerts,
readings, art shows …).

In time this could lead to wide popularisation of astronomy, physics and science in general. It
only takes some effort from the involved personal, especially teachers, and it would need a
secure long term funding.

References
[1] www.vt-2004.org

174
Physics, Radiations and Health

Lucília Maria Pessoa T. dos Santos, Maria do Carmo Baptista, Carla Alves

Physics Department, University of Aveiro, Portugal

lucilia@fis.ua.pt

Introduction

The main substance of this work is to present the results of the approach of Physics relating it
to Health contexts, in two levels: as a mean to efficiently reach the students in secondary
school, and as a physics engineering last year project.
In these two levels of learning, understanding, and applying physics concepts, we used
formal and informal contexts for physics education, since we used from didactic equipment
to hospital facilities, therefore exposing the students to simulated situations and to real life
events.
The starting point of this study is radiation. Theoretical concepts, experimental set ups,
production, detection, effects, uses and applications are some of the topics covered in both
levels.

Secundary School level: methodology, results and analysis

In secondary school we worked we a set of 163 students, 15 to 16 years old, in Sciences

areas. The purpose was to try to diagnose the interest of these students in the medical uses of
physics, using the topic “radiations” that is approached in their normal curriculum in a
traditional, non-integrated, way [1]. They were presented an inquiry, with a set of
investigation questions, in order to obtain information on their opinions. We present next the
results regarding some of questions:
A - Which topics do you find more interesting, regarding radiations?
Topics

Nule
100%
5 7
12 20
80% 20 33 28
9 Least interesting
19
60% 14
17
36 17 28
40% 15

55 26 18 19
20% 23
13 16
Interesting
7 13
0% 4
Health

Weapons

Cosmos

Very much
interesting

Figure 1: On the horizontal axis we display the options available to the sutendts.

175
As we can observe, Health is the topic the students elect as the most interesting. But when we
invited them to justify their option, the main reasons for choosing Health were:

1. Radiation bad effects (40%)

2. Protection/prevention
3. Health importance / daily life
4. Scientific / technological applications (11%)
So, some questions was proposed, in order to try to understand the conceptions beneath the
answers, namely:

B - What do students know about radiation?

From the analysis of the results, we can say that this set of students can differentiate from
radiations and energy. For example when they are asked if “Magnetism a radiation?” we
obtain more than 80% of “no” answers.

C – What medical diagnosis exams do you know that involve the use of radiation?

Medical diagnosis exam

100% 4
6
22 10
80% 34
42
15
9 71
60% 87 87
40% 82
57 62
53 13
20%
15 6 9
0% 7 5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Figure 2: On the horizontal axis we display the options available to the sutendts: 1- MRI; 2 -
TAC; 3 - RX; 4 - Ecography; 5 – Fluoroscopy; 6 - Cintigraphy; 7 – Angiography

From the statistics we can say that they are familiar mainly with X-ray exams, as expected,
followed by TAC, ecographies, and Magnetic Resonance Imagioly. Also, these are the
medical examinations that they associate with radiation, which they also believe, “has bad
effects”.

As far as applications/consequences are concerned, 90% thinks that RX are more suitable for
diagnosis, and UV, radioactive substances and gamma rays, can produce diseases (>50%).
Less than 35% consider that any of these examples can also be used as therapy.

D - What incorrect ideas/misconceptions can we detect?

From a set of several possible wrong ideas that were available, all of them related to sun
exposure effects, the most common (>80%) relate to how radiation propagates.

176
E - How are these ideas an obstacle regarding the correct understanding of danger/risk
evaluation?

On this point a very concerning result comes up, because the fear of the consequences seems
to influence the degree of probability they associate with the disasters there are most likely to
occur, involving radiations.

From the analysis of the answers to the whole inquiry, it is possible to find two kinds of ways
of thinking between the students: on one hand, they consider that radiations are dangerous
due to the serious effects they produce. This makes the students afraid and this fear leads
them to a great interest on the knowledge of radiations effects and protection measures. On
the other hand, they consider that the risks involved with radiations are limited, and so they
show an excess of confidence in certain safety measures, which leads them to make serious
judgment mistakes such as underestimate the penetration power of some radiations.

Apparently these facts arise mostly because of the way the theme is approached on school
manuals, and on the lack of misconceptions detection. Nevertheless, much has been done in
order to prevent the effects of alternative and misconceptions.

University level: methodology, results and analysis

In this level we appealed to the knowledge acquired in the previous university years, in order
to be sure that radiation is “known”. The study begun with a Didactic equipment, on a last
year project of a Physics Engineering degree, to characterize the answer of photographic and
radiographic films under X-Ray exposure, in order to obtain information from the image on
the film [2].

Then we moved to a district Hospital to meet daily situations, namely in radiology diagnosis,
and presented a new method to improve early diagnosis of breast cancer, both in an
equipment set and in a simulation program.

The purpose is that the future engineer understands that daily words may be used to
rigorously speak about and explain science, even in informal learning contexts, and to enable
him/her to contribute to the public understanding of science.

These are some of the steps of the strategy that were taken to accomplish the goal.

We began on the University laboratory, with the study of the dependence of the definition or
sharpness of images on the size of the focal spot of the X-Ray tube. The ratio of the
subject/focus distance to the subject/film distance is an important factor influencing
definition, and the conditions for maximum definition are directly related to the penumbra
and, consequently, to the “geometric unsharpness”. This can be shown with the interpretation
of radiographs taken under different conditions, as in the following figure.

177
 Figure 3: Distance relationship diagram, and penumbra with different distances.

Also, the effect of different exposure times, accounts for the better or worse definition of the
data.

Figure 4: Data obtained with different (increasing from left to right) exposure times.

Being aware of the effects that the acquisition circumstances can have on the final image, we
moved to hospital-radiology real context, where the students had to deal with real radiology
equipment, and try to minimize some of effects they knew might affect the information. The
study was performed on the early diagnosis of breast cancer.

Figure 5: Real hospital context data acquisition system, and distance, definition,
“sharpness”, penumbra effects on the image obtained with amplification = A.

Since the main purpose is to be able to make a diagnosis based on the image analysis, it is
very important to “manipulate” it in order to increase the definition degree, and avoid an
extra X-R exposure. But, on most of the equipments in use, we only can obtain a fixed
amplification factor, A.

The project was based on our suggestion of: “reading” the film with a laser, instead of using
negatoscopy, and a variable amplification factor [3]. And we present next the results of the
reading of the same film as shown previously, but with the student’s suggestion.

178
 Figure 6: Micro calcifications observed with amplification from NA (N>1), on the left, to
NNA, on the right, where some degree of optical distortion is already detectable.
Conclusions
The results of this work show that, on one hand, secondary students are very interested in
Health issues, have some incorrect ideas that need to be clarified in order to make them better
prepared citizens, and it is very important to do it, if we are to improve the public
understanding of science. Do we have the teachers to do it?
On the other hand, the bridge between academic studies and real life procedures is
successfully overcome, preparing new graduates – in this case on a Physical Engineering
degree - to face their first job in a professional and conscientious way. This approach enables
the student to easily talk about science in a way that general public does understand it [4].
Further work is underway in both levels.

References
[1] ''Radiação e Saúde'', Carla Maria Dias Alves, Master Degree Thesis, University of Aveiro, 2005
[2] "Radiação em Física e Medicina – a técnica de Raios-X", M.C. Baptista, Project Report,
University of Aveiro, 2001
[3] "Radiologia/Imagiologia", M.C. Baptista, Relatório de Estágio no âmbito do programa PRODEP
III, Universidade de Aveiro/Hospital Infante D. Pedro de Aveiro, 2002
[4] “Physics and Technology as an Interface with Medical Diagnosis”, M.C. Baptista, Lucília Santos,
First Materials Science Forum on Future Sustainable Technologies, MATFORUM, EMRS,
Alemanha, 2002

179
Cultural History of Physics in a Subjective Way

Dorothy Sebestyen

Budapest Polytechnic, Budapest, Hungary

sebestyen.dorottya@kvk.bmf.hu

Introduction

It is a great adventure to investigate the history of the discoveries in physics and the great
physicists' lives.
Designed for engineering students we introduced a new, optional course at our technical
college: the Cultural History of Physics.

The role of the Cultural History of Physics

The history of physics can help a lot in studying the main laws of physics: it is easier to
understand them knowing the life of the physicist, and the historic and cultural background
of the discovery. It helps to raise interest in getting further knowledge in physics and in the
cultural surroundings of the discoveries. It is easier to remember the laws of physics using
associations from the stories. We can confirm that there is only one integrated culture,
showing the important parallels between science and art.

Approach

The history of physics is always subjective. The special subjectivity in this course means it
complements a compulsory introductory course in physics.
The main flow of the course is divided into two parts. In the first part we focus our attention
on the stories of the physicists' lives, and the cultural surroundings or the parallels with other
physicists or artists, emphasising the cultural history. We do not describe the laws of physics,
because this is done in the compulsory course. The second part deals with the topics, omitted
from the compulsory course.
At the end of the course there is a special chapter about the role of Hungarians in the history
of physics.

Structure of the Cultural History of Physics

• Emphasis on cultural history:

1. Ancient physical and technical results
2. Interests in the results of mathematics and physics from the Middle Ages
3. The relationship between art and optics in the 15th - 17th centuries
4. Geniuses of the 17th century: Galileo, Newton and their contemporaries
5. Discoveries in the field of electromagnetic phenomena in the 17th-19th
centuries
6. From the nature of heat to the heat engines of the 19th century
7. The 'classical' models of atomic structure
8. Leading characters in special relativity and quantum mechanics

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 • Emphasis on physical laws (the physical base of modern technical
applications):
9. History and fundamental phenomena of acoustics using computer
programs
10. Interesting facts from the history of physics of condensed matters - from
their discoveries to their applications (thermoelectric phenomena, LCD,
superconductivity, lasers)
11. History of the nucleus from radioactivity to the use of nuclear energy
12. Historical overview of the fundamental particles and fundamental
interactions

13. Hungarians in the history of physics

Tables of chronological order

At the beginning of each chapter we present a chronological table about the physicists of the
investigated period and some of the contemporary artists.

Examples of the type of lectures

a) Pythagoras and Fibonacci in physics and in the other regions of culture

The history of physics can not exist without mentioning mathematicians. There are
mathematicians, whose names can be connected not only to physics, but also to other regions
of culture. This is the main reason for the following examples: the Greek philosopher and
scientist, Pythagoras, and the Italian Fibonacci.
The basic scientific principle of Pythagoras (and of his religious sect, the Pythagoreans)
was:
"All things are numbers." They gave simple numerical relationships between tones in
common musical intervals: if you create a musical tone by plucking a string, then using
simple string ratios (2:1, 3:2, 4:3), they produce musical intervals that sound harmonious.
They had a concept of a floating, spherical Earth. They gave a proof of the Pythagorean
Theorem, and hence came to the concept of irrational numbers, which was very difficult even
for them to accept.
Fibonacci (Leonardo di Pisa) was probably the most famous and productive mathematician
of the middle Ages. But the reason why his name is so well known in the different regions of
culture is the so called Fibonacci numbers: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, … In the following centuries
more and more interesting characteristics of this sequence emerged, giving rise to further
applications of Fibonacci numbers. The limit of ratios of the subsequent terms of the
Fibonacci sequence is the "golden number", or golden section, the ratio of two distances
which causes a harmonic image in our mind. We meet the golden section in many paintings
and also in architecture. By regarding the number of spirals of seeds in a sunflower, we find a
good correlation with the Fibonacci numbers. Examples of the existence of the Fibonacci
numbers can be found even in physics:
"Having a so-called ‘ladder network’ circuit with seven 1 Ω resistors, and assuming that the
current in the last resistor is 1 A, we find that the voltages on the succeeding resistors follow
the Fibonacci numbers." [1]

b) Laser history
As a preface to the physics of lasers there is a short historical preview. The following shows
its short summary as an example of historical aspect of the second half of the semester.

181
 LASER HISTORY
Stimulated emission 1917 Einstein
Holography 1947 Denis Gábor
Nobel-prize: 1971
Maser 1954 Townes – Baszov and Pohorov
Nobel-prize: 1964
Laser 1958 Schawlow and Townes
Laser spectroscopy Schawlow and Bloembergen
Nobel-prize: 1981
Rubin laser 1960 Maiman
Semiconductor 1963 Alferov and Kroemer
Nobel-prize: 2000
Laser cooling 1980 Chu, Cohen-Tannoudji and Phillips
Nobel-prize: 1997

Multimedia in teaching the cultural history of physics

• Computer programs in the teaching of acoustical phenomena.

We use a very impressive computer program to show the basis of acoustics and some
technical applications. (At the same time it means the application of my experiences
from the previous GIREP conferences, where the authors of the used book and CD [2]
had excellent presentations.)
• Films about the meeting of Bohr and Heisenberg in 1941.
There are two films considered: an English documentary and a feature film based on the
Michael Frayn drama, Copenhagen. Both are very challenging in their highlighting of
this special historical episode. One of them is projected on the course. One of my
students wrote the following note filling the questionnaire (see later): "The viewing of
the film should be 'compulsory' on this course also in the future.”

Students’ opinion about the course

Details of the results:

How did you find the ratio of history to physics on the course?
• It was appropriate: 65,5%
• I would prefer more history: 24%
• I would prefer more physics: 10,5%

Presentation of the parallel between art (painting) and physics (optics) was
• interesting: 65,5%
• interesting, and I would have preferred more similar lectures: 27,5%
• not too interesting : 3,5%
• unnecessary: 0%

Presentation connected to acoustics was

• interesting and helped to understand the basic concepts: 55%
• interesting: 38%
• not too interesting: 3,5%
• unnecessary: 0%

182
The film about the meeting of Bohr and Heisenberg was
• interesting and helped to know and understand the two physicists: 65,5%
• interesting: 21%
• boring: 7%
• unnecessary: 0%

To mention the artists in chronology was

• interesting in knowing the age and the circumstances of a discovery: 79%
• not enough, I would have preferred more: 7%
• unnecessary: 14%

Finally let me show two of the questions from the exam of the spring semester of 2005:

• Who was the English physicist in the 19th century, whose activity extended beyond
physics; he was also a painter, doctor, musician, and linguist?
A. Newton, B. Huygens, C. Young, D. Fresnel.

[1] Why do we celebrate especially 2005 as the year of physics?

References
[1] Simonyi K., A fizika kultúrtörténete, Budapest, 1998
[2] Mathelitsch L. and Verovnik I., Akustische Phänomene, Köln, 2004

183
When the Informal Becomes Formal Enough

M. Staszel

Division of Physics Education, Faculty of Physics, Warsaw University, Poland

staszel@fuw.edu.pl

The Warsaw Science Festival, Science Fair and all that

We have no permanent science center in Warsaw, but several initiatives have started and
have been flourishing in the last decade. The most prominent is the Science Festival [1]– a
series of science-related activities that takes place during the last 9 days in September.
Almost all scientific, artistic and other institutions offer a lot of public engagement events –
workshops, lectures, exhibitions etc. One of the components of the Science Festival is the
very popular interactive exhibition “Physics and Toys” organized at the Faculty of Physics of
Warsaw University. Another interesting event is the Warsaw Science Fair, at present the
largest in Europe outdoor event popularizing science. It takes place on a Saturday in May or
June. Since the very beginning we have run there a tent with interactive physics experiments.
We select and provide the exhibits and demonstrations, organize the stands and run the
events, providing the staff and supervising things. Our staff, of necessity, is temporary, but
very good; it consists of undergraduates – some of them teacher trainees – and Ph.D.
students. We estimate that so far our toys’ exhibition was visited by 25 000 people altogether
– small kids, schoolchildren, parents and some teachers.

Our problem

Watching the behaviour of our visitors in all age groups we first noticed only joy, amazement
and interest. However, we noticed also that some kids, instead of having a good time,
concentrated not so much on watching the toys in action and playing, as on writing down the
descriptions put on posters that accompanied the exhibits. They were apparently more
interested in the written word than in the toys and experiments themselves. In the following
years, when the cameras became ubiquitous, both youths and their parents kept taking
pictures – of toys, but primarily of posters. When asked, the kids and their parents told us
that the teacher ordered the kids to visit the exhibition during the weekend and prepare a
report from it, describing the toys and the physics that made them work. All of them were
frustrated, in a hurry and with a feeling that this particular piece of homework would be hard
to do. We never heard from them the so-often uttered “We shall come next year” or “We
shall build it at home”, which are sure signs of satisfaction.

What is going on ?

It has been recognized all over the world that teachers should get some instruction on how to
profit from the vast offer of informal education. There is a large bibliography on the subject
(see e.g. [2], where a study of a systematic approach is presented, of special courses, at which
teacher trainees learn how to work with children in an informal setting). Our teachers, for
most of whom this is still a novelty, do what they know best – set formal tasks for their
students and try to mark them in a formal way. This discourages the children and does not
allow them to profit fully from the informal education environment.

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Some examples of good practice

We found, not surprisingly, that on the whole it is the young teachers who find, often
intuitively, the right way to cope with the follow-up of informal events, visits etc. Below, we
show some examples how some of our young teachers balance on the interface between the
school requirements and the “informal” spirit of our events. The teachers (all but one) are our
graduates and at some stage worked at our events, interacted with the visitors and had time
for reflection.

• Mark only the successful elements

A teacher can refrain from giving a formal mark. Ela, who teaches physics and elements of
computer science in upper secondary school, visited us with her students; as an aftermath, the
students were supposed to describe and draw one selected toy they especially liked; they
were promised a mark in physics and in computer science (for using some graphical
software). The pictures turned out acceptable, but the physics descriptions were rather poor
and showing numerous misconceptions. Ela is, however, a very experienced teacher, so she
gave only the marks in computer science. Instead of thinking the opportunity to give marks
in physics was wasted, she was glad she could address the misconceptions.
• In your own words only!
Ula puts a great store by individual work and thinks it is very important. As a demonstrator
at the toy exhibition she observed the abovementioned results of too strict tasks set by
teachers. When she next brought her own class, she told the students in advance they would
have to write about one chosen toy, but only from their observations and using only their
own words. It took some effort to convince the students of the uselessness of producing
copied texts, but she succeeded [3]. She encouraged her students to use their wits and to trust
their own intuitions; her role as the teacher was to explain, to discuss and to foster
understanding. Ula found her students remembered the exhibits long after the visit, and
related to them whenever they encountered a similar phenomenon or situation.
• Give them a serious job to do!
Monika, who teaches very bright students, but her school has so far no physics lab, was a
demonstrator at our stand at one of the yearly Science fairs. She suggested bringing her
students – not just as visitors, but as help and part=time demonstrators. The upper secondary
school students were very keen on doing a lot of experiments, and doing them in front of, and
together with, the varied and inquisitive audience only added to their delight. It was a
success, and this year the students started to ask about the fair already in winter. This year,
because of the 80th anniversary of Polskie Radio, we presented at our stand various
electromagnetic waves an the beginnings of radio – fairly advanced stuff. So Monika gave
her students some preliminary materials, discussed the physics beforehand, ad we showed
them how the equipment worked. They felt the satisfaction of explaining things not only to
the proverbial “kid brother”, but also to an intelligent non-scientist. Our school does not as a
rule offer such opportunity.
• Let them show they appreciate it!
Agnieszka, who acted as a demonstrator and invited her class to the toy exhibition, without
any strings attached, got a surprise of her life. After the visit, four of her students built
periscopes; the device impressed them, and they were able to construct one as a spontaneous
proof of enjoyment and understanding. The students were from the humanities class in upper
secondary school and the standard school physics usually held small (little?) joy for them.
They wouldn’t have welcomed a formal homework!

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 • Let them grow a bit!
One of our young teachers, Anna, usually takes her students (lower secondary school) also to
the lectures with demonstrations organized for schools at our Faculty. As a follow-up,
students are supposed to write up some of the experiments. Anna writes [4]: “The
experiments proved a bit too much. A rather weak student found only one sentence to
describe what she saw or registered: the experiment with liquid nitrogen – it is very cold.”.
Fortunately other experiments in the session were more accessible. Next year the same
students attended a similar series of lectures. This time she understood much more about
what was happening with liquid nitrogen, as could be seen I her homework. The attendance
at the lectures was voluntary, and the critical comment of the teacher on the poorness of the
first attempt would probably had discouraged the student from going the second time; she
obviously went in a well-founded hope to understand better! On the whole, strong criticism,
even if justified, is not always very helpful.

Conclusions

• We need permanent science centers not only for obvious reasons, but also because it is
much easier to arrange cooperation with schools and teachers on a regular basis.
• Still, our school has to open to a larger extent to informal education - a great source of
quite new educational experiences, that contains an emotional component and can be shared
by teachers and students.

References
[1] http://www.icm.edu.pl/festival
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/festival
[2] Chin C C 2004 Museum experience – a resource for science teacher education, Int Journal of
Science and Mathematics Education 2 63-90
[3] Wojcikowska U 2004 Influence of the form of knowledge transfer on efficiency of physics
teaching in various age ranges; M.Sc. Thesis, Faculty of Physics, Warsaw University
[4] Tarkowska A 2005 How to develop interest in physics of a lower secondary school student; M.Sc
Thesis, Faculty of Physics, Warsaw University

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Experiences in Building a Small »Hands-on« Science Centre from Scratch

Miha Kos1, Gorazd Planinšič1,2

1
Hiša eksperimentov, Ljubljana
2
Faculty for Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana

In the following article, our approach and methods in creating a new “hands-on” science
centre are presented. The article is not a cookbook – a set of How to do’s. It is barely a set of
our experiences. We are aware that each Science Centre has different starting conditions as
well as different environment in which it is born and grows.

The Science Centre Hiša eksperimentov (The House of Experiments) is the first, albeit small,
Slovenian “hands-on” science centre, built with a lot of love and enthusiasm. It is attractive
to the public. In the article we present some ideas how we believe we can keep the science
centre attractive for the public in the long run.

Introduction

The idea of establishing a “hands-on” science centre (SC) was born after a visit to
Exploratorium, San Francisco in 1994.
The “hands-on” concept was previously unknown in Slovenia, therefore in the beginning
several groups of people had to be convinced about the need of having such a centre in
Slovenia. Those groups included Scientists, Politicians, Economists, Journalists and the
Public – the visitors of SC.
It was very hard at that time to create a new SC from scratch because of the lack of money
and lack of awareness what benefits brings this idea. However, a group of young scientists –
enthusiasts were gathered and the first four exhibits were built.

In order to raise the interest of necessary groups , the “suitcase method” was used. Four
exhibits were put into suitcase. During the meeting with representatives of the
aforementioned groups, they were asked to try these four exhibits before starting the
communication. This method proved to be very efficient. The first difficulties were
overcome successfully and further communication became more relaxed and focused.

Important target groups in the process of establishing the SC

Scientists are the primary group one has to have on his side in order to run a successful SC.
They represent an important source of new and fresh ideas. On the other hand, their presence
is the guarantee for quality and credibility of the science centre. The team in the SC should
be susceptible to new members from the scientific field. It is very important to establish a
healthy link between SCs on one side and the Universities, Institutes, the Academy of
Science and Arts and teachers’ community on the other side. Their precious knowledge and
experiences are very helpful in the process of building new science exhibits, scientific shows
and other activities with the purpose of popularizing science and increasing science literacy.

Politicians are a group of decision makers that key factors in establishing, financing and
building a SC. In our case the »suitcase method« proved again to be working well. It is a

187
method of showing the idea instead of promising the results. Since the method is not one this
group is daily dealing with, it is quite convincing.
One should not think of the »suitcase method« as an omnipotent and always successful one.
But without trying there could not be a success. A fisherman has to throw bait many times in
order to catch a fish. And like a fisherman – be active. Do not fall for: “Do not call us, we
will call you.” Call!
Since a SC is meant for the whole population one should not limit himself to politicians of
only one party. SC is an apolitical body, therefore one should gain support from all parties.

Economists and managers are potential sponsors of the SC or can help you make
connections to them. They should find their interest in sponsoring SC and its activities. They
are daily overcrowded with proposals and requests for sponsorships. Therefore our request
had to stand out in the myriad of others. Whenever possible the »suitcase« method was used.
When starting the sailing in the waters of sponsorship one has to build the sponsorship
model. There will be bigger sponsors as well as smaller ones. Each should be adequately
represented – sponsors of the same level equally and those of different level differently.
There is also one important rule when communicating with a potential sponsor. You do not
beg for support. Sponsorship is trade. You offer promotion of the sponsor in the SC for
resources they have. The mission of the SC is noble! You have many reasons to be proud of
what you do.
The biggest sponsors are those to whom you offer most. Although at the beginning you
cannot expect to catch a big fish - have these levels prepared for later.

Public is the most important group. They are your bread and butter but also the indicator of
the quality of your work. By them you can measure how well or badly you have done your
job. Of course the feedback comes with some delay, after some work has been done - after
exhibits have been built and science shows being performed. It is the public that feeds you
with suggestions and criticism. They are also the source of volunteers, supporters and a
potential link to other target groups, especially the following one.

Journalists like the public. When the SC starts working there will be public coming.
Therefore the journalists will come as well.
But one needs journalists much earlier in order to promote the idea of establishing a SC. It is
important to start run the activities before having a permanent SC. At that time we started
science competitions activities, we wrote several articles about foreign science centres and
finally offered a set of shows for the national TV. When starting a science centre one should
not be afraid of the public. Public is your weapon. But one reaches the public through
journalists.

How big is big enough?

The House of experiments is a tiny science centre. However we are proud that we managed
to establish it as a permanent entity inside our society. In 500 sq. metres there are several
activities we perform on a regular basis: permanent exhibits, science shows, competitions,
workshops, temporary exhibits, workshops for teachers, planning of outreach activities...
The hardest thing was to raise sufficient funds to pay the first employee. It was much easier
with the second one ... It would be better if we had started with two.
Now, after 10 years, five of us are working on a permanent basis, and six on a temporary
basis, plus 20 demonstrators.
We have built 45 exhibits and 12 science shows. We are still growing and want to become
bigger. But how big is big enough?

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As parents we are all happy, when a child likes to eat. When a child becomes older it is a
burden to be fat. The solution is to eat healthy, control the weight and exercise.
The science centre is our child and we want to keep it healthy.

How to stay alive and not to become boring?

Growing and keeping the grow in control is important but it is even more important not to
become boring. What follows are some actions we try to follow in order not to become
boring:
1. Building our own exhibits
2. Refreshing the team
3. Planning new activities
4. Traveling, learning from others and adopting ideas
5. Combining Science, Illustrations (Art) and Humour
6. Inventing new activities
7. Following the motto

References:
[1] Slovenian Science Centre: Hiša eksperimentov (The House of Experiments), 1996, Ljubljana,
Trubarjeva 39, Slovenia, Vol. 1500 m3

189
B - LEARNING PHYSICS FROM THE EXPERIMENTS

Discussion Workshop B Report

Reporter: Chris Chiaverina2

2
New Trier High School (retired), 385 Winnetka Avenue, Winnetka, Illinois, USA
fizzforfun@aol.com
DW Leader: Michael Vollmer1
1
University of Applied Sciences Brandenburg, Magdeburgerstr. 50, 14770
Brandenburg, Germany,
vollmer@fh-brandenburg.de

Physics strives towards an understanding of the material universe. To gain this

understanding, physicists systematically question nature through experiments. These
experiments are designed to challenge existing hypotheses and provide clues to more
powerful theories. However, experiments are not only essential in expanding our knowledge
of our universe, but play a key role in the teaching of physics. Experiments allow students to
observe phenomena, test hypotheses, and apply their understanding of the physical world.
Perhaps of equal importance, experiments have the power to motivate. Which experiments
should be used in the teaching of physics and how should they be employed to maximize
their effectiveness? This report addresses these questions and suggests some possible
answers.

Introduction
We begin our discussion with a Chinese proverb. This proverb, and an extension, nicely
describes why experiments are a key element in physics education.

• I hear and I forget

• I see and I remember
• I do and I understand
• I do with self-build apparatus and I never forget

More specifically, experiments are used in schools to:

• motivate students
• provide concrete examples of complex concepts
• increase understanding of technical apparatus
• verify predictions, theories or models

Certainly, experiments are necessary for the advancement of scientific knowledge. However,
experiments are equally important in the teaching of physics for they afford the students
direct contact with natural phenomena.

There are, naturally, many questions and problems related to the use of experiments in
physics teaching at various school levels. The same experiment may be used differently
depending on whether the desired outcome is motivation, deepened understanding, or the
confirmation of a model or hypothesis.

190
This work is based on results from a discussion workshop during the 2005 GIREP seminar in
Ljubljana with about 20 participants from around a dozen different countries. It attempts to
summarize some essential ideas, questions, problems and propose possible answers
concerning the role of learning physics from experiments. The following list of questions and
problems does not claim to be comprehensive. It should be regarded as a summary of often
encountered problems associated with the use of experiments in physics teaching. The
ranking of topics, in order of importance as deemed by the discussion group, is displayed in
Table 1. Following the table is a summary of the discussions spawned by the topics listed.

Table 1: Questions or problems associated with the use of experiments in physics

education
Questions of higher priority in our group
A) More general
1) What is a good balance between experiments and theory?
2) What is a good balance between various types of experiments during teaching
(i.e. scientific, hands on, teacher centered, student centered)?
3) What is a good balance between experiments and computer animations/modelling
during teaching?
4) What is the role of experiments (hands on, scientific, student experiments, etc.)?

B) More specific
1) Examples for experiments in so called modern physics, let us say 20th century physics
2) How far may we simplify and still be correct?

Questions of lower priority in our group

A) More general
1) How to evaluate the effectiveness of experiments for teaching

B) More specific
1) How to select, prepare and perform experiments
2) How to select different ways of including experiments in teaching
3) How to incorporate real research for students

The role of experiments in physics teaching

Physics is a science based on experiences, observations and experimentally found facts.
Theoretical ideas are important, but only if their consequences can be verified by
observations or experiments. Although some facts are found serendipitously, most of them
result from carefully planned experiments. Hence, experiments are an indispensable
ingredient in scientific investigations in physics and, in fact, all natural sciences.

Since physics is offered to school children of different ages and backgrounds, it is, of course,
taught with various degrees of simplification. However, just as in scientific research, the
experiment retains a central role, and is indeed indispensable, in the teaching of physics,
regardless of the degree of rigor.

Generally speaking, there are two types of experiments that may be employed in the teaching
of physics. There are science-oriented, or quantitative, experiments, designed primarily to
allow the study phenomena under reproducible conditions, e.g. measuring the acceleration g
of freely falling bodies in the gravitational field of the earth, using a metal sphere and light
barriers. Quite often these experiments are intended to give students an opportunity to

191
quantitatively test a theoretical hypothesis. The necessity of these types of experiments for
the advancement of physics is obvious, for they are an essential in the preparation of future
scientists.

A second type of experiment is motivational in nature and designed primarily to provide

students with a qualitative encounter with physical or technical phenomena or processes.
Low cost and hands-on experiments belong to this latter category. Whereas the former type
of experiment often only attracts a limited number of students, the latter offers the possibility
of reaching more students and raising interest in the natural sciences in general.

The world of the 21st century is dominated by an ever-growing number of technological

innovations. A growing number of students leave school without a basic understanding of the
physical principles that are the basis of these technological developments. Therefore,
considering the low level of science literacy in most cultures, the usefulness of motivational
experiments for the advancement of a public understanding of science would seem to be
beyond question.

Excellent laboratory-based physics teaching is certainly a prerequisite to averting scientific

illiteracy. However, when teaching physics in schools, a delicate balance between the two
types of experiments identified above must be used in order to 1) properly motivate students
to achieve a certain level of understanding of the natural sciences in general and 2) convince
them of the need for quantitative measurements for the advancement of science. The balance
is certainly determined by the age, intellectual maturity and the preconceptions of the
students. In addition, this balance often depends on a number of external forces such as a
school’s financial resources, cultural differences of the students, requirements of the
curricula or technological developments. Obviously, there is no simple answer to what is the
best balance. In the end, the chosen balance will depend on the topic being taught, the
clientele, the didactic concept of the individual teacher, and external factors.

Types of experiments and resources

Besides making a distinction between quantitative and motivational experiments, it is
possible to further refine distinctions between the different types of experiments used in
schools (see tables 2 and 3). As these tables indicate, the type of experiment performed is
often dictated by the nature of the pedagogy employed. In a teacher-centered classroom,
lecture demonstrations are frequently used to illustrate physical principles. In a more student-
centered classroom, students learn by becoming more actively engaged in exploration and
experimentation.

Table 2: Various types of experiments used in physics teaching

Who is performing Type of experiment
- Teacher - conventional lecture demonstrations
- Teacher / students - hands-on demonstration experiments,
- Teacher / students (e.g. [1])
- “real” quantitative experiments with
scientific apparatus, ideal conditions,
- Students eliminating typical disturbances like
- Teacher / students friction …
- student experiments as homework
- Students - distant laboratories with remote control
- Teacher / students of experiments [2]

192
 - Third party / teacher / students - educational science games
- “computer experiments”
- science shows

Table 3: Various resources for experiments used in physics teaching

resource cost
Hardware for real experiments in
schools - expensive
- Professional equipment (teaching aids
from commercial sources) - medium priced
- Experimental kits/boxes (developed by - inexpensive
educators)
- Everyday materials

Out of school encounters with real

experiments - moderate, but with travel expenses
- Science centers, amusement parks [3] - free, but travel expenses involved,
- School / student labs (like in Germany) advance
[4] registration needed
- free, but travel expenses involved,
- Visit of scientific institutions (CERN, advance
Fermilab, etc.) registration needed

Use of virtual or distant experiments

- Remote control of experiments at distant - free, advance registration needed
sites [2] - free
- Television - moderate
- Computer programs, CD-Rom´s and
DVD´s

For teachers only: in service training

offers - moderate
- Teacher training seminars - moderate, but travel expenses involved
- Personal contacts/exchange at
conferences like [5,6] national meetings - moderate
… - free
- Teacher Journals [7]
- Outreach activities (ESA, NASA,
CERN, Fermilab...)

On the effectiveness of experiments in physics teaching

The effectiveness of experiments in the teaching of physics is difficult to measure.
Evaluation can be greatly affected by the instrument used. For example, in one study,
mentioned by Paul Doherty, two highly qualified physics teachers taught the same physics
course, one time with and another time without experiments. Following instruction, student
achievement on tests was found to be the same. It has been argued that the evaluation tool
used in this instance was biased and consequently influenced the result.

193
Performance studies may also be affected by the way in which the evaluation is done. For
example, multiple choice type tests are often ineffective when it comes to evaluating student
understanding. Studies using inappropriate instruments can be dangerous since they may be
used by politicians to argue that experiments are not necessary.

In the end, it may be that the enthusiasm and personality of the teacher and the mind set of
the students, both of which are intangible entities, are the most important factors in
determining the effectiveness of experiments.

School experiments for 20th century physics

To many teachers, the scope of modern physics is limited to Bohr’s model of the atom and
Einstein’s theory of relativity, i.e. physics which is 90 to 100 years old. Modern physics is of
course much more. Quantum mechanics, particle physics, cosmology, and material science
are of great interest to students and should be included in today’s physics curriculum. A
collection of simple, age-appropriate experiments are needed to adequately teach these rather
difficult topics.

Examples of experiments for teaching the theory of relativity, quantum physics,

superconductivity, semiconductors, computer technologies, material sciences/soft matter, and
so on, are readily available. Some examples are listed in Table 4.

Table 4: Examples of selected experiments in modern physics education

1) Using students to represent the sun, earth, Jupiter, and one of Jupiter’s moons in a
demonstration of one the first determinations of the speed of light (contribution
Girepseminar 2005).
2) Using rubber balls to represent the interaction of photons and electrons in the
photoelectric effect. (Micklavzina, Girepseminar 2005).
3) Performing an experiment illustrating light energy versus color (these and others,
see [8]).
4) Demonstrating the affect of relativity on the functioning of GPS [9].
5) Demonstrating computer technologies using eight strips made from magnetic tape
[8].
6) Prelude to superconductivity using jumping rings at room temperature and at LN2
temperature.
7) Silly Putty experiments to illustrate soft matter (contact Mojca.cepic@ijs.si )
8) A collection of demonstrations illustrating relativistic effects (contact per-
olof.nilsson@chalmers.se )
9) Chaos experiments (search www.google or http://www.psigate.ac.uk/newsite/ for
lecture demonstrations and chaos)

Outlook: the future of experiments in physics teaching

The technological advances that have occurred over the last few decades have had an
enormous influence on the equipment available for experiments in schools. The invention of
the transistor and semiconductor-based electronic devices such as the computer has brought
about a dramatic change in laboratory technologies. Similar scientific and technological
advances will certainly continue to be made in the future. As in the past, these will change
the apparatus and other experimental resources available to school teachers.

What will be the future of using experiments to teach physics in 2050? Members of our
discussion group shared their visions regarding technological developments and the use and

194
availability of old and new tools (movies, DVDs, www, distant lab learning facilities with
remote control of experiments, science centers etc.). These visions/feelings are listed in Table
5 without any further discussion.

Table 5: Visions of the use of experiments in physics teaching of 2050

1) Experiments will continue to play a central role in physics education, however
more will be computer based. Computer aided experiments will allow the
inclusion of frictional and other effects in simple experiments.
2) Experiments will always be needed to motivate students.
3) If we transfer our enthusiasm regarding the use of experiments to new teachers,
experiments will remain a key element in physics education. That is, the
experiments may stay the same, even though the materials used to demonstrate
them may change.
4) Simple hands on experiments will always have their place.
5) Teachers will remain central to physics education. Ultimately the learning derived
from experiments depends on three factors: the enthusiasm of the teacher, the
teachers mastery of the topic and the teachers experience.
6) We will continue to use every available tool to teach physics, including new
technologies. Problems associated with the teaching of physics will not change,
however the tools to deal with them will.
7) A goal of physics teaching will continue to be the development of critical
thinking skills.

References
[1] http://www.exploratorium.edu/explore/handson.html
[2] http://www.remote-lab.de/en/index.html
[3] http://www.ecsite.net/new/index.asp , http://www.astc.org/
[4] http://www.helmholtz.de/de/Helmholtz_als_Partner/Schuelerlabore.html
[5] Girep organization http://www.girep.org/ there are links to all conferences and seminars and one
may easily find links to the respectice on-line proceedings
[6] http://www.scienceonstage.net/main/default.asp
[7] Physics Education: http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/PhysEd; European Journal of Physics:
http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/EJP/ ; The Physics Teacher: http://scitation.aip.org/tpt/ ; American
Journal of Physics: http://www.kzoo.edu/ajp/
[8] http://www.exo.net/~pauld/
[9] http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/2000/pmpd0005.htm

195
Coupled Magnetic Pendulums and Other Hands-On Experiments with
Magnetic Toys

D. Allasia and G. Rinaudo

Physics Department, University of Torino, Italy

Magnetic toys are very popular because they offer the possibility to construct different
geometrical solids in an easy and reproducible way. Their bases are simple magnetic bars
and magnetizable spheres. Besides geometrical constructions, they offer the possibility of a
variety of experiments on magnetic aspects, both qualitative, to explore the spatial
distribution of the magnetic field, and more sophisticated, quantitative ones, to understand
magnetic coupling.
One of the most interesting is based on coupled magnetic torsion pendulums, prepared with
two magnetic bars made to oscillate rotationally at a given distance. By changing the
parameters, different experimental situations can be obtained, which can be simply
appreciated as a curiosity on the strength of the magnetic force but can also be analysed
quantitatively at a given distance, in terms of the equations of motion.

Magnetic necklace

A magnetic necklace can be easily made by attaching magnetizable steel spheres to one end
of a magnetic bar and closing the loop to the other end, which suggests the distribution of the
magnetic field inside the spheres (fig. 1).

S N
N
S S
N N
S S
N S N
S
N S N Figure 1

To further explore the distribution of the magnetic field, a second magnetic bar is brought
near one of the spheres in contact with the magnetic bar. If the nearest pole of the second bar
has the same polarity as the pole of the first bar, the spheres remain in their position, thus one
can infer that the field is not changed (figure 2a). If, on the contrary, the second magnet is
brought near the pole of opposite polarity, the spheres drop out on that side, because the
magnetic field inside the sphere changes distribution (figure 2b).

196
 S
S
N
N
S S N S N SN
N N SS
S
S SN
NS N
S
NS N
Figure 2a Figure 2b

Simple and double magnetic pendulum

A magnetic bar hanged to a tin string makes a simple compass that can be used to detect the
North-South direction or the presence of a magnetized object (Figure 3a). Composition of
magnetic fields in presence of magnets or magnetized objects can easily be studied. Also
torsional and linear oscillations can be observed as well as energy transfer from one
oscillation mode to the other.
With two magnetic bars, one can prepare a magnetic quadrupole, which is insensitive to the
direction of the earth’s magnetic field, but it is sensitive to the presence of near magnetized
objects (Figure 3b).
Octupoles can also be made in a similar way.

North

North
N
S
Figure 3a Figure 3b

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Coupled magnetic pendulum

Coupled magnetic torsional pendulums offer the possibility not only of stimulating
qualitative observations on magnetic coupling, but also of a quantitative analysis which, in
our opinion, helps to understand the energy transfer in coupled oscillators.
The experimental setup is simple. One needs a wooden support, two equal magnetic
pendulums prepared as explained above and a graduated rod to hang them at a given distance
(fig. 4).

Figure 4

In the following we will describe in detail a series of simple measurements that we did and
which require just a simple chronometer.
As a preliminary measure, we determined the torsional oscillation period Ts and
corresponding frequency of the single pendulum, ωs =2π/Ts, which is related to the elastic
torsion constant of the string and to the moment of inertia of the bar. In our case we found Ts
≈0.9 s. It is not easy to avoid the energy transfer from rotational to linear oscillations, as
explained above, but we checked that its characteristic time is much longer than Ts, so that in
the following study with coupled pendulums we could neglect it.
We then fixed the two pendulums at a given distance z and forced the first pendulum to
oscillate. A beating effect was observed with an energy transfer to the second pendulum with
90° phase difference, as expected. The beat frequency Ω, was clearly observed to increase
when the distance d between the two pendulums was decreased, because the coupling
between the pendulums was increasing.

We could easily measure the ratio r between the oscillation frequency ω and the beat
frequency Ω, which decreases as the distance d between the two pendulums decreases.
The clearest results were obtained with the pendulum axis roughly oriented along the earth’s
magnetic field (z axis), as shown in fig. 5, where the top view is displayed, with the positions
of the two bars in the (x,z) oscillation plane at the beginning. In this configuration the poles
of the two magnets at the minimum distance have opposite polarity, independently of the
distance. Taking into account, in first approximation, only the forces which act on the closest
poles, the displacement of magnet 1 from its equilibrium position creates a magnetic force
with components of opposite sign along the x direction.

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 x

x
1 x 2
z

d
Figure 5

With a series expansion of this force limited to the first order, we can thus write the coupled
equation of motion for the two pendulums:

d 2 x1
m = −kx1 + b( x 2 − x1 )
dt 2
(1)
d 2x
m 2 2 = −kx 2 − b( x 2 − x1 )
dt
The second term in each equation is the magnetic force, which acts as the coupling term
between the oscillators, since it depends on the positions of both magnets. As shown in most
text books [1], there are two possible solutions, one corresponding to the normal mode of
frequency ωa and the two oscillators moving in phase, the other corresponding to the normal
mode of frequency ωb and the two oscillators moving in opposite phase, where:

ω a = k / m ; ω b = (k + 2b) / m (2)

The general solution is the superposition of the two modes:

x1 = Aa sin(ωa t + α a ) + Ab sin(ωb t + α b )
x2 = Aa sin(ωa t + α a ) − Ab sin(ωb t + α b )

The values of the amplitudes A and of the phases α depend on the initial conditions. For the
initial conditions shown in fig. 5, we obtain:
x1 = A cos Ωt cos ωt
(3)
x2 = A sin Ωt sin ωt
where Ω and ω are respectively the beat and the oscillation frequencies:

ωb − ωa ωb + ωa
Ω= ; ω= (4)
2 2
Since ωa corresponds to the single free oscillation frequency, ωs, that we have measured, and
we can easily measure, for each configuration, the ratio r between the oscillation frequency ω
and the beat frequency Ω, we can determine the magnetic coupling parameter b:
2
ω 2b  1 + r 
ωa = k / m ; r = ; =  −1 (5)
Ω k 1− r 

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The results are shown in figures 6a, 6b, 6c, for three different values of the distance between
the magnets, with a computer calculation of the positions according to equations 3: by
decreasing the distance the beat frequency Ω increases, as expected because the coupling
becomes stronger, as reflected also in the relative value of the magnetic coupling b and the
elastic constant k.
The increase of b can be checked independently by rotating the graduated rod to bring it in a
direction orthogonal to the earth’s magnetic field: one clearly sees that the orientation
changes from being dominated by the earth’s magnetic field at large distance to the line
connecting the two pendulums at small distance.

1,5 x1 blue - x2 red

d =26 cm, r =8, 2b/k =0,7

0,5

-0,5

-1

-1,5
0 2 4 6 8
tim e (s )
10 12 14 16 Figure 6a
1,5 x1 blue - x2 red
d =18 cm, r =4, 2b/k =1,8

0,5

-0,5

-1

-1,5
0 2 4
tim e (s )
6 8 10 Figure 6b
1,5 x1 blue - x2 red
d =12 cm, r =2, 2b/k =8

0,5

-0,5

-1

-1,5
0 1 2 3 4 5 Figure 6c
tim e (s)

References
[1] See, for example, M. Alonso and E. Finn, Fundamental University Physics, Inter European
Editions, 1967

200
Digital Recording and Analysis of Physical Experiments

Jan Koupil, Leos Dvorak

Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Jan.Koupil@mff.cuni.cz

Introduction

The main goal of this contribution is to present video recordings and videoanalyses as well as
a sound card measurement that might help students to understand physics better. All of the
ideas are intended for teachers at schools who can make and analyse their own recordings,
not just copy the recorded source material from somewhere.

The digital camcorder or even a digital camera capable of taking a video sequence is a great
tool helping us to record and analyze movement, to slow it down, to find significant points
(such as the turning point) etc. According to the number of computers among students it is
even possible to do an experiment in the class and let the students to analyze it as homework.
The experiments are chosen to fit high school level physics or the basic physics course at
university level.

Capabilities of the technology

The most straightforward way of doing an analysis of some motion (using a computer) is to
record it by a camcorder, capture the video and analyze it in some videoanalysis software.
Using this method we are able to get (usually) 25 frames (images) per second (called FPS),
having the PAL resolution of 720x576 pixels which is enough for watching even a fast
motion, but is not enough for its analysis. Only slower motions can be analyzed with
sufficient accuracy. On the other hand, most school experiments may be effectively done
using this simple technology.

If we, for any reason, need a higher “sampling frequency” (more images per second), we can
deinterlace video footage in a specific way. Each frame captured by a standard camcorder
consists of two sets of lines where the even lines were taken one fiftieth of a second earlier
than the odd lines. If we divide these sets of lines into two following frames, we get a movie
with 50 FPS and half vertical resolution (720 x 288 pixels). For an even higher FPS rate we
have to use a special fast camera.

Another approach to the measurement is to use the computer’s soundcard which is in fact an
AD converter capable of measuring alternating electrical signal at the rate of (usually)
48 kHz. The layout of such an experiment is different from the layout of a video
measurement. An example which will show how it is possible to measure and analyze a
mechanical experiment using a soundcard will be described later in the text.

The choice of experiments

We had three criteria how to choose the experiment:

201
 • The video has to bring something new in approach, physics comprehension etc. We
didn’t want to make things that were done many times ago in just a slightly different
way.
• The studied phenomenon must be simple (or simplified) enough to enable making a
mathematical model. Otherwise students would just measure some values without
any possibility to find out whether the data do correspond with reality.
• The aim has to be reachable with used technology (concerning mostly problems
with limited time or image resolution)

The software we used

All of the processes described in this text might be done using only freeware tools. However,
the use of more sophisticated commercial programs can make the work more comfortable.

• The videos were captured, cut and exported in the VirtualDub software [1]. The
videoanalysis was performed in Viana [2]. There are more videoanalysis tools to be
found on the internet, for example DAVID or DiVA and they all should more or
less do the work.
• To measure the angles we used CorelDraw Software, but any editor capable of
showing cursor coordinates would work. One example for all is the open source
bitmap editor GIMP [3].
• Recording and analysis of soundcard signal was done in the Adobe Audition. Once
again, all the work can be done using freeware sound recorder/editor like Audacity
[4].

Experiment 1 – Falling rod

This is a simple experiment concerning the

basics of rigid body mechanics where also the
mathematical model can be easily made. Just
take a homogeneous rod or tube stand it on one
end and let it fall down in a direction
perpendicular to the direction of camera view
(see Fig. 1).

There are (or at least I found) three main points

where to aim interest:

• Angular velocity of the rod – the

videoanalysis software is capable to
give us positions of a selected point of
the rod (usually its end) at certain times.
Some kinds of the software also exports
the velocity, otherwise we have to count
it ourselves. On the other hand, this is
an exercise that can explain to students
Figure 1: Falling rod
how numerical derivatives work.
• The measured velocities can be
compared to values predicted by the mathematical model and the correspondence is
usually very satisfying.

202
 • Acceleration of the end of the rod – the acceleration of the rod’s end is higher than
gravity acceleration in some part of the motion. This fact might be surprising and it
is a good point to let the students think about and explain.
• The end of the movement – at the very end of the falling, something strange
happens. If we didn’t somehow fix the axis of rotation, the rod will start moving
forward. On first sight this is in conflict with theory because we all know that if the
rod didn’t have fixed the axis and there were no friction, it should just fall down and
the centre of mass shouldn’t move in horizontal direction. In other words, the
bottom end rod would slide backwards.
• The explanation is quite simple – the rod didn’t slide at the beginning because the
axis was fixed by frictional force, therefore the mass centre gained momentum. At
the end the friction isn’t strong enough to fix the axis any more and the rod starts to
move in forward direction.

Points to take care of:

• It is necessary to take into the shot some kind of a “ruler” (e.g. set of marks) to
know the scale of the image that is required when making analysis. Because of
different standards used in video compression by different algorithms and software,
it is better to put two rulers in both vertical and horizontal direction to make sure
that the scale is same in both directions. (It is not unusual that pixels in captured clip
aren’t square but the aspect ratio is 1:1.067 while the analysis software interprets
them as squares.)
• Take more shots, not just one, and choose the one where the rod did fall in the
direction most perpendicular to the camera view.
• Have plenty of light and use short shutter times, the images will be sharper. For this
reason also use the non-interlaced mode, if possible.
• If you do not wish to show the forward movement at the end of the fall, fix the
rotation axis with some kind of a hinge.

Experiment 2 – Rolling bodies on a cylinder

Put some kind of round object on top of a cylindrical surface and let it roll down. At some
point the object leaves the surface and starts a free fall. The question is where – at which
angle or height – the point of leaving lies. Almost every physicist has once solved this
problem during his studies, but none has ever seen. We have, and if you take your camera,
you and your students can see it too.

This experiment differs from the previous one because it is a good idea to use long shutter
times here. If the diameter of the cylinder is small, it is hard to distinguish the point, while if
it is big, the movement is too fast for the camcorder. However, we can make use of it:
because of long shutter times, we can find one single frame in the clip that contains both
movement in contact with the surface and the free fall (Fig. 2). On this single image we can
measure whatever interests us.

203
 Figure 2: Smaller cylinder at the point of leaving the larger one,
angle measurement in CorelDraw

While doing this experiment, we used three rolling objects: a ball, a tube and a full cylinder.
When compared to theory, we can see that the measured angle of the leaving point is slightly
bigger than its theoretical value in all three cases, and the difference is quite the same for all
three objects (see Table 1). This difference may be explained by energy loss due to friction.
On the other hand, it is clear that the angle depends on the body’s momentum of inertia (a
ball of same mass and diameter has lower momentum of inertia than a cylinder or a tube) and
the dependence agrees with theory.
theory measured
ball 54.0° (57.9 ± 1.1)°
cylinder 55.2° (58.2 ± 1.4)°
tube 60.0° (62.7 ± 1.7)°

Table 1: Points of leaving for different bodies

Points to take care of:

• You don’t need rulers here because the result is not dependent on scale. You only
need to assure that in your image editor the cylinder hasn’t an elliptical shape
instead of round (once again the problem with non-square pixels as mentioned
above might emerge).
• Place your camera as far as possible and use zoom. This ensures that the angle can
be easily seen from the crucial image, otherwise the body could be hidden behind
the edge of the cylinder and the measured value would be even higher.
• If you like to, draw marks at certain angles directly onto the cylinder. The
measurement will be easier, however a bit less accurate.

204
Experiment 3 – Acceleration on an inclined plane

This experiment uses soundcard instead of camera to study motion. Take a round object (like
the ones in previous experiment) with white or at least bright surface and colour half of if
with a permanent marker to black. Instead of a microphone plug a phototransistor into the
microphone input of the soundcard (this works without any more electrical parts). Now put
the body on an inclined plane and let it roll down. Using your hand follow the rolling body
with the phototransistor and record the generated signal.

Figure 3: Schematic experiment layout

The phototransistor is open when the bright half of the body is visible to it and closed during
the black half. Therefore we get an alternating signal with frequency rising with velocity.
Because every switching of colour means that the body has travelled a distance equal to one
half of its circumference, we may construct a time-distance dependence graph and fit a
parabola into the points. The correlation is very convincing and assures us that the movement
has constant acceleration (Fig. 4).
0,700

0,600
R2 = 0,99999
0,500
distance [m]

0,400

0,300

0,200

0,100

0,000
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2 1,4 1,6

tim e [s ]

Figure 4: Dependence of travelled distance on time on an inclined plane

As in previous two cases, it is easy to measure the angle of inclination of the board, count a
theoretical value of the acceleration and compare it to measured data. Again, the acceleration
is slightly lower than the theoretical value due to friction. To prove this, we made a
measurement with a ball on a hard plastic board and on cloth (Table 2). The angle was α =
12.1°.

205
 theory a=1.46 m.s-2
plastic board a=1.38 m.s-2
cloth a=1.06 m.s-2

Table 2: Measurement of acceleration on different surfaces

Points to take care of:

• The microphone input has to be powered, which is true for most sound cards but not
for all of them. We have met a few (laptop) soundcards where there was only one
input, same for both link and microphone signal and the connection of
phototransistor was more complicated.
• When reading the time from audio software, make sure what the units on the time
scale are. These might be as well seconds or CD frames as samples, whereas some
of them are “real” time units and some correspond to the sampling frequency.

Conclusion

The aim of this text was to inspire other teachers and show them a possible and available tool
(or method) that can be used in physics teaching. Because most of the software tools or their
equivalents are downloadable free of charge and also other hardware used (besides camera
and computer of course) is very cheap, this might be an interesting complement to the
traditional approach to school measurements.

References
[1] VirtualDub: video editing software, http://www.virtualdub.org
[2] Viana: videoanalysis software, http://didaktik.physik.uni-essen.de/viana
[3] GIMP: image manipulation software, http://www.gimp.org
[4] Audacity: sound editing software, http://audacity.sourceforge.net

206
Hands-On Sensors for the Exploration of Light Polarization

Marisa Michelini, Alberto Stefanel

Research Unit in Physics Education, University of Udine, Italy

michelini@fisica.uniud.it, stefanel@fisica.uniud.it

Introduction

Simple systems, based upon sensors computer on-line, offer new learning opportunities. [1-
4]. These are proposed for experimental interactive explorations also in informal learning
contexts as a powerful extension of the senses [5-6]. In the field of optical physics they allow
the exploration of optical properties, usually addressed only in advanced physical studies [1,
7-8]. Optical polarization becomes in this context a property which can be observed both in
common everyday phenomena [9-12], and in phenomena that are interpretative challenges in
the classic and quantum context [13-17]. Thus by nature it provides a fertile terrain for the
formation of theoretical thought and in particular for the critical analysis of interpretive
models of light.
In the context of our research into physics didactics, we initiated a broad study for the
planning of a didactic learning path for optic polarization. This involved four research
projects in physical studies (1a-1) whose rationale is explained through the following
objectives: the recognition of light polarization as a property of light and the exploration of
its qualitative characteristics through quantative experiments in everyday contexts. In
particular we attempt to develop Moduli di Lavoro Esemplari (MLE) (Exemplary Working
Models) and Procedures, using relative didactic and experimental material in order to
recognise polarization in phenomena of light interaction (reflection, diffusion, transmission)
with different materials; to determine the principal macroscopic phenomenological laws; to
identify its nature in order to compare macroscopic and microscopic meaning of the results
of various processes; to utilise it to comprehend certain basic assumptions of quantum
mechanics and to lay the foundations of formalised thought.
In this work we focus our attention upon the proposal of informal education based upon
experimental exploration in the context of a hands-on exhibit ‘Games, Experiments, Ideas’
(GEI) [6, 18]. The method of realisation is qualified both in operative and methodological
terms through the apparatus devised for the hands-on activity and through the cultural and
learning environment, of which light polarization becomes a vehicle. In this way we must:
1. recognise polarization as a property of the explorable light through its intensity, but
not coinciding with it;
2. connect qualitative sensorial information with quantitative sensorial information in
the same operative context.
The definition and the characteristics of the proposal synthesized here were experimented in
2004 and 2005 using the material described, involving: 800 primary school children in the
informal context of cognitive laboratories associated with the GEI exhibit and the MIUR
initiatives related to L6/2000 for 2004 and 2005 in Udine; 700 secondary school pupils in
Palermo on the occasion of demonstrations organized for WYP-2005; 24 students of final
year secondary school in Udine, in a pilot experiment on the introduction of quantum
physics.

207
The characteristics of materials and strategies for usage

A series of 20 hands-on experiments using poor and common materials such as: 1) calcite
crystals (Iceland Spar), bought in mineral shops, to recognize and characterize polarization
by bi-refraction; 2) refracting surfaces such as acetate, glass or plexiglas sheets where it is
possible to study polarization through reflection and transmission; 3) glass or plexiglas
containers, to study polarization by diffusion, and optical activity in sugar solutions. Basic
apparatus was assembled in wood or plexiglas, easily obtained and utilised, according to the
characteristics of the GEI exhibit for organizing optical support systems for the
aforementioned materials. [6-18].
To produce and analysize polarized light one can use rectangular cut-outs of polaroid
sheeting, available in optical shops. A rectangular shape was chosen for a macroscopic
representation of the two right-angled directions associated with the anisotropy of the
structure of the polaroid, which determines its polarizing property. In this way we placed the
basis of a formal representation of light polarization through a vector.
The sources of light (both polarized or non-polarized) used in this context were chosen with
same criteria of simplicity and low cost: a) pen-light, using a 3V battery which generates
sufficiently intense and regular non-polarized light beams ( ≈ 0.2 W rad −1 ); b) low-powered
laser lights (≤1 mW) using flat batteries, that produce an almost totally polarized light that is
sufficiently monochromatic and regular (less than 1%).
The qualitative phenomenological explorations take place before to the naked eye.
Measurements of relative light intensity are made with medium sensibility commercial light
sensors [19-20]. A preliminary preparation phase is always necessary to calibrate the system
according to the actual conditions of operation, involving a simple set-up toward in the
linearity range of the sensor (e.g.: screening of high intensity light source, focalization of
weak beams with lenses).

Figure 1: Home-made apparatus for measuring Malus' law

The apparatus for measuring the law of Malus (fig.1) is representative of the technical
choices carried out for all exhibit apparatuses: small blocks of wood shaped accordingly
function as supports for light sources and polaroid sheets; the various elements are aligned
using the laser light beam; it is not necessary to use a optics bench; it is not essential to
darken the working area. The apparatus is made up of two Polaroid sheets: the first is fixed
on the wooden support; the second is attached to a rotating support made of two cylindrical

208
bronze sleeves, one inserted inside the other to obtain a stable rotation around an axis. The
external cylinder is fixed into a groove on the wooden support. The internal cylinder is given
an index for the manual measuring of the angle of rotation of fixed polaroid sheet. The light
beam produced by a pen-light or a laser incides on the first fixed polaroid. An on-line sensor
shows the intensity of the light transmitted by the second rotating polaroid. For a consistent
result it is important that relative position of source and sensor remain fixed.
The modularity and flexibility of the apparatus are a pivot in the approach to
phenomenology, as each step toward a conceptual understanding is accompanied by a step
toward formalization of learning concepts. In an operative context what is obtained through
an analytical cycle of hypotheses is then confronted with phenomenology, an understanding
of which emerges from experimental exploration dictated by the very same hypotheses. In
this sense previsions of the significant variables of the experiment are particularly
challenged, requiring graph projections to determine relationship between variables. For each
problem explored it is required to produce analogies and differences between previsions and
obtained results.

From phenomenological exploration to measurement

Light sensors constitute a natural extension of the human eye in the path from qualitative
level to the quantative level in the informal context. In the first qualitative phase we explore
light intensity from the same source with the naked eye, when observed through several
polaroids with variations in the angle formed on the long edge of the polaroid (fig. 2a). We
used both light sources available and/or a over head projector.
The basic apparatus used allows not only exploration but also good quality results with
minimal effort. It is suitable for use in a didactic laboratory setting, as in an informal context,
where the speed of execution and immediate results are the key elements.
Therefore we must compare the graph projection with what comes into being in real time on
the computer, when we acquire the intensity I for each angle O, in which the polaroid under
analysis rotates (fig. 2b) with the light sensor [19].

a) b)

Figure 2: a) 4 polaroids, rotated 30° with respect to each other, are placed on a single
polaroid sheet. b) Simulation of real time a graph I = I(Θ) construction.

209
In figure 3 we see the sample results acquired with the non-polarized white light and with the
polarized laser, in a typical activity of the GEI exhibit. With only around ten measuring
points we obtain a linear correlation between I and cos Θ , i.e. less than 1%. For the laser
2

light we obtain a minimum which is practically zero [11] and we thus recognise the law of
Malus in its usual form: I = I max cos 2 Θ .

a b c

Figure 3: a) Apparatus utilized with a laser as light source. b) Graphics I = I(Θ) and c)
I = I(cos 2 Θ) , for the white light (series 2) and laser light (series 1).

Polarization: a property of light

The following strategy of an operative characterization of polarization as a property of light

was devised after a series of cognitive investigations of spontaneous interpretations of the
elementary phenomenology observed.
We examined the polaroids placed on the overhead projector (OHP) (fig.4a). We asked
ourselves whether the light coming from the source and that shining through the polaroid
sheet had the same properties.

Figure 4: a) On the left: Polaroid placed on OHP. b) On the right: the intensity of the light
transmitted from parallel polaroids decreases, but the polarization is the same.

By eye we see that the intensity of the light produced from the OHP and that transmitted
through the polaroid are different. The first remains constant, although this is reduced when
we observe this with eye through a second polaroid, (the analysing device), rotated in the
direction of the observer. We recognise that the light transmitted from a polaroid possesses a
property (polarization) which is not possessed by that coming from the whiteboard where it
is placed. This property depends entirely on the orientation of the polaroid, as one may easily
recognize by analyzing the light transmitted by several parallel polaroids (fig. 4b).

210
 a) b)

c)

Figure 5: Iconographic representation of light polarization. a) light passes through several

polaroids placed in order to achieve maximum transmission. It possesses a property that is
characteristic of the specific orientation of the polaroids and can be represented by an equal
number of symbols of the same type. b) light polarized at 45°, with properties represented by
the symbol ◊, strikes a vertical polaroid. The transmitted light acquires a new property,
represented by: ∆.
c) Representation of polarization with an arrow/vector.

The association of iconic symbols, already at this level of qualitative description of

phenomena, allows us to build representations (models) that convey the articulated
enumeration of situations in which light is polarized not only by selective transmission, but
also by bi-refraction, reflection and diffusion. In our experience with students the following
two representations occurred spontaneously:

• Vectorial (fig. 5c), where the principal direction of polarization is represented with
an arrow (vector) parallel to the longest side of the polaroid;
• Iconographycal, whereby one attributes an icon to each type (and direction) of
polarization, as in fig. 5a (2), suggesting the possibility that two parallel polaroids
transmit light with the same polarization (or the same property), in spite of
decreasing intensity.

The vectorial representation immediately poffers the interpretation of the law of Malus.
Representation by icon defines the active role of the polaroid filter in its interaction with the
light: this determines the properties of polarization of the light passing through it (in
iconography terms it fixes the symbol representing light polarization after it has passed fig.
5b).
The passive role of all filters in diminishing intensity by absorption and reflaction, highlights
the problem of intensity, given its role of representing the state of the polarization. The
students found two ways to represent intensity in relation to the state of polarization,
emerging from informal discussion: 1) a continuous role where the symbol representing the
state of polarization is shown by dimensions in proportion to the intensity of the polarized
light, as though this intensity were concerned with polarization alone and no other properties
of light; 2) a discret role where the symbol that represents the state of polarization possesses
a multiplicity (a number of discreet iconic elements) which is proportional to the intensity.

211
Conclusions

We were able to define a proposal for activities in the informal context concerning light
polarization, which is based upon an operative approach which can be proposed at various
levels.
It requires simple apparatus made from readily available materials and uses solutions that
utilize the potential of the human eye in exploring light intensity, which characterizes the
state of light polarization. It proposes the use of on-line sensors as extensions of the senses,
to build a path from a qualitative dimension to a quantitative dimension of the
phenomenology. Assembly is simple due to the versatile solutions provided by the apparatus.
The experimental explorations do not require technical systems of alignment. It proposes the
analysis on a conceptual level of observation and actual experiments, carried out in an
informal context and therefore favouring the imaginative reduction of concepts, in order to
developing formal thinkimg.
This path foresees the construction of polarization as a property of light, which is operatively
isolated through the study of its intensity, to be then is recognised in an everyday context
characterized by simple phenomenological laws. Interpretation is an autonomous phase
where the students produce spontaneous representations, which constitute the basis for a
reading of polarization as a quantistum property of the state of the system. Vectorial
representations, useful for the formal description of phenomenological laws in a classical
framework, in fact provide the tools for recognising in a quantistum framework the status
autovector of a property whose character (autovalue) may be represented also
iconographically at the first level. In this way the representation of the intensity of light
polarization acquires differentiations, which carry out a problematic role with respect to the
nature of light and to the properties of polarization associated with it.
The operative context indicated how it is possible to work with the intensity and polarization
of light, which appear to be indistinguishable in reality, through hands-on activities. The
representation of polarization through a vector pays tribute to the law of Malus, while an
iconographic representation highlights the active role of the polaroid. The representation of
intensity as a parameter of iconic magnification amplifies the arrow or symbol used to
characterize the specific polarization, remaining purely on a descriptive level.
The experiments carried out allowed us to highlight the worthiness of these proposals in the
development of formal thought, rendered more effective through the informal manner used in
experimental exploration.

Notes
(1) In the course of the Progetto SeCiF (Spiegare e Capire in Fisica/Explaining and
Understanding in Physics), PRIN-MIUR 1999-2000, a didactic proposal on polarization was
developed for high school. During the Progetto NOAI (Nuove occasioni si apprendimento
informale/New cases of informal learning), L6/2000-MIUR 2004, working prototypes for
most of the experiments were devised and refined. During the Progetto Interreg III – Italia -
Slovenia, 2004-2006, working models in the informal context were developed and tested, and
the results were recoreded on work-sheets in order to be used in hands-on demonstrations.
We are also developing work-sheets for teachers illustrating single experiments and work-
sheets for class activities to be proposed as Moduli di Lavoro Esemplari/Exemplery Work
Modules (MRE), in the ambit of the Progetto Fis21, PRIN-MIUR 2004-2006.
(2) Iconographic representation was introduced to characterize the quantum state of
polarization of photons in previous experiments [16, 17].

212
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GIREP-ICPE Book (Udine: Forum-GIREP) p 216-220
[9] O’Connell J 1999 Optics Experiments Using a Laser Pointer, The Phys. Teach. 37, 445-446
[10] Benenson R E 2000 Light Polarization Experiments with Diode Laser Pointer, The Physics
Teacher, 38, 44-46
[11] Easton D 2001 Transmission through Crossed Polaroid Filters, The Phys. Teach, 39, 231-233
[12] Ouseph P J, Driver K and Conklin J 2001 Polarization of light by reflection and the Brewster
angle, Am. J. Phys. 69 (11) 1166-1168
[13] French A P 1975 Experimental Bases for Quantum Ideas, in A.Loria, P.Thomsen, ed., Seminar on
the Teaching of Physics in Schools 2 (Gyldendal: Girep) 258-272
[14] Cobal M, Corni F, Michelini M, Santi L, Stefanel A 2002 A resource environment to learn optical
polarization, in Physics in new fields, Girep Int. Conference proceedings (Lund: Girep)
[15] Cobal M, Corni F, Michelini M 2002 Thinking on vectors and formal description of the light
polarization for a new educational approach, in M Michelini, M Cobal eds, Developing Formal
Thinking in Physics (Udine: Girep-Forum) 310-319
[16] Ghirardi GC, Grassi R, Michelini M 1995 A Fundamental Concept in Quantum Theory: The
superposition Principle, in C Bernardini et al Eds Thinking Physics for Teaching (New York:
Plenum Press) 329-334
[17] Michelini M, Ragazzon R, Santi L, Stefanel A 2000 Proposal for quantum physics in secondary
school, Physics Education, 35 (6) 406-410
[18] Michelini M ed. 1996 Games, Experiments, Ideas - From low cost materials to computer on-line
(Udine: Forum)
[19] Pasco scientific at www.pasco.com
[20] Vernier Software and Hardware at www.vernier.com
[21] Meyer-Arendt J R 1972 Introduction to classical and modern optics (Englewood: Prentice-Hall)
cap 3.5

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From the Internet to Classrooms and a Workshop to the Final Product

Valentin Peternel

Vocational School for Technical Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia

valentin.peternel1@guest.arnes.si

By means of the data and the information’s from web sides we worked out a solar stove. The
teachers of general subjects and the teachers of professional theory cooperated in this project
work. The students were also included in partial tasks of this project. First some partial tasks
like working out a solar stove, technical and technological documentation were included in
learning process at subjects: technology, drawing and machine elements and practical work.
In the next step we tried to connect learning matter at physics and mathematics with
phenomena that is playing in the solar stove. At English language we achieved some general
aims above all with studying materials from web sides. The initiator of this project was the
principle of our school. But the project work began to live because of excellent cooperation
of physics teacher and practical work teacher.

Presentation Of The Project Work

The use of alternative sources of energy is subject that young students should deal with it in
secondary school. With this project we tried to inform our students with possibility of
exploiting the solar energy. Beside this we tried to initiate the project work at general and
professional subjects. With our work we went towards that sort of teaching that should take
place in vocational school. It concerns the idea of that sort of education and qualification,
when the students is preparing through the whole studying to the ending product. All the
teachers who teach the subjects of the certain program should cooperate with their own
contribution.
A group of teachers was formed that worked out with a help of students a project work – the
solar stove. The students were forms in different groups. Each group has it owns partial task:

1. group made out a technical documentation,

2. group made out a technological documentation,
3. group made out a solar stove,
4. group has to make measurements,
5. group was searching the data and the information with that sort of technology in the world,
6. group has represented our project work on national competitions and meetings.

Sun Energy

The power of radiation of the Sun is about 0.5 quadrillion of kilowatts. Only two parts of
milliard of that energy flow the Earth receives. The radiation that all the others planets
receive doesn’t exceed one thousandth percent of the whole emitted radiation. The amount of
99.99 percent of the Sun radiation is lost in the space. Sun energy comes to the Earth in the
form of electromagnetic waves. Approximately 47% of that energy is visible light, 46% infra
red ( IR ) light and 7% ultra violet ( UV ) rays.

214
The whole potential of the sun radiation in Slovenia amounts to around 23000TWh, which is
over 300 times more than our usage of primary energy. Some new studies show that the
technically disposable potential is 960GWh per year with technologies that we possess today.
The data of the number of the hours of solar radiation for some places in the year 1993 show
that there are no essential differences in the duration of the exposure to the sun, except for
Primorska region (the coastal area). In general, the data which include the influence of
cloudiness can be applied to the whole Slovenian territory. Throughout the year, 1m2 of flat
ground receives around 1100kWh of sun energy: approximately 320kWh in the spring,
480kWh in summer, 190kWh in autumn and 110kWh in winter.

A Short View In The History

Till today many devices that exploit the sun energy were constructed and produced. The
review of the sun devices in spite of the limitation on sun ovens would exceed the frame of
this writing. That’s why I’ll mention only the solar furnace that was built up in Slovenia.
Prof. dr. Ciril Rekar constructed a solar furnace that is shown on Figure 1. Institute for
Metallurgy in Ljubljana has built experimental solar furnace near Piran at Slovenian coast in
the year 1960. The solar furnace with power 1.5kW was built up for research tasks. In the
focus of the parabolic mirror a temperature of about 2800oC was measured. Such a high
temperatures are needed for serial of metallurgical researches, for production of extremely
clear metals and their alloys, for melting hard meltable materials, etc.

Figure 1: Solar furnace in Piran, Slovenia

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Our Realization Of The Solar Stove

By means of the data and the information’s from web sides we worked out a solar stove [4].

Dimension
parameters:
– diameter of mirror:
1 400 mm
– transverse area: 1,54 m2
– focal point 280 mm
distance: 460 mm
– depth of parable: φ320 mm
– opening for the pot: 1 500 mm
– length of the stove: 827 mm
– width of the stove: 1 490 mm
– height of the stove:
Working parameters:
– power of the stove:
600 W (estimation)
– starting time:
1 hour after sunrise
– ending time:
1 hour before sunset
– time of warming
15 – 25 minutes
up:
– control of the direct
by a screw
incidence of
deviation from the
radiation:
direction of the
– regulation of
incidence of radiation
temperature:
Figure 2: Solar Stove

The Treatment Of The Theme At Some Subjects

First some partial tasks like working out a solar stove, technical and technological
documentation were included in learning process at subjects: technology, drawing and
machine elements and practical work. In the next step we tried to connect learning matter at
physics and mathematics with phenomena that is playing in the solar stove. At English
language we achieved some general aims above all with studying materials from web sides.

INCLUDING THE THEME AT SUBJECT ‘’PRACTICAL WORK’’

The teacher can lead the students from preparing material, production of basic constutient
parts, protection of surfaces, to the final mounting the constutient parts.

216
 Figure 3: Cutting Figure 4: Drilling

THE TREATMENT OF THE THEME AT SUBJECT ‘’TECHNOLOGY’’

The teacher can lead the students from basic constituent parts and technological methods in
the first year to the ending technological proceedings and to final product in the third year.
The teacher can teach the students how to choose and use technological methods, starting
with the preparation of materials and tools, through the usage of appropriate technology, to
the ending control and preparation of the data for marketing the product.
In connection with this subject the students worked out the technological documentation for
this project. A part of the whole technological documentation is presented in Figure 5.

Figure 5: An example of the technological sheet

THE TREATMENT OF THE THEME AT SUBJECT ‘’DRAWING AND MACHINE

ELEMENTS’’

The teacher informs the students with basics standard elements that the solar stove is
consisted of. The students should learn and receive knowledge about the basic skills for
preparing technical documentation. The teacher informs the students with possibilities of
drawing and constructing with personal computer, leads and directs them for producing the
technical documentation. In connection with this subject the students worked out the
technical documentation for this project (Fig. 6).

217
 Figure 6: The part of the technical documentation

THE TREATMENT OF THE THEME AT SUBJECT ‘’MATHEMATICS’’

The equation for paraboloid (Fig. 8) and parabola in x-y plain can be determined at subject
mathematics for solar stove. The procedure is definitely simple, if the starting point of the
coordinate system is put on the top of parabola. It is necessary to measure only one point on
parabola. The most convenient is to choose the point at the end of the parabolic mirror.
The teacher can inform the students with possibility of copying of quadratic parabola over
the median line of the first and third quadrant of the coordinate system. On the basis of the
parabola equation it is possible to calculate single points and to check them on the product.
The formation of the parabola as a cross section of a cone with planes can be informatively
presented. I see the main advantage of including the solar stove to the theme mentioned
above in motivation element at the learning process.

0
X

Z
Figure 7: Solar stove Figure 8: Paraboloid

The equation for the parabolid of our solar stove is: z2 + y2 = 1120x.
The equation for the parabola in the x-y plane is: y2 = 1120x.
The equation for the quadratic function is: y = x2 / 1120 .

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THE TREATMENT OF THE THEME AT SUBJECT ‘’PHYSICS’’

The treated theme can be connected with discussion of the temperature, the internal energy
and the optical reflections at the learning matter of the fourth and fifth class of the vocational
program of education. Warming the water and measuring the temperature can be
experimentally worked out with solar stove. Concrete measured values can be used at the
discussion of the energy law. The teacher can use the solar device for demonstration one of
the ways of transferring the heat. The solar device is very efficient at learning the basic
working conception at mirrors.
At physics we first tried to establish the amount of the density of solar flux that fall on solar
stove. We measured that quantity with special measuring device that was made by the
students. In this purpose we had to measure the temperature of the measuring plate and the
temperature of the surroundings. After ten minutes the temperature measurement was
repeated. The temperature was measured with the digital thermometer Impac Tastotherm (
NiCr – NiAl ).

Figure 9: Measurement of temperature Figure 10: Preparing the water

In the next step the heat flow rate that fall down to the measuring plate of our instrument was
calculated. The starting point is energetic equation, at which is assumed that the difference of
internal energy is equal direct incidence of light energy. The light flow rate estimated in such
a way assumed to be 4,2W. After calculation the light flow rate that is directed on the surface
of measuring black plate, the density of light flow rate was calculated and estimated to
420W/m2. That quantity of the density of light flow rate was also directed on the solar stove.
Because the cross area of solar stove is essentially bigger than the measuring plate, the heat
flow rate will be higher. Cross area through which the light flow rate is directed is equal to
the superficial contents of the circle that is made by the external edge of the paraboloid. It is
possible to calculate the surface of circle, if the diameter of the external ring is known. So the
light flow rate that is directed on solar stove was calculated by means of known density light
flow rate and cross area of the solar stove and estimated to be approximately 650W. If we
deal with ideal reflection of light, we could say that all light flow rate reflects from the
surface of the parabolic mirror. In that case incident flow rate could be defined as a power of
our solar stove.
Exact data about albedo of the parabolic mirror is not available. We estimated that 90% of
incident light flow rate is reflected. In that case the power of our solar device is 600W.
Further estimations, such as the time needed for boiling one liter of water can be made, if we
trust the measurements and calculations, mentioned above. First it is necessary to measure
one liter of water with measuring cylinder and after that to measure the starting temperature
of the water. Already known energy equation can be used for calculating the time of boiling.

219
We estimated that warming one liter of water from 15 degrees of Celsius, as the temperature
of pipe water was, to the boiling temperature, should last 10 minutes. Of course we tested it.
It worked out that the water boiled up after 20 minutes. It is necessary to mention that the
weather was windy, so a great amount of heat was taken away by convection. So, the power
of our solar device would be 300W if the weather conditions are taken into account ( that
would be nonsensical ).

THE TREATMENT OF THE THEME AT SUBJECT ‘’ENGLISH LANGUAGE’’

The students develop at the subject ‘’English language’’ the skills of reading, talking, writing
and listening in the way that:
They are searching for suggested web sides, searching additional web sides on the theme of
protection of the environment and use of solar energy, searching similar pages in books,
magazines and newspapers ( autonomous learning ) and with reading interesting authentic
texts, that are real connected with other subjects and with real life circumstances spontaneous
practicing different reading techniques ( precise reading, reading for understanding the
essence, reading for searching the certain information ) – reading.
The students can represent the working of solar stove in English language, the presentation
can be recorded by video camera and can be shown in other classes. The theme is more
interesting, because the schoolfellow are talking and because the solar stove is actually
present, worked out and itself excites interest and motivation. Representation is the basis for
discussion – talking and listening.
At reading texts that are the basis for discussion and during presentation of the project, the
students are writing the notes, they are writing the key words and they are working out the
reflection pattern. This activity can be followed by description and presentation of similar
usage of the alternative sources of energy that was recognized by the students during the
reading and rummaging on the literature, by writing an essay about civilized and personal
relation to the environment, by writing the environmental diary, by including the theme in
international projects, … - writing.

Conclusion

As it was mentioned in the beginning, the Sun as the source of energy, was causing the
creative disturbances and technical creativity during the whole human existence. The
conditions for living are improving and the living period of the inhabitants is rising with
rapid development of the sciences and the technologies. All that is mentioned is connected
with higher consumption of energy per inhabitant. Limited quantities of the fossil fuel, the
space and the potential limitations of the hydro energetic power plants, are stimulating for
longer period of time to use alternative and technologically and ecologically acceptable
sources of energy that solar energy definitely is. Yong experts should be prepared in the
convenient way, for these purposes. We are aware that our project work is only a drop of
water in the ocean. But we must start somewhere, … .

References
[1] Marjan Hribar et al; Elektrika, svetloba in snov; Modrijan; Ljubljana, 1997,
[2] Janez Strnad; Fizika, Drugi del, Elektrika / Optika; DMFA Slovenije; Ljubljana, 1995,
[3] Rudolf Kladnik; Energija, toplota, zvok, svetloba; DZS; Ljubljana, 2002,
[4] ARBA MINCH SOLAR INITIATIVE; http://home.germany.net/100-441770/ ,
[5] Solar Cooking Plans; http://www.solarcooking.org ,
[6] EG Solar; http://www.eg-solar.de .

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Hands-On Experiments on Magnetism and Superconductivity

Grzegorz Karwasz1,2) , Eryk Rajch2), Ania Kamińska2), Luigi Gratton1), Greg Ireson3)
, Wim Peeters4), Vegard Engstrøm5)

“Supercomet 2” Leonardo da Vinci EU network

1)
Università di Trento - Italy
2)
University of Loughborough – UK
2)
Pomeranian Pedagogical Academy Slupsk – Poland
3)
University of Antwerp – Belgium
5)
Simplicatus AS, Trondheim, Norway

We describe some simple experiments on electricity sources and magnetism. A set of these
experiments is under preparation within “Supercomet2” Leonardo da Vinci EU project.

Introduction

"Supercomet2" is a European Union project within Leonardo da Vinci framework

comprising as many as 17 countries. Its aim is to show new teaching methods, on example of
superconductivity – a rather modern problematics, still not fully understood. The present
paper describes the work of a subgroup of this project dealing with simple hand-on
experiments mainly on magnetism.
In particular, the “SC2” handbook describes subjects of:
• magnetostatics – attractive or repulsive interaction of static magnets
• Oersted's experiment with a magnetic needle
• Faraday's induction law and electromagnetic generators.
Experiments which are proposed in this paper belong essentially to the above categories.
However, we group them, showing several similar objects, in order to stress common
physical phenomena. In this way, instead of discussing just magnetostatics, we show a few
types of obtaining stable levitation of permanent magnets; in a similar manner we show
different ways of visualising the magnetic field lines. All experiments prepared within the
LdV programme will form a hardware package but will be also available in a virtual form via
internet and on a CD-Rom. Some of the ideas were presented before [1], some objects are
already described in the multi-language version on internet [2].

Choice of experiments

Three classes of experimental set-ups are discussed within “Supercomet2” project:

1. complex equipment, owned by university or local education centre and loaned to
schools on request after previous training of teachers; an example is the Leybold
apparatus for measurements of the transition temperature in superconductors
2. cheap intermediate set-ups to be used in single schools; several examples of
magnetic levitation and illustrations of Lenz’s principle would form this packet
3. easy experiments which can be constructed at zero cost by individual teachers, like
the model of Volta’s electrophore made of a polystyrene “glass”.
Obviously, majority of proposed experiments are not new and are well known to teachers.
On the other hand, extensive catalogues allow to choose professional but usually expensive

221
equipment [3]. Here we show some objects which are available in shops with scientific toys
or souvenirs. Showing new aspects, possible funny or unexpected, involves the emotional
part of recognition, and in this way a more inter-branched and durable knowledge is created.
We choose experiments and objects which are:
• ”at reach” – available on internet or being everyday objects
• cheap – possible to be bought or constructed on their own by teachers
• fast in use
• effective from the point of view of didactics
• make reference, possibly, to some historical experiments.

Electricity sources

By "electricity sources" we summarize different ways of generating the current or the

voltage, DC or AC. Historically first was tribology, i.e. generating voltage (and little current)
by friction. Otto von Guericke at about 1660 used a sulphur ball rubbed by hand. It took
many years before the modern version of the electrostatic machine, was constructed by J.
Wimshurst in the 1880's. It is made of two plastic disks with metal paths, the disks rotate in
opposite directions and are rubbed by copper brushes. The same principle, of separating
charges by rubbing, one finds in the experiment with a silk scarf taken out from a wool coat,
fig.1b. If such a scarf is then folded in two and hung in the middle, the two ends will repel
each other, like in the electroscope. Quite a high voltage can be obtained from a piezoelectric
lighter – one has to take-off the metallic cup and connect isolated wires to the two electrodes.
Coulomb's experiment can be reproduced by using this lighter and two Christmas tree balls
made of thin glass and metalised inside, hanging on thin wires, fig. 1c. Depending on the
polarizability applied, the two balls will attract or repel each other.

Fig.1: "Voltage" sources: a) Wimshurst's tribological machine (the right part of the photo), b)
silk scarf taken from a wool coat doesn’t hang vertically, c) piezoelectric gas-lighter used for
“Christmas experiment”.

Volta's pile is still a unique source of electricity (current) for all portable gadgets, like PCs
and handy's. Unfortunately, we know how to make Volta's piles but we do not know why
they produce the defined voltage and not another. The electrochemical potential is a kind of
the ionisation potential, but not of a free molecule but of the solid state, and not in vacuum
but in a highly polar, liquid medium. Two different metal plates and any liquid (even our
body) make Volta's pile. But if you call it "IQ meter" and place at the entrance of the class it
will make a lot of fun. You simply comment: "Oh! Yes! Usually it should be above 1.0 and
not negative, but sometimes, when you are tired it happens..."

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 Fig.2: Three examples of electrochemical sources: a) original Volta's piles from Como
museum; you can make a similar pile using two types coins – copper and aluminium, for
example and putting a piece of wet paper or cloth between every second junction (so the pile
is done like this: Al, Cu, wet cloth, Al, Cu, wet cloth, etc; b) “IQ” meter – note the worst
ever, negative result in IQ (“IQ meter” consists of two columns of different metals; each
metal piece is connected below the wooden plate to the electrical exit, seen here between the
two hands); c) electrochemical pile made of a pencil sharpener – a stainless steel knife and
the aluminium body, separated by a piece of wet paper give as much as 1 V.

Faraday's generators can be shown by school laboratory devices, by a toy-like portable lamp
(protected by the USA patent laws but produced in some countries quite cheap) or by a
Helmholtz coil – a set of thick wire windings on a rectangular frame. The latter, if DC
current is supplied, turns slowly in the Earth's magnetic field, becoming the simplest electric
motor [1].

Fig. 3: AC electromagnetic current source, based on Faraday law, working also as electrical
motors: a) a turning coil placed in the field of a permanent magnet [5], b) Helmholtz's coil -
about 100 windings of 0.8 mm diameter wire wound on a wooden frame and turned around
in the Earth magnetic field will create a few mV voltage; the same coil, supplied with DC
current from car battery, turns slowly in the Earth field, c) hand-shaken lamp – the current is
generated moving a magnet inside the coil (a toy made in China).

Levitation (1)

Levitation can be used to show the magnetostatic interactions, but not only. The key point in
levitation is the stabilization of the interaction, by constraints, or by some feedback. The
simplest case in the two-dimensional constraint. In fig. 4a the magnets are simply bi-polar,
with opposite poles on upper and lower basis of the donuts. The stick prevents the magnets
from sliding aside. In the levitating pen, fig.4b, the mechanical constraint is just in one point.
But in this case magnets are two inside the pen – still donuts, but with poles on the external
and internal side of the donut. The same sign poles as on the external side of the donuts are
placed in the upper part of the base. This mutual configuration of poles in the base and
donuts pushes the pen up and left (on fig. 4b) – the mechanical barrier blocks the pen from

223
going too much to the left. In the magnetic roulette, fig. 4c, all six poles in the basis repulse
the ball and the fun consists in the instability of the system.

Fig. 4: Magnetostatic interactions: a) donuts, with poles on upper and lower bases are
blocked in two directions by the stick; b) in the levitation pen, the poles of the same sign are
placed in the base and on the external side of donut magnet in the pen; the repulsive
interaction pushes the pen up (against the gravity) and left, against the barrier; c) in the
roulette it is the cord from above which prevents the ball from flying apart.

Levitation (2)
In the second case of levitation, see fig. 5, some feedback is present. A levitron consists of
four permanent magnets in the corners of the base, the levitating magnet is spinning and its
weight must be carefully chosen. In the levitron, this is the gyroscopic momentum, keeping
the spinning top in the vertical position in fig.5a. If gyroscope tends aside, the lines of the
magnetic field there are not vertical anymore what causes the levitron precession. This
precession brings it back to the centre of the plate. Note, however that the range of the
dynamic stability (i.e. the initial tilt of the axis, the departure point and the spinning initial
velocity) is very narrow [6]. In the levitating globe, fig. 5b, a coil supplied with regulated
DC current is placed above the globe. This is the electronic circuit governing the current
which adjusts dynamically the attracting force. If the globe is placed initially too close to the
upper base, it will stick there; if it is placed to far – it will fall down. A somewhat similar
feedback, but based on diamagnetism is present in the levitation set from fig. 5c. A small iron
cube visibl in the middle is levitating, attracted by three donut magnets above. It is also
repelled by two thick graphite blocks above and below. This repulsion is due to the
diamagnetic interaction of the static magnet with graphite plates.

Fig. 5: Levitation stabilized by dynamic interactions: a) a levitron hangs inside the potential
well, made of four magnets on the base corners but it is quite difficult to stabilize it [6]; b)
the hanging globe is stabilized by an electronic feedback, driving the current in the coil
above; c) levitation of an iron cube, stabilized by the diamagnetic interaction with two thick
graphite plates above and below: the position of magnets above is to be adjusted before the
experiment.
Detectors

To visualize magnetic field one can still use sub-millimetre iron filings, fig. 6a, but this toy
does not allow to show details of magnets. These tiny structures are shown in fig. 6b, where

224
the traces of two cylindrical magnets are compared: that to the left is a donut magnet from
the levitating pen – one see that the poles inside and outside the donut. The two magnets to
the right are traces from magnets used to fix remember-notes on the fridge case. These latter
magnets are multipoles: on the same face, north and south poles form a series of successive
stripes. The "detector" from fig.6b is a drawing-pad for children – a thin layer of micro
fillings, suspended in a paraffin oil between two walls (the front one is transparent). A
"cancel" bar is a strip of unipolar magnet, moved below the screen. The space between the
two walls is divided into smaller, hexagonal cells, in order to avoid pulling all the micro
fillings in one corner of the screen. The fig.6c shows a ferromagnetic fluid, allowing to show
3-D distribution of magnetic fields. Unfortunately the liquid deteriorates quickly.

Fig. 6: Three devices to show the magnetic field lines. a) and old play with sub-millimetre
iron filings, b) a novel screen for drawing for children, made of micro fillings suspended in
paraffin oil, the front screen is transparent; c) Ferro fluid cell [photo –
www.teachersource.com]
Shields

Apart from sources, shields are also frequently required, for xample in TV tubes. It is rather
easy to shield electrostatic fields or electromagnetic waves, see fig. 7a. This shielding is
based on so-called Faraday cage – no electrical charges exist inside a (perfectly conducting)
metal. All electrical charges concentrate on the external surface of the cage. So a handy
placed inside the cage wil not work. But it is quite hard to shield magnetic fields. This comes
from the same principle as the magnetostatic interaction: two, opposite magnetic poles are
always present (no free magnetic "charges" exist). Therefore, the only way of shielding is to
subtract the magnetic lines from the neighbourhood, concentrating them inside a material
with a high magnetic permeability. A box made of such a material, mu-metal, an alloy of Ni
and Co with relative magnetic permeability µ about 40,000, keeps the space inside free of
magnetic fields. Geese and marine turtles would get lost during their migrations with the
Earth magnetic field switched-off.

In fig. 7c we show a detector of electromagnetic waves – an AC tester for electricians, used

to detect wires inside walls. It is enough sensitive to show leakage from a microwave oven
and show the health hazard from staying close to the TV screen.

225
Fig. 7: Shielding and detecting EM fields. a) a sieve is enough to shield FM (in the 100 MHz
range) radio waves, but can be not sufficient to shield the GHz fields used in cell phones –
some field penetrates though the holes of the sieve; b) magnetic field are shielded by a box
made of a high magnetic- permeability metal;
c) a detector of AC wires inside walls is enough sensitive to detect also HF electromagnetic
fields outside TV screen or near the doors of the microwave oven.

Examples shown here illustrate the general idea of the proposed experiments: seek for the
same, similar, or contrary phenomena in different devices. Some more experiments,
comprising levitation of YBCO superconductors are shown on our "Supercomet2" internet
site [7].

References
[1] G. Karwasz, W. Niedzicki, A. Okoniewska, M. Jurek „Multimedia Tools in Teaching Physics”,
2nd Int. GIREP Seminar “Quality Development in Teacher Education and Training”, Selected
Contributions, Forum, Editrice Universitaria Udinese, Udine, 2004, p. 477, Ed. M. Michelini
[2] G. Karwasz, E. Rajch, T. Wróblewski, A. Krzysztofowicz, A. Okoniewska, "Physics and Toys",
Soliton Music Editions, Sopot 2005 (in Polish), http://modern.pap.edu.pl
[3] Il laboratorio scientifico della scuola, M.A.D Apperecchiature Scientifiche, s.r.l., Ponteranica
(BG), Italy, http://www.edumad.com
[4] Okoniewska, G. Karwasz, "Christmas experiment" , Foton, Nr 83, 2003 p. 55 (in Polish)
[5] R. Spręga, "The use of multimedia textbooks in modern teaching", Thesis, PAP Słupsk, 2002,
http://lab.pap.edu.pl/~zs/files/workmsc/sprega/silnik_prdu_staego.htm
[6] R.F. Gans, T.B. Jones, M. Washizu 1998 "Dynamics of Levitron", J. Phys. D 31, 671
[7] "Supercomet2" PAP Internet site, http://sc2.pap.edu.pl
[8] some vendor web pages: http://www.levitron.com
http://www.teachersource.com
http://www.sciencemuseumstore.com

226
Laser Light through the Fog

F. Logiurato 1, B. Danese 1,2, G. Gratton 1, S. Defrancesco 1, S. Oss 1

1
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento, Italy
2
IPRASE, Istituto Provinciale per la Ricerca, l'Aggiornamento e la Sperimentazione
Educativi, Italy
log@science.unitn.it

Introduction

What is light? A very difficult question, maybe as old as man. But after centuries of
investigation we are still far from a clear answer, even if we could write the whole history of
physics around this question. The great Albert Einstein, towards the end of his life, found
himself forced to admit: All these fifty years of conscious brooding have brought me no
nearer to the answer to the question. We don’t know well what the light is…. but we can
study what it does.
Among physical phenomena, those concerning light are without doubt among the most
fascinating for children and teenagers. With this in mind we propose a series of simple
experiments to visualize the three-dimensional behaviour of light. In several configurations
we study physics and geometric optics.
The fundamental physical properties of light can be made very evident and spectacular.
These experiments, with their results and theoretical discussions, can be adapted to various
degrees of difficulty, for the involvement of students from every scholastic level, from
primary school to high school.

Experimental Setup

It is possible to visualize light paths in different ways. For instance by means of diffusion
from chalk powder [1] or smoke. We propose to use the fog produced by a nebulizer [2].
There are many kinds of nebulizers. We use an “ultrasonic mist-maker” [3]. Its principle of
operation is the vibration at ultrasonic frequency of a ceramic electrode, immersed in a glass
of water. The vibration causes the trembling and fragmentation of the water surface, and
nebulization readily follows (Fig. 1).
The water-mist has important advantages. It continuously produces fog, and the resulting
images persist a long time, while those obtained from chalk disappear more rapidly. More,
the mist-maker is a simpler and cheaper device with respect to the smoke-maker. And its use
in the classroom is easier.
The mist-maker may be placed in a box with transparent walls (Fig. 2). We built a container
of this kind, but an aquarium will be fine. Its purposes are: to contain the fog, to minimize
turbulences and to assure high homogeneity along the light path.
To avoid disturbing reflections we a dark carpet at the bottom of the box. If desired, the same
can be done with the rear face.
We used 10 mW HeNe red laser to obtain better photos of diffraction from slits, but in
general this is not necessary. Bright images are observed even at smaller power
(conventional laser pointer), and it will work equally well for pupils. Of course, a low power
laser limits possible risks of eyes injuries.

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 Figure 1 Figure 2

The photographs have all been taken with a digital D70 reflex camera. The equivalent
sensitivity was set to 200 ISO. Exposure times ranges from 1/30th to ½ sec with various
f/values.
This setup could seem quite a conventional mean to study optical phenomena. Yet, we think
that such an approach has especially well suited features to give novel support to the
illustration of optical phenomena.
The various “theories of light” may be exemplified with many different experiments, adding
usual optical components in our setup.

Ray optics

Light was first described as a “stream of particles” by Isaac Newton, because in many
experiments it travels in a straight line. A “ray” of light through the space.
Mirrors, lenses and prisms allows us to show the 3d behaviour of the rays, image formation
in a way that closely follows the “ray traces” of textbook diagrams, reflection and refraction
laws, convergent and divergent lenses, system of lenses resembling optical instruments,
aberrations.
It is therefore possible to propose several experiments among those described by Newton in
his classic treatise “Opticks”, dated 1704.

Figure 3 Figure 4
For instance, we observe reflection laws in action (Fig. 3): a laser beam impinges on a one-
dimensional grating, and the various diffracted beams are reflected from a mirror and
partially from the aquarium walls.

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We can also examinee the different shapes that an incoherent beam of light from a projector
assumes passing through a convergent lens (Fig. 4) or the focusing of rays by means of
simple laser diodes (Fig. 5).
It is therefore possible to illustrate the refractions of rays in a glass prism and the dependence
of the refraction index on the frequency of light. In Fig. 6 we have two parallel laser beams,
coming from the left-upper corner of the photo, impinging on a glass prism. The lower beam
is from a red He-Ne laser, the upper one is from an Ar green laser pointer.
Inchoerent light experiments may be performed by students themselves, the experiments with
the laser demand attention and the supervision of an adult.

Figure 5 Figure 6

Wave optics

In 1803 Young demonstrated the interference of light by means of a simple experiment.

According to Young, the interference pattern of two light waves resembles the one provoked
by two waves on the water surface, and definitely demonstrates the wave properties of light.
We use the diffusion of light from the fog to render visually its wave behaviour. In this way
the whole space inside the aquarium is criss-crossed by various fringes of interference. It is a
display far more effective than the traditional fringes on the screen.
The well-known phenomena of diffraction from a grating are thus obtained. A set of different
slits and gratings, parts of the Pasco optical kit OS-9165, is being used.
In Fig. 7 the light source is a 5 mW laser diode (green λ=0.532 µm), and the diffraction from
a one-dimensional grating (300 lines/mm) is shown. In Fig. 8 we show the diffraction of a
He-Ne laser beam (red λ=0.6828 µm) from a two-dimensional (500 lines/mm) grating.

Figure 7 Figure 8
Images of diffraction from gratings had been already reproduced in other papers [1]. Light
diffusion from chalk powder or smoke was used.

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In addition to this, our experimental setup enables us to show the whole path of light in
phenomena of diffraction and interference from slits. Therefore, we obtained photographs of
these phenomena that are quite a novelty.

Figure 9a: width: 40 µm Figure 9b: width: 40 µm, separation: 125µm

The diffraction from a single slit is shown in Fig. 9a. As can be noted, the diffracted beam
travels through the entire aquarium, drawing bright and dark diverging stripes.
The result of the Young experiment of double slit is shown in Fig. 9b. The width of each slit
is equal to the width of the previous single slit.
In the resulting series of maxima and minima we can distinguish two patterns. The
enveloping pattern due to the light diffraction through each slit, closely resembling the
previous one from single slit. And inside the envelope, the interference pattern of the light
coming from the two slits [4]. As suggested by the last photo, to shut one of the two slits
leads to the cancellation of the interference pattern.
We think that these pictures are a good illustration of the wave counterpart of the two-slits
experiment proposed by Feynman in his lectures on quantum mechanics [5] and could go
good together with more quantitative experiments on interference and diffraction [6].
It is widely shared the perception that student need a less superficial knowledge of quantum
physics, for both the cultural relevance due to the world-vision of which it is harbinger, and
for the innumerable technological applications [7].
The experiment we propose may be an intriguing starting point for the introduction of the
fundamental concepts of quantum theory, such as wave-corpuscle dualism, complementarity
and uncertainty principle [8, 9].
In fact, it is important to remark to students that light, after having travelled and behaved as a
wave, manifests itself at the detection screen as corpuscles.
This is the quantization of light (and also its major unresolved issue, quantum measurement).
The patterns on the detecting screen are regarded as the accumulation of many single spots.
The intensity of the wave pattern at a given point enables us to calculate the probability of
the manifestation there of a single photon.
According to Feynman this is the “heart” of quantum mechanics, “in reality, it contains the
only mystery” [5].

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We may confront the images obtained when a laser beam impinges on single-slits of various
widths (Fig. 10). These photos show the dependence of the beam width from the slit width.
The narrower the slit, the broader the intense central beam.
If we regard light as a stream of corpuscles, the experiment may allow us to introduce the
uncertainty relations of Heisenberg [10]. The narrower the slit, the higher the space
localization of the light beam in the slit, and the larger the uncertainty of the momentum
acquired by the beam of photons.

Figure 10a: width: 80 µm Figure 10b: width: 40 µm Figure 10c: width: 20 µm

Optical analogue of diffraction by polycrystalline materials

As a last but not least example of the results of this setup, we illustrate the diffraction from a
polycrystalline material. In the original Debye-Scherrer diffraction experiment, X rays
impinge on a aggregate of small randomly oriented crystals. The diffracted rays lie along a
set of circular cones. The pattern depends on the crystal structure and on the wavelength of X
rays [11]. A set of cones can be obtained by means of a laser beam passing through a rotating
diffraction grating.
The rotating grating feigns the randomly oriented crystals in the polycrystalline material [12].
The grating is fixed on a cylinder, through which the laser beam is passing. The cylinder is
put in rotation by a little electrical motor.

Figure 11 Figure 12
It is interesting to couple this experiment with the repetition of the Thomson experiment that
in 1927 demonstrated the wave properties of electrons. The electron diffraction tube of

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Leybold allows an easy reproduction of this experiment [13]. The similarity between the
diffraction patterns obtained with this apparatus and with our setup is impressive.
This analogy shed a shaft of dark on the nature of matter. The electron diffraction from
policrystalline graphite shows that electrons share the wave properties of light. But as many
later experiments have shown, the wave properties of light are also shared by neutron beams,
atom beams [14] and molecular beams [15].
Every kind of matter seems to share this strange dual behaviour of light (sometime wave-
like, sometime corpuscle-like). Therefore students may discover that the mystery is even
deeper than that they and the scientists themselves expected!

It is marvellous indeed to watch the answer subtly change

while the question immutably remains - what is light?

Eugene Hecht, Alfred Zajac

References
[1] Walker D 1973 Visible diffracted rays The Physics Teacher 11 p435
[2] Logiurato F, Gratton L M and Oss S 2005 Travelling light and three-dimensional wave behaviour
The Physics Teacher in print
[3] The word nebulizer comes from the Latin “nebula”, mist. It is possible to find the “ultrasonic mist-
maker” at (for example):
http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3082301
http://www.mainlandmart.com/foggers.html
http://www.physlink.com/estore/cart/UltrasonicMistMaker.cfm
[4] Jenkins F and White H 1957 Fundamental of optics (McGraw-Hill Book Company) pp290-312
[5] Feynman R P, Leighton R B, Sands M L 1966 The Feynman Lectures on Physics (New-York:
Addison-Wesley 1966) 3rd Vol.
[6] Michelini M, Stefanel A and Santi L 2003 Teacher training strategies on physical optics:
experimenting the proposal on diffraction Girep Selected Contributions pp568-576
[7] Dobson K, Lawrence I and Britton P 2000 The A to B of quantum physics, Physics Education 35
pp400-404
[8] Pospiech G 2000 Uncertainty and complementarity: the heart of quantum physics Physics
Education 35 pp393-399
[9] Logiurato F, Gratton L M and Oss S 2005 A visual approach to complementarity and uncertainty
principle Physics Education submitted
[10] Heisenberg W 1930 The physical principles of the quantum theory (University of Chicago Press)
p10
[11] Wichmann E H 1971 Berkeley Physics Course, (Wiley J) Vol. 4: Quantum Physics
[12] Thompson P W 1992 Apparatus to simulate electron diffraction by polycrystalline materials
Physics Education 27 pp162-163
[13] Beard D S 1972 Electron diffraction in schools Physics Education 7 pp363-367
[14] Goss Levi B 1991 Atoms are the new wave in interferometers Physics Today July pp17-20
[15] Arndt M et al 1999 Wave-particle duality of C 60 Nature 401 pp680-682

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Self Contained Physics Demonstrations and Mind Teaser Kit

Joris Dirckx 1, Dirk Van Dyck 1, Wim Peeters 1, Alexander Fishman 2

1
University of Antwerp, Belgium
2
University of Kazan, Russia

The University of Antwerp presents a project for secondary schools, called “Physics is cool”,
It is approved and heavily sponsored by the Flemish departement of Science and Innovation,
within the action “Wetenschap maakt Knap”(Science makes beautiful”). We put together
more than 45 experimental kits with everything you need to do some 40 fascinating small
experiments: all materials needed to do the experiments, an extensive teacher guide and a
CD. Also teacher training sessions were set up.

1. Introduction:

As in many countries, also Flanders suffers from a decrease of young people studying
physics. The average age of physics teachers with a physics degree is high and replacement
is difficult to find, so that many physics courses are taught by non-physicists.
The ministry of Flanders, with its departement of Science and Innovation stimulates people
to apply for funds to carry out projects in different fields. The project described below is in
the field of physics education: new learning strategies and support of teachers in secondary
schools. We hope to motivate and stimulate more young people to study sciences through
more motivated and skilled teachers.

2. The project

We put together more than 45 experimental kits with everything you need to do some 40
fascinating small experiments: all materials needed to do the experiments, an extensive
teacher guide and a CD. The experiments are in the field of optics (12), particle model (3),
pressure in liquids (4), electromagnetism (5), forces (5), waves (7), and some combine
different topics.
They are rather easy-to-do but sometimes difficult-to-explain; they are original and
fascinating and many link to daily life physics.
Examples:
1. A vessel is filled with water. A laser beam is send through the water, just a few
millimetres under the water surface. The laser causes a round spot on a screen. If
one shines a 500W lamp on the water surface, the spots lowers and becomes
stretched up to more than 50 mm. Explain this experiment. (Solution: the
temperature gradient causes diffraction). Also sunlight is diffracted in the same
way, it causes the weird shape of the sun at sunset
2. A bottle, filled with dry sand is put on the high side of an inclined plane. It rolls
down all to the bottom. An empty bottle does the same thing. What happens to a
bottle which is only half filled with sand? (The bottle accelerates first, but comes to
stop somewhere halfway the inclined plane) Next: what happens if it is only a
quarter filled with sand, or 80%, or with water, oil, peas, etc.?

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As a help for the teachers we included: apart from the materials themselves to perform the
experiments, a manual both on paper (in a 200 page binder) and digital (CD)is produced. For
almost every experiment are included:
A small text describing the experiment
Questions directly related to the experiment
Hints which help to lead to a good answer, discussion
Additional tasks and questions
Applications
A scientific explanation of the phenomenon
A guide for the teachers in which didactical and pedagogical hints and guidelines are given:
goals of a lesson, teaching methods and possible variations.
Apart from that, the CD contains a short movie of every experiment, performed by students
of the Sint-Gabriëlcollege, a secondary school.

3. Didactical and pedagogical principles:

The experiments are in majority qualitative: they are meant to provoke discussions and
improve scientific communication between students, to make them aware of the backgrounds
of everyday phenomena, and to confront them with experiments which are rather easy-to-do
but sometimes difficult-to-explain. The pedagogical hints include working in groups,
summing up possible solutions and principles, suggest solutions, discussions, almost in a
socratic way. Sometimes it is possible to make calculations and to do research on a
quantitave base: this is only for “advanced” use of the kit’s materials. It is also possible to
use the experiments as teasers or as applications. It is “forbidden” to give explanations too
quickly: as soon as an explanation is given, people tend to be satisfied and stop thinking,
which is considered as counterproductive towards learning processes.

4. Practical

After approval of the project, the schedule below was followed in a two year process:
Select a number of experiments provided by Prof. A. Fischman (Kazan)
Add experiments known by different colleagues of a peering group.
Work them all out, test both experiments and working methods in a classroom situation (by 6
colleagues-teachers)
Feedback, corrections and last selection was made
All experiments are put in a handy doubledeck kit on wheels, with a platform to perform the
experiments.
After a subscription procedure all teachers attend two half-days of training in performing the
experiments, during which the principles and teaching methods were discussed. For every kit
on the average two teachers per school were present. These sessions were quoted with an
average of 4,65 on a scale of 5 on 10 criteria related to the kit, the physics, the project, the
teaching methods and teachers’ training.

5 Conclusion and future:

This initiative has been evaluated by the Flemish departement of Science and Innovation. It
came out among the best in recent years in Flanders, and therefore a new grant was given.
The project is now extended until December 2006. After this, more than 100 schools will be
working with it in the near future. Due to the success, additional smaller kits will be
composed: more experiments for 14-15 years old (particle model, forces, pressure, gases and
transition phases of matter) and an extra kit for 16-17 years old (electrostatics,

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electromagnetism, mechanics, waves). Apart from that we plan to assemble a kit for 12-13
years old and for 10-11 years old. More than 60 of these smaller additional kits already have
been ordered.

References
[1] http://webhost.ua.ac.be/focus/Koffers/english.htm

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Educational ICT Tools to Improve Wave Physics Understanding

C. Fazio, I. Guastella and G. Tarantino

UoP-PERG (University of Palermo Physics Education Research Group)

Dipartimento di Fisica e Tecnologie Relative, Università di Palermo, Italia
fazio@difter.unipa.it

The difficulties connected with the teaching of mechanical waves (and sound in particular)
are mainly due to the wide use of complex mathematics, very soon not easily accessible to
the majority of non-specialists. To overcome this situation and scaffold the understanding of
such phenomena it is important to extend the use of specific learning tools able to take
advantage of common representations of phenomena to build correct descriptive as well as
interpretative models. In this paper we present experiments and simulations belonging to a
Teaching/Learning proposal whose main aim is to help users to better understand the sound
propagation process through different media.

Introduction

In these last years many research studies have pointed out relevant student difficulties in
understanding the physics of mechanical waves [1]. Investigations [2] have shown that the
difficulties met by students in this context mainly involve the mathematical description,
which requires the use of two-variables functions, the comprehension and the application of
the superposition principle, often mistaken as a mere overlap of waveforms, and of the role
played by the properties of the medium through which waves are propagating. It has been
shown [3. 4] that university as well as secondary school students show very peculiar
difficulties in the representation of mechanical wave propagation. For example, they map
object-like properties to mechanical waves and describe a wave pulse travelling through an
elastic medium like a ball moving through the air. These researches show that the medium
through which waves propagate is usually thought by students as playing a passive role and
the propagation properties are wrongly considered as depending on the way the pulse has
been generated.
To overcome this situation and scaffold the understanding of wave phenomena we adopted
and extended the use of specific learning tools able to take advantage of common
representations of phenomena to build correct descriptive as well as interpretative models.
The use of information and communication technology tools makes possible to easily link the
common ideas about the real world phenomena to specific physical variables relevant for a
correct scientific description of the phenomena, without a great mathematical load. In fact,
computer assisted data acquisition systems (often known as MBL systems [5, 6]) or
modelling environments can greatly enhance students’ learning and stimulate their interest,
mainly if these are connected to pedagogical methods engaging students in activities
addressing their cognitive difficulties, identified by physics education research [7].
The designing, in collaboration with school teachers, of Teaching/Learning Sequences (TLS)
in various scientific fields is becoming a field of research worthy to note [8]. It is based on
the theoretical developments on teaching and learning as a constructive activity and uses
different frameworks. Our approach is based on the assumption that the physics content as
well as pupil’s knowledge and cognitive approach are relevant in order to affect pupil’s

236
modelling processes of physical world [9]. Consequently, it can be framed in the integrated
constructivist approach [10].
In this paper we will discuss some experiments and simulations making part of a TLS
regarding the elastic wave propagation. The TLS is built in the framework of a research
project aimed at stimulate appropriate knowledge representations improving conceptual
understanding through the construction of appropriate mental models [11], by using
informatics tools.

Main characteristics of the Teaching Learning Sequence about sound propagation

The first characteristic of our approach is the choice of a ”pulse” approach instead of the
classic ”sinusoidal” one, mainly to have a better representation of a real propagating
perturbation. Physicists usually deal with a propagating pulse as a whole and attribute to the
pulse some object-like features (shape, width, speed etc.). However, they know that two
levels of representation are necessary: the first one involves the analysis of the pulse as a
whole and the second one describes the behaviours of the atoms/molecules of the medium.
Students find very difficult performing the shift from one level to another one. For this
reason we have preferred to carry out in parallel these two levels through a continuous shift
between them.
The starting point was the analysis of the sport stadium wave (also known as the “Mexican
Wave” or “La Ola”) and its description in terms of propagation of an event (standing up or
sitting down), then we analysed the propagation of a sound pulse (the signal) in different
media (water, solids and air). The T/L sequence is structured on three points: 1) analysis of
the behaviour of signal sources; 2) influences on the signal due to the propagation medium;
3) analysis of the behaviour of signal receivers. We here analyse the point 2) which is, in our
opinion, mainly responsible of the wrong representations, described above. This part
involves the analysis of experiments essentially focused on the measurement of the sound
speed in different media (air and metals) and two simulations (performed using the
Interactive Physics [12] and NetLogo [13] environment).

Measuring the sound speed

The measure of sound speed in air is a routine task [14], but measurement of sound speed in
solids, especially in metals, can be more difficult due to the much higher values with respect
to air. A demonstration of the propagation of mechanical wave pulses in a metallic rod can be
obtained by producing a shock wave at one end of a fixed rod (by means of a body colliding
with it) and observing a small pendulum bob, initially in contact with the rod’s other end,
displacing after a definite time interval.
The experimental set-up is shown in Fig. 1. A metallic rod of length L is secured to
a heavy desk by means of a single vice placed near one of the rod's ends. A d.c. power supply
is connected to a metallic pendulum bob, initially in contact of one end of the rod and,
through MBL voltage sensors, to another metallic body, that can be made hitting the other
end of the rod. The electric circuit is closed when both the colliding metallic body and the
metallic pendulum bob are in contact with the rod. The idea is to hit the rod with the body
when the pendulum bob is at rest, in contact with the rod; the action closes the circuit, so that
a d.c. voltage, due to an external power supply, is detected by the voltage sensors. .

237
Figure 1: Sketch of the experimental apparatus. A metallic pendulum bob, initially in contact
with one of the rod’s ends displaces when the perturbation generated by a body colliding
with the other end of the rod arrives to it. The pendulum bob is a light, polished metallic
cube.

The detected signal only lasts until the circuit is closed, i.e. from the moment the
wave is generated by the body colliding with the rod to the moment the bob displaces,
actually opening the electric circuit. If we are able to measure the actual time the wave pulse
takes to go through the two ends of the rod, the speed of the acoustic wave can be obtained
from the known rod’s length.
Measurements were performed by using several aluminium and brass rods, of different
length and cross-section. Figure 2a reports a typical signal detected by the MBL system with
the 2.995 meters long, 1.00 cm cross-section diameter aluminium rod. An enlargement of the
detected voltage peak is reported in figure 2b.

Figure 2: (a) A typical signal detected by the voltage sensors when the electric circuit
described in figure 1 is closed by a body (mass = 398.0 ± 0.1 grams) colliding an end of a
2.995 ± 0.001 m long aluminium rod, of mean cross-section diameter equal to 1.00 ± 0.01
cm. The MBL sampling rate is set to 50000 samples per second.; (b) An enlargement of the
peak of the voltage signal reported in (a).

When performing measurements of sound speed with this method, one has to consider that
the measured times include the time needed by the wave pulse to travel along the rod plus a
delay time, δt, that can be considered as the time needed by the bob to actually lose contact
with the rod [15]. This involves that such a delay time depends only from the nature of the
contact between the rod and the pendulum bob (i.e. from their material and the contact
surface) and from the impulse the colliding body applies to the rod during the stroke. As a

238
consequence, by using two rods of different lengths but equal cross-sections, the influence of
δt on the calculation of the speed of the wave pulse in the rod could be eliminated.
If we denote the lengths of the two rods by L1 and L2 (with L1 > L2) and the corresponding
time intervals measured by our experimental apparatus by T1 and T2 respectively, we have
L1
T1 = +δt (1)
c

L2
T2 = +δt (2)
c
where c is the sound speed in the rod.
From (1) and (2) we obtain an expression for the sound speed in the rods:

L1 − L2
c= (3)
T1 − T2

Measurements were performed by using brass (L1 = 1.995 ± 0.001 m and L2 = 3.010 ± 0.001
m) and aluminium (L1 = 2.014 ± 0.001 m and L2 = 2.995 ± 0.001 m) rods, all with mean
cross section diameter D = 1,00 ± 0.01 cm. The mean values for T1 and T2 in the brass and
aluminium rods are reported in Table 1, as well as the best estimate for the sound speed
values.

Table I
Mean values of T1 and T2 in aluminium and brass rods, calculated on a 10 measurements
base, and the relative values of sound speed. Errors in T1 and T2 are the standard deviations
of the means for each set of data.

Metal T1 (·10-3 s) T2 (·10-3 s) Speed value (m/s)

Aluminium 1.05 ± 0.02 0.84 ± 0.02 4700 ± 200
Brass 1.19 ± 0.02 0.92 ± 0.02 3610 ± 140

The obtained values are in good accordance with the accepted values of the speed of
longitudinal waves in aluminium and brass rods, that are 5000 m/s and 3480 m/s,
respectively [16].
Another way to measure the sound speed in solids is the well known method of vibrating
rods [17, 18]. A thin rod is clamped at its midpoint and an acoustic wave is generated at one
end of the rod by a sound generator or by rubbing one of the rod’s end by the thumb and the
forefinger fingertips. In this way stationary longitudinal waves can be established. The rod
oscillations are detected by means of a MBL sound sensor and analysed in their frequency
components. An estimate for the speed of longitudinal waves in the rod is then found by
using the well known resonance relation between the fundamental frequency in the rod and
the length of the rod itself:
v
f1 = (4)
2L
where ν is the velocity of sound in the material.
Figure 3 reports the graph of resonance frequency as a function of the reciprocal of length for
three different sets of aluminium, copper and brass rods. Data show a clear linear relation
between the resonance frequency and the reciprocal of rods’ length, in accordance with (4).

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Lines were fitted to data, by means of the least squares method and the slope of each fitted
line was used to find estimates for the value of speed of sound in each specific material.

Figure 3: graph of mean values of resonance frequency as a function of the reciprocal of

length for each set of different material rods and the correspondent best fit lines and
parameters.

Table II reports the calculated values of the speed of sound in the different materials. Values
are taken as double slopes of the fitted lines to experimental data of resonance frequency vs.
reciprocal of rods’ length. Again, they are in good accordance with the accepted values of the
speed of longitudinal waves in aluminium, brass and copper rods.

Table II
Values of the acoustic wave speed in aluminium, brass and copper rods measured with the
standing waves method described above.

Metal Speed Value (m/s)

Aluminium 5040 ± 20
Brass 3440 ± 50
Copper 3810 ± 20

Simulations

Simulations reproduce the behaviour of a linear chain of identical masses interacting through
a linear nearest-neighbourhood coupling (to simulate propagation in a solid, see fig. 4a) and a
bi-dimensional array of small masses interacting through elastic collisions confined into a
rectangular container delimited by two moveable pistons (to simulate propagation in a gas,
see fig.4b) . A transversal or longitudinal pulse may be produced by forcing the first mass in
the chain or the first piston to move back and forth. In this way, it is possible to visualize the
pulse propagation along the chain and inside the container (screen-shots are reported in Figs.
4a and 4b respectively). By acting on sliders the user is also allowed to change:
1. the time duration of pulse
2. the elastic constant of springs or the average speed of particles (for pulse
propagation in air)

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 3. the mass of spheres
Students are guided in using the tool by means of work-sheets. They are usually asked to
measure the pulse propagation speed by reading on the position-time graph, drawn for two
different particles, the time distance between two peaks of the pulse curves. In particular they
are requested to collect speed values as function of involved simulation parameters in order
to evidence that pulse propagation speed is independent from pulse properties associated to
the motion of first sphere in the chain and dependent only from elastic and inertial properties
of the chain.
Regarding the pulse propagation through the array of randomly moving particles, students
are asked to measure the pulse propagation speed and to compare it with the average random
speed of particles.

Figure.4a: Pulse, propagating in a linear chain of masses connected by springs

Figure.4b: Pulse, propagating in a gas of particles, registered by the spring on the right

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Conclusion

The developed pedagogical materials focus on helping pupils to apply a set of reasoning
resources they were not effectively using in describing sound waves. The hypothesis
underlying the design of our TLS stays in the ascertainment that students show to have the
conceptual resources [19] necessary to understand propagation of perturbations in many
fields of everyday life (for example the sport stadium wave). In terms of conceptual
resources, we find that the appropriate resources for the description of wave phenomena are
mostly stimulated by an approach based on individual agents representation. On the other
hand, the approach to waves based on the properties of sinusoidal and/or other periodic
waves focus mainly on the periodicity of a wave and not on its propagation. For this reason
we find that, in order to explain the role of medium in the propagation process, a pulse
approach can be more effective. Moreover, we have found that appropriate tools, able to
help pupils in visualizing behaviours at micro-level and able to stimulate them to think of
experiments involving mechanisms and cause-effect relationships, play an important role in
understanding.

References
[1] Pinto, J.K., Geiger, M.A, and Boyle, E.J. (1994), Three-Year Longitudinal Study of Changes in
Student Learning Styles. Journal of College Students Development, , vol. 35, no 2, p. 113-119.
[2] Wittmann M.C., Steinberg R.N. & Redish E. F.(2003), Understanding and affecting student
reasoning about sound waves, International Journal of Science Education, 25, 991-1013.
[3] Maurine, L. (1992), Spontaneous reasoning on the propagation of visible mechanical signals
International Journal of Science Education, 14, 279-293.
[4] Linder, C. (1993), University physics students’ conceptualizations of factors affecting the speed of
sound propagation International Journal of Science Education, 15, 655-662.
[5] Linn, M C, Layman, J. W. and Nachmias, R., (1987), Cognitive consequences of microcomputer-
based laboratories: Graphing skills development. Cont. Educ. Psych.12 244-53.
[6] Thornton, R.K. and Sokoloff, D.R., (1990), Learning motion concepts using real-time
microcomputer-based laboratory tools Am. J. of Phys. 58 858-67
[7] Sokoloff, D.R. and Thornthon, R.K., (1997), Using interactive lecture demonstration to create an
active learning environment The Phys. Teach. 35 340-7
[8] Meheut, M. & Psillos, D. Guest Editors (2004), Teaching Learning Sequences: aims and tools for
science education research (Special Issue) International Journal of Science Education, 26, 515-
635.
[9] Gilbert, J. K., Boulter, C. & Rutherford, M. (1998), Models in explanations: Part 1, Horses for
courses? International Journal of Science Education, 20, 83-97.
[10] Lijnse, P.(1995), Developmental Research as a way to an empirical based didactical structure of
science. Science Education, 79, 189-199.
[11] Gentner, D. & Stevens, A.L. (1983), Mental Models (London: Lawrence Erlbaum).
[12] See the website http://www.interactivephysics.com
[13] See the website http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/
[14] See, for example, experiment 24, Speed of sound, in Appel K, Gastineau J, Bakken C and Vernier
D. Physics with computers Vernier Software and Technologies, www.vernier.com.
[15] Fazio, C., Guastella, I., Sperandeo-Mineo, R. M. and Tarantino, G., “ Measuring the speed of
sound in solids: two methods and a half”. European Journal of Physics, submitted, 2005
[16] Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 1974 55th ed. Chemical Rubber Company
[17] Nuffield Advanced Physics Team 1971 Physics Teacher’s Guide, Unit 4: Waves and Oscillations
Penguin Books Ltd.
[18] Leloux, P. (1991), On the longitudinal vibration in metal rods Eur. J. of Phys. 12 303-4
[19] Hammer, D. (2000) Student Resources for Learning Introductory Physics, American Journal of
Physics, Physics Education Research Supplement, 67, S45-S50

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Convection in Liquids ― Some Illustrative Experiments

Colm O’Sullivan 1, Slavko Kocijancic 2

1
Department of Physics, National University of Ireland Cork, Cork, Ireland
2
Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Introduction

The authors of this paper are involved in a research collaboration under the EU Leonardo da
Vinci Community Vocational Training Action Programme, namely project SI143008
Computerised Laboratory in Science and Technology Teaching (ComLab-SciTech),
generally known as the ComLab project [1]. A new phase of this project (ComLab-2) will
commence in October 2005, one element of which is the development of a laboratory course
on Heat Transfer phenomena for students of Food Science and Technology. It is planned
that one of the preliminary experiments which students in the proposed course would
undertake will comprise a study of convection in liquids
Effective experimental study of convection requires two facilities, namely (i) a capability for
students to be able to ‘see’ the currents (visualisation) and (ii) the measurement of
temperature at a number of points within the body of the liquid. The first of these is
relatively easily achieved, at least in the case of transparent liquids, as will be described
below. The second requires temperature sensors that have both a low heat capacity and
reasonably short response times. Thermocouple sensors would seem to be in only low cost
solution in the latter case.

Integration of thermocouple sensors with the data acquisition system

The courses for science and technology teaching developed within the first phase of the
ComLab project involved the use of multi-purpose data acquisition (DAQ) systems. To
facilitate the delivery of these courses, a number of general purpose DAQ systems, including
the software, programming libraries, drivers, etc supporting the hardware, were developed
within the project. For most of the experiments in the courses requiring the measurement of
temperature, thermo-resistance sensors proved adequate; thus designing novel thermocouple
sensors featuring so-called ‘cold junction compensation’ was considered to be too time
consuming and costly in that phase of the project.
For reasons explained above, however, thermocouple probes are required for the study of
convection currents in liquids. The UK based company Pico Technologies Ltd offers a
system, called TC08, specifically designed to support up to eight thermocouples connected to
a PC through either the serial or USB ports [2]. Since the company provides free drivers and
programming libraries (DLLs) for a number of development environments, integration of the
TC08 with the software of the e-ProLab DAQ system was readily achieved. The pre-
calibrated thermocouples appear in the software interface just like other sensors, such as
those for light intensity, pressure, force, distance, etc.

Visualisation of convection currents

Figure 1 shows an example of one method [3] that can be used to make convection currents
visible. In this case a stream of warm water was being injected into a beaker of cooler water,

243
the difference in temperature being about 10 ºC. A source of light was used to illuminate the
beaker from one side and a sheet of paper was attached to the opposite side of the beaker.
The explanation of how what seems to be an ‘image’ of the flowing warm water appears on
the paper when viewed from outside the beaker is a matter of simple geometrical optics that
can be easily understood by physics pupils at upper secondary school or university level [3].

Figure 1: Visualisation of a stream of warm water flowing through cooler water in a beaker.

Figure 2 below shows the angular deviation that would be observed when of a ray of light in
water (refractive index = 1.33) is incident on a cylinder of air (refractive index = 1.0). The
deflection increases with distance from the centre of the cylinder and reaches maximum, in
this case, at approximately three quarters of the distance to the edge, at which point total
internal reflection occurs after which the deflection decreases again.

80
deflection / degree

60

40

20
y
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
R
y/R

Figure 2: The angular deviation of a ray of light in water incident on a cylinder of air. The
angle increases with distance from the centre of the cylinder and reaches maximum at which
point total internal reflection occurs after which the deviation decreases again.

When the refractive indices of the two media do not differ by very much, however, the
situation is notably different. In the case of water, for example, temperature differences of a
few degrees Celsius give rise to variations of refractive index of no more than a few parts in
a thousand. Figure 3 shows the same calculation as in figure 2 but, in this case, applied to a
cylinder of warm water (refractive index = 1.330) inside slightly cooler water (refractive
index = 1.333). It can be seen that, in this situation, the angular deviation of a ray is

244
essentially negligible except when it strikes the cylinder very near the edge, at which point
the deviation can be almost 10º before decreasing abruptly to zero.

10

8
deflection / degree

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2

y/R

Figure 3: The angular deviation of a ray of light in cold water incident on a cylinder of
warmer water.

Thus what seems like an ‘image’ of the tube of warm water appears on the screen with a
bright outline as in figure 1. A similar situation arises if the water inside the tube is colder
than the surroundings except that, in this case, the ‘image’ of the surface will appear dark on
the outside. In fact, any curved surfaces within a transparent liquid at which there are sharp
thermal gradients will appear as lines on a screen whenever incident light strikes such
surfaces at a glancing angle.

Experimental observations of convection currents in water

As a starting point for the study of the heating of liquids by convection, a simple linear
electrical heating element was chosen. Figure 4 shows the experimental arrangement where
the heating element is set up horizontally and immersed in water in a small commercially
available fish tank. In the experiments reported here, the horizontal wire was 20 cm long and
had a resistance of the order of one ohm. A 12 V supply that could provide a current of up to
20 A proved a convenient power source.

Figure 4: The arrangement for observing convection currents generated in water by a linear
heating element.

245
Figure 5(a) and (b) below show what is observed as a shadow on a paper screen attached to a
face of the fish tank when light is projected through the tank from the opposite side. A
convection current can be observed rising from the wire as a narrow vertical sheath. In the
cases illustrated, the sheath is about 2 mm thick and the water inside the sheath is no more
than 4 ºC above the ambient temperature of the surrounding liquid.

Figure 5(a) (left): Broadside-on view of convection current rising from a horizontal linear
heating element. Figure 5(b) (right): End-on view of convection current rising from a
horizontal linear heating element.
It can be seen in figure 5(a) that a boundary layer forms around the wire (opaque with a
bright edge, in this case, because there is a continuous temperature gradient from the surface
of the wire to the edge of the boundary layer). Students can be asked to consider a number of
ongoing processes and to make the necessary measurements for their study. These might
include (i) the transfer of energy from electrical to thermal form, (ii) possible models for heat
transfer through the boundary layer, (iii) the effect of viscosity, density and heat capacity of
the liquid, etc.

Figure 6: Screen of data acquisition system showing the rise in temperature as the warm
front passes each of the thermocouples shown on the right.

In the case of process (i), it is necessary to determine the speed of the rising convection
current. This can be achieved by placing a number of thermocouples at know spacing

246
vertically above the wire (on the right in figure 6). Any change in the temperature recorded
by each thermocouple in turn can be recorded by the data acquisition system (figure 6, left)
and the time taken by the leading warm front to travel between the sensors may be
determined. In the case illustrated, the current was observed to rise at approximately 4 mm/s.
Thermocouples can also be used to determine the temperature both inside (i.e., at the surface
of the wire) and just outside the boundary layer. These measurements are can be used to test
any suggested models of the heat transfer mechanism through the boundary layer.

Convection currents in olive oil

As a liquid that differs from water in viscosity and density and as a substance of interest to
Food Scientists, olive oil is an obvious material to study. In performing experiments on olive
oil, a different (and wholly unexpected!) method of making convection currents visible was
discovered. Convection currents in normal olive oil taken from a single container behave in
a very similar way to water as described above. When olive oil from two different containers
is used, however, an interesting phenomenon is observed when light is projected through the
liquid and cast on a screen. While in no way visible to the naked eye when looking directly
into the oil, a pattern on the screen of randomly oriented closely spaced curved lines or
striations is observed (figure 7(a)). The explanation of the phenomena would seem to arise
from slightly different refractive indices of the two oil samples. The substance remains
quasi-immiscible for some time; mixing does take place in time, however, and the oil
gradually reverts to homogeneous and isotropic form after two hours or so.

Figure 7 (left): Randomly oriented striations in olive oil before electric current flows in
heating element. (right): Observation of convection currents in olive oil.

This gives plenty of time to perform a number of experiments. Once the heating current is
switched on, a convection current sheath begins to rise, as in the case of water. The
existence of the striations, in this case however, allows the flow of liquid throughout the bulk
of the water to be observed (figure 7(b)).

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Pat Twomey and John O’Riordan, colleagues at University
College Cork, for invaluable contributions to the work described in this paper. The e-ProLab
data acquisition system was developed under the EU Leonardo da Vinci Community
Vocational Training Action Programme, project SI143008 Computerised Laboratory in
Science and Technology Teaching (ComLab-SciTech). Support received is gratefully
acknowledged.

References
[1] For details of the ComLab project see http://www.e-prolab.com/comlab/

247
[2] http://www.picotech.com/
[3] Encyclopedia of Physics Demonstration Experiments, The Education Group laserdisc and DVD,
demo 14-27
[4] It is a relatively simple exercise, using the laws of refraction (‘Snell’s law’), to show that the
angular deviation in the case of the situation illustrated in figure 2 is given by
n   y
δ = 2(φ − θ), where φ = sin −1  out sin θ  and θ = sin −1  
 nin   R
where nout and nin are the refractive indices of the media outside and inside the cylindrical
surface, respectively.
For angles greater than the critical angle for total internal reflection, δ = 2(π − 2θ).
Figures 2 and 3 show plots of δ versus y/R for the refractive index values indicated.

248
Virtual and Hands-On Experiments in Statics: Balance Properties of
Asymmetrical Bodies

Tatyana Ignatova1, Alexander Kazachkov2,3, Igor Szczyrba4

1
Institute for Low Temperature Physics, Kharkov, Ukraine
2
Mathematics and Science Teaching Institute, University of Northern Colorado,
Greeley, U.S.A.
3
Department of Physics, V. Karazin Kharkov National University, Kharkov,
Ukraine
4
Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley,
U.S.A.
ignatova@ilt.kharkov.ua; akazachkov@yahoo.com; igor.szczyrba@unco.edu

Combining teaching physics and mathematics at the college level is a big educational
challenge despite well-understood historical interaction between both fields. We believe that
a successful implementation of an integrated physics/mathematics course can be
accomplished by allowing students to first analyze physical phenomena and next by
challenging them to develop and learn the underlying mathematics. We illustrate the
proposed educational approach by using the study of balance properties of various objects; in
particular by posing a question on how hollowness affects the balance of asymmetrical
bodies. To aid students in formulating by themselves a proper mathematical description, we
have designed an interactive computer program that determines the coordinates of the mass
centers for a variety of solid and hollow bodies. Consequently, students not only gain an
understanding of how mathematics is used to model physical laws but also how mathematical
formulas are implemented in computer modeling of physical phenomena.

Introduction

Since ancient times, scientific observations have stimulated the development of mathematics
and vice versa—mathematics discoveries have lead to new scientific theories. Indeed,
astronomical and physical observations made by Babylonians and Greeks enhanced the
development of Geometry and Number Theory that in turn enabled them to create models of
our Universe. Attempts to refine these models fostered further mathematical discoveries.
Similarly, the invention of Calculus, which was triggered mainly by physics, led to an
incredible progress in sciences and mathematics. Finally, in the 20th century, the interaction
between Functional Analysis, Group Theory, Measure Theory, etc., on one side and
Relativity Theories, Quantum Theory, and Elementary Particles Theories on the other
accelerated the advancement of modern mathematics and sciences.

Many educators try to emulate this historical interactive ‘success story’ while teaching
physics and mathematics at the college level. However, teaching an integrated
physics/mathematics course without students having prior solid basic mathematical
preparation is not always possible. Consequently, it has been very difficult to implement such
approaches outside of the top universities. Indeed, the Feynman Lectures on Physics
developed in the 1960s at the California Institute of Technology [1] assume the mastery level
in Calculus, Differential Equations, etc., that is not usually achieved by students at an

249
average college (especially not during their first years of studies). Similarly, the extensive
mathematics program developed in the 1960s (and still used) for physics majors at the
Warsaw University by Prof. K. Maurin [2, 3] (enabling physicists to teach complicated
physics topics during the freshman year and to introduce advanced physics theories as early
as the sophomore year) has never been successfully disseminated in Poland beyond the
Warsaw University. In 1970-1980s, a co-author of the paper, Prof. I. Szczyrba, during his
tenure at that university implemented a simplified version of the program for prospective
physics teachers. Even that version appeared to be too difficult for implementation at other
colleges in Poland.

In 1980s, Prof. D. Goodstein, a distinguished educator at the California Institute of

Technology, attempted to develop a calculus course that was rooted in history and would
become the basis of physics courses for nearly everyone. According to him, the experiment
failed due to inadequate high school preparation of students in trigonometry [4]. In the last
twenty years all three co-authors of the paper attempted to emulate in various colleges in
Europe and the U.S. their extensive integrated mathematics/physics education obtained in
elite Soviet era schools—and all three of them had similar negative experiences as Prof.
Goodstein had. The educational reality in any country seems to be that instructor should
always be ready to face gaps (if not abysses) in the students’ mathematical knowledge
essential for understanding any lectured mathematics or science course.

We follow Prof. Goodstein’s challenge to ‘devise ways to teach physics that will make the
subject so vital and appealing that it will be unthinkable for any educated person in the
twenty-first century not to have mastered its elements’ [4]. The premise of our history-
motivated approach is to allow an average student to first observe and analyze some simple
but interesting physical phenomena and next to challenge him or her to develop and learn the
underlying mathematical description.

Mathematics behind some tricky balances and spectacular tops

Many physics toys and tricks successfully used to enliven a physics course are also a great
resource for students’ motivation to learn mathematics. For instance, a nice sample topic is
studying the consequences of the positioning of the center of mass of a specific body at rest
or in motion. A challenging problem for freshman students within this topic is to make a
stable-rotating asymmetrical top from a paper clip — a Sakai top [5, 6]. Some of the clip’s
wire is used to create the rotational axis whereas the rest is shaped into a circular arc closed
by two radial spokes (Fig. 1a). Importantly, prior to application of their hands-on skills,
students must calculate an angle α between the spokes that leads to the positioning of the
top’s center of mass at its rotational axis. The solution is rewardingly simple: tan(α/2) = ½ as
shown in Fig. 1b right.

Significantly more complicated mathematics is needed to describe dynamics of the famous

tippe-top that turns upside-down when it is rotated on a flat surface (Fig. 1b left) [7, 8]. But
again, it is the position of the center of mass that is crucial for the toy to operate. Thus, in the
typical case of a spherical shape of the toy's base, the center of the sphere should be above
the toy's center of mass.

An attempt to balance two forks using an inserted match (a toothpick or a coin) on a sharp
edge or on a tiny spot (Fig. 1c) is another amusing and spectacular trick rooted in the
positioning of the system’s center of mass [9]. Students first solve this problem
experimentally by adjusting the angle between the forks to keep the center of mass below the

250
suspension point. More mathematically advanced students can be asked to estimate the
position of the center of mass and to calculate the period of oscillations of the obtained
physical pendulum—to be compared with the experimentally measured value.

a b c
Figure 1: Physics toys and tricks involving the positioning of centers of mass.
Sakai paper-clip top (a, b right); tippe-top (b left); balancing of coupled forks with a match
(c).

Amazingly balanced natural and constructed objects

Geologists, architects, engineers, and builders are often required to decide whether a given
natural or artificial body is gravitationally stable. In particular, the fate of the leaning Tower
of Pisa has intrigued humankind for centuries and in the last several decades the efforts to
rescue the Tower have become a front-page story. There are other similar amazingly-
balanced constructions, monuments, and natural objects that—while not quite as famous—
have been catching the observer’s eye all around the world as well (Fig. 2).

It is very instructional and interesting for students to determine the positions of the centers of
mass of these objects using geometrical terms and next, following the fundamental law of
Statics, to decide under which circumstances a particular object can tumble down. One can
assume in such considerations that natural bodies have a homogeneous distribution of mass,
i.e., a constant density. However, such an assumption is usually not valid for the artificially
constructed objects. Indeed, in contrast to the solid boulder depicted in Fig. 2a, the metal
monument in Fig. 2c is hollow.

a b c
Figure 2: Are these bodies safe in balance? A spectacular balanced rock in the Garden of the
Gods natural park, Colorado Springs, U.S.A (a). Balancing stony towers on the shore of Lake
Ontario, Canada (b). A modern sculpture in a city park, Greeley, Colorado, U.S.A (c).

251
Balance properties of hollow bodies in virtual and real experiments

Our project allows students to study how the hollowness affects the balance properties of
asymmetrical bodies. The basic mathematical questions to be investigated by students are:

(i) how far apart are the centers of mass of a solid object and of the corresponding hollow
shell?

(ii) does the projection of the center of mass remain within the base of the object when the
mass is gradually removed from inside of a gravitationally stable solid object?

In their investigation of balance properties of asymmetrical solid and hollow bodies students
can focus first on flat triangular figures. It is known that the center of mass of a solid triangle
coincides with the center of mass of the corresponding ‘hollow’ triangle (the triangle’s
boundary) only if the triangle is equilateral. Furthermore, in an arbitrary triangle both mass
centers may become separated in an essential way [10]. To help students in their
investigation, we have designed an interactive computer research program (written in
Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0) that determines the coordinates of the mass centers for a variety
of solid and hollow bodies resting on a horizontal or inclined plane. Gradually changing the
shape and the hollowness of objects studied, students will observe whether the projection of
the body’s center of mass remains within the body’s base.

a b

c d
Figure 3: Cutting a similar triangle out of an arbitrary triangle. Dotted vertical lines depict
the projections of the mass centers of the solid and the partially hollow triangle onto the base
AC.

252
In particular, cutting off a very small triangle inside of a given solid triangle in such a way
that the sides of both triangles remain parallel practically does not change the position of the
center of mass (Fig 3a). Increasing the size of the cut-off triangle allows students to see that
the center of mass of the remaining figure moves from its initial position (Fig. 3b and 3c).
When the projection of the center of mass leaves the base AC, the virtual body tumbles
down. The situation where the distances between each of the three pairs of the triangles’
parallel sides are equal, as is the case in screenshots depicted in Fig. 3, is particularly
interesting from the mathematical point of view. In that case, the straight lines connecting the
corresponding pairs of vertices in both similar triangles intersect at the center of the circle
inscribed into the initial triangle (Fig. 3d).

Computer simulations of figures studied are followed by hands-on experiments with their
cardboard replicas built by students. The three-dimensional triangular figures allow
emulating the balance properties of flat triangles as well (Fig 4).

Figure 4: Hands-on experiments with cardboard triangular figures confirm the results of
virtual experiments. Solid figure stays balanced while the hollow one tumbles down when
released.

Conclusions

The proposed educational research for freshman students combines the creative studies of
distinct topics in physics and mathematics as well as in engineering and computer science—
all in a single project. After conducting virtual experiments, students pose hypotheses that are
later tested by them during experiments with the corresponding real objects that they
construct. The mathematical analysis of balance properties of the geometrical bodies
investigated in virtual experiments as well as the further construction of various monuments
and pedestals provides students with an extensive experience on how useful and efficient
mathematics is when applied to various physical and engineering problems [11].

Students discover, in particular, that if an object has a simple geometrical shape (triangular,
conic, etc.), the physical definition of the center of mass leads to a simple geometrical
description of the center’s position. This triggers their curiosity to investigate further the
complexity of mathematical formulas that must be embedded in the computer program in
order to properly depict on the computer screen the position of the centers of mass.
Moreover, by analyzing how the computer program works, students gain better
understanding on a variety of ways mathematical formulas are used in computer modeling—
to model physical laws, to depict graphics, etc.

References
[1] Feynman, R. P., R. B. Leighton and M. Sands, The Feynman Lectures in Physics, Addison Wesley
– Reading MA, Palo Alto, London, 1963.

253
[2] Maurin, K., Analysis, D. Reidel – Dordrecht, Boston, PWN – Warsaw; Part I, 1973; Part II, 1980.
[3] Maurin, K., Analiza, PWN – Warsaw, Part 1 - 5th expanded edition; Part II - 2nd expanded edition;
Part III, 1991 (in Polish).
[4] Goodstein, D., The coming revolution in physics education, APS News 9, no. 6, p. 8, 2000.
[5] Sakai, T., Topics on tops which enable anyone to enjoy himself, Mathematical Sciences 271, pp.
18-26, 1986, (in Japanese).
[6] Ucke, C., Professor Sakai’s paper-clip tops, Physics Education (India) 19, no. 2, pp. 97-102, 2002.
[7] Cohen, R. J., The tippe top revisited, American Journal of Physics 45, pp. 12-17, 1977.
[8] Gray C. G. and B. J. Nickel, Constants of the motion for nonslipping tippe tops and other tops with
round pegs, American Journal of Physics 68, pp. 821-828, 2000.
[9] Gardner, M., Amusing Experiments. Moscow: Prosveshcheniye, p. 80, 1986.
[10] Berger, M., Geometrie, Cedic/Fernand Nathan, Paris, 1977-1978 (in French).
[11] Kazachkov, A., ICTs in Inquiry-Based Education. In Information and Communication
Technologies in Education, Proceedings of the International Conference, University of Ostrava,
Ed. E. Mechlova, pp. 11-18, 2004.

254
Friction Holding the Climber: An Experimental Example from Physics in
Sports

Samo Lasič and Grega Poljšak

Faculty for Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Climbers use a so called belay devices to support each other and to help slowing down a
descending companion. Sliding friction plays an essential role in such devices. A model of
the belay device is that of a rope wounded around a cylindrical rod. It turns out that due to
friction between the rope and the rod the ratio between the tensions of the rope at two
opposite sides of the winding increases exponentially by the angle of winding. An
experimental apparatus is presented that allows for dynamical computer-based force
measurement and permits to explore the exponential relation between the two forces.
Furthermore, an interesting interplay between static and dynamic friction can be observed,
which is typical for example in violin playing. The exercise proved to be a very fruitful open-
ended laboratory exercise. Students are challenged to construct an appropriate experimental
setup. The computer-based measurements are suitable for students training in data
acquisition and analysis. Furthermore, it allows interesting insights into the physical
phenomenon.

Introduction

To motivate students, bridges are needed between formal knowledge and everyday
experience. The application of achieved formal knowledge to explain everyday phenomena is
crucial for gaining motivation and interest in physics. Examples of connection between
physics and other natural sciences, such as biology or chemistry are seldom used in teaching
physics. We are presenting an example from physics in sports that can be useful in stirring
students’ interests and motivate them for either qualitative reasoning or to use a more formal
approach to understand the physics behind the phenomenon.
Climbers use the so called belay devices (Fig. 1), which help them to support each other and
to slow down a descending companion. One end of the rope which passes through a belay
device is attached to the climber while the other end is held by belayer. The sliding friction
supplied by a belay device helps the belayer to hold the descending climber without huge
effort. A rope is attached to the device in a particular way; however the basic principle is that
the rope is wound around the cylindrical rod of the device. Another example where friction is
made useful by a similar principle is found in rope windings on sailing boats and ships. In
contrast the friction may be very annoying like for example when cables are used on a
bicycle to pull on a derailleur or a brake. The cable is lead through a cable housing which is
often Teflon coated to minimize friction. If the cables are bent the friction would increase
drastically thus impairing on bicycle's functionality.
We have made a simple model of a belay device equipped with computer-based force
measurement. The theoretical predictions of the belay device behaviour can be tested by
means of two force sensors connected to an interface. The forces can be measured in
dynamic regime while the rope is sliding. Interesting insights into the interplay between
static and dynamic friction occurring during the sliding process can be revealed. The same
stick-slip phenomenon is responsible for example in producing sounds by a violin.

255
At Faculty for Mathematics and Physics in Ljubljana we employed the experimental problem
of analysing the behaviour of a belay device model as an exercise for first year physics
students attending a course called "Project laboratory" [1]. The course takes place three times
per three hours and there is additional time reserved for students to check out the literature,
confront ideas etc.
The problem was to construct the apparatus that would allow verifying the exponential
relation between the rope tensions at the two opposite ends. It turned out that the exercise
was very fruitful in stimulating students’ ideas and creativity in testing the experiment and
analysing the results. Different designs where considered, tested and compared by students
[1].

Figure 1: Different kinds of belay devices used in climbing.

Theory

a) b)

Figure 2: Scheme of the experiment: a) With F1 and F2 we denote the forces at two
opposite ands of the rope, which is wound around a cylinder through an angle α. The
rope slides with constant speed v. b) Small section of circumference where the tension
forces T(α), friction force dFfr(α) and normal component dN(α) are in dynamic
equilibrium.

The rope is wound around a cylinder through angle α. Force F2 is applied at one end of the
rope while force F1 is applied on the opposite end to let the rope slide at a constant speed
(Fig. 2.a). We consider a dynamic equilibrium of forces. We take F2 to be larger than F1 in
order to compensate for sliding friction between the rope and the cylinder.
In order to see how the ratio of forces at the two opposite ends of the rope varies with angle
α we must analyse how the tension of the rope T(α) varies along the rope winding. The
tension and friction forces change their direction along the cylinder circumference. We will
focus on a very small section of the circumference spanned by angle dα where the tension
force variation and the friction force contribution are very small (Fig. 2.b). In order to write
down the Newton's first law of motion we account for the equilibrium of forces separately in
tangent direction denoted by x and in radial direction denoted by y. The equilibrium in x
direction is obtained when

dF fr (α ) = T (α + dα / 2) − T (α − dα / 2) (1)

256
and in y direction when
dN (α ) = [T (α + dα / 2) + T (α − dα / 2)] dα / 2 . (2)

Here we have approximated sin(dα/2) ≅ dα/2 and cos(dα/2) ≅ 1. We can see from (Eq. 1)
that the rate of tension change dT(α)=T(α+dα/2)-T(α-dα/2) varies according to dFfr(α). But
the friction force can be expressed by the normal component dN(α) as

dF fr (α ) = k ⋅ dN (α ) . (3)

If we consider that the rate of tension change is very small the sum in (Eq. 2) can be
approximated by considering that T(α+dα/2) ≅ T(α-dα/2) ≅ T(α). The (Eq. 2) thus tells us
that the normal component dN(α) is proportional to the tension T(α) and (Eq. 3) can be
rewritten as

dF fr (α ) = k ⋅ T (α ) ⋅ dα . (4)

Equation (Eq. 1) can now be written in the form of differential equation for the tension force

dT (α ) = k ⋅ T (α ) ⋅ dα (5)

and integrated from T(0)=F1 to T(α)=F2

F2 α
dT
∫F T = ∫0 k ⋅ dα (6)
1

to give the exponential angle dependence of the ratio between the forces applied at the
opposite sides of the rope
F2
= e kα . (7)
F1
We may explore the exponential relation (Eq. 7) by setting any of the three variables
constant. If either F1 or F2 is constant we have an exponential relation between force and
angle, but if α is constant there is a linear relation between the two forces. In the first case
when F2 is constant, taking for example the weight of a climber, we see that F1 decreases
exponentially with angle of winding α meaning that a person can hold a very heavy weight
just by using a sufficiently large angle of winding. If the angle of winding is constant the
ratio between F1 and F2 is fixed and depends on the coefficient of friction. The rougher is the
rod the better for holding a heavy weight.

Experimental setup

The experimental exercise consists in exploring the exponential relation of forces F1 and F2
at the opposite ends of the rope in dependence of the angle of winding α. The relation can be
tested if the force ratio is measured at different angles. But to test a linear relation of forces in
case of fixed angle we have to measure one of the forces while the other is changing. We do
this by continuously varying the tension of the rope while both of the forces are being
measured. This way the linear relation is tested by a single measurement. By repeating the

257
measurement at different angles of winding the exponential angle dependence of the force
ratio is tested. Coefficient of friction can be measured from the slope of F2 vs. F1 which
equals exp(k⋅α) at a fixed angle or from the slope of ln(F2/F1) vs. α when the experiment is
repeated at different angles.

a) b) c)

Figure 3: Experimental setup and accessories: a) Scheme of the setup, b) Photo of the
setup, c) Goniometer and different cylinders.

Our experimental setup allows for dynamic measurement of forces F1 and F2 by data logging
(Fig. 3.a, b). One end of the rope is attached to a linear spring which is then attached to a
fixed force sensor. The other end of the rope is pulled with uniform speed by a stepping
electric motor. The motor maintains a constant speed by increasing its torque while the
spring is being stretched. To measure the force supplied by the motor a movable force sensor
is placed on a frictionless cart between the rope and the motor. This way the measurement is
made dynamic as the rope is allowed to slide. The time course of the two forces is measured
during an experiment. Many corresponding pairs of F1 and F2 are collected in a single
experiment which would not be possible for instance by using a hanging body with a fixed
mass.
To measure the angle easily, we designed a goniometer that is simply printed on a paper and
fixed on a table together with a cylinder (Fig. 3.b, 3.c). We used Lab Pro interface, Vernier
dual range force sensors and Logger Pro software for data processing.
If an additional spring is attached to the movable sensor a stick-slip behaviour can be
observed (Fig. 6). The stick-slip behaviour presents an intriguing surprise that is interesting
to discus qualitatively and analyse quantitatively by a mathematical model.

The stick-slip behaviour analysis

The stick-slip behaviour can be observed if an additional spring is used (Fig. 3.a). In order to
analyse the behaviour (Fig. 6) we denote the coefficient of dynamic friction by kd and the
coefficient of static friction by ks. While the tension in the rope continuously increases we
observe that the rope keeps alternately sticking and slipping upon the cylinder. The time
course of F1 and F2 reveals that F1 changes in discrete jumps (Fig. 6.a). While F1 is constant
the force F2 keeps increasing continuously until F1 jumps to a higher value. At that moment

258
F2 abruptly decrease and restart increasing again from a lower value. We can observe this
more explicitly by looking at F2 vs. F1 graph (Fig. 6.b). We can see that F2 increases from its
minimum value F2min to its maximum value F2max only at discrete values of F1. From the
following analysis (Eq. 10) we see that the interval F2max -F2min increases linearly with F1.
Jumps occur when the rope slips over the cylinder. So the minimum of F2 at a given F1 can
be expressed by the coefficient of dynamic friction

F2 min = e kdα F1 . (8)

But when the rope sticks on the cylinder the static friction increases to balance the increasing
force F2. While the force F1 is constant the force F2 increases till the coefficient of friction
reaches its maximum value ks. Thus at given F1 the maximum force F2 would be

F2 max = e ksα F1 . (9)

The static and dynamic coefficients of friction give the span of the force F2 at a given value
of the force F1 as
∆F2 = F2 max − F2 min = (e ksα − e kdα ) F1 . (10)

Results

We measured the time course of the forces F1 and F2 during pulling of a dry and a wet rope.
When the forces are measured at a fixed angle of winding we can observe that the puling
force F2 increases together with the opposing force F1 (Fig. 4.a), however the ratio between
the two forces is constant and exponentially depends on the coefficient of friction. By
measuring the angle of winding and the ratio of the two forces or the slope of F2 vs. F1 (Fig.
4.b) we get the coefficient of friction as k=ln(F2/F1)/α. In case of a dry rope wound through
80 deg the measured coefficient of friction was 0.26.
By repeating the experiment at different angles we can examine the forces ratio as a function
of angle (Fig. 5). The exponential relation is tested and from an exponential fit or from a
linear fit of ln(F2/F1) versus the angle of winding we get again the coefficient of friction. For
a dry rope the value was again 0.26 while for a wet rope the coefficient of friction was 0.30
which is for about 15% larger than in case of a dry rope.

a) b)

Figure 4: Experimental data for dry rope at α=80 deg: a) Time course of the two
forces and b) F2 vs. F1 plot.

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By using an additional spring the stick-slip behaviour was observed. Forces increase in a
stepwise fashion (Fig. 6.a). The force F2 increases from a minimum to a maximum value at a
definite value of F1 (Fig. 6.b). These minimum and maximum values increase linearly with
F1 and consequently F2 range increases linearly with F1 as well (Eq. 10). From F2 vs. F1 plot
one can calculate both the coefficient of dynamic and static friction. The estimated values for
a dry rope were ks=0.28 and kd=0.21 (Fig. 6). We can infer that in the absence of the
additional spring the stick-slip behaviour occurs in very small steps due to small elasticity of
the rope and thus it is very difficult to be observed.

Figure 5: Ratio of the two forces vs. the angle of winding for a dry and a wet rope.

a) b)

Figure 6: Stick-slip behaviour for a dry rope at α=130 deg: a) Time course of the two
forces and b) F2 vs. F1 plot.

Discussion

We propose some guidelines to lead students through analysis and to outline a qualitative
discussion. Students should consider the forces that act on the rope at any separate fraction of
the rope along the winding and realize that the tension in the rope varies from the value of F1
to the value of F2. They should be encouraged to explain the origin of variations in rope
tension. The equilibrium condition and the Newton’s first law of motion should be
considered in order to realize that tension variations have to be compensated by friction.
The friction force acts tangentially and depends on the normal component at any point along
the winding. Students can infer about the course of normal component along the winding. It
can be seen that the normal component per unit length depends on the tension of the rope and
on its curvature. Thus, the students are lead to realize that the friction is proportional to the

260
tension at a particular point along the rope winding. So the increase of the tension along the
winding is proportional to the tension itself.
This observation could be illustrated by some analogies like it is for example the course of
capacitor discharge or the temperature increase of a thermometer. Whenever the rate of
change of a variable is proportional to the value itself the course is exponential. If the
temperature difference for example decreases in proportion to the temperature difference
itself and to a fraction of time the temperature will decrease exponentially with time.
Similarly does the tension increase/decrease exponentially with angle as the tension
increases/decreases in proportion to the tension itself and to a fraction of angle.

Conclusion

Although the presented example may seem like another dry exercise from physics textbooks
it can be illustrated with many examples from everyday life. The examples of exponentially
increasing friction force are intriguing and stimulate analysis aimed to understand the
phenomenon. The behaviour of a sliding rope can be analysed quantitatively by computer-
based force measurements, while graphical representation of the results could considerably
contribute to fruitful qualitative discussions.
The example can be presented in qualitative demonstrations or studied in students’ project
laboratory exercises. The data logging gives a quick and detailed insight which can stimulate
students’ analysis and enable the teacher to demonstrate the phenomenon efficiently.

Acknowledgment
We acknowledge Gorazd Planinšič for addressing our attention to the phenomenon and for
useful remarks and suggestions in preparing this paper.

References
[1] http://student.fmf.uni-lj.si/fiz/projlab/

261
Vacuum Bazooka – Extended

Aleš Mohorič

FMF, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia,

ales.mohoric@fmf.uni-lj.si

“Vacuum bazooka” is a simple and amusing experiment, which easily catches the attention
of students. With a few very basic steps a lot of physics can be covered. We have extended
the analysis by employing pressure sensors at the nozzle and at the centre of the tube. Some
interesting results follow from the measurements.

Introduction

A vacuum cannon is a simple and amusing device which easily catches the attention of
students. With a few very basic steps a lot of physics can be covered [1]. We have extended
the analysis by employing pressure sensors at the nozzle and the centre of the pipe. Some
interesting results follow from the measurements.

In a cannon the pressure of exploding gas forces the projectile down the barrel whereas in the
vacuum bazooka the vacuum sucks (or is it the atmospheric pressure, that pushes?) it in and
the projectile flies out on the other side. The bazooka can be constructed from a plastic pipe
(Fig. 1) and a corresponding T-section of a suitable diameter (~ 4 cm). A length of one or
two meters suffices. A vacuum cleaner or pump is connected to the T-section. The projectile
must have a circular cross-section and appropriate diameter. Suitable objects are pink-ponk
balls or photograph film cartridges. First step in the experiment is to create under pressure in
the pipe by the vacuum pump. Once the pump is turned on, the nozzle is sealed with a piece
of paper (cardboard) or aluminum foil which must be strong enough to withstand the
pressure difference. The under pressure will keep the seal in place. The other side of the pipe
is sealed by the projectile which can be held by hand. Once the projectile is released it will
shoot down the pipe and exit at the other end.

projectile paper sheet

pressure sensor 1 & 2 vacuum

cleaner

Figure 1: Vacuum bazooka is constructed from a straight circular pipe and a T-section at one
end. A vacuum cleaner is attached to the outlet of the T-section thus leaving a straight path
for a projectile and enabling the vacuum pump to produce sufficient under pressure. Pressure
sensors (they are not essential for the bazooka functionality, their role will be explained later)
are mounted on the bicycle tire valves and located in the middle and at the end of the pipe.

A qualitative analysis of the bazooka can start with a demonstrational shot. It is interesting
how puzzling the cause of the force on the projectile can be for students. It is hard for them

262
to imagine, why the projectile is not sucked in the vacuum cleaner, especially if it is running
during the shot. The force is the result of pressure differences between the atmosphere and
the inside of the pipe. When the projectile passes the T-section, the net force will still push it
towards the nozzle until it breaks the seal and after that only drag will slow it down. The
force on the projectile is independent of its mass. An interesting experiment is to use two
projectiles that have the same shape but different mass (some play dough in a film cartridge
will do). The students are stimulated to predict for both projectiles (l – light, h – heavy) the

• force accelerating them (Fl = Fh),

• time spent in the pipe (tl < th),
• final speed (vl > vh),
• acceleration (al > ah),
• kinetic energy (Wkl = Wkh), and
• linear momentum (Gl < Gh).

Students should explain their reasoning!

Many students will use the “formula” to find this relations, but it is important to encourage
them to use simple reasoning and fundamental laws to come to the conclusion. For instance:
since only the cross-section and pressure difference determine the force, both forces must be
equal. If the forces are equal, the lighter projectile will have greater acceleration. If the
acceleration is greater, the time spent inside the tube will be shorter. The change in linear
momentum is given by the force impulse and clearly the lighter projectile will have smaller
momentum. The change in the kinetic energy is given by the work of the force along the
length of the pipe which is equal for both cases. In this way, qualitative analysis builds
conceptual understanding.

After the qualitative treatment has been completed the quantitative analysis of the problem
can follow. In the first approximation the vacuum bazooka can be treated like this: constant
pressure difference ∆p exerts constant force on a projectile along a fixed path with the length
l. The speed of the projectile of mass m and cross-section S at the end of the pipe is:
2 ∆p S l
v= . (1)
m
This can be easily tested by measuring the nozzle speed and pressure inside the pipe. For this
purpose we used Vernier interface [2], photogates and pressure sensor. Precaution is needed
because the projectile kinetic energy may be substantial and for this reason the nozzle must
be pointed away from the students. The photogates must be positioned in such a way that the
piece of paper, that seals the pipe, does not obstruct the measurement.

Experiment

As an example a projectile with mass of 30 g, pipe with 10 cm2 cross-section and 1.5 m
length were used. Students are encouraged to give an estimate of the pressure difference.
Clear upper and lower limits are 1 atm and 0 respectively. Usually the pressure difference is
overestimated by almost an order. For a measured pressure difference of 10 kPa the speed of
30 m/s follows from Eq. 1. In our case we measured the speed of 20 m/s It turns out that the
approximation does not predict the measured result. Students are stimulated to give the
reasons why. Usually the reasons they give are friction and air-leak between the projectile
and the walls of the pipe. Only after their attention is turned to the large x (infinite pipe) limit
of Eq. 1 they realize a fundamental flaw in the approximation: there is no limit to the speed

263
as long as the pipe is long enough. This is another brain teaser for the students. Usually they
are able to set the upper limit for the nozzle speed based on the relativistic effects and only
after a guided reasoning to at most the speed of sound.

In a better approximation the acceleration of air that is sucked in the pipe behind the
projectile, as it speeds along the pipe, can be taken into account. In this case the second
Newton law can be expressed with the coordinate x of the projectile measured from the
beginning of the pipe as:
d (m + ρ S x) v
∆p S = ,
dt
where ρ is air density. After a few algebraic steps the expression for the speed as a function
of the position inside the pipe (the nozzle velocity equals v(x=l)) follows as:
2m x
x2 +
∆p ρS
v= ,
ρ x+
m
ρS
which has the upper limit smaller than the speed of sound. The relation can be tested by
drilling several holes across the pipe and measuring speed with photogates. The holes must
be sealed with transparent tape to keep the pressure unaltered. It turns out, that the last
expression (shown in Fig. 2) sufficiently describes the measurements.

0.8

ρ 0.6
v
∆p
0.4

0.2

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

ρSx
m

Figure 2: Theoretical speed of the projectile as a function of the position in the pipe.

Further challenge is to find the mass of the projectile for which the range of the bazooka is
the largest. Obviously a lighter projectile has a higher nozzle speed than the heavier but is
more affected by air drag. This is an experimental challenge. Students can repeat
measurements while they add clay or other suitable ballast to the projectile. The theoretical
solution to this problem is beyond the scope of this paper although several quantities can
easily be obtained. For instance, it can be shown that the kinetic energy of the projectile in

264
the limit of large mass equals the energy required to evacuate air from the pipe in the first
place:
lim m→∞ 12 m v 2 = ∆p S l .

We extended the experiment by measuring pressure at two positions: in the middle of the
pipe and near the nozzle. The pressure sensor from the Vernier set of sensors was used. The
sensor is connected to the pipe by a hollow tube – we used tubes from modified bicycle
valves.

Firstly the measurement gives ∆p and secondly, the pressure can be followed in time (Fig. 3).
It is apparent how the pressure drops as the pipe is sealed and how it rises as the projectile
speeds past the pressure sensor.

102
1
100
3
98
2
96
p [kPa ]

94
92
90
88
86
84
1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4
t [s]

Figure 3: Pressure in the pipe as a function of time. First and second drop in the pressure
(marked 1 in the graph) are too small to be observable at this scale. They correspond to the
start of pumping and the sealing of the one end of the pipe. With these values it is possible to
evaluate the rate at which air is pumped by the vacuum pump using the Bernoulli equation.
The third drop in pressure (marked 2) occurs when the other end of the pipe is sealed off by
the projectile held in hand. Because the seal is not tight, the pressure in the pipe is changing.
After the projectile is released, the pressure jumps back to normal air pressure (mark 3). The
encircled part of the graph is represented in Fig. 4.

From the pressure jumps at the first and the second sensor (Fig. 4) the average speed in the
last half of the pipe can be determined. Interesting feature is apparent in the pressure graph of
the sensor located in the middle of the pipe: the oscillations, that occur after the projectile
leaves the pipe, correspond to the sound oscillations of the first harmonic. The length of the
pipe is 1.5 m with the first harmonic at frequency ν = c/4l = 110 Hz. This gives the period of
oscillation of 0.01 s in agreement with the measured oscillation time.

265
 102 fundamental frequency
of the pipe
100
98 projectile @
sensor 1
96
p [kPa]

94 sensor 1
92 projectile sensor 2
released
90
projectile @
88 sensor 2
rising (end of the pipe)
86 pressure
84
3,3 3,35 3,4 3,45 3,5 3,55 3,6
t [s]

Figure 4: Pressure in the pipe: sensor 1 – measured in the middle, sensor 2 – measured at the
nozzle. The moment when the projectile is released can be clearly distinguished. From then
on, the pressure in front of the projectile starts to rise, since the vacuum pump is not able to
sustain a constant pressure difference. As the projectile passes the sensor, the pressure returns
to the atmospheric pressure. After the projectile leaves the pipe, small under pressure starts
the first harmonic oscillations, that can also be heard by ear as a short resound. The period
0.01 s of the oscillations correspond to the first harmonic for the pipe of 1.5 m length.

Summary

The didactical benefit of this experiment is its ease in getting the attention, it is fun and
involves experimental and theoretical contributions from students. It demonstrates second
Newton’s law, conservation of energy, the force of the atmospheric pressure, and harmonic
oscillations. The qualitative treatment of the problem is very important and rewarding. It
helps building conceptual understanding and all predictions can easily be verified during the
experiment. In order to execute the experiment the following experimental devices are
recommended: computer interface with sensors (such as Vernier interface), LabPro,
photogates, scale and pressure sensor. From the theoretical standpoint it involves solving
simple differential equation, which is on the undergraduate but above secondary school level.

References
[1] Ayars E, Buchholtz L 2004 Analysis of the vacuum cannon, Am. J. Phys. 72 (7) 961 – 963
[2] Vernier Software and Hardware at www.vernier.com

266
The Magic of Physics/the Physics of Magic

David R. Sokoloff

Department of Physics, University of Oregon

sokoloff@uoregon.edu

Introduction

This science show at the 3rd semi-annual GIREP Seminar presented a series of simple optics
demonstrations as magic tricks. These are designed to introduce students at the introductory
college or high school level to basic concepts of geometrical and physical optics. Some of
these demonstrations are appropriate as actual introductions to concepts (see Demonstrations
1-4 below), while others might best be used to reinforce concepts that have already been
taught.

The author first developed these demonstrations in 1981 for use at the Willamette Science
and Technology Center (WISTEC), a hands-on science center of which he was the Science
Director. (This science center, presently called The Science Factory, is the Eugene, Oregon
version of the Exploratorium.) Public magic shows were presented every Saturday morning
by the author and by students who were trained to present the magic tricks. Unlike most
magic shows, each trick illustrated an optics concept that was explained to the audience after
it was performed. The author has since used the demonstrations in his general physics
courses.

More recently, the author has attempted to present the demonstrations in the style of
Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs) [1] With ILDs, students in a lecture are asked to
make predictions, have small group discussions and compare their predictions to
observations of the results of the demonstrations. In this way, student learning is constructed
from real observations of the physical world. More information on ILDs can be found in the
book, Interactive Lecture Demonstrations [2]. While in some cases it is not appropriate to
ask for student predictions before doing the magic tricks, a series of Optics Learning
Questions has been developed for Demonstrations 1, 2, 5 and 6, to facilitate small group
discussions. These are included below in the descriptions of these four demonstrations.

The remainder of this paper consists of brief descriptions of the ten demonstrations,
including learning objectives, equipment and supplies, preparation notes, presentation notes
and an explanation. While most of these demonstrations are not new [3] or original, the
context of doing them as magic is new. Presenting the demonstrations in this way captivates
the students, and helps to engage them in the learning process. For more information, contact
the author.

Demonstration 1: The Reappearing Test Tube

Objective: To understand the importance of a difference in optical properties (indexes of

refraction) of transparent media in the reflection and refraction of light.

267
Equipment and Supplies: 2 600 ml clear glass beakers, 3 small clear Pyrex culture or test
tubes, hammer or block of wood, envelope, vegetable oil or light and heavy mineral oils. (In
Europe, paraffin oil and Duraglas test tubes will work and may be more readily available.)
Preparation Notes: The index of refraction of vegetable oil is very close to that of Pyrex.
Or, you can mix the mineral oils to match the index of refraction more closely to the index of
the tubes. Fill one beaker with this “magic fluid” and completely submerge one or two tubes
in it. You should not be able to see the submerged tubes. Fill the other beaker with water. It
is best if the lights are dimmed somewhat, and a white background behind the beakers helps
to make the tubes invisible.
Presentation Notes: Take a dry tube and place it in the envelope. Smash it with the hammer
or block of wood. Ask a volunteer to look into the envelope to verify that the tube is
smashed. Tell the students that the beaker contains a magic fluid that will repair the tube.
Drop the pieces of the tube into the beaker with the mineral oil. Say some “magic” word(s)
(like “WORLD YEAR OF PHYSICS”) and/or wave a magic wand. Then reach in and pull
out a whole tube! For laughs, you can say that this trick is even more amazing, and pull out a
second tube!
The Optics Learning Questions for this trick are shown in Figure 1. Break down the class
into small groups, and ask the groups to discuss these questions. Then ask for volunteer(s) to
answer them.

Reappearing Test Tube Learning Questions

1. How do you think that the test tube was made to

reappear?

2. Why can you see a test tube in air or in water, but not in
the magic fluid? What is special about the magic fluid?

3. What property of transparent media determines whether

reflection takes place at the boundary between them?
What has to be true about this property for the two
materials in order for reflection to take place?

4. What about the light that is transmitted through the test

tube? How is it affected when the test tube is in the magic
fluid and when the test tube is in air?

Figure 1: Optics Learning Questions for Demonstration 1.

Explanation: Clear objects only reflect and refract light when they are in a medium with
different optical properties (a different index of refraction). Since the “magic fluid” has the
same index as the tube, no light is reflected by the submerged tube to your eyes. Therefore,
you cannot see it. Show that you can see the tube in air because air has a different index than
the tube. Also show that you can see it in water. Take a dry tube and submerge it open side
up so that the vegetable (or mineral oil) flows over the rim. It will appear to the students to

268
disappear from the bottom up! Some students have even described that it seems to disappear
in a flash!

Demonstration 2: Candle Burning Under Water

Objective: To explore the properties of a virtual image formed by a plane mirror.

Equipment and Supplies: Candle, matches, container of water, 600 ml clear glass beaker,
large (at least 60 cm x 60 cm) acrylic or glass sheet supported vertically, black (or other dark
colored) cloth large enough to cover the sheet.
Preparation Notes: Place the candle in front of the acrylic sheet facing the students, and the
beaker a distance behind the sheet so that the image of the candle as seen from in front of the
acrylic sheet appears to be in the center of the beaker. The black cloth should be over the
acrylic sheet. It is best if the lights are dimmed.
Presentation Notes: Light the candle, and pretend to light a candle in the beaker behind the
sheet as well. Remove the black cloth. Say the magic word(S), and fill the beaker behind the
sheet with water. It will appear to students that there is a candle burning under water in the
beaker.
Use small groups and the Optics Learning Questions in Figure 2. Ask for volunteer(s) to
explain how the trick works.

Candle Under Water Learning Questions

1. How do you think that it was possible for the candle to

burn under water?

2. Describe the image of the candle formed by the glass

(acrylic) mirror. Is the image real or virtual? Define both
of these types of images.

3. Is the image upright or inverted compared to the candle?

Compare the size of the image to the candle.

4. Compare the “handedness” of the image in a plane mirror

to that of the object. That is if the object is a right hand, is
the image a right or left hand?

5. What property of the glass (or acrylic) allows the sheet to

act as a mirror?

Figure 2: Optics Learning Questions for Demonstration 2

Explanation: The acrylic sheet acts as a plane mirror, forming a virtual image of the lit
candle in the beaker behind the sheet. Even though the sheet only reflects about 4-8% of the
light from the candle, this is enough to have a clear, and somewhat convincing image.

269
Demonstration 3: Candle Appearing in a Box

Objective: To explore the properties of a real image formed by a concave mirror.

Equipment and Supplies: Small candle (about 2 cm in diameter and 4 cm tall), large, front-
surface, concave mirror (around 150 cm radius of curvature) with holder that allows fairly
precise vertical and horizontal adjustment, wooden box about 30 cm high with 15 cm x 15
cm cross-section with three sides hinged so that they open to 90°.
Preparation Notes: Put the box on the table with the long dimension vertical, and with one
of the opening sides facing the students and one facing away. (This demonstration will only
work in this form with a small group of students. For larger groups, it is possible to use a
video camera to project the image formed on a monitor or screen.) Place the candle on top of
the box. With the sides of the box open, set up the mirror so that it forms a real, inverted
image of the candle inside the box, and just below the real candle. (The distance of the mirror
from the candle should equal the radius of curvature of the mirror—twice the focal length.)
Close the sides of the box. It is best if the lights are dimmed.
Presentation Notes: Light the candle. Open the side of the box facing the students and show
them that there is no candle inside. Close the side, say the magic word(s) and then open both
sides. The inverted image of the candle will appear inside the box.
Ask for volunteer(s) to explain how the trick works.
Explanation: The concave mirror forms a real, inverted image at the location of the candle,
but slightly displaced below. It looks like there is really a candle there! It is at the same
location as the candle because the distance of the candle from the mirror equals the radius of
the mirror (twice the focal length of the mirror). Contrast this image to the one formed by a
plane mirror in the previous demonstration. Is it real or virtual? How do you know? (Put a
piece of paper where the image is formed, and note that rays of light are really focused to that
location, unlike the virtual image from the plane mirror in which no rays are focused behind
the mirror where the image is formed.)

Demonstration 4: The Magic of Spoons

Objective: To compare the real image formed by a concave mirror to the virtual image
formed by a convex mirror.
Equipment and Supplies: For a large class, it is best to make a large “spoon” from a large
concave or convex mirror with no backing (both concave and convex sides reflect). Attach a
handle to the mirror. The size of the mirror should be appropriate to the size of the class. The
focal length should be small enough so that the students are much further away than the focal
point. For small group(s) of students, individual real spoons that are polished enough to
reflect an image work fine.
Presentation Notes: Hold up the “spoon” with the concave side facing the class (or have the
students observe their images in the concave side of the spoons). Have them note whether the
image is upright or inverted. (The image will be real and inverted.) Say the magic word(s),
and flip the spoon so that they are looking into its convex side. Have them note that the
image is now upright. Ask for volunteer(s) to explain how the trick works.
Explanation: The object (student’s face) is outside the focal point of the concave mirror.
Therefore, the image formed is real and inverted. A convex mirror can only form a virtual
upright image, and therefore, this is what is seen when the “spoon” is flipped around.

Demonstration 5: Coal to Silver

Objective: To observe total internal reflection at the interface between two transparent
media.

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Equipment and Supplies: Ball (about 5 cm in diameter) made of non-flammable/non-
melting material mounted on the end of a rod and covered with soot (carbon) from a candle
flame, 600 ml beaker of water.
Preparation Notes: Light the candle and rotate the ball in the flame until the ball is covered
all over with soot. Fill the beaker with water.
Presentation Notes: Tell the students that while the alchemists tried to turn lead into gold,
you have discovered how to turn coal into silver. Say the magic word(s) and submerge the
ball in the water. The students will see light reflected off the surface of the ball, and it will
appear to have a shiny silver-like surface.
Use small groups and the Optics Learning Questions in Figure 3. Ask for volunteer(s) to
explain how the trick works.

Carbon to Silver Learning Questions

1. How do you think that the carbon ball was made to appear
like silver?

2. What could cause the carbon ball to become a reflecting

surface when it is submerged in water?

3. Compare the index of refraction of the air layer around

the ball to the index of refraction of the water. What name
is given to the reflection at this air layer?

4. Why is the surface of the ball not a “perfect” mirror?

Figure 3: Optics Learning Questions for Demonstration 5

Explanation: A layer of air is trapped around the surface of the ball by the carbon layer.
Therefore, light from outside incident on this layer can be totally internally reflected back
into the water and back to the students’ eyes. It appears that the light is being reflected from
the “shiny” surface of the ball. Total internal reflection takes place when light is incident
from a medium with a larger index of refraction (water) on a medium with a smaller index of
refraction (air layer).

Demonstration 6: Falling Laser Beam

Objective: To observe total internal reflection at the interface between two transparent
media—the mechanism of fiber optics.
Equipment and Supplies: Clear glass or acrylic container filled with water with a small
(about 5-10 mm) hole on one side near the bottom sealed by a stopper, laser, trough or pan
on floor to catch water stream, blackboard eraser with chalk on it.
Preparation Notes: The laser is aligned so that it can be shined from the other side of the
container through the water incident on the stopper from inside the water.
Presentation Notes: Shine the laser across the room, and hit the eraser with your hand to
suspend chalk dust in the laser beam. Note that the beam goes in a straight line. Then shine

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the laser on the stopper as described above. Say the magic word(s) and remove the stopper.
The water streams out along a curved path, and the laser beam follows this path, apparently
falling downward with the water.
Use small groups and the Optics Learning Questions in Figure 4. Ask for volunteer(s) to
explain how the trick works.

Falling Laser Beam Learning Questions

1. What caused the laser beam to curve around and stay

within the water stream?

2. Compare the index of refraction of the water to that of

the air around it.

3. What name is given to the reflection of the light at the

surface of the water stream?

4. What practical devices work on the same principle?

Figure 4: Optics Learning Questions for Demonstration 6

Explanation: The laser beam within the stream of water is incident on the interface between
water and air, from higher index of refraction to lower index of refraction. Since the light is
incident at an angle larger than the critical angle, the beam is totally internally reflected back
into the water and seems to be trapped. This is the same mechanism that is exploited in fiber
optics.

Demonstration 7: Bouncing Laser Beam

Objective: To observe curving of light in a medium with a continuously variable index of

refraction—the mechanism of an oasis or mirage.
Equipment and Supplies: Acrylic trough about 15 cm deep, 5 cm wide and 75 cm long,
thick corn syrup (e.g., Karo Syrup), laser, blackboard eraser with chalk on it.
Preparation Notes: At least one hour before the demonstration, pour the syrup into the
trough to a depth of about 4 cm. Pour water slowly to a depth of about 4 cm above the syrup.
Mix carefully with a stirring rod so that the layers partially mix, but not enough so that they
totally mix. Let stand for awhile. The idea is to get an index of refraction gradient with the
smallest index (just water) at the top and the largest index (just syrup) at the bottom.
Presentation Notes: Shine the laser across the room, and hit the eraser with your hand to
suspend chalk dust in the laser beam. Note that the beam goes in a straight line. Say the
magic word(s), and then set up the laser so that it is incident on the trough through the 15 cm
x 5 cm face, near the top of the fluid mixture. You may need to aim the beam down slightly.
You should see the beam curve downward, reflect off the bottom, curve downward again
(forming a half loop) after it reflects from the bottom, etc., etc. In other words, you should
see several half loops of the beam, like a bouncing ball.
Ask for volunteer(s) to explain how the trick works.

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Explanation: The index of refraction of the fluid increases from top to bottom. As the beam
moves through this changing index, instead of refracting sharply at a surface, it bends slowly
downward. When it hits the bottom, it is reflected upward again. It continues to bend, finally
reaching an angle greater than the critical angle, and reflecting back down again, continuing
to bend until it hits the bottom again.

Demonstration 8: Colors from a Magic Solution

Objective: To observe one of the manifestations of optical rotation.

Equipment and Supplies: Thick corn syrup (e.g., Karo Syrup), 600-1000 ml glass or clear
plastic jar with sealable lid, sheet of Polaroid, slide projector, Polaroid slide, opaque slide,
transparent slide and screen.
Preparation Notes: Cut the sheet of Polaroid so that it fits inside the jar and covers one half
of the surface of the jar (half cylindrical shape). Place the Polaroid inside the jar against the
surface. Fill the jar with the corn syrup, and then seal the jar with the lid. (This jar can be
used over and over again.) Cut another piece of Polaroid the size of a slide for the projector.
Place the three slides in the projector in this order: transparent, opaque, Polaroid. The axis of
the Polaroid slide should be at 90° with the axis of the Polaroid in the jar with the jar vertical.
Set up the projector so that it will shine through the jar and either be focused onto the screen
or shined into the students’ eyes.
Presentation Notes: With the transparent slide in place, shine the projector through the jar
with the Polaroid side facing the students. Rotate the jar around an axis perpendicular to the
front face. Nothing happens. Then move the opaque slide into place. Say the magic word(s),
and quickly move the Polaroid slide into place. Now rotate the jar as before, and the students
will see different colors of light appear.
Ask for volunteer(s) to explain how the trick works.
Explanation: The corn syrup has the property that it can rotate the axis of polarization of
incident polarized light. Initially the incident light is un-polarized, so the corn syrup has no
net effect. The Polaroid in the jar (the analyzer) does nothing. When polarized light is shined
through the jar, the corn syrup rotates the axis of polarization different amounts for different
wavelengths of the incident white light. Depending on the angle of the analyzer, a different
color is passed through and seen.

Demonstration 9: Appearing Message

Objective: To observe the effect of bi-refringence.

Equipment and Supplies: Large sheet of Polaroid (e.g., 25 cm x 25 cm), thin sheet of
plastic (e.g., overhead transparency), slide projector, Polaroid slide, opaque slide and
transparent slide.
Preparation Notes: Cut letters of a message out from the thin plastic sheet. (“OOH, AAH”
is a fun message to use!) Tape them to the back of the large sheet of Polaroid. Cut a piece of
Polaroid the size of a slide for the projector. Place the three slides in the projector in this
order: transparent, opaque, Polaroid. The axis of the Polaroid slide should be at 90° with the
axis of the Polaroid sheet. Set up the projector so that it will shine through the large sheet of
Polaroid towards the class, with the Polaroid facing the class and the letters behind it.
Presentation Notes: With the transparent slide in place, shine the projector through the
Polaroid sheet toward the students, with the letters on the projector side. Nothing happens.
Then move the opaque slide into place. Say the magic word(s), and quickly move the
Polaroid slide into place. Now the letters appear.
Ask for volunteer(s) to explain how the trick works.

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Explanation: The plastic sheet material is bi-refringent and does not have a completely
uniform thickness. It rotates the axis of polarization of the Polarized light by different
amounts depending on its thickness at different spots. Some of this light that has its axis
rotated to a different angle than 90° goes through the Polaroid sheet (the analyzer), so the
students see the message.

Demonstration 10: The Sunset

Objective: To observe polarization by scattering, and how scattering produces the blue sky
and the colors of the sunset.
Equipment and Supplies: Sheet of Polaroid (e.g., 15 cm x 15 cm), 1800 ml clear plastic or
glass beaker 3/4 filled with water, 40 ml saturated sodium thiosulfate solution, 25 ml
concentrated hydrochloric acid, stirring rod, projector and screen. (Alternatively, drops of
milk can be added to the water instead of using the sodium thiosulfate and acid. However,
the sodium thiosulfate and acid produce a more dramatic effect.)
Preparation Notes: Set up the projector so that it shines through the beaker onto the screen.
Just before lecture, add the sodium thiosulfate to the water in the beaker and stir well. Have
the acid ready to add to the beaker, and the Polaroid ready to hold in front of the beaker
(between the beaker and the students).
Presentation Notes: Turn on the projector, and tell the students it represents the sun. The
water in the beaker represents the sky. Tell them that you are going to produce a sunset in
class. Say the magic word(s), add the acid to the beaker and quickly stir. Shortly, bluish light
will be scattered out of the side of the beaker. If you rotate the Polaroid, it will be apparent
that this light is partially polarized. The light passing through the beaker to the screen will at
first appear yellow, and then redder and redder.
Ask for volunteer(s) to explain how the trick works.
Explanation: The acid precipitates tiny particles of sodium in the water. These particles
scatter the light out of the sides of the beaker. The scattering process is more effective the
shorter the wavelength. Therefore, blue light is scattered more than yellow or red. At low
concentrations of sulfur, the light that gets through to the screen is yellow. As time passes
and the concentration increases, the color of the light passing through becomes redder.
In the sky, the blue scattered light is what we see during the day. (Actually, violet is scattered
more effectively, but our eyes are much less sensitive to violet than to blue.) When the sun is
setting, however, we are looking directly at the sun. Rather than seeing the scattered light, we
are looking at the light left behind after scattering by a relatively thick layer of the
atmosphere, and this is reddish in color.

References:
[1] David R. Sokoloff and Ronald K. Thornton, “Using Interactive Lecture Demonstrations to Create
an Active Learning Environment,” The Physics Teacher 35: 6, 340 (1997).
[2] David R. Sokoloff and Ronald K. Thornton, Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (Hoboken, NJ,
John Wiley and Sons, 2004).
[3] Here are some resources from which these demonstrations were collected: Paul G. Hewitt,
Instructor’s Manual to Conceptual Physics, 3rd Ed. (Boston, Little, Brown and Co., 1977), Richard
Sutton, Demonstration Experiments in Physics (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1938), G.D. Freier and
F.J. Anderson, A Demonstration Handbook for Physics (College Park, MD, American Association
of Physics Teachers, 1981), and T. Kallard, Exploring Laser Light (College Park, MD, American
Association of Physics Teachers, 1982).

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Science Shows at 3rd GIREP Seminar

Light and Sound Demonstrations

Chris Chiaverina

The following demonstrations were presented on September 6, 2005 at the GIREP Seminar
Physics Nocturno Program. That evening I was honored to present with colleagues Brian
Jones and Stanley Micklavzina. I would like to acknowledge the fine work of Dave Barnes of
Arbor Scientific and the late Marko Budisa. They supplied many of the images that appear in
this piece.

The Shadow Screen

The slow emission of stored energy in the form of visible light is called phosphorescence.
“Glow in the dark” phosphorescent materials with long decay times are used to cause watch
dials, safety markers, and many children’s toys to glow long after the lights go out.
In a darkened room, a camera flash is used to capture a shadow image on a sheet of
phosphorescent material. Place your hand or other object on the phosphorescent material or
“shadow screen” as the students call it. After directing the flash toward the screen, activate
the flash. The photos show how a shadow image is formed. If a small fan is available, you
may “freeze” the motion of the fan blades by placing the fan between the screen and the
camera flash.

Edison Record Player

Form a cone out of a piece of poster board or file folder. Tape the edge so that the cone will
retain its shape. After you place a straight pin through the tip of the cone you will have an
Edison-style record player. Cradle the cone in both hands as you lower the straight pin into

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the groove of a spinning record. The pin should drag behind the base of the cone, with only
the weight of the cone holding it down.

Grooves on the surface of the phonograph record cause the needle to vibrate. The cardboard
cone, with its large surface area, amplifies these vibrations. And voila, you hear music!

Since records may be foreign to many students, it may be instructive to allow them to look at
record grooves through a magnifying glass or microscope. The recorded information appears
as a squiggly line that spirals in from the outer edge of the disk to the center. The nature of
the grooves reveals where the recorded sound is the loudest (the squiggle is wide in loud
passages) and where the sound has high frequency components (the squiggles are close
together). As the needle moves through the grooves, these variations in the groove cause the
needle to vibrate, producing sound. Since the needle does not displace much air as it vibrates,
it’s necessary to attach the needle to the cardboard to amplify the sound.

Talkie Tapes

When a conventional phonograph record is made, a metal cutting needle cuts a squiggly
groove in the plastic. The wavy groove corresponds, or is analogous, to the sound wave
making the needle vibrate. That is why this technology is called analog recording.

When a phonograph record is played, the needle, or stylus, vibrates as it passes through the
grooves on the record's surface. These vibrations correspond to the original sound that made
the cutting needle move. The vibrating playback needle is connected to a small electrical
generator (a cartridge) to produce an electrical signal. This signal is then amplified and sent
to a loudspeaker.

With Talkie Tapes, the recorded information is spread out along a 24" red plastic strip. On
one side of the strip is a series of ridges and pits. These high and low points contain
information about frequency and loudness of the sound that was used to produce them.
During "playback", your thumbnail takes the place of the needle. The sound is amplified by
forcing something with a larger surface area (a cup, paper, balloon, etc.) to vibrate. This
vibrating surface, in turn, moves the air molecules that carry the sound to your ears. In this
case the cup is used to amplify the sound wave. You can also bite the end of the tape and
your head will act as the sound box.

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Talkie Tapes may be purchased from Talking Devices Company - 37 Brown Street -
Weaverville, NC 28787 Phone: 828-658-0660 - Fax 828-658-0493 - E-mail: talkie@ioa.com

The Sound Wagon

The “Sound Wagon” is a record playing system mounted in a toy microbus. Inside the
electric motor-driven microbus are an amplifier and speaker. A phonograph cartridge is
attached to the underside of the bus. When the microbus is placed on a 331/3 RPM long-
playing record, the phonograph needle’s motion through the record’s groove guides the bus
from the beginning to the end of each song. Amplified sound from the speaker emerges
through holes in the top of the bus. The photo shows the bus in operation. These days, the
Sound Wagon is difficult to obtain. An Internet search may provide a source.

Persistence of Vision I – The Neon Lasso

Pulsating lights are common in our world, but often go unnoticed. We are generally not
aware that common light sources such as neon and fluorescent lamps flash on and off.

You can observe this flashing by attaching an inexpensive neon night light to the end of an
extension cord. In a dark room, carefully swing the “neon lasso” in a circle. You may be
amazed to find that a circular pattern of dots appear before your eyes (see photo below).

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The AC voltage powering the light is rapidly switching from plus to minus and in the process
passes through zero voltage twice each cycle. The zero voltage coupled with cool nature of
neon light causes the light to extinguish rapidly. Since the frequency of AC current in
America is 60 Hz, the flash rate of the neon light is 120 Hz. In Europe the flash rate is 100
Hz.
Although the neon source is only in one place at one time, the human eye-brain system
retains an image of the light for a fraction of a second. This phenomenon is called
persistence of vision.

Persistence of Vision II – The Magic Wand

A wand is waved in thin air and an image miraculously appears. Is this magic?
This simple demonstration uses a slide projector, a slide and a white dowel rod to serve as
the magic wand. When the slide is projected out into space with no screen, no image is
visible. However, when the "magic wand" is waved through the beam of light, the image can
be clearly seen.
What is happening? At any instant, the light hitting the wand creates a partial image of the
slide. As the wand moves, other partial images are formed on the rod. The brain retains these
partial images and puts them together as a single complete image, in this case the skull seen
in the picture below.

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Frisbee with LED Text Display

Like the neon lasso and magic wand demonstrations, this unique Frisbee illustrates
persistence of vision. As the Frisbee flies through the air, a series of microchip-controlled
light-emitting diodes mounted along the circumference of the Frisbee turn on and off in
predetermined patterns. Our eye-brain system retains the image of each collection of LEDs
long enough for us to perceive a complete image. In this case, the microchip has been
programmed to spell GIREP.

The Color Mixing Turbine – Overlapping Color in Time

Due to a phenomenon known as persistence of vision, our retina retains an image for a short
time after the source of light has come and gone. Using persistence of vision, it is possible to
combine colors by presenting them to the eye in rapid succession. If for example, a flash of
red light impinges on the retina, the sensitive cones that are activated by the light continue
sending signals to the brain for a fraction of a second. If a source of green light strikes the
retina within this time, the brain will perceive yellow, the additive combination of red and
green.

The color mixing turbine provides a simple yet elegant way of demonstrating the use of
persistence of vision to achieve additive color mixing.
The following steps will guide you through the construction and use of the turbine.
1) Bend two corners of a black 5cm x 5 cm cardboard square as shown in the figures below.
Note: the dimensions of the square are not critical.
2) Attach a green sticker to one side of the card and a red sticker to the other. Make certain
that the two stickers have overlapping areas.
3) Gently hold the card by corners B and D using two fingers. By blowing on the concave
blade, the cardboard can be made to spin. The alternating colors act as flashing red and green
lights, the combination of which produces the sensation of yellow.

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 Red Green Yellow

Color Mixing Using Chemical Light Sticks on an Electric Drill

Red, blue and green chemical light sticks may be used to produce white light by spinning
them on an electric drill. A three-inch bolt is used to attach the sticks to the drill. The head on
the bolt is first removed with a hacksaw. The bolt is then secured to the drill just as a bit
would be. A "sandwich" consisting of alternating nuts and light sticks is then assembled.
That is, a nut is placed on the bolt, followed by a light stick, followed by a nut, etc. The light
sticks should be separated by roughly 120 degrees. This assembly is held snugly together by
tightening down on the last nut.
As the red, blue and green light sticks spin, the eye-brain system melds the three colors and
white is perceived. If a band of opaque tape, such as electrical tape, is attached to one of the
sticks, the complement of the obscured color will be seen.

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Hearing the Light

Using simple equipment, you can transmit voice and music over a beam of light. First attach
a red LED to the earphone jack of a radio, tape or CD player. This may be accomplished by
using a cord with a mini-plug on one end and alligators clips at the other. The signal from
any of these devices will cause the LED to flicker. (Note: The LED will not light if the
output of the electronic entertainment device is insufficient. Placing a 9 V battery and a
470ohm resistor as shown should remedy the problem.)

The modulated light from the LED contains information relating to the frequency and
intensity of the audio signal. A photocell or photodiode, connected to an
amplifier/loudspeaker, is used to receive the modulated signal. The quality of the received
signal is quite amazing!

Students enjoy seeing how far the signal may be transmitted. They should be encouraged to
experiment with various optical devices such as lenses and optical fibers in their attempt to
extend the range.

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Physics Nocturno

Stanley Micklavzina

University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon USA

This is the second GIREP seminar that featured an evening demonstration session called
Physics Nocturno. This year’s show featured three educators from the United States, Brian
Jones from Colorado State University, Chris Chiaverina The American Association of
Physics Teachers (AAPT) past president, TPT column editor, and retired high school
teacher, and Stanley Micklavzina lecture demonstration expert from the University of
Oregon. The three of us have been involved in workshops focused on taking physics on the
road at the Summer national AAPT meetings.

For Physics Nocturno we combined our efforts and put together some favorite
demonstrations used especially for bringing physics to the public.

Demonstrations performed by Stanley Micklavzina

Energy transfer: Transverse waves

An assistant from the audience holds the end of a long spring that has a bell attached to it.
When I wiggle the my end of this long spring, waves are created and these waves move
along the spring and cause the assistant's arms to wiggle up and down which causes the bell
to ring. The energy is transferred by the wave motion. The characteristics of the wave, the
material between the ends only moves in the vertical direction and does not move in the
horizontal direction. The energy however moves down the spring. You can see waves
produced by an object making sound when a tuning fork is placed in a clear rectangular
baking dish sitting on an overhead projector. The vibrating tuning fork produces waves and
the energy is transferred to other parts of the water tank. My voice gives energy to air
molecules which vibrate back and forth (longitudinal wave) producing the wave of varying
pressure, and this wave transfers the sound energy to the audience’s ear drums, which
vibrates, and they detect and therefore hear my voice.

Extra demonstration notes

The long spring works great for transverse waves. (example Arbor Scientific
http://www.arborsci.com/Products_Pages/Sound&Waves/SpringyBuy2.htm#Snaky) I have
also made a long rope made from Lycra stretchable fabric which works well on a big stage
and you can contact me if you would like more details. I have also done waves with people
holding hands, similar to waves in a stadium. For extra effect in a room that can make dark, I
have a row of people come on stage hold glow sticks and have them hold hands and send a
wave along and the person at the far end has a bell they ring when the wave gets to them.
Great for more audience participation and it looks great with the lights out. Perhaps a set of
of illuminated LEDs would also work well.

Wave phenomena
Copper tubing bent into the shape of a sine wave works for discussion of wave
characteristics. Two copper waves can show how waves interact to produce interference.
Sound interference can be experienced with two speakers connected to a signal generator. Set

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the frequency for around 800 hertz and have the audience plug one ear and move their head
from side to side, or move one speaker to change one of the path lengths to their ear, and they
will hear the sound get louder and softer. You can also use good quality stereo system and
speakers to demonstrate sound cancellation with interference. Place the speakers facing each
other with no space between them. The sound source is the white noise that comes from an
FM tuner when no station is selected. Connect one speaker backwards, so the speakers move
out of phase with each other. When the noise is sent to the speakers it will not be very loud.
Start moving one speaker away from the other and you will begin to hear high frequencies.
Lower frequencies will appear the farther the speakers are apart. Move the speaker back so it
is again facing the other speaker and the noise will again decrease. Reverse the wires on one
of the speakers and the noise will again be loud. You can set-up a reversing switch connected
to one of the speakers. The sound will then be either canceled out or be loud depending on
which position the switch is in..

Light and color spectrum

A prism separates white light into its fundamental colors, red ,green, and blue. These are the
three colors that our eyes are able to detect. There are also frequencies of light our eyes
cannot detect, the infrared and ultraviolet. We can use a special camera that is sensitive to
infrared light that we cannot see. Look at the spectrum from the prism with the IR (infrared)
camera connected to a monitor and notice that it is wider than what we see with our eyes.
Placing an IR filter (blocks visible light but passes infrared) in front of the prism, and the
spectrum our eyes see disappears, but the camera can still see a band of light. This is infrared
light.

To see the spectrum from a prism requires a line source of light. This is possible using light
from a slide projector with a slit slide in it. A slit slide can be made easily by placing
aluminum foil inside a slide mount and cutting a very narrow slit in the foil. Put the slit slide
into the projector and place the prism in front of the slide projector lens and rotate it until you
see the spectrum. Focusing will make the colors sharper. You can also make a line source by
putting two pieces of paper close together on an overhead projector and build a small holder
out of foam core that will hold the prism on the head of the transparency projector. The IR
camera is an inexpensive ($45.00 U.S) generally available from companies that sell
equipment for security monitoring.

Photoelectric effect modern day applications

Light can liberate electrons and thereby produce electrical energy. This is used in many
applications in today's technological way of life. The photovoltaic cell is made from
modified silicon so electrons are. Liberated by lower energy visible light, even energy as low
as infrared light. Connecting a photovoltaic cell to an audio amplifier is a simple way of
showing this effect. The cell picks up noise from the fluorescent light because the light turns
on and off at a rate of 100 cycles each second. We can also pick up light we cannot see, such
as the light form this IR remote control. Point a remote control at a photovoltaic cell
connected to an audio amplifier and you get some pretty need sounds.

Video and digital photo cameras also use a charge coupled device where the principle of
operation is related to the photoelectric effect. These cameras are also sensitive to visible
and invisible parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Pointing the IR remote at the camera we
can actually see the pulses of infrared coming from the remote. You can try and observe this
at home with your digital or video cameras. Video cameras have a built in a filter to block the
IR from coming in so they work better in the visible region of the light spectrum. Some
cameras like the Sony Nightshot have a special switch that takes out the IR blocking filter

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and making the camera sensitive to IR radiation. Some of the little black and white security
cameras have its own IR light emitting diodes (another physics quantum mechanics
application) that can illuminate objects with light we cannot see. The camera sees this light
just fine and is able to “see” in dark places, like a pocket, or inside a mouth by using an
infrared spotlight to illuminate the areas! To our eyes the areas still look dark because our
eyes do not respond to infrared light. There are other interesting things you can do with this
camera [1].

References
[1] Stanley J Micklavzina , Phys. Educ. 38 No 6 (November 2003) 492-494)

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Atomic Compilation: Laser Show and Cartoons

Beniamino Danese1,2, Fabrizio Logiurato1

1
Physics Department, University of Trento, Povo (TN), Italy
2
IPRASE, Trento, Italy
danese@science.unitn.it, log@science.unitn.it

A science show named "Atomic compilation" has been prepared and performed. The plot is
based on the history of theories of light, which are visualized in laser show and illustrated
with cartoon strips. The physical conditions and the various attentions that similar settings
require are specified.

Introduction

We performed a physics show called « Atomic Compilation ». The audience (order of

magnitude: twenty-thirty) was highly inhomogeneous, with children and professional
physicists and every linear combination of the two. Therefore, there was inhomogeneity also
from the point of view of expectations and of grasping of what is on stage. As it is often the
case.
Together with an outline of the show, mainly an alternance of « visualization of cores of
physics » and « narrations with cartoon strips », we discuss the objectives, primary
attentions, and materials. Let us begin with some remarks and a brief review on science
shows.

The Show of Science and Science Shows

We may say that today science makes a show of itself in every object, and that in front of our
very eyes a « no-stop science show » is taking place. From its very beginnig science, and
physics in particular, are in some sense connected to shows. In XVII century the latest
discoveries were presented and debated in the dining rooms of aristocratics. Together with
speeches and debates, there were demonstrative experiments and other performances.
In 1611 Galileo was involved in a debate about the floatation of ice over water [1].
Aristotelians held that the reason was its wide and plane shape, even if – they claimed – ice
had a higher density than water. Galileo, following Archimedes, held that the reason was the
lower density of ice. The project of a public debate arose. On 2 october the Granduke
Cosimo II held a banquet in honour of Cardinals Gonzaga and Barberini. Galileo was invited
to speak in support of his theory, Papazzoni defended the Aristotelian position. Cardinal
Gonzaga sided with Papazzoni, while Maffeo Barberini (future Pope) sided with Galileo. The
debate ended with the triumph of Galileo, who demonstrated his thesis with simple
experiments that everyone could repeat.
In XVIII century two examples of opposite sign are the telescope, which brought the planets
into these dining rooms, and mesmerism, which set the pattern of coating anti-science with
science and hollow spectacularization.
A very different tone was set by Humpry Davy and Micheal Faraday, accomplished lecturers
of the XIX century. Faraday used to give lectures also for juvenile auditories, and wrote very
useful notes on the art of lecturing [2].

285
 Polite audiences expect to be entertained not only
by the subject of the lecture, but by the manner of the lecturer

The lecturer should never, if possible, turn his back on them, but should give them full reason
to believe that all is powers have been exerted for their pleasure and instruction

The balance between pleasure and instruction is delicate. In Laser shows, a novelty of the
70es, the balance turned on pleasure, impact, surprise. The first Laser Show took place in
1969 in California, while the first Laser Musical - « Lovelight » - in 1977 [3]. Nowadays
lasers are used night and day in discoes and live concerts. In these shows mirrors are
electronically controlled to move the laser pencil and draw large images. Other effects, as
reflections from mercury and so forth are used. In these situations there is often smoke that
allows the visualization of laser paths.
In our show « Atomic Compilation » we use a red and green laser and a smoke-machine as
those typical in discos. These devices are not sophisticated instrumentation, and the laser are
among the simplest from physics laboratories.
This laser show is a brief history of the theories of light. In addition to the experiments on
light there are music, storytelling and cartoons. The experiments form a set of visualizations
of blazing cores of optics. The perspective is different from the usual laser show, maybe less
spectacular but more instructive.

Figure 1: hands on light

Visualizations of Cores of Physics

Some boundary conditions must be satisfied. There are physical conditions and extra
conditions. To fulfill certain physical conditions means, in our case, to focus on the visibility
of the laser beams: the laser power, the appropriate darkness, the means of light diffusion, the
number of people that can enjoy the show at its best...

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Each of these points also bear safety precautions. The right physical conditions may impose a
lot of restrictions and many forced choices. But these are the conditions for the best appraisal
of these phenomena of physics.
Extra conditions means the setting of the scene. The enviroment around the effect must be
cleared up, prepared both in space (no overlapping and confusion with other things, for
instance) and time (take all the time that is needed). In our case, the diffraction fringes
propagate for a few meters, and are observed in all their beauty from razor angle. Thus, both
the space and the time must be arranged in the way that every spectator can stand up and go
by the fringes to observe them closely.

The show is not just fun, or magic tricks, with no further description. It is important to
underline the naked beauty of the physical phenomenon, be it a rainbow or a diffraction from
gratings and fresnel lenses (Fig. 2).
To focus on these cores of physics is a good basis for achiving an important objective. Our
aim is to entertain, of course, but also to educate. These two are as the two sides of a
Moebious strip. In fact we may say that « there is no education without entertainment » but
also that « there is no entertainment without education ».
The active partecipation of the persons of the audience has to be pursued. Becouse the real
great show, which is mind alerting, comprehension, appreciation of our wonderful world,
enjoyment, is taking place in them. They are not just spectators. Their active partecipation,
their involvment can help in this respect, an can be done in different ways according to their
number.

Figure 2: diverging rays from diffraction grating are focused back by fresnel lens

More, the audience is usually inhomogeneus in age, personal taste and expertise. There are
therefore different expectations and different grasping of what is going on. Among the
different kinds of expectations to be satisfied we shall list: the need for the first look at the
phenomenon, for the explanation, for how it played out historically, for its usefulness.
For each of the different grasps there shall be a part primarily devoted to satisfy it. For
example, for children we have light bulbs enlighted by red and green lasers and thus shining

287
red or green or yellow. We have laser paths and many optical devices to review the
fundamentals of optics for everybody. For physicist, in particular, we have the visualization
of the diffraction from slits.
The deep grasp or, in other words, putting forward a phenomenon whose comprehension
needs many steps, has to be prepared step by step. Our choice is to follow the history of
physics, both in experiments (Fig 3) and in cartoons (Fig. 4).

Figure 3: “An Object seen by Reflection or Refraction, appears in that place from whence
the Rays after their last Reflection or Refraction diverge in falling on the Spectator’s Eye”.
Quotation and drawing from Newton’s “Opticks”. The pattern may be tellingly reproduced
with laser diffraction from a linear grating and a mirror.

288
 Figure 4: the Newton – Huygens querelle on the nature of light

Narration with Cartoon Strips

We alternate the experiments with stories and projections of cartoons. The connection has to
be tight. For instance, a cartoon about Young show him experimenting in the bathroom,
while his original drawing preludes to the experiment with the laser (Fig. 5).

The cartoons are a source of fun, but also of information [4]. Cartoons have many uses:
• To tell something rigorously true and not widely known. For instance we tell about
the 8 years old and orphan Fraunhofer. He survived the collapse of the edifice where
he worked. We also tell about Heisenberg examination in optics under Sommerfeld
(siding for promotion) and Wien (siding for failure).
• To tell something overexaggerated from the true, as in the case of the querelle on
the nature of light, with Newton and Huygens boxing (Fig. 4).
• To tell something strange and fun – maybe not completely true, but not too far from
truth – concerning the conception of an idea, as in the case of Young (Fig. 5). The
inspiration, in fact, came from observation of the interference of the ripples in the
fountain of the college where he was a teacher.

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 Figure 5: Thomas Young doing the 2-slits experiment

There is a commonplace that studying physics is a bitter pill. In this « Atomic Compilation »
we didn't use cartoons just as a layer of sugar around a bitter pill. The physics pill is sweet!

References
[1] Fantoli A 1996 Galileo for Copernicanism and for the Church (University of Notre Dame Press)
[2] Crowther J G 1936 Men of Science (Norton & Co Publishers New York)
[3] a useful resource for laser shows is http://laser.shows.org/
[4] Matthew J A D 1991 Cartoons in science Physics Education 26 110-114

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C - GAPS AND BRIDGES IN COMMUNICATING PHYSICS TO THE
PUBLIC

Discussion Workshop C Report

Reporter: Ian Lawrence,

School of Education, University of Bimingham, UK
DW Leader: Zofia Meyer Golab,
Jagellonian University, Poland

1. Summary

These were our recommendations:

• To connect with people go where they are. Make yourself available to the media and
in locations where people have opportunities for being brought into contact with
physics. Try to co-operate pre-emptively with the media, rather than criticizing
afterwards.
• Consider and then recast the school curriculum as a basis for lifelong learning.
Many negative views of physics have their basis here.
• In planning to present physics develop appropriate representations to promote
curiosity and questions, having as a key focus the learners’ interests and
perspectives.
• Encouraging people to communicate physics to the public needs careful
consideration. Think both about the training needed and about creating an
environment where these actions will be appropriately valued.

Figure 1: A diagram summarising the thinking of the group

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More detail and the chain of thinking that led to these is laid out below.

2. Illuminating anecdotes

How to pick up girls - go where the girls are.

Moral: Physicists - go where the people are if you want to hook up with them. And not only
geographically; locate their interests and connect with them.

How to drive - physicist style!

Always take curves in such a way as to minimise the accelerating force required to drive the
car around the bend - never mind those silly white lines in the middle of the road. They are
for lesser beings.
Moral: Physics is not enough - it provides a reliable guide to action in many cases

Picture 1: Paths for taking a corner. Possibilities sketched on the board to illuminate an
anecdote.

3. Development of the group’s thinking

The original brief which mentioned bridges and gaps became clarified as a discussion of
things which either impede or retard the bi-directional flows between physics and public.
The channels down which these flows occur might be subdivided into three groups: Those
using broadcast media; those using interactive media; and those relying on performances.
These channels are not themselves the members of these groups; but it seems likely that in
the exploration of the processes that make up each channel there will be commonality
between these different media in which the channels are grounded.
This formed a starting point for our discussion, with the key focus questions being;
• Who should do the communicating?
• What should be communicated?
• To whom should it be communicated?

292
 • For what purpose might it be communicated?

Figure 2: The thinking on day 1, in diagrammatic form.

Members then contributed their general questions, to which they hoped to gain insight as a
result of the discussions amongst the group.

Later we grouped these questions. Here they are presented with this order imposed, rather
than in their original chronological order.

Those connected with motivation:

• Is it possible to redesign curricula to motivate students?

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 • How can we motivate children to study science? i.e. How can we encourage and
allow them to retain their pleasure in exploration and discovery?
• Can we encourage a study of physics such that students do not loose their natural
curiosity?
• To what extent can we personalise the communication of physics to support
different interests?
Those connected with seeing physics as a valued cultural artefact:
• How can we promote the place of physics in art and literature across three aspects:
representation and misrepresentation; inspiration; communication.
• How can we encourage people to tap into the wisdom of science in their personal
decision making?
• How can we ensure that the democratic process draws on the best available
scientific wisdom?

Then the group moved to discussion, with people being asked to clarify their comments as
personal experiences (E), Professional expertise (P), Suggestion/ Justification (S), or and
example from the literature (L). Most of the discussion was based in categories E and S, with
some from category P.

A good fraction of the discussion focussed on the effects of compulsory schooling and what
could be done to change the views of physics embedded there. Another continuing thread
was the interplay between physics and wise decision making - making our decisions based on
the best available information. Some lively and heartfelt comments ensued, with more than
one participant moving to the board on which our outline appeared in order make their points
clear. It was particularly useful to have experiences of people from all over the globe on
which to draw. We were warned of the particular constraints of working with the media,
particularly television.

Here is what the board looked like at the end of the first session:

Picture 2: The board at the end of session 1.

In the second session we focussed on trying to bring order to the, starting off with a
structured view of what had been discussed in the first session. Here is that summary:

294
 Picture 3: The board at the start of session 2.

We decided that part of the “what for” answer lies in the human interest; part in a necessary
support of democratic processes. Both aspects of the cultural view of physics depend on a
rather philosophical view of the place of science in the world. Against this we were reminded
that Physics is highly valued but not liked. Perhaps this could be countered by science is a
guide for action only; there are still choices to be made; and these choices do not have their
roots in science.
Is formal learning per se a problem - do school structures necessarily turn learners off -
perhaps doing lifelong damage? More phenomenology and less systematic exposition might
help; so more formal and less informal. But one would need to be happy with less clear
learning outcomes if dealing with experiential learning.
Being probably more important than doing in seeking to communicate: What you show is
probably more important that what you assert as physics is people -cantered: you are
exemplifying what people are interested in and how the discipline of physics can support
them in making decisions.
Much of this discussion concerned the public’s perceptions of the physics that was being
communicated, particularly the personal traits that those engaged in physics were expected to
show. Also discussed extensively was a characterisation of what was distinctive about
physics, particularly with respect to its appearance in settings where informal learning might
be expected to dominate. Inevitably this led to discussion of the nature of formal and
informal learning. Is this simply, perhaps, the difference between learning done in voluntary
and involuntary settings? Or more connected with the difference between knowing how and
knowing that? Or characterised by the absence of tests and quizzes, whilst seeking to
stimulate curiosity?

So to summarise these discussions, which were not channel specific - words of advice for
those working in / designing channels:
• displaying humility and saying I don’t know are both good strategies.
• avoid jargon: but take care - translating jargon is hard work
• physics by itself may not be all that important - you have to make the connections:
what is it for? So do show that physics can solve problems - but is not simply a
provider of answers
• Do use a sense of humour: Don’t be aggressive, arrogant and aloof
• move between what is known and how it is known to illuminate physics as a
reliable, tested way of finding out about how the world works

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 • introduce physics as a live tentative but trustworthy subject which is still developing
and going further. We could be wrong - this is just our best effort so far.
• Make physics seem accessible - so that you can understand a bit.: the learner can
use the knowledge; can predict and then observe with confidence; develop a sense
of control.
• Keep those doing the learning involved
• Exemplify ways of thinking that are fruitful: both useful and stimulating further
thinking.
• Develop and maintain a sense of hard fun.

Ian Lawrence

Marko Budisa tragically and unexpectedly died shortly after the end of the GIREP
conference to which he had contributed so much: not least as a lively member of discussion
workshop C. Marko was not afraid to ask the difficult questions. He was not afraid of
controversial answers. Marko was concerned to share his love of the natural world and the
creative explanations of it that make up Physics. He was not afraid of what others thought of
him if only that helped others to see his enthusiasms and might serve to re-kindle their lost
child-like enthusiasms for physics. Marko Budisa will be sorely missed by the members of
the working group and the wider physics education community for his honesty and
commitment to his ideas. We should leave the last words to Marko, in a poem that he was
brave and kind enough to share with us in the working group:

Strong

Strong
I crush a cracker
Hard as rock
With my bare hand
The crust disintegrates
Into smallest crumbles
I spend a lot of energy
Breaking apart chemical bonds
Between matter consistent
Yet I know nothing of the little atom
And when I merely poke it
It answers
Joyfully
With a single energy packet
With a single photon
Only then I realize
The power of Weakness
The nucleus decays
Emitting a fast electron
And a neutrino
How strong Weakness is
How weak Strongness is

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That which I am looking for
Is hidden
In the last neutron
Just about to decay
In the last corner of Universe
Where you are waiting
For your prince
And facing passing bandits
Sorry
But I was busy
Discovering the truth
That the Weak force
Caused a nuclear explosion
While I was being
Strong.

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Mach´s Popular Lectures about Acoustics

Leopold Mathelitsch

Institute of Physics, University of Graz, Graz, Austria

leopold.mathelitsch@uni-graz.at

Introduction

Ernst Mach was an outstanding physicist, in addition, he was a great teacher, not only with
regard to his students, but he also tried to reach a broader public. The aim of this contribution
is to give some insight in the way how Mach popularised physics, and secondly, whether we
can learn something from it: Is it already outdated or can one adopt or at least adapt some of
his methods?

Figure 1: Ernst Mach (1838 - 1916)

Popular Lectures

Ernst Mach gave many lectures in front of general audiences. He published some of these
lectures, interestingly for the first time in 1895 in English by an editor in Chicago. This
editor visited Europe, listened to popular lectures of Mach in Prague, and was so impressed
that he offered to publish these lectures with the title “Popular Scientific Lectures”. One year
later, 1896, the first German version “Populärwissenschaftliche Vorlesungen” was printed,
immediately followed by further editions. Figure 2 shows the front page of the fourth edition
(decorated in the style of Art Nouveau). Mach died 1916, and 1923 his first son, Ludwig
Mach, edited the fifth edition [1] which has been reprinted by an Austrian publisher in 1987
[2].

To gain insight into the philosophy of Mach with regard to popular lectures, I will cite from
his preface. I will present the German original together with my English translation – the
German original, because Mach used a wonderful language, which at least some of the
readers will appreciate.

298
Popular lectures, because of the
presumed knowledge (of the audience)
and the limited time available, can have
an instructive effect just in a modest way.
Populäre Vorlesungen können mit
Rücksicht auf die vorausgesetzten
Kenntnisse und die zur Verfügung
stehende Zeit nur in bescheidenem Maße
belehrend wirken.

Instruction seems not to be the first aim of Mach´s lectures.

Figure 2: Front page of the fourth edition of Mach´s popular lectures.

Therefore, one has to choose easier Dieselben müssen zu diesem Zweck

subjects and has to restrict one's leichtere Stoffe wählen und sich auf die
presentation to the simplest and most Darlegung der einfachsten und
essential points. wesentlichsten Punkte beschränken.

So, in Mach´s opinion, not everything can be taught in this way, and it should be well
prepared. But what is the purpose of the lectures?

Nevertheless, by a proper choice of the Nichtsdestoweniger kann durch

subject one can transmit a feeling of the geeignete Wahl des Gegenstandes die
romance and poetry of research. Romantik und die Poesie der Forschung
fühlbar gemacht werden

Mach´s main aim is to transmit what it means to do scientific research, what a great and
exciting enterprise it can be. The emphasis on the words romance and poetry has been made
already by Mach.

For this purpose it is necessary to present
the attractive and exciting elements of a
problem, and to show how the light
emanating from an inconspicuous
clarification can illuminate a broad field
of phenomena.
Hierzu ist es nötig, daß man das
Anziehende und Spannende eines
Problems darlegt, und zeigt, wie durch
das von einer unscheinbaren Aufklärung
ausstrahlende Licht zuweilen weite
Gebiete von Tatsachen erleuchtet werden.

299
Mach again expresses in a very colourful language that he wants to transport the core of
scientific research, not so much a respective content.

Also, by demonstrating the similarity Auch durch den Nachweis der

between everyday and scientific thinking, Gleichartigkeit des alltäglichen und des
such lectures may prove profitable. wissenschaftlichen Denkens können
solche Vorlesungen günstig wirken.
The mentioned positive effect should be the following:

The audience thereby loses its shyness in Das Publikum verliert hierdurch Scheu
front of scientific questions and acquires vor wissenschaftlichen Fragen und
an interest in research which is so gewinnt jenes Interesse an der
beneficial to the scientist. Untersuchung, welche dem Forscher so
förderlich ist.
Again: The most important point for him is to increase the public understanding for scientific
research and, by this, to decrease the boundary between the two areas.

It might be of interest to confront Mach´s aims with a recent view. Nuclear physics is a
special branch of physics with its own community and interests, and with its special journal
“Nuclear Physics News”. One of the last issues [3] was devoted to “Outreach”, which
appears to be the modern word for popularisation. The following sentences are from the
editorial of this issue:

Research and education are the two major activities of any science community but the strong
supporting role of outreach is now widely recognized.

The next sentences explain the purpose of outreach:

Outreach helps research by informing the public and legislators who can enhance support
for scientific enterprise. Outreach helps education, because students will be more motivated
to pursue a science-based trajectory.

Isn´t this in contradiction to Mach´s view? Mach starts from his own enthusiasm and wants
to share it with others. His audience is the broad public and his goal, in first instance, is not
to recruit future physicists. As an example: On several occasions Mach gave very charming
lectures for wives of officers of the Austro-Hungarian army.

Popular Lectures about Acoustics

When Mach was in Graz, he published a book “Introduction to the Theory of Music by
Helmholtz” with the subtitle “Presented popularly for Musicians” [4]. He has given already
before popular lectures on this subject, but it seems that he was not satisfied with them:

I encountered, however, immediately Ich stiess jedoch hierbei bald auf

enormous difficulties. Those things that
were quite important to me as scientist
were taken with great indifference by the
musicians, and even spoiled their taste for
what would be useful to them.
bedeutende Schwierigkeiten. Gerade das,
was mir als Naturforscher recht wichtig
schien, wurde von den Musikern mit
großer Gleichgültigkeit aufgenommen
und verdarb ihnen sogar den Geschmack
an dem, was für sie verwerthbar gewesen
wäre.

300
Therefore Mach wanted to do it in a different way, and he stated his guidelines for this
booklet as follows:

1. Any physical theory, not strictly 1. Jede nicht streng zur Sache
pertaining to the matter, has gehörige physikalische Theorie
been avoided. wurde vermieden.

2. Even the most elementary 2. Auch die elementarste Rechnung

calculation has been avoided as ist so viel wie möglich
much as possible. vermieden.

3. Finally, only the most important 3. Endlich wurden von der

points of Helmholtz' theory have
been stressed. This is necessary
so that the non-physicist does not
lose the thread in the huge
amount of details
Helmholtz´schen Theorie nur die
Hauptpunkte herausgehoben. Es
ist dies nöthig, damit der
Nichtphysiker bei der Masse der
Details nicht den Faden verliere.

Again, Mach stresses that only the most important facts should be presented, and just the
absolutely necessary physical and mathematical framework should be used. But he admits
that this task is not easy:

Since these lectures did cost me quite
some thinking and efforts, and since only
the eager cooperation of musicians and
physicists can yield a perfect theory of
music, I believe I have done something
useful by publishing them. By this leaflet I
just wanted to achieve the goal that some
musicians lose their first reservation
against studying the work of Helmholtz.
Indem mich nun diese Vorträge einiges an
Nachdenken und einige Mühe gekostet
haben und indem die Musiktheorie nur
durch das eifrige Zusammenwirken der
Musiker und Physiker zur Vollendung
gelangen kann, glaube ich etwas
Nützliches zu thun, wenn ich sie in Kürze
veröffentliche. Ich wünsche auch mit
diesen Blättern nicht mehr zu erreichen,
als dass mancher Musiker die erste Scheu
vor dem Studium des Helmholtz´schen
Werkes überwinden möge.

So at the end, Mach is confident that it is worthwile to popularise physical content, but,
again, he is very modest in reaching his aims.

Consonance and dissonance

Finally, I will present one explicit example, namely Helmholtz´ explanation of consonances
and dissonances of chords. I will show Mach´s way of simplification, and I will compare it
with what can be done with modern means.

Mach explains dissonances by the appearing of beatings in the following way:

301
Beatings, if they become more frequent
(appearing about 30 – 40 times a second),
represent a very unpleasant phenomenon
for the ear. They create some roughness
and sharpness … beatings are the reason
for disharmony.
Die Schwebungen sind, sobald sie etwas
rascher werden (etwa 30 – 40 mal in der
Secunde eintreten), eine für das Ohr sehr
unangenehme Erscheinung. Sie geben
dem Zusammenklange etwas Rauhes und
Scharfes... die Schwebungen sind die
Ursache der Disharmonie.

The background of these statements were refined experiments, with tuning forks, with
musical instruments. But it was almost impossible to show this in a public lecture. We can do
this nowadays: Personal computers can be equipped with sound cards, software allows for an
analysis of complex sound examples [5]. Figure 3 shows the visual representation of a tone
being constant and one tone rising in frequency. The listener hears two distinct tones, when
the frequencies are far apart. Beatings are clearly audible when the frequencies have a
difference of just some Hertz. But one hears a sharp, unpleasant sound in the region which
Mach addresses.

Figure 3: Visualisation of two tones and regions of different sensation.

Mach explains that the sensation of consonance and dissonance is connected to the beating
between overtones.

Beatings are unpleasant when two Die Schwebungen sind unangenehm,

interacting sounds are within an interval wenn die zusammenwirkenden Klänge
of one tone. When larger intervals create weniger als ein Ganztonintervall von
unpleasant beatings, they mostly einander abstehen. Wenn größere
originate in overtones. Intervalle störende Schwebungen geben,
Sounds are the more related, the more so rühren diese meist von den Obertönen
and stronger partials coincide. her.
Klänge sind verwandter, wenn mehr und
stärkere Theiltöne zusammenfallen.

302
Figure 4: Superposition of two sounds which are one octave apart: Mach´s visualisation
(left) and output of a modern software (right). Note that the graph on the right has an
absolute frequency scale, whereas Mach compares with a keyboard, i.e. uses a logarithmic
scale for the frequency.

Figure 4 give Mach´s illustration with the example of a keyboard on the left and the
equivalent visualisation using an appropriate computer software [5]. Both presentations in
Figure 4 try to explain the consonance of an octave by the relation of fundamental and
overtones of the two sounds: some of the overtones coincide, none of the overtones are in the
unpleasant region. Since Mach works with the picture of a keyboard, the overtones are not
equally spaced as in the right graph which uses an absolute frequency scale.

Conclusion

Mach used all methods (experiments, graphical presentations) available at that time also for
his popular lectures. He even invented experiments just for the purpose of explanations and
presentations, for example the so called Mach´s pipe in order to demonstrate the Doppler
effect [6]. I am sure that Mach would have been delighted by the possibility to perform a
Fourier transform of a complex sound on stage, in front of his audience.

He wanted to show and share his enthusiasm for science and research – and this with
everybody. He believed strongly that people would profit by sharing some of this feeling.
The message is important, not so much the topic, with which it is transported.

The selection of topics and the level of presentation has to be tuned to the audience. And one
should try to elementarize as much as possible. He admitted that this is not easy, but it is
worth the effort.

Nowadays, science is seen in a very objective, impersonalized way. Scientific papers usually
don´t use the words “I” or “we”. The facts have to speak for themselves. This may be a
proper way for scientific papers, but addressing a general public, one has to work from
person to person. Mach did not hide his person. He expressed his personal feelings, his

303
enthusiasm and he wanted to share these emotions as well as his knowledge with others,
independent of their formal education and status.

Ernst Mach was outstanding not only as physicist and philosopher, but also in his way of
popularising physics. Mach contributed to formal education by the development of curricula
for schools, he has also realized the importance of informal education of the public. Whereas
the methods were constrained by the technical possibilities of the respective period, Mach´s
general approach seems to be timeless, and therefore worthwhile to be taken seriously also
today.

References
[1] Mach E 1923 Populärwissenschaftliche Vorlesungen (Leipzig: J. Ambrosius Barth)
[2] Mach E 1987 Populärwissenschaftliche Vorlesungen (Wien: Böhlau Verlag)
[3] Huyse M 2005 Nuclear Physics News 15(2) 3.
[4] Mach E 1866 Einleitung in die Helmholtz´sche Musiktheorie. Populär für Musiker dargestellt
(Graz: Verlag Leuschner & Lubensky)
[5] The program CoolEdit ( http://www.syntrillium.com or
http://www.adobe.com/special/products/audition/syntrillium.html ) has been used for sound-
anyalysis and visualisation; it should be noted that there exist several, more or less, equivalent
programs on the market, some of them even as free ware.
[6] Mathelitsch L Verovnik I 2004 Akustische Phänomene (Köln: Aulis Verlag Deubner, Wien:
Verlag öbv&hpt)

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Physics in the Media – Opportunities for Training Scientific Thinking

Gesche Pospiech

Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany

didaktik@physik.tu-dresden.de

The goal of many efforts in public lectures, science centers, students' laboratories and similar
institutions is to enhance the public understanding of physics. People show different interests
in physics. Accordingly physics does not only explicitly occur in media but also implicitly
e.g. in artistic interpretation: exhibitions on physics and art are staged, views of physics occur
in novels, poems or movies and physical devices are presented and discussed. All these
activities reflect the importance of physics as part of human culture. Perhaps (unwanted)
interferences between the physical and artistic perspectives lead people to think of possible,
sometimes mysterious influences on their life and well being. Insight into the scientific
method, learning about doing physics, shortly: conveyance of scientific literacy, should be
the appropriate way to prevent severe misunderstandings. Science education hence may not
only comprise facts and laws but also has to clarify the scientific background of physics
terms and laws viewed from philosophy of science. The possibilities of introducing this kind
of reflection and corresponding scientific analyses in physics lessons with aid of concrete
examples from the media are discussed.

Introduction

There are many bridges to physics. People learn about physical laws or technological
achievements not only in school but also in media. However, physics is seen as inaccessible
for “normal” people. Nevertheless many popular presentations are used but sometimes may
lead to misunderstandings or mystification of physics. People may think for instance that the
moon phases, energy from planets, radiation from the soil, electric and magnetic fields have
direct influence on their well- or ill-being. The connected (mis)conceptions of the nature of
science and their statements do not appear from nowhere. Without having the (cognitive)
tools for deciding on the adequateness of the assertions most people have to believe in the
statements of science and scientists. For science, especially physics, the strong reliance on
physics statements for “everyday use” can be interpreted in several ways:
1. Science is of relevance for people. Science can – and shall – explain the processes
in the environment, in technology and in daily life.
2. Technological devices can – and most probably do - harm people.
3. Scientists tend to neglect the natural needs of human beings.
4. Science can and should help people.

One mirror of the public understanding of physics can be the occurrence of physics e.g. in
novels. Some authors transform their thoughts, their interpretations or misinterpretations of
physics in stories or novels. Hence their implicit views are transported in media of the most
different kinds, in movies, comics, stories, features and nonetheless books for the youth, not
designed for instruction. Often in journals reports on scientific subjects are given, sometimes
with a somewhat esoteric touch, sometimes with valuable information and explanations. One
of the most attractive subjects is astronomy or astrophysics. Questions with relation to
technology used in everyday life are mostly found in TV or newspaper.

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Which influence on children can those media exert? In general, the children would pick up
terms and learn some facts, not always the correct ones. Furthermore, views on science most
probably develop in children even long before their first lessons in science education. They
early develop a view on physics and what physicists do. But as the children do not have
broad experiences with physical phenomena or the scientific method they would not know
which statements e.g. in books are true and which are not. From this natural uncertainty of
children there is only a small step to some of the above mentioned esoteric views.
Experiences from teaching practise show that students ask about subjects published in media.
Often they want to know which statements are true and try to understand their meaning.
Some students read stories with certain physical content, come across new terms or
descriptions and ask about the physical core of science fiction novels. All these open-
mindedness and curiosity should be used for conveyance of scientific literacy. Students can
gain insight into the scientific method and learn about doing physics. Science education has
not only to include facts and laws but also to clarify the scientific background of physics
viewed from philosophy of science. Thinking about the role of experiments, the foundation
of scientific terms and their limits will students help in judging the quality of statements
referring to physics phenomena.

Physics in Books - Examples

Every media has its specific aims and audience: there are different types ranging from
specialised books to novels, criminal stories and science fiction. Besides science journals
there are books for youth and adults that embed physics into stories. Generally, the books
(novels) are written by adults with their view of physics that informs their writings. As there
are only relatively few novels with an explicit treatment of fascinating results of physics,
most will transport an implicit view on physics. Very seldom physics is really integrated into
the strand and plays a dramaturgically important role. Those few authors deliberately use
physics in order to make the young people think about the – mostly philosophical -
implications physical insight may have for their further life.
But generally pupils will not notice physics related content or - if at all - will think about it
only exceptionally. In the following I will concentrate on novels for the youth which might
influence them in an unconscious way.

View on Physicists and Physics

Scanning the books (or movies) with respect to the role of physics it can be observed that
physics phenomena often underline strange, mysterious or dangerous situations. The acting
person is confronted with natural phenomena or technical processes he or she cannot
understand or only master with great difficulties so that she is subject to bad feelings.
Often improbable physics tools or devices are used in a superficial way in order to increase
the tension, to create a strangely looking environment. The described devices are extremely
powerful, of course especially in science fiction novels. But looking back, some of the once
incredible visions seem to become true. I only mention the famous science fiction novel “The
hitchhiker to the Galaxy”, a satirical account of space flights, where the electronic guide
nowadays seems realistic. But admittedly only a small part of the conceived technology
becomes (nearly) true.
In general astonishing results of modern physics incite the phantasy of authors. Topics are
chosen mainly from quantum theory, teleportation, travel in time (connected to relativity
theory) or visions of use of nuclear fusion. [Schlichting 2000]
Besides the physics, the physicists play typical roles:

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 • There are the good – but somewhat strange – guys, who are not always aware of
their surroundings, have strange ideas, make inventions and are nearly esoteric.
Einstein is the mythos of this species: gifted with incredible talents, difficult to
understand, a genius, almost not from this world.
• There are the experts who can explain all things and know everything; this is
connected to the view that physics tells the truth.
• On the other hand there is the scientist trying to control mankind, governments and
things by misusing his knowledge, sometimes even cruel without human feelings.
The prototype of this species may be “Frankenstein”.
These characteristics may represent extreme facets. But they mirror at least part of the
general view and promote it further or even enforce it. Accordingly, already children have a
quite dichotomic look on the work and character of scientists. The scientists might likewise
help or destroy. This view on scientists seems to perpetuate itself: it influences the young,
remains stable or is even underlined by experiences in the adult age, manifests itself in
books, and is thereby transported to the children, and so on.
If a goal of education amongst others consists in conveying an adequate view of science and
the nature of science then the education has to take these views into account. Hence it might
be a way to contribute to a more balanced view to make students aware of the hidden topoi in
media by addressing them directly.

Goals connected with literature approach

A successful learning process requires active engagement of the students. However, as

students are all individuals each one of them has different preferences. Physics education
research has the task to identify topics that interest most students best and to offer different
pathways to appreciating physics. There are many reasons why people could like physics.
The cultural aspect is perhaps one of the most enduring ones. The examination of the role of
physics in literature displays the influence physics has on world view. It shows that physics
is connected to the thoughts of people and their perception of reality. Besides there can be
identified several reasons for using – surely not always – stories or novels in physics
lessons.[Schlichting 1999]

Emotional aspect
Mostly physics is viewed as an objective, neutral, “cold” science. However, many physicists
stress that the best theories have to be beautiful or elegant as a possible criterion on
correctness. The term beauty might be ambigous in this connection. But its use displays a
somewhat emotional aspect of physics.
During the physics lessons the students might feel boringness, complicatedness, fear or other
adverse emotions. As human beings tend to remember agreable things better, positive
emotions may play an important role in learning physics. Physics examples from literature
represent a totally different approach compared to most other teaching learning
environments. It stirs the creativity of students and their awareness of the occurrence of
physics.
If scenes from a novel are thrilling, funny or exciting the connected physical questions could
contribute to the goal.of positive feelings towards science.

Gender aspect
Studies on media use show that girls in general have better reading experience. They read
more than many boys, so they should have a lead in an approach strongly related to language
and reading. Treating novels requires abilities that normally are not used in a physis course,

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but that could also be used in physics: analysing complex relations, drawing connections,
noticing similarities and interpreting (data). Physics can then be seen as part of culture and be
integrated in the intellectual or even spiritual aspects of world. Perhaps this view might be
more important for girls than for boys.
It has to be tested whether a novel approach actually could interest girls more than the
standard approach.

Training scientific thinking / Furthering knowledge of scientific methodology

Students might become aware of appearance of physics in unexpected contexts far from the
physics laboratory if they encounter f physics related events e.g. in a novel.
In novels the physics often appears alienated; the author has the freedom to play with
physics, to interprete results, to extrapolate developments, on the whole: he can give space to
his visions. So students will be led to ask which is the physics core of the story and where the
pure phantasy of the author begins. They are animated to explore the border between
phantasy in novels and the real world. So the treatment of novels might train critical reading
and critical analysis. Students have to identify texts which do not contain reliable
information on physics. So they are led to explore the frontiers of physics and to think about
the physics content.
Depending on the subject occuring in the novel there can be several possibilities:
• In relativity theory or quantum theory thought experiments might be an important
means to help students with the analysis. This type of experiments requires
extraordinary abilitites in scientific thinking.
• Concerning phenomena with connection to everyday life students could do real
experiments. This may help them in gaining an appropriate view on physics. They
apply the scientific method and learn to appreciate its worth: stating hypotheses,
planning and performing an experiment and interpreting the outcomes.
If trained in the scientific procedure students should be more able to recognize pseudo
scientific statements or the multiple facets of physical modelling, an important aspect of
scientific literacy.

Relevance of physics for everyday life and promoting scientific literacy

It is an important goal of physics lessons that students get aware of physics in their daily life.
Often students do not see a connection between the abstract topics of physics lessons and the
concrete experiences in their environment. They need many examples and hints to see any
relations. The occupation with physics in literature can then contribute to scientific literacy:
Students learn to apply their knowledge and judge facts. This might facilitate to apply
knowledge from physics lessons in everyday life, outside the classroom and hence stress the
impact of physics for life.
All these reasons should convince to try different media in physics lessons; there are quite a
lot different possibilities.

Examples

Movies and dramas

There can be distinguished several basic types of movies or dramas:
• The science fiction genre with famous examples as “Odyssee 2001”, the “Star Trek”
series or similar movies.
• Movies or dramas that illustrate the role of physicists as inventors or as people far
from everyday life, as ingenious, sometimes bound in their knowledge and the

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 power that this gives to them: “The Physicists” by Dürrenmatt, “Galileo Galilei” by
Bert Brecht or “Copenhagen” by Michael Frayn.
• Action movies that use sometimes tricky devices, without caring too much about the
feasability, as e.g. scenes from James Bond movies.
Analysing scenes with physics content (movements, waepons, technical devices) in the
movies can train the physics view on the world. As video analysis becomes a common tool in
physics lessons the application to a „real“ movie could effect some motivation and inspire for
doing real experiments.

Novels
Although there is a vast number of novels it is not easy to find examples with possible
substantial contributions to physics lessons. The first guess would be science fiction, but
glimpses onto physics can be found in every kind of novels. The choice of examples hence is
strongly dependent on the teacher. From longer novels only significant scenes can be chosen
for reading and thinking.
A very singular example – especially suitable for younger pupils - is the story of „Jim
Button“ by Michael Ende. Here phenomena from everyday physics as a swimming steam
engine, the appearance of Fata Morgana and similarly bewildering wonders play crucial roles
in the strand. Although Ende himself thinks quite critical about the impact of sciences and
the „cool“ scientific thinking his leading characters act very rationally and meet with strange
phenomena very open mindedly.
Some scenes can be found in the trilogy „His dark materials“ by Philip Pullman, designed
for older children or young adults. He plays with devices as the radiometer, the mysteries of
elementary particles, the many universes interpretation of quantum theory and different
occult forms of energy.
These two examples are taken from youth novels. A general list cannot be given since it will
depend on the theacher's preferences.

Writing own stories

From the viewpoint of a constructivistic learning environment it is crucial to engage pupils in
the active elaboration of physics contents and methods. In the context of physics and
literature they could be encouraged to write own stories, embedding physics in an interesting
story, might be kind of science fiction or a fairy-tale [Horn 2005, Wallace 2004]. This will
also be a good way for learning about the preconceptions of pupils.

Conclusion

The use of different media in physics lessons seems to be promising in so far as pupils get a
different view on physics. In order to evaluate the realisability of the different opportunities
appropriate materials have to be developped. Problem solving connected to reports in
newspapers or scenes in novels can increase the interest of pupils. This could be a step
towards convincing more teachers to try such an approach and in such way enriching the
physics lessons.

References
[1] Schlichting, H. Joachim; Nordmeier, Volkhard: Physik und Literatur aus dem Blickwinkel des
Physikunterrichts. In: R. Brechel (Hrsg.): Zur Didaktik der Physik und Chemie. Alsbach:
Leuchtturm 1999, S. 292.
[2] Schlichting, Hans Joachim: 100 Jahre Quantenphysik – im Spiegel der Literatur. Physik in der
Schule 38 (2000), S. 187- 192.

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[3] Horn, Martin Erik; Bobsin, Frank: Morgan Bischu und der Tempel der Kraft, Naturwissenschaften
im Unterricht Physik, Heft 87 (2005) S. 101-103
[4] Wallace, Carolyn S.; Hand, Bryan; Prain, Vaughan: Writing and Learning in the Science
Classroom. Kluwer Academic Publishers 2004

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On the Track of Modern Physics

Grzegorz Karwasz1,2) , Tomasz Wróblewski1) , Eryk Rajch1), Anna Kamińska1),

Helena Nowakowska3), Anna Niedzicka4), Zofia Gołąb-Meyer5) , Wiktor Niedzicki6)
1)
Instytut Fizyki, Pomorska Akademia Pedagogiczna, 76200 Słupsk, Polska
2)
Facoltà di Ingegneria, Università di Trento, 38050 Mesiano – Trento, Italia
3)
Instytut Maszyn Przepływowych, Polska Akademia Nauk, 80952 Gdańsk, Polska
4)
Ambernet, 01-541 Warszawa, Czarneckiego 23, Polska
5)
Instytut Fizyki, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Kraków, Polska
6) )
Wydział Mechatroniki, Politechnika Warszawska, Warszawa,
karwasz@science.unitn.it
Other members of “Physics is Fun” network are:
7)
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento, 38050 Mesiano – Trento, Italia
8)
Museo Tridentino delle Scienze Naturali, 38100 Trento, Italia
9)
Soliton Music Records, 81862 Sopot, Polska
10)
Dudka Design, 20152 Milano, Italia

Introduction

„Physics" - what a terrible word! Trolleys, vectors, Newton’s forces that nobody
understands.
On the other hand, a funny Albert Einstein, who invented something very interesting - that
mass is energy. But can mass exist without energy or energy without mass? This is just
confusing. Then, people say it was actually Einstein's wife who wrote everything - to her he
donated his Nobel prize. Really?

“Modern" is more difficult to define: Newton is "ancient" and Einstein "modern"? We define
"modern" as that which is still open in Physics - finding new applications, for example in
Archaeology or Agriculture, and new, surprising conclusions.

The "Track" deals with different sectors, like Atomic, Nuclear, or Astrophysics. But attempts
to catalogue Science are hopeless. In this sense, the "honeycomb" we show is an
oversimplification: Atomic Physics is close to X-ray Physics but also to Solid-State, Nuclear
and so on. We call our exhibition a "Track", i.e., something which has a beginning, some
indications, some ramifications (sometimes dead ends) but nobody knows where (if
anywhere) it ends.
Our main point here is that Physics is frequently so difficult that it gets presented in half-
ridiculous ways. With obvious harm to Physics.

We propose a new way of presenting Physics, not as knowledge but as a methodology. So we

do not present results by Röngten, but rather his errors. We treat Physics as a process, not as
a closed system: the only way to avoid rewriting all textbooks from time to time.

We present the most modern achievements, but also open questions. We present theory, but
also practical applications. Physics is not divided into rigid sectors but forms a circle –

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different techniques are applied in unexpected fields. Finally, we show the human factor –
discoveries cannot be separated from real people - scientists, with their everyday problems.
Below we give three examples from 25 posters already prepared within the Project.

Albert and Mileva – a marriage of love

Albert, as was told by his two years younger sister Maja, learned to speak quite late. He used
to „drawl” sentences, as if contemplating them. His mother Paulina taught him to play the
cello, his uncle Jacob taught him algebra and an older friend, a student of medicine, used to
lend him popular-science books. At the age of 15, he studied by himself differential calculus.

When Albert was one year old, his father’s company went bankrupt, and the family moved
from Ulm to München. Bismarck’s school system, closed-minded teachers and studying as a
duty, made school into a nightmare. In Italy, where his father had moved just before Albert’s
graduation, he revived.

His parents wanted him to study at the Polytechnic in Zurich – the best university outside
Germany. Without Abitur he had to pass the admission exams. He failed in German and
philosophy. Following the Rector’s advice, Albert stayed for one year in Switzerland, where
he finally got his Abitur. But against his father’s will, Albert decided to become a scientist,
not an engineer.
Once more Albert did not obey his father: when he fell in love with Mileva Maric, a student
of mathematics from Serbia (under Austria at that time). In 1901 they had a daughter who
(probably) died. Mileva failed her graduation exams and stayed without a job. The university
research position, promised to him, went to someone else: Albert was also left without a job.
Only after his father death, Albert married Mileva. In 1904 their first son was born. Albert’s
friend found him a job in Bern as a patent examiner. In a short time, till 1906, Albert
published 6 papers.
In 1908 he became a „Privatdozent” at Bern University and a year later an associate
professor at Zurich University. This position was first offered to his friend Friedrich Adler –
a dedicated socialist who recognized that Einstein was better.

The marriage with Mileva was a marriage of love. Albert wrote to Mileva with tenderness
„my little doll”, and about the relativity theory he wrote „our theory”. In the summer of 1914,
shortly before the war, Mileva left Berlin, where Albert had moved, and went back with the
children to Zurich. Albert, with a friend, published a pacifist „Manifest to Europeans” –
which isolated him within the Berlin university staff.

Our main point here is that Einstein’s biography is the most favourite object of mythology
within science and journalistic paraphrases. They usually are harmful both to Einstein’s
memory and to an understanding of his achievements.

We say, that he was perfectly normal, with all the problems of a young person. He was even
less fortunate than many of his colleagues, at least at the beginning of his scientific work. So
not his achievements should appeal to young people, but his faults.

The so called human factor is decisive in scientific work. Without stable personal life and a
fixed job, even Einstein would have discovered nothing.

Obviously, for a detailed biography of Einstein you should consult other texts. And for
Einstein’s original papers just consult the internet version of the exhibition.

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Atom, i.e. in-dividual
„Tria àtoma” shouts the ski-lift operator in Taigetos, in the snowy mountains of the
Peloponesus, near Sparta, when the next wagon is approaching. Today, the word „a-tomos”,
in Greek, has the same meaning as in Democritus’ times

Atoms for Democritus had two properties: size and shape.

1. Atoms connect to each other in different proportions (stoichiometry and structural
formula?) and create different substances.
2. Atoms are in permanent motion and collide with each other (like in Boltzmann’s perfect
gas model?), their motion determines their mass (the mass of a proton results not from the
gluons’ rest mass but from their motion, thanks to Einstein’s m=E/c2)
3. Atoms emit a fluid (photons?) which can be observed
Can we agree with Democritus now, in the XXI century?
The picture is Taiget mountain in December

How to count atoms? The best way is on your fingers. But you need a very small finger!

1. Atoms can be „counted” quite precisely by X-rays: they are diffracted from crystal planes,
like light from a CD. The closer the atoms are, the more distant are the light spots on the
screen.

2. There are others ways of counting atoms (i.e., by calculating Avogadro’s or Loschmidt’s
number). For example from the sedimentation rate in a liquid (J. Perrin) or from Brownian
motion (A. Einstein).

3. Today it is possible to count on „fingers”, leading them over a crystal surface. But the
finger must be quite small and precise: the best is the sharp tip of a tungsten needle – when it
touches an atom (or better: approaches it) the needle is attracted slightly.
We call it Atomic Force Microscopy.

„Dimensions” of atoms can be obtained in many ways but one may get very different
answers
1. In gases, the atomic "dimension" is the distance, at which they start to push each other in a
rather brutal way – their diameters are estimated with deviations from the perfect-gas
equations, when it is impossible to compress the gas any further and it condenses. Like the
dew in the morning.
2. In liquids, the dimensions of the particles influence the “neighbourhood” effects, like the
viscosity. Huge molecules, like a polymer, never stop slipping.
3. In crystals, atomic diameters are defined as dimensions of elementary cells, visible by X-
ray or electron-beam diffraction.
Atomic diameters could be also evaluated from the density – if we knew how many atoms
were contained in a portion, i.e., in one mole of the substance. But we need to know advocate
Avogadro’s number, which is also difficult
Our main point here is that the concept of atom is the best example of the evolution of ideas:
from speculations to their negation, to new experimental indications, and back to
speculations.
An atom, from the point of view of Physics is not an a-tom, i.e., an in-divisible. But just
playing with words we get in-dividual, which is similar, but used rather for persons (in
italiano in-dividuo, in Polish or Russian o-soba).

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So, in order to explain the meaning of atom, we come back to the original Greek meaning.
This playing with words shows how Philosophy can be useful for Physics.
Furthermore, experimental proofs for the existence of atoms came quite recently: with
Perrin’s experiments and with Atomic Force Microscopy allowing us to scan atom by atom
on the surface of solid bodies. The so called Avogadro’s number was merely a hypothesis in
Avogadro’s times.

How can one find a quark?

You need a little luck and a huge accelerator – a ring of several kilometres diameter,
consuming electricity like a medium-size city.

1, 2. The first pair – “up” and “down” are everywhere, being components of atomic nuclei.

3. The lighter of the second pair, “strange”, is a constituent of particles

heavier than proton and neutron and was observed in cosmic radiation
in the forties. These strange particles can be captured by atomic nuclei
for a glimpse, before decaying. This picture shows a first noticed trace
of a decaying hypernucleus in a photographic emulsion.

M. Danysz and J. Pniewski, J. Phil. Mag. 44 (1953), 348

4. The “charm”, completing the second

generation was the subject of twofold hunting:
in Brookhaven a narrow peak was observed at
3.1 GeV for electron- positron pair production
in p + Be collisions, in Stanford on the other
hand – a peak for hadron production in
electron- positron annihilation; the papers were
submitted with one day’s difference, the cc
meson bears a double name J/Ψ, and the Noble
prize was shared by both groups.
There was also a third group, from Rome, who
published a paper just after the two others. But
they admitted to have adjusted their machine
for the shot after a call from the USA. No
Nobel prize for them…
J.-E. Augustin et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 33, 1406–1408 (1974) J.J. Aubert et al.Phys. Rev.
Lett. 33, 1404–1406 (1974)
5. The third generation was first
predicted theoretically by M.
Kobayashi and T. Masakawa in 1974.
The “bottom” quark, also called
“beauty”, was observed in 1977 in
FermiLab in the production of muons
from proton scattering on Cu or Pt, as a
faint “bump” (Y - Upsilon meson bb )
at 9.5 GeV mass.
Credits: Fermilab

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 6. The last, “top” is so heavy
(175 GeV) that it becomes the
father for generations of other
particles – so called jets; its
mass was predicted correctly
by theory and was measured
with the best accuracy in the
whole quark zoo.
Credits: Fermilab

Bigger and bigger machines are needed to find

tiny quarks!
So if you have no money, or you do not
believe in new quarks, you can still find it in
the bakery shop in Trento, Italy.

How can one show a quark?Do we know everything about quarks?

No! We do not even know the masses of the lightest quarks!
The best data for up and down quarks masses are:
1/2(mu+md)=4.2 MeV/c2; 1.5<mu<5
MeV; 5<md<9 MeV/c2
Determination of masses is more
precise for heavier quarks, for
example the strange quark shown
below ms=0.105±0.033 GeV/c2
(negative charge)

or the top quark, shown here:

mt=175 GeV/c2
(positive charge)

Our main points here are:

• from a historical perspective some of the fierce competition between scientific
groups, even if it brought a Nobel prize, appears simply ridiculous
• the masses of the lightest quarks are known only with 50% error bars
• the experiments on elementary particles are becoming so expensive that a serious
critical discussion on research priorities must take place in the scientific community
• one should try to visualise the phenomena, exploring models beyond simple
colourful balls, as usually used for quarks

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 • this visualisation should bring some new information, like the size of the quark here,
corres-ponding to its mass (the mass is proportional to the fourth power of linear
dimension here)
• we again play with words: “quark” was used by Gell-Mann, form a novel by James
Joyce, who probably used a word he had heard in Germany, namely white cheese
(ricotta in Italian): Quark

Project

The project “Physics is Fun”, financed by the EU “Science and Society” framework, aims to:
• de-mythologize Physics
• make it appealing and easy
• stimulate fantasy and imagination
• show interdisciplinarity and new applications
• inform policy makers on possible promising research priorities
• induce scientists to some criticism
You will find all the material from “Physics is Fun” project at: http://modern.pap.edu.pl

Special thanks to the referee of this paper.

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“Physics: Exhibitionist by Nature”: Science Communication Meets the World
of School

Nico Pitrelli

ICS-SISSA (International School for Advanced Stusies), Trieste, Italy.

pitrelli@sissa.it

Introduction

Science education and science communication have much to learn from one another.
On the one hand, some innovative teaching methods can be useful for scientific journalists
and science writers. We can take as an example the stories, cartoons, videos and multimedia
materials dealing with physics, biology and chemistry that are produced for students in
primary and secondary education [1]. By the same token, teachers can derive benefits from
the public communication of science. For example, articles dealing with science taken from
newspapers and magazines can be used to make scientific subjects more accessible to all
students [2] – even those who are not interested in mathematics or geology, or those who
would not choose a scientific discipline at university. Despite this (apparent lack of interest),
it is probable that these students are interested in the social, political and ethical effects of
science that are often cited by the media: an indispensable element for members of modern
democratic society.
Furthermore, many informal communication activities aimed at school-age students and
above all those that take place in science centres represent a key contribution for the
development of scientific awareness and of the “Public Understanding of Science and
Technology” [3].
It is not a coincidence that, in recent years, education research has widened to encompass
themes that have traditionally been dealt with in research into science communication.
Informal science education that takes place during extra-curricular activities, or the
relationship between scientific knowledge acquired at school and the promotion of
responsible citizenship, are very much a part of the agenda of many science education
scholars [4].
The formation and training of science communicators who deal with a school-age public is
one of the themes that can be found among the aforementioned fields of research. This is a
crucial aspect for generating synergy in interactions between educational systems, public
science communication activities and research and promotion of scientific awareness. There
is still much work to be done in this regard, if not only for the fact that training for science
communicators is, as yet, not fully developed.
With this in mind, a group of students from the “Master in Science Communication” (MCS)
from the SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies) developed a project entitled
“Physics: exhibitionist by nature” as part of the initiatives for the World Year of Physics
2005.
The aim of the course was to create a public science communication product which would
have the following characteristics:

• to address, in the first instance, students of secondary school age, but also with the
possibility of being of interest to a more generic adult audience

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 • to put forward an image of physics that is based on knowledge-building processes
and on open themes rather than, for example, on iconic-epic representations of
scientists
• to give importance to artistic expression
• to promote aspects directed towards dialogue between science and society

The course and the project

The International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), founded in 1978, is a centre for
research and postgraduate studies leading to a PhD degree. Initially concentrated around the
so-called "hard sciences", SISSA's Sectors have expanded to explore groundbreaking
interfaces between science and the humanities. One of the outcomes of this work is the
foundation of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Advanced Studies, set up in 1986. Among
the activities of the Laboratory, special mention goes to the Master in Science
Communication (MCS), a two-year part-time course aimed at providing specialized training
in different fields of science communication, such as written, television and on-line
journalism, institutional and business communication, traditional publishing and multimedia
and museology.
Graduates from any discipline can follow the Master course. The courses themselves are
distributed across three areas: one regards theory and communication techniques, one
relating to scientific teaching in diverse fields and a third that is more directed towards social
studies of science.
One of the fields of teaching regards physics communication. The course is held by a
scientist and a public science communication expert and is directed at those who have not
necessarily followed studies in physics or mathematics, but who are training to become
science communication experts and will therefore deal with these subjects.
The problem of what type of training to give a class with the aforementioned characteristics
is, in some aspects, similar to the situation that faces many primary and secondary school
teachers that are dealing with scientific subjects. It is enough to mention the vast difference
between the learning of concepts and the problems related to science and the speed at which
scientific research takes place. The former is much slower than the latter, with consequences
that are certainly relevant for education but also for science communication.
The Master course is subdivided into eight lessons, each one lasting four hours. Every lesson
centres on a different theme in physics, dealt with both on a scientific and a communicative
level. The choice of topics depends largely on the teachers holding the lesson, but also
changes according to public relevance, on the social effects and therefore on the
communicative ‘spendability’ of the theme in question.
The chosen topics were as follows:

• natural constants
• entropy
• asintotic behaviour
• Higgs’ boson
• geometry, relativity, gravity
• multibodies
• dark matter
• supernovae
• strings

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As far as the communicative output is concerned, during the first lesson it was decided to
present outcomes on display boards of 60x120cm. The reasons for these decisions were
based on the consideration that, given the limited time and resources available, the display
boards were the best way of meeting the objectives of the project.
From one month to the next, the students’ task was to produce texts and images inspired by
the topics discussed during the lesson. The task was designated after having established a
homogenous layout for all the boards. At the end, twelve boards were created, symbolising
the 12 months of the World Year of Physics.

Examples

The following gives two examples of the work produced by the students. One dealing with
natural constants (panel 1) and the other looks at entropy (panel 2).
The headline in each panel (the English text is in the captions) deals with the relationship
between physics and nature. It is important to mention that this link is intended in a
metaphorical sense: the intention is not to explain or inform. As well as this, where the body
copy contains information, it is very bare and the combination of text and images has the aim
of evoking a sensation through an aesthetic presentation.
In the first example (panel 1) the image is of a metaphorical identity card belonging to the
universe, with natural constants as its distinguishing features. Entropy (panel 2) has been
represented by an overturned glass of milk. These everyday images were used in a context
whose aim is not to simplify, render more banal or indeed more spectacular. Rather we hoped
to arouse greater interest in an audience that already has questions or ideas regarding the
topics in question – we believe that such characteristics can be found among secondary
school students.

Panel 1. Headline: Physics: constant by nature Body copy: The building blocks of physics:
h bar, turnkey of quantum mechanics, c, speed of light G, constant of universal gravitation.
All the measurable quantities of the Universe, the microcosmos and the macrocosmos, can be
expressed by these constants. Text on the identity card: Name:UNIVERSE; Born: 14
BILLION YEARS AGO; State IN EXPANSION; distinguishing features: h bar c G;
Signature of holder: infinity

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Panel 2. Headline: Physics: messy by nature Body copy: Entropy: everything becomes more
and more disordered. There is no turning back: time travels one way only. The Universe’s
entropy continues to grow.

Conclusions

The aforementioned experience can be useful for those dealing with the teaching of scientific
subjects. The “Physics: exhibitionist by nature” project is an example of how people that do
not have a specifically scientific background can come up with communication products that
deal with the more difficult aspects of physics. If the product’s aim is not that of explanation,
even students with less technical preparation can be successful in creating communicative
solutions. Indeed, motivated in this way, it is possible that the students will produce images
and syntheses that are closer to the reality of those that are interested in physics or would like
to know more about it, but who have a kind of reverential fear that prevents them from
exploring the subject further.
A similar experience, remodelled for secondary school students, still following the two-part
model with one scientific and one dealing with techniques of communication, can be useful
for describing scientific research as a process and not (as is too often seen in scientific
manuals) as a series of discoveries without context. Apart from the aesthetic judgement that
one may give to the panels, the project also demonstrates how science can be communicated
through research into artistic expression. We maintain, therefore, that teachers and students,
through public science communication projects such as the one described, can be
increasingly motivated to think about how to display science in a social context.
The major limitations to the initiative reside in the fact that as yet, no evaluation methods
have been developed in order to assess what type of effect the displaying of the panels could
have on those that look at them – in particular secondary school students at whom the
product was specifically aimed. Another aspect, which merits further study in a possible
future project, regards the relationship between the themes dealt with and the notions that
students learn from textbooks. A study of this relationship could make both the choice of
themes and the realisation of the communication product more useful.

References
[1] Negrete A and Lartigue C 2004 Learning from education to communicate science as a good story
Endeavour 28 120-24

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[2] Parkinson J and Ardendorff R 2004 The use of popular science articles in teaching scientific
literacy English for Specific Purposes 23 379-96
[3] the British Association for the Advancement of Science 2005 What we know and what we don’t
know about science in society (London: the British Association for the Advancement of Science)
www.the-ba.net/NR/rdonlyres/CE852B1D-7699-43A1-91C4-
382DB5877D45/0/ConnectingScience_review.pdf: 69-70
[4] European Commission 2002 Report from the Expert group Benchmarking the Promotion of RTD
culture and Public Understanding of Science ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/era/docs/bench_pus_0702.pdf
98-102

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Learning To Teach Physics from Lessons of Maria Sklodowska-Curie

J. Turło, E. Dąbkowska, A. Karbowski, K. SłuŜewski, G. Osiński, R. Jankowski K.

Przegietka

Physics Education Laboratory, Institute of Physics, Nicolaus Copernicus University,

Torun, Poland

You have to be persistent

and believe that you are able
to do something well…
Maria Skłodowska-Curie

Introduction

We have just entered 21st century, but our today school students will be professionally most
active not before 40’s of this century. Thus, it is reasonably to ask – what kind of knowledge
and skills they will need for their life and work? The revolutionary and quick recent
development of educational technology makes difficulties in answering this question
precisely. However, it seems to us that such key skills and competencies as: abilities to learn,
to collect and evaluate information, to plan own work, to solve problems in a creative way, to
communicate and work with others, as well as to use Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) effectively will be of a great value. Taking this into account, at present
schools, we have to apply active methods of teaching, which are necessary for development
of the above skills.

Active methods of teaching

There are many various active methods commonly used in education, including also physics
education [1-8 ]. Let us list for example:
• brainstorming,
• hands-on experiments and demonstrations in the real time,
• using history of science and historical experiments,
• drawing and designing the map of concepts,
• educational games,
• using of everyday and low-cost materials and toys,
• team discussions and debates,
• questioning and problem solving,
• project method (planning, execution and evaluation of project),
• writing reports and papers,
• filling in forms, questionnaires and worksheets,
• designing the list of questions,
• role playing and drama,
• analysis, case studies,
• working with the text resources,
• public lectures accompanied by on-line demonstrations,
• designing the plan of actions,
• designing and performing presentations,

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 • doing the real things,
• using ICT resources for learning.

We have to remember that in active teaching, the teacher should be a guide, but students
should solve the problems themselves, being creative and open-minded. To make students’
learning much more effective, teaching should engage their different senses and emotions
and prepare them to the team work. Furthermore, active teaching requires: good organization
(scenario of lesson, time table and suitable materials), friendly atmosphere, adequate
competencies of teacher (subject knowledge, methodological and interpersonal experience),
high motivation of students (they know and accept aims, are interested in the topic and have
sense of responsibility for their own learning).

The described above active teaching methods according to the Dale’s Cone of Experience
(Fig. 1) has many advantages and is often advised, especially by the physics educators,
because it allows to understand better the difficult physics concepts and in this way to avoid
the most common misconceptions.

Fig. 1: Dale’s Cone of Experience

Original and novel physics lessons of Maria Skłodowska-Curie

Maria Skłodowska was born in Warsaw in 1867. In 1876 her mother died. In 1877 she was
attending private school of Madame Sikorska. During the years 1878 – 1883 she learnt at
gymnasium and in years 1891 – 1894 she studied at Sorbonne University, obtaining two BSc:
in physics and in mathematics. In 1895 she married Pierre Curie and they together
accompanied Henri Becquerel in investigations of radioactivity. In 1898 they discovered, for
example, two radioactive elements: polonium (named such in tribute to Poland) and radium,
what was awarded in 1903 by the Nobel Prize in physics. The Curies had two daughters
(Irene and Eve), but unfortunately, Pierre tragically died in 1906. Maria was continuing the
hard work on radioactivity (Fig. 2.), trying to exhale of pure radium from uranium ore. In
1910 she got one decigram of radium chloride, and in the next year she obtained for that
Nobel Prize in chemistry.

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 Fig. 2: Maria Skłodowska-Curie in her research laboratory.

It is worth to notice, that despite being so great and famous scientist Maria Skłodowska-
Curie found also time for teaching physics at the elementary level.
To celebrate 100th anniversary of Maria Skłodowska-Curie Nobel Prize for investigation of
radioactivity phenomenon in 2003, the unexpected book on: Leçons de Marie Curie has been
edited in France [9] and translated into Polish.
These lessons have taken place in 1907-1908 in Paris. Maria Skłodowska-Curie created an
unusual, private school for pupils 10-12 years old (one of them was Isabelle Chavannes - the
author of notes of Mrs Curie physics lessons). The lessons were given by the members of
Company of Scientists for Experimental Teaching (created by Maria Skłodowska-Curie in
1907): Maria Curie was teaching physics, Jean Perrin – chemistry, Paul Langevin –
mathematics, Henri Mouton – science, Henrietta Perrin – French and history, Alice
Chavannes – English, German and geography, Jean Magrou – drawing.
In the picture below (Fig.3) you can see the example of original drawing by Isabelle
Chavannes, describing physics experiments with the air and vacuum.

Fig. 3: The original drawing of Isabelle Chavannes showing 3 stages of experiment

with destroying the film of gum on the top of vacuum tube, taken from [9].

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The original and novel in teaching method in that experimental school of Marie Curie was:
• not verbal teaching,
• learning from nature, demonstration of exciting science hands-on experiments,
using low-cost materials, explained by the great scientists,
• activity of students by doing individual, hands-on investigations,
• lively discussions (brainstorming) with the use of simple and understandable
language,
• acquiring valuable social skills through personal examples of teacher genius: hard-
working, persistence, honesty, sensitivity for needs of others, etc.

As this method of teaching was extraordinary for that time, there was a strong opposition in
the society – not all accepted experimental and active learning. For example, one of the
journalists wrote: “These persons, who even can’t read fluently can make any kind of
experiments, construct equipment and try to perform chemical reactions! Sorbonne
University and building at Cuvier Street didn’t blow up yet, but don’t loose a hope!” Despite
this the most of students of that school were succeed in science. For example: Irena Curie-
Joliot got Nobel Prize in 1935 for discovery of artificial radioactivity, Francis Perrin was
outstanding nuclear physicist, member of French Academy of Science, Andre and Jean
Langevin were nuclear physicists, Isabelle Chavannes was chemistry engineer, what was
very rare for women in that time.

Reconstruction of Maria Skłodowska-Curie lessons by role-playing of pupils

Having not so many informal settings for teaching and learning science out of school as some
other countries have, we used opportunity of Science Festival to present the original Maria
Skłodowska-Curie physics lessons to the public, including science teachers and students.
Students of one Torun secondary school were the actors playing the roles of Marie
Skłodowska-Curie’s students: Aline and Francis Perrin, Irène Curie, Jean and André
Langevin, Pierre, Etienne and Mathieu Hadamard, Paula Magrou, Marguerite and Isabelle
Chavannes, André Mounton. These actors, worn the costumes from the beginning of 20
century and performed the historical lessons of physics: Vacuum and the air, Does air has
weight?, How water reaches tap?, Investigation of density of solid bodies, Checking the
Archimedes law, Why ships do not sink?, Why oil spheres do not always flow on the fluid
surface?

The content of the above lessons consist of the following selected experiments:
• Vacuum and the air: water replacing air in the gum container, students suck water
into tubes, principle of syringe work, air in the pig blister, film of gum on the top of
vacuum tube (Fig. 3.), balloon in the vacuum chamber, the Magdeburg
hemispheres.
• Does air has weight?: weighting of empty butt and with the air, weight of air
calculation.
• How water reaches tap?: delivery of water to lower places, pumping water to
higher places.
• Investigation of density of solid bodies: evaluation of Pb, Fe and wood cubes
densities, measurement of density of solids using overflow dish (Fig. 4.).
• Checking the Archimedes law: floating and sinking bodies.
• Why ships do not sink?: empty butt is floating, butt with water can float, butt with
metallic parts also can float but butt sinks if its weight is big enough.

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 • Why oil spheres do not always flow on the fluid surface?: oil and water in a
cylinder, oil and ethanol in the same cylinder, oil spheres float in the mixture of
water and ethanol (Fig. 5.).

Fig. 4: Pierre Hadamard is performing Fig. 5: Maria Curie is showing how

experiment using overflow dish, colleagues spheres of oil float in mixture of water and
are observing. ethanol

We would like to add, that willing to play the roles of Maria Skłodowska-Curie’s students
was so many, that we decided to organise two complete groups of actors. We did not have
also any gender problems – even more girls were active.

Is it the way to communicate physics to the public?

Some science subjects, especially physics and chemistry belong to the least preferred
subjects by students at school. In the last time in many countries of the world we observe a
decline in the number of students, willing to continue physics education at higher level. The
same tendency has been started already also in Poland. The problem arise - how to
communicate physics to the public (teachers, parents and student themselves) to increase
understanding, interest and motivation towards physics studies. The 2005 year – The World
Year of Physics, is the good opportunity for promotion not only physics itself, but also
physics education in the society. In the chapter 2 of this paper we listed different kinds of
active methods of education. Among them we would like to point out the five: using of
everyday and low-cost materials, hands-on experiments and real-time demonstrations,
questioning and problem solving, role playing and drama, public lectures accompanied by
real demonstrations. The importance of the last method was underlined among others by
Hewitt [10] and Walton [11], who said: “In so far as the public lecture demonstration is
concerned, this is important point; for the lecture demonstration is pre-eminently a situation
in which ideas are told or shown.”

Our performance was an example of role playing method application (which was introduced
to physics education, e.g. by J. Solomon [12]), but involved also the elements of other
methods: using of everyday and low-cost materials, hands-on experiments and real-time
demonstrations as well as questioning and problem solving. So, we were dealing with:
problem solving, observations and experiments performed by students themselves, dialog
containing reflections related to experiments (i.e. between actions and mind, reality and its
vision), the great engagement, simply passion of students, who showed the natural joy of
learning and with the direct relations between the outstanding person from the world of
science and public. Furthermore, audience had opportunity to observe how Maria

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Skłodowska-Curie encouraged her students “to be persistent, patient, work hard and be well
organised to reach established goals”. Such type of teaching is, for example recommended
recently by French Nobel Prize winner G. Charpak, who created the educational programme
aiming at development of science teaching methods [13]. Also in UK the Twenty First
Century Science Project was performed [14] and New Science Curriculum at Key Stage 4
based on idea of additional applied science from September 2006 will be executed.

The opinions of students-actors and those from audience were very positive. Let’s quote
some statements of students first: “Being an actor in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie lesson was
extremely nice experience for me, but first of all I learned a lot of physics. I‘d like to take a
part in such lessons every day!”, ”During preparation of the performance we had a lot of
fun”, “I learnt to collaborate in group and I understand physics better”, “I hope that we will
repeat this kind of activity once more”.

Some persons from audience said: “Participation in such performance was for me
extraordinary. I learnt a lot what will be helpful in understanding the world around me”, “It
was a very good performance, physics seems to me much easier now!”. So, can we hope, that
it was one of the effective ways to communicate physics to the public?

References
[1] Bosio S, Ceccolin D, Michelini M, Sartori C and Stefanel A 1998 Games, Experiments, Ideas,
Physics of Toys GIREP Sem. Duisburg Germany 497.
[2] Zollman D A, Schaal S and Euler M 1998 Hands-On Data Acquisition & the Science of Bicycle,
Physics of Toys GIREP Sem. Duisburg Germany 409.
[3] Bürger W 1998 An Entertaining Lecture of Physics Toys, Physics of Toys GIREP Sem. Duisburg
Germany 22.
[4] Wessels P 1998 Low-Cost Experiments, Physics of Toys GIREP Sem. Duisburg Germany 400.
[5] Taylor B A P 1998, Teaching Science with Toys at Miami University, Physics of Toys, GIREP
Sem., Duisburg, Germany, 85.
[6] Iwaniszewska C, Strobel A and Skórzyński W 2000, Observing Astronomical Phenomena by
Means of Hand-Made Devices, Science and Mathematics Teaching for the Information Society,
Torun, Poland, 149.
[7] Ucke Ch 2003 Physics, Toys and Art, Quality Development in Teacher Education and Training,
GIREP Sem., Udine, Italy, 96.
[8] Trowbridge D 2003 Children Learning Science by Demonstrations, GIREP Sem., Udine, Italy,
413.
[9] Leçons de Marie Curie. Recueillies par Isabelle Chavannes en 1907, 2003, Editions EDP
Sciences, Les Ulis, France.
[10] Hewitt P G, Micklavzina S, Rassool R and Zetterberg P-O 2002 Physics Show for Participants and
Their Families, Physics in New Fields, GIREP Sem., Lundt, Sweden.
[11] Walton R 2000 Public Lectures and the Public Understanding of Science, Science and
Mathematics Teaching for the Information Society, Torun, Poland, 81.
[12] Solomon J 1990 Retrial of Galileo, SATIS Unit No. 1., 16-19.
[13] http://www.inrp.fr/lamap
[14] Burden J 2005 The New Science Curriculum at Key Stage 4, Education in Science, No. 213, 8.

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Interactive, Living and Vital Science

P. Cerreta, C.L. Toglia

Rete di Scuole: Associazione ScienzaViva – IIS “A.M. Maffucci”, Calitri, Italy

scienzaviva@tiscali.it

ScienzaViva, a group of teachers, students, artisans and technicians, is doing in Italy an

original work in the Informal Learning and Public Understanding of Physics and other
Sciences. Starting from the mismatch existing in Science, in particular in Physics, among the
experts, the simple students and the common people too, the group is deeply committed in
connecting these parts. Its main actions are the direct production of exhibits and the
experiential diffusion of scientific culture. With a genuine educative research, almost
independent from the academic streams, ScienzaViva engages the people, being living and
vital, similar to a grassroots movement. ScienzaViva spends the same vigour in the finding
out the structural reasons of the old conflict between formal and informal learning attitudes,
going back to the beginnings of the history of scientific facts.

1. Physics, students and common people

The title of this meeting, «Informal Learning and Public Understanding of Physics», really
demonstrates that we are living a historical change in the conception of Physics and Science.
It evokes in our minds that of the famous book of a great historian of Science, A. Koyré,
«From the closed world to the infinite universe» [21] which, here, could be paraphrased as:
«From the closed understanding to the universal sharing of Physics».
In fact, Physics is a difficult subject [22]. It’s well known to the students, who pass through a
hard selection, but to the common people too. A spirit of adaptation, stronger than in other
fields, needs to study it. Without adaptation, nobody can go far. The sociologists say that this
fact depends on the «paradigmatic» [23] nature of the scientists’ schemes; the public opinion
see it as a rigid initiation, which doesn’t let alternatives: «This is Physics, take it or leave it».
The social isolation of the group of the physicists in the society has been seen as the normal
intellectual separation of the educated class from the public and it never has been a problem.
School itself implicitly has justified it.
Since some decades, however, something is changed. The number of the physicists who get
over the traditional boundaries and dialogue with the people is increased. Let’s think to the
Exploratorium founded in San Francisco by the physicist F. Oppenheimer and, about Italy, to
the «Immaginario Scientifico» in Trieste and to the «Città della Scienza» in Naples created
by P. Budinich and V. Silvestrini, both physicists. If we investigate about the origins of all
the Science Center, we find out that they all have been created by similar initiatives.
It’s true that the physicists’, and generally the scientists’ new attitude towards the common
people is partially explained by the public origin of the funds of their researches, but it’s also

[21] Koyré, A., 1957, From the closed world to the infinite universe, The John Hopkins Press,
Baltimore [trad. it., 1984, “Dal mondo chiuso all’universo infinito”, Feltrinelli, Milano
[22] K. W. Ford: “Guest comment: Is physics difficult?”, Am. J. Phys., Vol 57, n°10, oct.
1989, p. 872; S. Tobias: “Math anxiety and physics: some thoughts on learning ‘difficult’
subjects” in Physics Today, June 1985, p. 61-68
[23] T.S. Kuhn, The structure of scientific revolutions, University of Chicago Press, 1962

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true that this attitude answers to the increasing request of science knowledge which comes
from the people. Science and technology, in fact, have entered among the most important
politic issues for the future of the mankind – let’s think to the unsolved world energy
problem.
In this changed landscape, we can distinguish still more the scientists and the teachers who
try to show the natural phenomena and the scientific technologies in the most suitable ways
for the popular sensibility. They now constitute a wide international movement which offers
alternatives to the dry approach the major part of the people has been accustomed to. Their
slogan is «putting science in the hands of the public» [24].
We refer to some specialists like Paul Doherty [25], invited to this meeting, and to other
scientists like him that today are true professionals in this field of the communication. We
also refer to Dimension, the magazine of the Association of Science Technology Centers
(ASTC) [26] and to other publications of this area which show constantly their surprising
exhibitions.

2. The popular education to science

Therefore, we can talk about a popular education to science or about a public understanding
of science. Its approach is experiential, that is, the experience comes first and the theories
and the formulas come afterwards. Such a conception inspires a new didactic technology: the
interactive exhibits, big objects which invite the public to put the hands on them, without
fear.
Using them, the common people interact with the physical variables of the shown
phenomena and they can learn «in their own way». So, they have an alternative to the
precedent «take it or leave it». Conceived this way, the learning is defined as informal. On
the contrary, the formal learning is the typically related to school and university one and its
conception are mostly hypothetical-deductive.
The validity of the distinction between informal and formal isn’t completely foregone.
Someone thinks that it’s only a nominal distinction, because the informal learning, although
essentially based on the direct experience, isn’t less conceptual than the formal one. Their
difference, they say, is not critically important for the educative purposes. The
Exploratorium, for example, does not emphasize it very much [27].
According to others, on the contrary, the distinction is very effective because focuses the
existence of a methodological contrast. A contrast which has become important in the
modern society. The elimination of such a contrast constitutes one of the most prominent
goals of the science educators in our time, as we know from the results of the meeting of
Athens of the ECSITE, held two years ago: Bridging the Gap between Formal and Informal
Science Teaching. However, we must observe that this operation come essentially from the

[24 ]G. Delacote, "Putting Science in the Hands of the Public" in Science, Vol 280, 26 June
1998, p. 2055-56
[25] P. Doherty is the Co-Director Staff Physicist of the Exploratorium Teacher Institute
[26] The ASTC (www.astc.org), Washington D.C, USA, now includes more than 400
institutions in 40 countries.
[27] We have perceived this position trough discussions with the members of the
Exploratorium staff. Nevertheless the Exploratorium has part in the Center for Informal
Learning and Schools (CILS) which has been funded in 2002 by the National Science
Foundation. The Center supports research and develops leadership in the study of informal
science learning and institutions, and their relationships to schools:
http://www.exploratorium.com/cils/ .

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world of the informal communication and depends on this point of view [28]. Moreover, we
can’t found analogous attempts produced by Schools. Nor by studies coming, for example,
from Eastern Europe.
With regard to this, let’s remember the recent institution in Europe of the PENCIL
(Permanent European Resource Centre for Informal Learning) which aims to identify the
reasons of the success that transforms the informal educative activities in innovative science
teaching instruments. It involves 14 Science Centers and European museums and a university
“Resource Centre” for the monitoring of the educative research.
It’s clear, therefore, that the theme of this meeting belongs under a more wide debate,
focused on the nature of the aforesaid contrast, which needs to be composed in the best
possible way.

3. ScienzaViva and the alliance between teachers and artisans

We contribute to this research trying to decode the main subjects that actually play a role in
the abovementioned issues.
First of all let’s consider the fact that the goals of the communication between «scientists»
and «common people» are certainly different from the ones concerning the «scientists»-
«students» educative relation, but let’s ask ourselves: how much is great this difference? Are
not the students in the group of the common people first that, after a long training, they are
accepted into the scientific community? Or have we to consider the students as a different
group, separate from their parents, their brothers and friends, who aren’t oriented towards the
profession of scientist?
If we put the students among the common people, we are devaluating very much the
formative function of Schools. But if we consider them as a separated group, we attribute to
Schools an «esoteric» and not yet acceptable function.
scientists

students
common people

Our opinion, therefore, is that the most equilibrate response is to consider the students as
citizens like the others, in a distinct position, but not completely separated from the society in
which they live.
This way, the students are reached by the messages of both formal and informal scientific
communications. These ones lie over with different intensity and efficacy, according to the
situations.
In the Anglo-Saxon world, for example, they have almost the same importance, their
interconnections are already active and the experiences are already been evaluated. Let’s
consider by the way what has been written in the several publications of the ASTC, of the

[28] J. Wellington, Formal and informal learning in science: the role of the interactive
centres, Phys. Educ. 25 (1990), pp. 247-252; Hofstein A., Rosenfeld S., 1996, “Bridging the
Gap Between Formal and Informal Science Learning”, Studies in Science Education, 28, 87-
112

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British Interactive Group (BIG) and other American and European Institutions [29]. So, we
can see that - where the schools exploits by themselves the experiential pedagogy of the
Science Centers and incorporate their most modern techniques - the two messages arrive to
the students not in a cacophonic way. The general learning seems to be stronger and can be
useful both to pursue scientific studies at the university and to the scientific consciousness
and awareness, that is a right of all the citizens.
Instead, where the schools remains fastened to «book, chalk and blackboard» and leave to the
Science Centers the task of offering the most exciting aspects of science, the effects on the
comprehension of physics and science generally are contradictory. This is good neither for
the young people nor for the society in which they live.
Italy, in a certain sense, lies in this last case. In fact in our country the formal and informal
education haven’t yet found the mutual recognition, differently from other European nations.
Moreover, there are regional areas in which their convergence is favored and areas in which
it is not, unfortunately. The factors that favor it are several: the presence of Science Centers,
the single teachers and teachers associations’ innovative vocation, the deep roots of local
educative experiences, etc.
However, in our country, the two styles of education are more frequently in competition than
in collaboration.
ScienzaViva [30], the association that we represent, is therefore obliged to work on a difficult
ground. This makes clear why it has chosen, as statutory aim, to improve the conditions of
dialogue between the different parts. We believe to make it in an original way, taking our
energies from uncommon motivations and experiences.
Our educative model is the Exploratorium of San Francisco, but the principal action fields
are the schools, that is among the students and the teachers, and also the common people, that
is between our students’ parents, brothers and friends.
Our operative center is based in Calitri, a little town in the south of Italy, but it spreads
towards all the directions of the country, giving concrete examples of experiential pedagogy
in zones where they lacks. We built an exhibition of interactive scientific instruments, titled
«The square wheels», that is in demand in all the country. It travels through the peninsula
like the Tespi’s Cart, and it’s exhibited in the atriums of the schools, in the provincial
museums and in the university buildings.
For making it, our association avails itself both of the funds of the Institutions who call us
and of co-funds coming from the Italian Ministry of Instruction, University and Research.
It’s fundamental the cooperative contribution of our school, the IIS “Maffucci” of Calitri, and
of the net of schools linked to it.
ScienzaViva proposes the learning through the use of the hands, following the lively artisan
tradition of the place in which it’s born. It can be briefly defined as the expression of the
cultural «alliance» among teachers, artisans and technicians. A kind of alliance from which
the didactic instruments come out, an alliance from which the natural phenomena become
familiar to people as using their own hands. It proves how the scientific and technologic,

[29] AA.VV., What Research Says about Learning in Science Museums, ASTC, 1990; S.
Middlebrooks, Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers: Preservice Partenership between Science
Museums and Colleges; ASTC, 1999; G.H. Hein, M. Alexander, Museums, Places of
Learning, American Association of Museums, 1998, AA.VV., An Invisible Infrastructure:
Institutions of Informal Science Education, Inverness Research Associates for the ASTC,
1996; ASTC Dimensions, Science Centers as Schools: Extending the Mission; Jan/Feb
2004; ASTC Dimensions, Active and Engaged: Science Centers as Schools and Informal
Learning; Nov/Dec 2005
[30] AA. VV., Scienza Viva e Interattiva, ScienzaViva, Tip. Pannisco, Calitri, 2004

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formal and informal knowledge can be synthesized with a pedagogic efficacy. Without such
a synthesis, we cannot solve the clashes of the Italian scientific education. Other Italian
groups can’t get analogous results because they aren’t protagonist of the same constructive
process. Some of them, in fact, prefer to buy their exhibits from international producers.
Their instruments satisfy certainly the popular tasks for which they have been created, but
they don’t give to the public the idea that they can make it, with their hands, too. Some others
propose a science made by «carton, adhesive tape and thumb-tacks», that is good in safe
places like the schoolrooms and the libraries, but does not survive to he impact of the great
public.
Our commitment consists of a series of enterprises: the autonomous production, by
ourselves, of the interactive exhibits which we use both in the Schools and in Public
Exhibitions; the introduction into the Schools of styles of learning which are coming from
Science Centres; the identification of the theoretical dimensions of the hands-on activities we
employ in teaching physics; the travelling scientific demonstrations, around the Italian
regions, that involve «empirical knowledge» in addition to scientific rules and laws.
Although guided by disciplinary purposes, many of these actions are led with the artisans’
conceptions of manipulating materials and tools. The artisans are for us a precious source of
knowledge, we consider them as «living treasures» because they are irreplaceable in the
production of the exhibits. Moreover they give us a pedagogic model in which Science is
structured on problems more than on apodictic statements, that you can learn at the
university.
After all, we prefer being socially and intellectually independent from the Universities and
the Big Science and more interested in the practice of common people and his difficulties of
understanding Science.

4. The circulation of the scientific knowledge, the enthusiasm and the vitality of the
educative message

ScienzaViva bases itself on the dedication of a little kernel of teachers of the schools of
Calitri, with whom cooperate the other associates, among whom also some young students
stand out: about thirty people on the whole. The fact that the Association is led by people
who practice the school teaching as principal professional activity guarantees a constant
curricular lecture of Science and not only the Science Centers’ experiential lecture.
Our publications guarantee, moreover, a related to schools point of view which, as we said
before, is hard to find out in the panorama of the publications on this topic.
Wendy Pollock, director of the research programs of the ASTC, wrote that the spirit of
ScienzaViva is the typical one of the grassroots movements and furnishes awareness like
those proposed by Paulo Freire [31]. What she has noted explains well the reason for which
an unusual enthusiasm and an unexplainable falling in love for science is the first effect
produced on the people by our actions.
In short, remembering the triangular figure that we described before, the aim that
ScienzaViva pursues is to help the three subjects, shown there, to communicate among them,
with a circular flux of reciprocal actions, a flux in which the liveliness and the cultural
fertility are undoubted.
In fact, SienzaViva testifies to the scientists and to the teachers how the students’ needs can
be understood. It offers to the public the spur to go further the variety of the shown
phenomena, to arrive at least to perceive what a scientific theory is and how much the
scientific knowledge is important for the future. Finally, it offers to the students, a part from

[31] ibidem

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reserving them the best of the modern interactive technologies, the exciting experience of the
explainers, that is to explain to their friends and parents the phenomena and the laws that
they have learnt.
Who observes it with expert eye knows the skill of ScienzaViva of being a shining example
of how a science center can be created by a school, or how a school can behave as a little
science center.
Our science is living, vital and interactive.
Very much questions are still open for us, the same of the PENCIL’s ones.
Another thorny subject is still open: the reduction of the number of the students of scientific
subjects in the occidental nations.
A sort of lack of courage stops the students at the time of their definitive choices. One of the
causes is certainly the fear induced by the university, because it seems that there a major
intelligence is required.
In this case too, the PENCIL could give an answer, when it will be clear why who reaches
the university studies undergoes an automatic and unjustified reduction of the experiential
occasions. Why does the university student, therefore, lose the right to the perceptive
approach through which he has been attracted towards the science?
ScienzaViva has already found a fundamental cause of this problem. The existence of a
fracture inside the three hundred and more years of modern science that countered the
baconian tradition (or experimental) and the mathematical tradition of science [32].
An ancient and never joined fracture between the practical and the theoretic activity, between
the artisans and the learned men. It explains the contradictory aspects of the scientific
pedagogy that we have examined. For example, the fact that, generally, the theory has an
intellectual charm that the practice hasn’t. Does the alliance between teachers and artisans
solder in part this fracture?
Is it an irreducible fracture? Is it linked to the cognitive modalities of the human mind? Or
can we solve it in evolutionary terms, if the concept of evolution can be applied to science
itself?

[32 ] T.S .Kuhn, “Tradizioni matematiche e tradizioni sperimentali nello sviluppo delle
scienze fisiche”, in La tensione essenziale, Einaudi Paperbacks, Torino, 1985, pp.37-74

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The Study of Physics for Non-Physicists

T. Kranjc

Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

tomaz.kranjc@pef.uni-lj.si

1. Introduction

Natural sciences, and technology based on them, have enormous influence on our everyday
life. In our research we wanted to determine the level of scientific literacy of students,
especially of students of the Faculty of Education, who will themselves teach natural
sciences in elementary and high schools. What is their knowledge and understanding of
basic concepts and principles of science? We were particularly interested in their familiarity
with the “modern” areas of physics.
We conducted a series of tests (using questionnaires) among students with combination
majors mathematics-technology, chemistry-biology, and biology-home economics. In their
freshman year those students take 120-165 hours of physics for non-physicists (60-90 hours
of lectures, 30 hours of computation practicals, 30-45 lab hours). We assessed their
knowledge and understanding of a) some basic concepts that were covered in physics
lectures and were very much emphasized in class, and b) some generally known facts from
physics that were not included in physics lectures. We also assessed the motivation of
students for study, and their interest in physics.
We tried to determine which methods of study are acceptable to students and effective,
considering students’ prior knowledge and general scientific literacy, and thus successful in
acquiring deeper knowledge of certain topics. Different study materials (chapters from
textbooks, new texts, Internet) were made available to the test group that showed greater
motivation for studying, and we were available for help and consultation to the same group.
A basic problem seems to be students’ lack of motivation for study, and a lack of study
habits, which they should have acquired in their previous study in elementary and high
school, as well as the general attitude of society towards natural sciences and technology.

2. The opening questionnaire

For students who enroll in the natural sciences departments of the Faculty of Education, this
is not their preferred choice, but rather an option, available to them because of their
performance at the end of high school. Less successful students can only choose less
competitive majors which have less restrictive enrollments, even though this is not
necessarily a reflection of their talents. This choice is due to their weaker preparation, poor
working habits and a lack of motivation. The university education process itself has no
influence on that. It should be underlined, however, that this concerns the average; among the
students enrolled in the sciences departments there are, every year, also some very talented
and motivated students.
The level of knowledge of entering students, and the knowledge that they demonstrated in
their senior year at the university, are shown in the graph below. The left columns represent
freshmen, the right ones seniors. The first questionnaire contained simple questions from the
following topics:

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 1. Graphs of rectilinear motion
2. Newton’s third law
3. Gravitational force and “weightlessness”
4. “Weightlessness” on Earth
5. Astrology – do you believe in it?
6. The twin paradox – do you believe it?
7. Levitation in a gravitational field
8. A simple pendulum in “weightless” conditions
9. A mass-spring oscillator in “weightless” conditions
10. The telekinesis of Geller: do you believe in it?
11. Forces on Earth orbiting around the Sun
12. The first law of thermodynamics
13. Heat engines
14. Entropy
15. The mains voltage
16. Electron velocity for 100 eV (100 GeV) energy
17. The age of the universe
18. Black holes

The percentages of right answers are shown in Figure 1.

100

90

80

70

60

50 Freshmen
4th year
40

30

20

10

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Figure 1: Percentage of correct answers to the first questionnaire.

The graph shows a weak knowledge of entering students and, unfortunately, of seniors as
well. Therefore it is necessary to find ways to improve the learning success.
Learning is the process of acquiring and storing knowledge. According to Piaget, this process
is the creation of ‘self-regulating’ symbolic structures which develop through processes of
‘assimilation’ and ‘accommodation’. Here assimilation means the change of perceptions
through existing structures of knowledge, while accommodation is the adaptation of
structures of knowledge to received perceptions. The basic building blocks of cognitive
structures are overt actions which take place in the real world. When such activities are
internalized so that they can be performed “in thoughts” and become systematic, then they

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become the “stuff of reasoning”. Knowledge itself is not yet understanding. Understanding
means the ordering of separate pieces of knowledge into a system: this is achieved through
the creation of transitional channels between building blocks of knowledge, through their
coordination, which makes an overview possible, their interchangeability and the possibility
of their manipulation, generalization and creation of syntheses. Understanding is connected
with the ability to explain phenomena. This is possible only on the level of formal reasoning
and hypothetico-deductive thinking. In the course of study the “collection of knowledge”, the
process of storing learned facts and routine manipulations of those facts (e.g., solving physics
problems through the use of formulas that fit data the best, and their use based on previously
learned procedures) is not questioned. However, in physics, we emphasize the importance of
understanding and focus on it, as only this makes possible an effective use of knowledge, not
just for familiar types of problems, but also for unfamiliar and “unexpected” ones.
Understanding is also tied to (more) long term retention. We have to add right away that
“learning by memorization” (i.e., rote memorization and “drill”) is not harmful and is
necessary (often unavoidable). Many basic facts don’t need any special understanding and
only need to be memorized. And they do need to be memorized, otherwise they cannot be
used operatively (and therefore effectively). The mistake, however, is if we are satisfied with
learning only facts and routine procedures required by given material, by “rote
memorization” and without real understanding.

3. Main problems

The knowledge of physics acquired in school is not always connected to understanding (Fig.
2, see Sec. 4). Some difficulties during study are related to poor understanding of general
(not just physics) notions and some are specific to physics. The following are possible
barriers to reaching a good understanding of the material:
1. unclear general concepts (interrelation of quantities, functions)
2. misinterpretation of experience, misconceptions about some everyday phenomena,
misunderstanding
3. persistent perceptions, sometimes promoted by non-physics contexts and/or
terminology.
A lack of understanding of the physics content often leads to an apparent conflict between
the use of “common sense” and the use of “physical logic”, which seem to contradict one
another. Students arrive at the (false) notion that the laws of the physical world do not apply
to everyday experience and do not explain it, and that one has to unplug common sense and
plug in “physics sense” when physical phenomena are described. This consists of the use of
“procedures” which they get used to applying on the basis of processed sample examples. As
a consequence, when they describe physical phenomena, they seem to be dealing with a
world outside their experience rather than using the knowledge of physics to explain
conclusions based on that experience.
Non-understanding of basic concepts can lead to a “chain reaction”, when non-understood
concepts are used to define new composite (again non-understood) concepts.

Among general notions the non- or poor understanding of which often presents a significant
barrier for students, we shall discuss the example of (mathematical) functions, which play a
central role everywhere where connections (especially quantitative ones) between different
quantities occur. Physics is precisely the search for connections between different physical
quantities and the ability to manipulate them. Therefore, the understanding of physics is
hardly possible without the notion of function. “The book of nature is written in the language
of mathematics” (G. Galilei).

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 Figure 2: The gap between “knowledge” (of sheer facts) and understanding for some
common topics in physics.

The dynamics of uniform circular motions is among specific problems from physics that are
based on falsely interpreted experiences.
As an example of false perceptions, supported by non-physical contexts and/or terminology,
we shall discuss the weightless state

3.1. Functions

The concept of a function is “abstract in its very essence” [3]. Students are familiar with
mathematical functions from their previous schooling. They are able to find zeros, poles,
asymptotes of complicated functions, and draw their graphs. Doing that, they encounter a
variety of fundamental difficulties (related to the understanding and not to the technique of
function manipulation):
a) not distinguishing between variables and constant values of variables
b) not distinguishing between a quantity and its change (i.e. between a function and its
derivative)
c) inability to relate abstract functions to actual phenomena.
Students encounter functions in a very pure form at the beginning of their physics lectures in
the chapter on kinematics. Kinematics starts with a treatment of the one-dimensional motion
of a point mass, where the notions of position of a point in space, its velocity and
acceleration are introduced as functions of time, x = x(t), v = v(t) in a = a(t). Students learn to
represent functions by graphs and know the meaning of those graphs. Thus, they show
mastery in manipulating the graphs as in Figure 3 and know how to find qualitatively the two
remaining graphs if one is given.

However, it turns out that the mastery of drawing and interpreting graphs from Figure 3 does
not imply the ability to explain the meaning of the velocity graphs of Figure 4 and the
corresponding acceleration and position.

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 Figure 3: Coordinate, velocity and acceleration; from anyone of them students are able to
deduce the other two.

Figure 4: What is the acceleration?

While they see that the acceleration is constant, they transfer the discontinuity of the velocity
to the same kind of discontinuity of the acceleration.
The task of graphing the velocity of a harmonic oscillator, as a function of the distance from
the equilibrium (phase portrait in phase space), seems to be very demanding.
They find it difficult to graph thermodynamic processes for different pairs of thermodynamic
variables (for example, to graph V = V(T) for Carnot cycle for which p = p(V) is known).
We can summarize the barriers toward true understanding as follows:
• students know the techniques, but lack understanding (feeling)
• they are unable to use their knowledge of mathematics in non-mathematical
contexts
• they do not recognize structures

3.2 Uniform circular motion

A typical example of a phenomenon, where a wrong interpretation of experiences leads to a

false understanding, is a uniform circular motion. Already children encounter early in their
lives the feeling of being pulled out while turning (on a merry-go-round or moving through
turns), by a “certain outward force”. Early on they hear that this force is called the
“centrifugal force”. Later, when they learn in school that every circular motion needs a
centripetal force, which points towards the center, they still have in their mind the notion,
supported by their own experience, that in a circular motion there is a “centrifugal force”.
They put together both forces which add up to zero, getting a contradiction they cannot
explain.
Related to circular motion is the notion of “weightlessness”. A centripetal force acts on an
astronaut who is circling around the Earth. They explain the “weightlessness” by claiming
that the gravity force acting on an astronaut at high altitude, where his space vehicle orbits, is
“negligible”. However, they cannot explain, why, despite zero force, the astronaut circles
instead of moving along a straight line. The term “weightlessness” for a free-floating body is
an example of inappropriate terminology which is misleading.

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4. Common points

We tried to research characteristics of difficulties, in the acquisition of knowledge and

understanding, through a series of questionnaires where we assessed a) knowledge (questions
regarding definitions, descriptions), and b) understanding (questions asked to clear some
misconceptions), see Fig. 2.
Common characteristics of the majority of difficulties in the acquisition of knowledge and
understanding can be conceptually grouped as follows.
• Lack of connection between experience and physical analysis
• Impracticable channels between various pieces of acquired knowledge
• Lack of coordination between various pieces of knowledge (lack of structure and
unifying system)
We can add to that a bad social and psychological study environment. Students are not used
from their previous schooling to regard learning as work that is needed for successful study,
the same way physical training is necessary for success in sports. Poorly and erroneously
understood or realized “student-friendly” schools can have bad consequences for work habits
and standards that are set by students themselves. Consequences of poor knowledge are also
lack of self-confidence and certainty in solving specific problems. Thus, some additional
barriers on the road to successful study are
• expectation of easy solutions (adding together previously prepared pieces of
solutions)
• bad working habits
• uncertainty about the correctness of a solution (no feeling)

5. “Therapy”, portfolio

Achieving success in study is similar to achieving success in sports. While in sports it is clear
to everybody that there can be no success without hard (and often monotonous) work, the
same is true in study – “Practice is the way to understanding”. The following aspects of
study turned out to be important for success:
• reading textbooks
• devoting serious effort to solving a few exemplary problems
• taking time to thoroughly think about various aspects of a problem, and working out
and mentally reconstructing the phenomenon
• filling gaps between previously unconnected pieces of knowledge
• carefully examining a problem to discover that “common sense” reasoning is in
agreement with “physics logic” which reinforces one’s self-confidence in problem-
solving
• discovering that by learning science one realizes its explanatory power for everyday
phenomena and its technological usefulness
• realizing that the study of science produces the scientific literacy needed for the
understanding of technological and to some degree societal reality.
The method of portfolio practice has been shown to be the most successful method for non-
physics majors in physics courses [4]. The creation and the use of portfolios (a part of each
portfolio was a set of problems with solutions completely “discovered” and constructed by
each student) turned out to be a strong motivation factor and a useful tool, which noticeably
improved the success of students who used it compared to students who did not.
Comparison of results for students with and without portfolio, for three typical problems
(from kinematics, thermodynamics, and electromagnetism, which were considered difficult

339
by most students) are shown in Figure 5. Some reasons for such a significant improvement
due to portfolio creation have been discussed elsewhere [4].
We conclude with the remark that, in conditions where motivation and work habits are a
major hindrance to success in study, portfolios appear to be a powerful tool for improving
motivation and intensify the study, and with that, the scope and the depth of knowledge.

80
70
60
50
40 Without

30 With portfolio

20

10
0
1 2 3

Figure 5: Students who worked on their portfolios during the school year demonstrated a
markedly higher ability to solve problems (which were based on greater understanding and
higher working skills)

6. Conclusion

We tried to draw attention to some basic, frequently encountered problems in the study of
physics for non-physicists. We have shown that the use of portfolios may increase motivation
and learning outcomes. However, for better long-term results, a change in attitude of the state
towards science education and in the general social climate regarding science, as well as an
improvement in the social status of teachers, would be necessary.

References
[1] Flavell J H 1963 The Developmental Psychology of Jean Piaget (New Jersey: Princeton)
[2] Piaget J 1954 The construction of reality in the child (New York: Basic Books)
[3] Penrose R 1987 Emperor’s New Mind (Penguin Books) p. 66-67
[4] Gitomer D H and Duschi R A 1995 Moving Toward a Portfolio Culture in Science Education in
Learning Science in the Schools (New Jersey: LEA Publishers), pp. 299-326

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Social Changes through Physics Workshops

Roberto Sayavedra-Soto

Dirección de Tecnología Educativa. Instituto Politécnico Nacional, México.

roberto.sayavedra@alexandria21.net

Introduction

In the past the Ministry of Public Education in Mexico, specifically the Institute of Adult
Education (INEA), made many attempts to help citizens who had not completed their basic
education; however, these met with little success. Because of this, we proposed the project
“Animación en Plazas Comunitarias” (Animation in Community Centers).

The objectives of this project are for youth older than fifteen to finish their basic education
and find ways to work in society. The project is composed of physics workshops in the
Community Centers. The workshops are designed to increase youth retention and to
encourage youth to complete their studies. The workshop topics and skills development help
them find ways to fit into society and to ease their transition into the work force. When the
youth are in the workshops, they understand the importance of having basic instruction. This
realization is the result of seeing improvement in their basic skills in reading, writing, and
doing basic arithmetic operations. The students also use computers to retrieve, apply and
communicate information. We believe these skills are fundamental in helping youth
complete their basic education.

The methodology of the workshops grabs the attention of the youth and makes them active
participants in their own learning. At the beginning of a workshop, information is delivered
in such a way as to stimulate the senses and engage the minds of the participants, getting
them actively involved in the challenge or activity being presented. This is integral to
learning. We then ask them to write and share with their peers everything they need to
successfully complete the workshop’s challenge or activity. This stimulates the imagination,
activates critical thinking, engages perceptual thought, and develops communication skills. In
the last part of a workshop, the students use symbols and language similar to what is used in
their textbooks or in the field of study to describe the activity. This step is necessary if they
are to complete their basic education and continue into a field of their choice. It gives them
the tools to understand and communicate on an abstract as well as a concrete level.

This project involves two groups: a) the youth learning community (the students) and b) the
facilitator teaching community (the instructors). The instructors give possession of these
workshops to the students. By allowing the youth to steer the direction of the workshops, the
students are empowered and the instructors learn better how to facilitate the learning process.
The following words are the ideas on which we based our work with the two communities
cited above. First, we deal with Bruner’s fundamentals, second with ideas from the physicist
Manfred Euler from Leibniz Institute, and last with the steps of the methodology and
examples of some of the achievements.

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Modes of Representation

Following on the success of his book ‘The Process of Education’ [1] Bruner became
concerned with the techniques and technologies that aid growing human beings to represent,
in a manageable way, the recurrent features of the complex world in which they live. He
noted that the principal change in man during the past half-million years has been by linking
himself with new external implementation systems rather than by any conspicuous change in
morphology - ‘evolution by prosthesis’ as the anthropologist Weston La Barre put it. Bruner
quoted Washburn and Howell [2] as evidence for this:
It would appear that the large size of the brain of certain hominids was a relatively
late development and that the brain evolved due to new selection pressures after
bipedalism and consequent upon the use of tools... (the) size of brain has increased
some three-fold subsequent to the use and manufacture of implements. (Washburne
and Howell, 1960, p.49)

Bruner suggested that the ‘implement’ systems have been of three main kinds:

1. Amplifiers of human motor capacities (levers, wheels, cutting tools).

2. Amplifiers of human sensory capacities (primitive devices such as smoke signals
and modern ones such as radar).
3. Amplifiers of human ratiocinative (logical thought) capacities (language systems,
explanatory theories).

He stated that these are conventionalized and transmitted by the culture, particularly the
ratiocinative amplifiers, which involve symbol systems governed by rules that must be
shared. He also suggested that there are three systems for processing information allowing
human beings to construct what he calls ‘models’ of their worlds, which emerge in the
developing child in the following order:

1. through action
2. through imagery
3. through symbols and language

These three modes of internal representation are termed:

1. through action: ENACTIVE

2. through imagery: ICONIC
3. through symbols and language: SYMBOLIC

Initially, Bruner saw the enactive phase running from very early in life, with language being
superimposed at around 18 months and imagery declining at the age of 6 or 7 years: first (he
or she) comes enactive, then iconic and finally symbolic forms of representation. Bruner
acknowledges in his autobiography ‘In Search Of Mind’ [3] that he fell into the Genevan trap
of postulating a chronological straight jacket. He now feels that these modes are present
throughout life and are partially translatable into one another.

Enactive Mode:

The enactive mode of representation is highly manipulative in character. It knows some

aspect of reality without the use of imagery or words. Hence, it consists of representing past
events through making appropriate motor responses. It consists mainly of knowing how to do

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something; it consists of a series of actions that are appropriate for achieving some result e.g.
sailing a boat, tying a knot, riding a bike.

Iconic Mode:

This is based on internal imagery. The knowledge is represented by a set of images that stand
for the concept. Iconic representation depends upon visual or other sensory organization and
is principally defined by perceptual organization and techniques for economically
transforming perceptions. Although initially seen as fading from use in the child’s cognitive
apparatus at the age of 6 or 7 years, it is now recognized as an important element in the
highest intellectual realms. Consider what Einstein had to say about his thought processes
[4]:
The words or language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role
in my mechanisms of thought. The psychical entities which seem to serve as
elements in thought are certain signs and more or less clear images which can be
voluntarily reproduced or combined... The above mentioned elements are, in my
case, of visual and some of muscular type. Conventional words or other signs have
to be sought for laboriously only in some secondary stage... (J. Hadamard, 1945)

We have a similar account of Kekule’s discovery of the benzene ring in a dream [5]:

Again atoms were gamboling before my eyes. Smaller groups kept to the
background. My mind’s eye trained by repeated visions of a similar kind, now
distinguished larger formations of various shapes... everything in movement
winding and turning like snakes. And look, what was that? One snake grabbed its
own tail, and mockingly the shape whirled before my eyes. As if struck by lightning
I awoke. (Anschutz, R., 1961, p.700)

And there are other examples, such as Watson and Crick’s discovery of the DNA helix [6].
Bruner is suggesting that images stand for perceptual events in the same way that a picture
stands for the object pictured. In many circumstances such a representation of the world has
many advantages, but, as we shall see, there are also disadvantages associated with
predominantly iconic forms of representation.

Symbolic Mode:

Increasingly throughout life there is recourse to the symbolic mode of representation of

thought. The emphasis here is that representation is based upon an abstract, arbitrary and
flexible system of thought. It enables individuals to deal with what might be and what might
not, and is a major tool in reflective thinking, though as we have seen not the only one. This
mode is representative of a person’s ability to consider propositions rather than objects (as
we have seen in the stage of formal operations), to give concepts a hierarchical structure and
to consider alternative possibilities in a combinatorial fashion. Bruner [7] gives the following
example to distinguish between the three modes and to show how there is a natural
progression from enactive through iconic to symbolic modes of thought:

Any domain of knowledge (or any problem within that domain of knowledge) can
be represented in three ways: by a set of actions appropriate for achieving a certain
result (enactive representation); by a set of summary images or graphics that stand
for a concept without defining it fully (iconic representation); and by a set of
symbolic or logical propositions drawn from a symbolic system that is governed by

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 rules or laws forming and transforming propositions (symbolic representation). The
distinction can most conveniently be made concretely in terms of a balance beam...
A quite young child can plainly act on the ‘principles’ of a balance beam, and
indicates that he can do so by being able to handle himself on a see-saw. He knows
that to get his side down farther he has to move out farther from the centre. A
somewhat older child can represent the balance beam to himself either by a model
on which rings can be hung and balanced or by a drawing. The image of the balance
beam can be varyingly refined, with fewer and fewer irrelevant details present, as in
the typical diagrams in an introductory textbook in physics. Finally, a balance beam
can be described in ordinary English, without diagrammatic aids, or it can be even
better described mathematically by reference to Newton’s Law of Moments in
inertial physics. (Bruner, 1966, p.45)

Dale [8] found in Bruner’s ideas a conceptual framework which related to the three main
divisions of his ‘Cone of Experience’ in the fifth edition of ‘Audiovisual Methods in
Teaching.’ He suggested that our experiences vary according to the degree in which they
involve us physically or in thought. Some experiences call for a good deal of concrete, direct,
immediate action in which we make full use of our senses and often our muscles as well.
Observing something, however, requires less physical, or concrete, action than an experience
of doing. And symbolic experiences have virtually all the manifest physical action removed.
Dale agreed with Bruner that we begin our learning of a specific matter with a broad base of
direct experience in action and gradually we omit these specific, first-hand, concrete
occurrences and impressions as we come to rely on iconic substitutes or pictorial
representations. At both stages, we develop a summarizing idea or symbol and when we
understand a symbol we can use a word or formula to stand for everything out of which it
developed.

This visual analogy (the Cone of Experience) is one of several devices that have
been set up to show the progression of learning experiences from direct, firsthand
participation to pictorial representation and on to purely abstract, symbolic
expression... the threefold arrangement of learning possibilities illustrates the three
kinds of experience that we have found so important in the process of complete
communication. In this respect it is similar to the analysis of the three major modes
of learning made by Jerome Bruner. (Dale, 1969, p.108)

The Role of the Physics Workshops

From the contributions of Manfred Euler in the Second International Girep Seminar 2003 [9]
in his article: Quality Development: Challenges to Physics Education, we obtained the next
aspects for our work with youth:

The actual teachers’ scripts also set limitations to an adequate use of experiments.
Experiments serve a wide spectrum of functions in physics as well as in physics
instruction. Theoretically, teachers assign a crucial role to experiments in the teaching
and learning of physics. Teachers’ beliefs mainly reflect the following function of
experiments (cf. also. [10]):

• The learners should have a practical experience with the phenomenon in question.
• Experiments have a high motivational value.

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 • Experiments are important to develop practical skills (observation, thorough
working, use of tools and instruments).
• Experiments are an important source of knowledge.
• Experiments make abstract concepts visible.
• Naive beliefs can be challenged by experiments.
• Experiments serve a methodological function: the testing of theories and ideas by
confronting them with reality.
• Experiments promote scientific inquiry methods. (Euler, 2003, p. 23)

Examples of our physics workshops are:

• Lemon Ice
• Beaks of Birds
• Vinegar and Bicarbonate Rockets
• Origami and Computers
• Knots and Magic Tricks

Following Bruner, ideas were first presented as enactive activities such as transformation of
matter (lemon ice) and mechanics (beaks of birds). When youths’ senses were engaged first
in these enactive activities, they better understood the conceptual and symbolic
representations later (cool, hot, temperature, states of matter, angle, geometric figures, etc.),
and, therefore, understood the language and symbols of their basic education texts.

Methodology and Results

The methodology we used was based on the 4MAT system developed by Bernice McCarthy
[11]. The steps of this methodology were related to instructional design to improve skills in
writing, reading, arithmetic calculation and use of the computer, and supported our
hypothesis that participation in the workshop activities would lead to success in participants’
later studies and jobs. Modeling the 4MAT system, workshop activities were covered as
follows:

1. Liberation of the information/Engagement of the learners

2. Assessing understanding/Skills practice
3. Knowing the outcomes/Synthesizing their learning
4. Connecting and motivating
5. Sharing and developing the connection/Using the learning meaningfully
6. Critiquing the work and expressing their understanding

The liberation of information was the first step in engaging students and gave them the
materials for the enactive activity; this step was a guided action. Later, through homework or
in a second session, students demonstrated their understanding and through practice gained
mastery. When students were actively participating in hands-on activities and discussions, it
was easy to assess whether the intended outcomes were being met. Whether they had
synthesized and were excited and motivated about the learning was also obvious.

After these steps, we used tools of the Internet: email, chats and blogs. One can see what
students have learned and shared with one another at
www.plazacomunitariacarrasco.blogspot.com. By using the technologies of information and
communication (TIC), we could assess the work done by the youth. They were also able to

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assess their own understanding of the material through these on-line sharing techniques. With
TIC, they gained practice in iconic representation before making the jump to symbolic
representation as well as honed communication and computer skills. Students were actively
engaged in their own learning. Finally, students were ready to extend and refine what they
have learned by moving into the realm of symbolic language used in their texts.

By the end of 2005, we had collected information and recorded positive results of the
application of this methodology. For example, in the state of Aguascalientes, 120 facilitators
developed courses and workshops, based on our model, in twenty Community Centers,
which helped increase the participation of the youth. The youth in these centers were able to
connect their learning experiences to potential jobs. In another example, in Community
Centers in the south of Mexico City the students showed enthusiasm, confidence, a sense of
self-worth and, most important, new knowledge that went beyond the content of the
workshops. The students left the Community Centers motivated to continue learning, a skill
that is fundamental to being successful in our society. In some Community Centers, students
using information from the workshops started growing vegetables hydroponically, a non-
traditional technique in parts of Mexico. Students have also been self-motivated to paint
murals in the Community Centers after participation in art workshops. In summary, these
Community Centers now focus on integrating daily life and work with basic skills and
literacy, giving the students tools that they can use to improve their lives.

References
[1] Bruner, J.S. (1960) The Process of Education. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press.
[2] Washburn, S.L. and Howell, F.C (1960) ‘Human Evolution and Culture’. In S. Tax (Ed) The
Evolution of Man, Volume 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[3] Bruner, J.S. (1983) In Search of Mind. London: Harper and Row.
[4] Hadamard, J. (1945) An Essay on the Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field. New
Jersey: Princeton University Press.
[5] Anschutz, R. (1961) ‘August Kekule’. In E. Farber (Ed) Great Chemists. New York: Interscience
Publishers.
[6] Watson, J.D. (1968) The Double Helix; A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of
DNA. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
[7] Bruner, J.S. (1966) Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
[8] Dale, E. (1969) Audiovisual Methods in Teaching (3rd Edition). London: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.
[9] Michelini, M. editor (2004) Quality Development in Teacher Education and Training. Second
International GIREP Seminar 2003 Selected Contributors. Italy. FORUM.
[10] Harlen W., Effective Teaching of Science: A Review of Research, SCRE, Glasgow, 1999
[11] www.aboutlearning.com

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Research Paths in Physics: How Can We Exhibit Them?

B. Pecori 1, O. Levrini 1, A. Spizzichino 2, A. Rossi 1

1
Physics Department, University of Bologna, Italy
2
IASF, CNR, Bologna, Italy
pecori@df.unibo.it

Introduction

Paradoxically, while research products become more and more tangible and their influence
on our ordinary life is always increasing, the interest for science of the young generations
appears to be dramatically declining. Initiatives are therefore spreading out that attempt to
bring science near to the general public, devising new ways of involving and stimulating a
wider audience.
What can professional physicists do? Which contribution can we give as people directly
involved in doing physics?
We started from the idea that it was somehow possible to communicate to anybody the nature
and the results of research in physics as part of the human culture and tried to implement this
idea by designing the structure of a 'research exhibition' to be held in our town (Bologna,
Italy) during the 2005 World Year of Physics.

What we mean by exhibiting physics research

The first aim of a 'research exhibition' is to give the public at

least an idea of what “doing physics” means, of what sort of job
is this that we find so intellectually exciting and challenging.
For this purpose a series of interviews have been collected in a
short movie, where young and less young researchers tell their
ideas about research in physics, the story of how they decided to
become a physicist, the glories and the dark sides of their career
as researchers. The aim was to point out not only the
professional but also the human side of the researcher and to
emphasize that the passion for one's own job is a main feature of
people involved in research.
A second aim of the exhibition is to allow the visitor to
recognize peculiarities of the different research areas and at the
same time to realize that there is a common thread which gives
Physics its status as specific subject and its nature of art of
investigating nature.
Objects and techniques should be shown in the exhibition as
the result of a continuous process of searching for answers to
questions that become more and more specific as the answers Figure 1: Board in the
obtained from nature produce new questions for further section on Elementary
investigation. Particle Physics
But today's research is rooted in the past and it is also important (size 2.75 x 4 meters)
to realize that science is the product of a long non-linear
process where some special people played important roles.

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Therefore a section of the exhibition was planned to illustrate "the roots of the present",
showing the contributions of the main scientists who lived and worked or at least stayed in
Bologna for some time from the XVIII to the XX century. The aim was also to show that at
times the town buildings themselves were important partners in the history of Physics: the
places, the squares, the buildings, the well known Two Towers of Bologna became at some
time the instruments, the laboratories for investigation in physics.

The exhibition becomes reality

The first support for making the exhibition real was given by the Department of Physics of
the University and the Research Institutions of Bologna. Then a fundamental contribution
arrived from the consortium created by the university and the municipality of Bologna in
order to promote a “science week” in the town, where the exhibition found its place together
with many other events for promoting science to all citizens.
The structure of the space allocated to the exhibition is approximately a wide circular
corridor with a lateral entrance (around 600 square meters). The different areas have been
therefore necessarily put one after the other and the path across the exhibition runs naturally
from one to the other.
Each research area has selected a few objects to be the focus of the space devoted to their
research topic: samples of apparatus actually used for research or small-scale versions of the
real research objects (see figures 2, 5, 6). Some
apparatuses can be made actually work during the visit
in order to show some features of the research in
practice.
In each area video materials are also shown continuously
to illustrate some specific research topics.
At the border between the modern and the historical part
of the exhibition, the movie mentioned above with the
interviews to physics researchers is shown on a big
screen. Its impact is really remarkable: visitors enjoy
looking at professional physicist as “normal” people and
the screenplay of the movie is very effective for this
purpose.
Finally all the walls have been covered with big
beautifully coloured boards containing evocative
pictures and short sentences about the specific research
questions related to each area (see figures 1, 3, 4): the
impression is to be surrounded by a pleasant
environment that can be enjoyed even at a purely
Figure 2: A model of the aesthetical level.
satellite Plank shown in the Doctoral students in Physics act as guides to the
Astrophysics section. exhibition both for the general public and the schools,
(size 1:8) tailoring their presentations according to the audience
requests.
During the period of the exhibition a series of seminars were held in the room opposite to the
exhibition entrance: some seminars are meant to illustrate present research problems, others
to encourage a discussion between physicists and specialists of other fields of research
(literature, art, philosophy, etc.). All of them were intended for a general though motivated
audience.
At the time we are writing this contribution the exhibition is still open to the public. In the
first four weeks many students (around 700) have already taken advantage of the opportunity

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of guided tours specially devoted to school classes and more have booked their visit for the
days to come. Besides the students, more than two thousand people have seen the exhibition
and the number is bound to increase notably during the last weekend.

The catalogue

The design and realization of the

catalogue has been one of the major
efforts done by the physicists’ community
of Bologna.
Rather than a guide to the exhibition, the
catalogue appears to be its complement: a
detailed and carefully selected review of Figure 3: Board illustrating the kind of
all the researches done at the Bologna apparatus used in Elementary Particle Physics
University and Research Institutions, (size 4 x 2.75 meters)
written not for the specialists of the area
but for all people interested in knowing how physics contributes to our knowledge of the
world and to the style of our ordinary life. A section about history of Physics that involved
the town of Bologna is enclosed in the catalogue, enriched
by many pictures of the people who made it possible and
of the places and instruments that were used at that time.
To illustrate the ideas that were at the basis of the
exhibition design, the catalogue contains three short
essays: “Passion for investigation”, “The scientist as the
artist of questioning”, “Knowing the reality, changing the
world”.
To suggest transversal cross-area reading of the materials
related to the exhibition, three unifying themes are also
briefly discussed in the catalogue, each one based on an
apparent antinomy: “big/small”, “simple/complex”,
“visible/invisible”.
Finally, the catalogue contains a short description of the
birth and development of all the Research Institutions that
are involved in physics research in Bologna and who
contributed to making the exhibition and the related events
possible.
Figure 4: Board in the
Physics Education section
Conclusions (size 2 x 2.75 meters)

We have briefly described the research basis of the exhibition “Research Paths: Physics
comes across Bologna” organized by the Physics Department, University of Bologna, in
2005 World Year of Physics from October 7 to November 13. The exhibition aim is to
illustrate to a wide audience of students, teachers and citizens in general the main areas and
trends of research (Astrophysics; Nuclear and sub-nuclear Physics; Structure of matter –
microelectronics and nanostructures; Earth Physics; Physics & Medicine; Physics & Cultural
Heritage; Physics Education) presently carried out by physicists who work in the Bologna
University and other Research Institutions, documenting also the inheritance from the past
that allowed present research to develop and flourish.

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 An important result of this
effort is that the exhibition
design has been an
opportunity for Physicists to
look at their profession from
a critical perspective,
searching for the features of
one’s own research that can
prove most effective in
giving meaning and
Figure 5: Apparatus to show substance to the expression
diffraction in the Structure of “Physics is culture”.
Matter section. The exhibition is a challenge
the Bologna researchers
have taken with great enthusiasm and commitment; the audience
will tell whether
or not they Figure 6: The Wilberforce pendulum, an example of how complex
attained their goal. phenomena can become understandable by using real time
acquisition systems (size 0.4 x 2 meters).
Acknowledgment
s
We wish to thank Stefania Varano and Marilisa Giordano for their extraordinary
commitment to the success of the exhibition and the catalogue production. We also wish to
acknowledge that the exhibition was supported by the University and the municipality of
Bologna within Cronobie – the big event devoted to science, held in Bologna at the
beginning of October 2005.

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Public Relation and Physics Education

Katalin Papp , Anett Nagy

Department of Experimental Physics, University of Szeged, Hungary

pkat@physx.u-szeged.hu

„The school is for learning how to learn, to raise your

pursuit of knowledge, to get to know the happiness of
well-done work, to taste the excitement of creation, to
learn to love what you do and to find to job you like.”
(Albert Szent-Györgyi)

„OK, I learn physics but what can I get for it?” – a 14-year old student asks. „My dear child,
I know you love physics, but choose an economical career. Nowadays you can easily make
your living” - a parent advices to his or her child before taking up a career. Similar
statements can be listed regarding demotivation from sciences, unpopularity of science
subjects, decrease of students’ scientific knowledge in every level of education (e. g. [1], [2],
[3]). Results of researches which have attempted to find a remedy to this tendency increased
in the 90s, and the factors influencing this complex phenomenon have been published in
several international and Hungarian literature (e. g. [4], [5], [6]).

In our research we examined and, from a methodological aspect, classified the different
motivational strategies (procedures to enhance students’ interest) that can be successfully
applied in Physics Education in the different age groups to change the attitude towards
Physics. Our focus was on students’ experiments and activities, and through the experiments,
the positive impacts on their attitude towards the subject, which have been documented in
Hungarian and international studies. We believe that for gaining useful scientific knowledge,
relevant science for everyone educators have to involve beside the traditional school teaching
outdoor science as well. The basic concept, the philosophy of science education is in constant
change as nowadays the main aim of science education (except for future scientists) is not
giving a basic knowledge in each and every school subjects but educating every student to
become a competent grown up who can find his or her way in everyday life.

The expectation of society from graduating students is not anymore to have only one job
during their whole life using the theoretical and professional knowledge had gained in school
before. Instead students should be able to solve all different problems day by day in their
workplaces, to refresh their knowledge, to train themselves for a new profession if it is
needed. It is the task of education, so as science education to make students be able to face
with new technological and scientific challenges during their whole lives. According to
George Marx “it can not be expected by any subjects except science. So science should
be of high priority. The most important aim is to educate students to be adults who can
understand the world, and consider it critically, think always in a responsible way (e. g.
[7]).

In our research we deliberately connected the curriculum with everyday objects and
phenomena. Application of this method seems to be trivial in science education and can help
bridging the gap between the knowledge gained in school and students’ experience in

351
everyday life. Further important characteristic of these strategies is that it is mostly based on
students’ activities of high priority (both individual and group work) in an “outdoor”
environment. These strategies can be grouped as followings (e. g. [8]).

I. Guided student observation

Our natural and technological environment is full of with phenoma and practical applications
which can be observed by students during class trips, or visits in museums and can help
students with direct experimentation of physics knowledge. For example teaching
thermodynamics, students can understand thermal expansion observing rails, loosely fixed
transmission lines, suspensions of bridges or special pipe forms of district heating (Fig. 1).

Figure 1: Illustrations for teaching thermal expansion

For instance during a visit in a museum or a gallery beside viewing the products of fine art,
students can directly observe brilliant cut pendants of chandeliers learning refraction of light
(Fig. 2).

Figure 2: Illustrations for teaching refraction of light

II. Measurements outdoors

Measurements of physical quantities, and demonstration of Physics being an experimental

science can happen outside the classroom as well. For example forming the concept of
velocity and measuring speed can be helped with a simple speed measurement on the street.
The task of students was to determine the average speed of street traffic on a certain part of a
road. The aim of investigation was to answer the question whether drivers overpass the speed
limit in front of the school (~200 m on the road) or not.

352
Students in groups measured the speed of vehicles
with the help of bicycle wheels, flags and stoppers
(Fig 3). The result of the experiment was that
average speed was 56 km/h. After the experiment
students wrote a letter to the Road Regulations’
Department of Police Headquarters asking for a
special sign indicating child groups.

Figure 3: Outdoors measurements

III. Try it! Measure it at home!

Thin film interference („Nail polish rainbow”)

Put about an inch of water in the bottom of the small dish and put a small piece of
construction paper into the dish, making sure that the whole thing is submerged and soaked
with water. Place a drop of nail polish in the water, over the construction paper, and take the
construction paper out. Let the construction paper dry completely. The nail polish takes the
white light that is shining on it, and bends, or refracts it, and a colour of the rainbow shines
back (Fig. 4). You get many different colours because the nail polish varies in thickness. At
each different thickness, the light is refracted a different way. For each thickness, you get a
different colour.

Figure 4: Nail polish rainbow

This phenomenon can be explained by

understanding that some of the light rays are
reflected by the surface and some of the rays
go through and are reflected off the bottom of the film. When the reflected rays overlap as
they leave the film, some of them cancel each other out. This phenomenon is called
interference. The colour that can be seen is a mixture of what's left over.

It can be noticed in the photo is that the rainbow colours appear in rings. At the outside
edges, the film is thinnest. The film gets thicker towards the middle. Since thicker film
delays the light more than thinner film, and some colours are delayed more than others, some
colours will be bright, and all the others not so bright, for a particular thickness of film. The
outermost edge of the film is usually colourless. This is because the film there is often a
single molecule thick, and is thinner than a wavelength of visible light. Inside of that edge,
the first ring of colours shows where the thickness of the film is first in the range for making
colours. The other, inner rings are seen because the film is now two times as thick as
necessary to show colours. The waves of light are now lining up where one ray has fallen
more than a full wavelength behind the other. This can continue for several rings. As the
rings become more numerous, the ones caused by very thick layers overlap one another, and
eventually they all combine into white light, and no rings are seen. This is why we only see

353
the rings in thin films. The refractive index of the nail polish layer is about 1,42. The same
phenomenon can be seen when light reflects off a soap bubble, or off a puddle of gasoline on
a wet street.

Movement of gas bubbles

Experiments with simple, everyday object can help in popularisation of science outdoors,
which was discovered long time ago. A good
example can be the following drawing explaining an
experiment from a book published in 1893 (Fig. 5).
(e. g. [9]). If you fill a glass jar with champagne and
drop some raisin into it, the raisins begin to bounce
up and down. This will also work quite well using
clear soda water. The irregular surfaces on raisins
hold some carbon dioxide bubbles. When enough
bubbles accumulate to lift the weight of the raisin, it
rises to the surface. There, some of the bubbles of air
escape into the atmosphere, and the raisin, which is
denser than the water or soda, sinks to the bottom to
start the cycle over again. The effect will last longer
if the
Fig. 5: An experiment from 1893
container is sealed, as less carbon
dioxide will be able to escape.

This simple experiments can bring up a lot of questions. To answer them further
investigation is needed. We can examine the movement of gas bubbles, we can measure the
change of their size during their way up to the surface. Students can count the velocity and
the acceleration of the bubbles as well for example from reading down the diameters of the
bubbles from a photo taken by a digital camera (Fig. 6). The following diagram (Fig. 7),
which shows the changing of upward velocity of bubbles illustrates how exacting
measurements can be done using just simple materials. The acceleration given by the slope of
the curve 11,564 mm/s2.

The upward velocity of bubbles as the function of

time
45,00
upward velocity

40,00
35,00
(mm/s)

30,00
25,00
20,00
15,00
10,00
5,00
0,00
0,00 0,50 1,00 1,50 2,00 2,50 3,00 3,50

y = 11,564x + 2,357 time (s)

Figure 6: Chains of bubbles Figure 7: The velocity of bubbles as a function of time

354
IV. Construction problems

Construction problems are set out for groups of students constructing a special tool (rocket,
car etc.) using certain materials. After finishing construction students have to show their tools
in a form a competition with audience, where the tools are judged from different points of
views (e.g. speed, outlook, size). For example: Construct an electric cell using fruits! Order
the fruits according the measured electromotive forces (Fig. 8)!

Figure 8: Electric cells from fruits

Construct a “water fuelled” car! Use less fuel for taking more distance (Fig. 9)!

Figure 9: Water fuelled cars

Construct a steam boat, which can move further with using steam (Fig. 10)!

Figure 10: Steam boats

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These construction problems have special pedagogical relevance in science education.
Stepping over the strict school-time student-activities like projects, gathering information
individually (using library, internet), group work, presentations can develop abilities and
skills which can not be effected by traditional way of teaching. The usefulness and success of
outdoor science and construction problems and their effect on developing abilities can be
experienced during the competition “Let’s Play Physics” organized by the Department of
Experimental Physics at the University of Szeged. This is an experiment competition that
students can enter directly, independently of their primary or secondary schools. “Let’s Play
Physics” aims not at completing quantitative exercises, but at discovering the world around
us, at popularising Physics through everyday objects and through experiments that can be
conducted at home. The used materials and tools are not determined strictly so students can
use their creativity during solving the problem. “Let’s Play Physics” competition is devoted
every year to a famous scientist to make physics history popular as well (e. g. [10], [11]).

V. Performance

new method of science education and popularisation of science in foreign countries but
recently in Hungary as well is organising stage performances outside the schools in a
scientific or science history based theme. The actors are students or teachers, the writers can
be experts or students and teachers as well. These performances as part of the cultural life a
certain city can effect students’ and their parents’ attitudes toward science. The following
photos were taken in the performances “Aliz in Quantumland” by Sweden students,
“Douglas Adams: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or Life, Universe and Everything” by
Hungarian students (Fig. 11).

Figure 11: Student performances

VI. Traditionalism, protecting values

Certain experiments of famous scientists became well known as proofing important theories
(e. g. Galilei’s dropping experiments, Torricelli’s experiment for measuring air-pressure,
Magdeburg1s hemispheres for theorem of interaction). Rebuilding and showing these
experiments for an audience can attract laics as well and can be a good opportunity for
popularizing science. For instance the famous Foucault experiments which had been
conducted first in the Pantheon in Paris in 1851 for proofing the rotation of Earth around an
axis was conducted several places in Hungary (in the cathedral of Szeged as well (Fig. 12,
Fig. 13)). Students taking part in the project participated actively during the whole process of
rebuilding the well-known experiment (from planning the pendulum, building it and making
a presentation) (Fig. 14). Students beside enlarging their physical knowledge developed their
skills in the area of gathering information, communication and presentation as well. Their
experiences will remain as a determining adventure for their whole lives

356
 Figure 12: Paris 1851, 1902, 1995 Figure 13: Szeged, 2004, 2005

Figure 14: Moments of preparing the experiment

VII. International activities

Using the World Wide Web students can experience observation of special phenomena from
different geographical places (e. g. eclipse of the Sun, passing of Venus) or measurement of a
universal quantity (measuring the diameter of the Earth). This year a powerful ray of light
travelled around the globe in the course of 24 hours. The event was launched under the motto
“Physics Brings Light to the World”. The initiative of 35 countries, is occasioned by the fact
that UNESCO has designated 2005 the International Year of Physics. The light relay started
late in the evening of April 18 from the town of Princeton in the USA. The date has been
chosen as it marks 50 years since the death of Albert Einstein, who spent the last years of his
life in Princeton. In these 24 hours the ray of light will travel 40 000 kilometers parallel to
the turning of the Earth. The ray will be translated from one point to the next through various
technical devices – searchlights, laser lights, fireworks etc. The following pictures were taken
in Szeged, in Hungary where thousands of students took part in translation of light even with
simple electric torches /www.fizikaeve.szeged.hu/ Moreover, students after transmitting the
“light” to other countries formed Einstein’s face with torches and cigarette lighters. In the
photos the preparation of the experiment and the image of the face viewed from the tower of
the cathedral of Szeged can be seen. (Fig. 15).

357
 Figure 15: Several hundred students formed the Einstein’s face with simple torches

Educators need to do marketing activities as well to have a more successful physics teaching
and science education. The “product”, the useful scientific knowledge should be sold, its
values should be demonstrated not only in schools but outdoors for parents, close or broader,
not professional social environment. Activities mentioned above are suitable for doing that.

References
[1] http://www.timss.bc.edu,
[2] Vári, P.: Gyorsjelentés a PISA 2003 összehasonlító tanulói teljesítménymérés nemzetközi
eredményeirıl, Új Pedagógiai Szemle: 2005. január
[3] Woolnough, B. E.: Why students choose physics, or reject it? Physics Education 29, (1994) 368-
374.
[4] Csapó: Az iskolai tudás felszíni rétegei: mit tükröznek az osztályzatok? In: Csapó Benı (szerk.) Az
iskolai tudás. Osiris Kiadó, Budapest. (1998) 39-81.
[5] Józsa, K.: Mi alakítja az énértékelésünket fizikából? Iskolakultúra 1999. 9. 10. sz. 72-80.
[6] Papp, K.: Ami a számszerő eredmények mögött van…Fizikai szemle, 2001/1.
[7] Papp, K. Farkas Zs. Virág, K., Tóth, K.: Új idıszámítás a természettudományos nevelésben.
Fizikai Szemle 53. 1. sz. 20-24. (2003)
[8] Radnóti, K.: A fizika tantárgy helyzete és fejlesztési feladatai egy vizsgálat tükrében. Fizikai
Szemle 2003/5. 170.
[9] Good, A.: Tom Tit második száz legújabb kísérlete.Atheneum, Budapest. (1893)
[10] Papp, K., Nagy, A.: Kísérletes verseny fizikából: Játsszunk fizikát – Jedlik nyomában. A fizika
tanítása, Mozaik Kiadó, 2000/4. 11-13.
[11] Papp, K., Nagy, A.: Simonyi Károlyra emlékeztünk Szegeden.Természet Világa 2002. november.
175-176.

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D - NEW TEACHING STRATEGIES AND LEARNING METHODS

Discussion Workshop D Report

Reporter: Laurence Rogers,

University of Leicester, England
DW Leader: Michele D’Anna,
Alta Scuola Pedagogica, Switzerland

During the previous Panel sessions for Theme D, a diverse range of topics were presented,
but broadly, topics could be grouped under four main sub-themes:

• Virtual experiments, simulations

• Challenging pupils’ misconceptions
• New approaches to ‘informal’ learning
• Evaluation studies of pupils’ learning

The Discussion workshop was well attended (20 participants), but only five participants were
presenters in the panel sessions, so, at an early stage in the discussion, it was decided not to
constrain the discussion to the four sub-themes, but to focus generally on the principal
seminar theme of how informal learning contributes to successful learning in physics.

The perception of some members that not all educators share a common interpretation of the
term ‘informal learning’ was borne out when the group began to consider the distinction
between informal and formal learning. For some, ‘informal learning’ occurs in settings
outside the confines of lessons in school classrooms; for others, ‘informal learning’ described
a general style of learning borne of teaching methods which emphasise pupil autonomy,
especially in processes which demand individual thought such as problem solving. It was
clear that we would not agree on a single definition of ‘formal’ and ‘informal’; it appeared
that our understanding of the terms was based on a variety of criteria borne of different
experiences and educational traditions in different countries. Thus we agreed that this initial
topic of discussion should be curtailed, but also recognised that we probably shared a
common understanding of the continuum of teaching and learning styles embracing the range
from informal to formal. Its was suggested that, if this continuum stretches between the two
extremes from ‘formal’ to ‘not-formal’, then ‘informal’ lies somewhere between these
extremes, but our individual opinions about its precise position are likely to vary. In
succeeding discussion, there emerged a consensus of the most prominent characteristics of
informal learning as follows:

• Spectacle, drama and wonder are often present in science centre (SC) activities
• Pupils are given freedom to explore ideas
• Teachers/presenters are highly responsive to pupils reactions and readily allow
interactions to influence the conduct of the activity.
• There is strong empathy between informal learning and the constructivist model of
learning proposed by modern educational psychology. SC presenters appear to have
embraced this model more widely than have teachers.

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The goal of all types of physics teaching is to help pupils come to the view that physics is not
a boring subject, and the main outcome of successful teaching is the self-motivation of pupils
to learn more with reduced aid from the teacher. The discussion recognised that the essence
of pupils’ experience in a SC is to increase their motivation to become more interested in
science; motivation was a key feature of pupils’ response to activities in science centres
(SCs), whereas, there was an implicit belief that motivation in the school context was much
more variable. The links between SCs and schools became a dominant theme of discussion
which sought to explore ways of developing mutual understanding between SC presenters
and schoolteachers. It was considered helpful if teachers could acquire knowledge of the
content and method of science centre presentations, so that they could better understand how
they can enhance the regular work of the teacher in school.

Compared with teaching methods prevalent in many (but not all) schools, science centre (SC)
methods offer new styles of learning experience which can be regarded as complementary to
the teacher’s method to give a generally broadened experience. The out-of-school context of
the activity is itself a stimulus to a different, and hopefully positive, attitude towards
learning. SC presenters hope that the emotional response of pupils (e.g. a sense of wonder)
long outlives the actual visit. On a cautionary note, it was observed that although physics
may be presented as ‘fun’, it is perhaps misleading to convey the subject as ‘easy’; a better
emphasis is that it is ‘understandable’ and the process of seeking understanding is itself
exciting.

It was suggested that when children are encouraged to think about practical tasks in an active
manner, they find the quest for understanding a stimulating experience. Good teaching can
prepare pupils to engage successfully in this manner by equipping them with appropriate
concepts and knowledge and by attempting to develop positive attitudes in pupils. Perhaps
SCs need to advise teachers on this sort of preparation of pupils? Teacher interventions have
to be managed in such a way that there is a good balance between instruction and
exploration.

An interesting episode in the discussion considered the value of play as an activity which
contributes to learning, especially in the early years of children’s development.
Neuropsychology research has shown that play invokes important neural activity in certain
parts of the brain which have a crucial role in integrating sensory experiences needed for
interpreting observations. Teachers should learn to consolidate this and help pupils become
good interpreters and develop the skill of asking good questions. They could reinforce this
by modelling such practice themselves in their teaching approach. The discussion returned
to the theme of the teacher equipping pupils with a ‘set of cognitive resources’ and
developing their ‘reasoning skills’ to support informal learning and secure its effectiveness.
The teacher’s beliefs and attitude towards the learning process are likely to be constraints or
affordances in adopting these teaching approaches.

The discussion went on to consider why the stimulating characteristics of SC activities have
not been widely adopted in school settings. One issue is the widespread belief of teachers’
that didactic exposure is the most effective method of learning. For most teachers, the
‘transmission’ model of learning was implicit in their own education, which possibly makes
it difficult for them to understand active methods of learning implied by the ‘constructivist’
model of learning. Ways have to be found of convincing teachers that learning is an active
process. Teachers are too often not interested in exploratory experiments, whereas pupils can
be highly motivated in exploration! Perhaps science centres can be agents for changing
teachers’ beliefs? The group heard about two examples in which a SC sought collaboration

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with teachers in the preparation of informal activities, one in the development of new
laboratory sessions and another on the preparation of exhibition materials.

A second issue is that in many countries there exist constraints such as government policies
and lack of time for new developments which inhibit a teacher’s ability to innovate.
However, in countries such as Italy, where schools appear to enjoy a certain measure of
autonomy, a more significant constraint has proved to be the teacher’s lack of expertise in
physics knowledge or lack of vision of new teaching methods and technology. In the Czech
Republic, since government reforms in recent years, schools have been given the freedom to
define their own curriculum, but in general teachers have been unprepared to cope with this
and have had to call upon external support from universities to confront the task. The group
heard of other examples of university-schools collaboration such as teachers calling upon
university expertise to fulfil the need for specialist information for the completion of student
projects or when new topics are introduced into the curriculum. Further, SCs are often able
to provide experience of new topics and methods that are difficult for schools to cope with.

The group heard examples of successful collaborations between teachers and outside
agencies which resulted in an interesting mix of informal and formal learning methods:

1. International exchange activities

A Slovenian school has organised a three day event offering practical physics projects to 30
pupils drawn from six different countries. Pupils work in pairs on experiments which feature
the use of innovative technologies. The extra-curricular context, the international mix of
participation and the innovative nature of the projects provided an interesting blend of
informal and formal learning. The model of international exchanges is more common in
modern languages and arts subjects, but this example demonstrated how the model can be
applied to physics.

2. Challenger Learning Centre

This facility is based in the National Space Centre in Leicester, England. Parties of 30 pupils
visit the centre for a half day and experience a simulation of a space mission in which pupils
play the roles of space scientists and astronauts. Their tasks involve solving practical
scientific problems and demand good communication and teamwork skills as well as science
skills. A pre-requisite of the visit is for teachers to attend a familiarisation session in advance
of the visit, so that pupils can be suitably prepared for the mission. Teachers also gain vision
of follow-up ideas for use in school after the visit.

3. Primary school / university links

A project at the University of Udine, Italy has organised practical sessions for primary school
pupils using novel physics experiments employing informal approaches. Teachers have been
encouraged to repeat and develop some of the experiments into further activities in their own
schools. The interaction between university staff and teachers has succeeded in helping
teachers innovate in their schools.

It was suggested that the successful integration of school learning and the learning from
visits requires careful planning on the part of the teacher. There appear to be two main
aspects:

1. As a pre-requisite to a visit, pupils need certain specific knowledge and skills for
engaging with a SC activity.

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 2. The SC activity needs to complement the syllabus and curriculum requirements in
schools.

To address the first of these, teachers need to equip pupils with interpretative skills but also
themselves learn how to intervene appropriately in activities in order to maximise the
learning potential. The teacher’s approach to interactions with pupils in practical activities
seems to be a key factor in managing the co-existence of SC learning and school learning to
make both more productive and to avoid the impression that ‘formal is boring’ Although it
is natural for teachers to devise structures for learning, they should take care not to intervene
so invasively that an informal situation does not become converted into a formal experience!
Excessive teacher control can kill pupil motivation.

In the school context, new technology can come to the aid of teachers and pupils in
promoting and facilitating this genre of activity. ICT tools can be very useful for
investigating ideas and engaging in ‘mind play’ activities. ICT can help overcome time
constraints, extend the range of sensory measurement, can facilitate electronic learning
environments to which the new generation of pupils is well adapted. Amongst the sciences,
physics may be in a special position to benefit from new ICT resources; in particular, the
need for quantitative understandings is well supported by new developments in modelling
and simulation software.

Some reflections

In focussing on the comparisons between the styles of learning in science centres and
schools, the discussion uncovered parallels between learning, teaching and psychology:
informal learning settings appear to be associated with ‘active’ participation, ‘interpretive’
teaching methods and a ‘constructivist’ model of learning; formal learning settings appear to
be associated with ‘passive’ participation, ‘didactic’ teaching methods and a ‘transmission’
model of learning. The continuum represented in each aspect may be summarised by the
diagram:

learning style Informal <……..> Formal

pupil participation Active <……..> Passive
teaching style Interpretive <……..> Didactic
model of learning Constructivist <……..> Transmission

Much of the discussion implied that science centre and school activities tend to be at opposite
ends of each continuum. In summary, the challenge to schools is to broaden practice to
embrace more of each continuum.

Conclusions and Recommendations

• It is important to establish links between SCs and schools to cultivate teachers’

understanding of the SC visit and the potential for its exploitation in the school
context. The preparation of pupils for visits to SCs requires coordination with the
school syllabus. SC links can contribute to the education of teachers about new
approaches to their school work (In-service training).

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 • Informal learning experiences need an essential ‘minds-on’ component to be
effective (questions, discussion, analysis) Acknowledge the role of emotion (sense
of wonder; ‘hearts-on’) for sustaining motivation in the future. Move teachers’
beliefs about learning towards a constructivist model. SCs can infuse teachers
beliefs.

• In the school context, ICT has a valuable role in supporting teachers to offer active
learning experiences.

• Research is needed on the school-SC collaboration; GIREP members to collate

publications of existing research and promote further researches.

Participants

Corrado Agnes Italy

Lidija Babic Slovenia
Viera Biznarova Slovakia
Zdenka Broklova Czech Republic
Michele D'Anna Switzerland
Ton Ellermeijer Netherlands
Claudio Fazio Italy
Tine Golez Slovenia
Kastelic Slovenia
Tomaz Kranjc Slovenia
Francesco di Liberti Italy
Seta Oblak Slovenia
Rita van Peteghem Belgium
Kjell Prytz Sweden
Laurence Rogers England
Rosa Maria Sperandeo-Mineo Italy
Alberto Stefanel Italy
Roberta Tarabelli Italy
Italo Testa Italy
Stanislav Zelenda Czech Republic

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Cognitive Laboratory: Gravity and Free-Fall from Local to Global Situations

F. Bradamante, M. Michelini

Research Unit in Physics Education, University of Udine, Udine, Italy

fbradamante@hotmail.com michelini@fisica.uniud.it

Introduction

Literature highlights multiple learning problems about field concept both of a general and
specific nature (related to the type of field, for example the gravitational one): the idea of
action at a distance [1,2], the representation of the field and the role of field lines [2-5], the
distinction between field vector and force vector, and between field lines and the trajectory of
an object in movement within this [5], the dissociation between the phenomenon of free-fall
of objects and gravitational field [6,7], the form of the Earth and its gravitational field, the
association between gravity and magnetism [2,6]. From our previous research [11-13] it
emerged that different types of fields and the conditions in which they are examined are
useful in the overcoming of the specific learning knots we choose to consider. In fact,
situations in a static magnetic field help us to recognise the source of the field and the
specific action upon a field detector positioned in various points in space. In this way we
identify the field as a function (or property) of the point and we construct field lines as a
‘mapping’ of space. It is possible to transfer this idea of ‘mapping’ to the gravitational case
by drawing the field lines according to analogical detectors (pendulums, balloons..). By
contrast the magnetic case in dynamic conditions does not help to overcome the conceptual
knot of the “trajectory-field line”, mainly because of the complex bipolar nature of the
sources of this field. It is preferable to refer to a central field, such as a gravitational field, in
that the trajectories of objects with different initial conditions activate the interpretational
capacity of children, encouraging use of the concept of field for an understanding of the
process.
We thus wished to deepen the interpretative role of the field in different situations, using
analogical elements of representative model, realized using a concrete system (objectual
model), investigating in particular how children relate to a dynamic example in both local
conditions (on the Earth) and global (or planetary) and what reasoning processes are
activated. The informal context promoted the pupil’s personal involvement with the subject
of study and the development of interpretative sequences of reasoning, and children’s
comparison between their different interpretative hypotheses.

Sample, instruments and methods of analysis

Cognitive Laboratories of Operative Exploration (CLOE) [14] consists of semi-structured

interviews in the context of experimental exploration activities with children, preceded by a
group discussion and integrated with some Rogers-type interviews. This CLOE took place
with 144 children from 6 to 10 years of age and it investigates a path that leads from
particular aspects to more general ones, especially to recognize the meaning of free-fall from
local situations (free-fall on Earth) to global ones (the motion of satellites around the Earth).
In spite of maintaining the same structure that characterizes CLOE laboratories, for this
specific investigation we used the following instruments: semi-structured interviews in

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situations both real and that children had to imagine, group discussions, designs and
drawings of the children, and written questionnaires.
Some initial questions put forward the idea of falling in order to reach a definition that went
beyond contingent causes (“the object fell because I let it go”), and as a phenomenon with
well-defined characteristics and laws (the motion decomposition, uniform increase of the
vertical component of velocity). The experimental situations carried out on site (a falling
ball) were analysed using a time-marker and stroboscopic photographs to determine the
positions of the ball at regular time intervals. The situations represented (falling motion of an
object in a global system) were instead explored through drawings, questionnaires and the
use of an analogical objectual model of gravitational field (Fig. 5), made according to
Einstein’s proposal for the representation of space. This model may be proposed as a bridge
between a local vision of the Earth’s gravity toward a vision representing the gravitational
properties of any given mass interacting with another one. After a week the children were
given a written questionnaire, which dealt with the main considered conceptual knots and
with the explored model.

The cognitive laboratory on gravity

In the laboratory we deal with different conceptual

knots: the CLOE begins by considering the local
motion of objects that fall to Earth with different
initial velocities, in this way treating the problem of
recognising the cinematic characteristics of free-fall
(as a preliminary case), in particular the
decomposition of motion both within the terms of
action of the field upon the velocity, and the terms of
the decomposition of motion in the directions being Figure 1: the elevator toy and
studied; we then consider the role of the connection the lack of weight in free fall.
between the cinematic and dynamic aspects in
recognising that the vertical component of the motion
is determined by the force of gravity.
The passage from the local aspect (on Earth) to the global or planetary one is reached by
going from a ball falling from a table with the initial velocity not at zero, to the
representation (via the children’s drawings) of
objects falling from a high mountain with the
velocity perpendicular to the gravitational field. (Fig.
2). The overcoming of the conceptual knot of free-
fall in both a local and global situation occurs when it
is demonstrated that free-fall motions have the same
characteristics in both cases. To recognise that the
orbit around Earth is a constant free-fall motion in
the gravitational field, we used a toy elevator (Fig. 1),
whose absence of weight creates the effect we
recognise in the two systems in free-fall: local
(falling object) and global (a spaceship in orbit
around the Earth). For this it is necessary to Figure 2: a child drawing his
understand that in the system in free-fall there is no prevision during the CLOE.
gravitational force (absence of weight). The next step
was to associate the system of the elevator (a local free-fall system) with the system of the
spaceship in orbit around the Earth (global free-fall system). This is the link used to build a
model of gravity that interprets all considered situations, firstly through an interpretative

365
vision of phenomena in global terms, then through an analogical objectual model of the
gravitational field that allows for the recognition of the role of boundary conditions in the
different motions of free-fall.

Data and results

In this work we analysed only the predictions of children concerning falling objects in a
global situation, and their representations of the analogical model of the gravitational field.
The activities, that had prepared this analysis, provided information on the potentiality and
the limits of the analysis of motion in various dimensions (in particular two-dimensional) and
in the use of the composition of motion as an instrument for their analysis. In particular, we
analysed the progressive positions of a ball in free-fall, with stroboscopic and time-marker
techniques, and then of a ball rolling down a table.
Starting from this last situation we analysed the drawings of the children (Table 1) on the
prediction of the motion of a ball thrown from a high mountain with increasing velocity. We
observed various typologies in the results: from a largely diffused vision linked to the local,
(category A, almost half of the children), or those with a bipolar (category B1), or monopolar
concept (category B2), until we saw increasingly complex representations with high levels of
formalization, that allowed some children to forecast the concept of orbit (category E).
A(47,2%)Local
B1(5,6%)Bipolar vision B2 (19,4 %) Monopolar vision
vision

C(15,2%) C1(4,2%) D (2,1 %) E (6,3 %) Prevision

two possibilities Three possibilities Not yet orbit of circular orbit

Table 1. Previsions of the children concerning Newton’s drawing

In category A (47,2%) emerges the complete reproduction of the observed experiment (in
local situations: throwing the ball from a table) at a global level without any revision or re-
elaboration of the model, in this case Earth was proposed as a flat body (the falling point
exists on the Earth). Some children (24,3%) also took into consideration the escape trajectory
or the ball falling down in the sheet of paper (see Fig. 4).
Category B1 (5,6%) proposes an idea of bipolarity that presupposes, in analogy with the
magnetic field (North and South poles), that there is a pole that projects and a pole that
receives. With category B2 (19,4%) a monopolar vision was shown, linked to the idea of a
mountain as a source. In half of the cases (9,7%) we observed a symmetry (like a fountain)

366
that reminds us to the idea of a flow down the mountain, the mountain being the source and
well of the flow; a type of circular orbit is almost foreseen, but the mountain remains central.
In others cases children (9,7%) a complete orbit is not foresee as the ball falls back to the
Earth each time or back to the base or the sides of the mountain.

Categories C (15,2) provided two possibilities: the fall to Earth and the escape (6,9%), or
rather the fall to the Earth and the trajectory making the entire orbit or cycle, before falling
back to Earth (8,3%). Some children (categ. C1: 4,2%) saw all three possibilities, but it is not
clear if it would fall back on the mountain or if they considered the idea of a circular orbit.
In category D the children recognise a trajectory, but this does
not become a true orbit, in fact
it returns to Earth or becomes
a falling object in the sheet of
paper; the end of the page
becomes the final point of the
fall, there is no radial
symmetry of gravitational
attraction.
Finally, category E shows the Figure 3: Detail of cat. E
highest level of formalization (Table 1), the child rejoins Figure 4: example of
where children are able to the initial trajectory to reasoning linked to
foresee the circular orbit. In become a true circular orbit local vision (categ.A)
the illustrated example in table
1 we observe the complete sequence of the child’s reasoning, passing from a local vision
(object falling to the Earth) to a global vision: initially a local interpretation (the first throws
fall to the Earth), the next step shows the consideration of the possibility of falling down in
the sheet of paper (the Earth being the base of the sheet of paper in this case), then the child
reappear and consider a trajectory that completes an orbit of the Earth, initially falling upon
the mountain again but, following further elaboration, it rejoins the initial trajectory to
become a true circular orbit (Fig. 3). However, in other drawings, we observe sequences of
reasoning that are linked to the local: in the example of Fig.4 the child forecasts the fall to the
Earth but after an increase in velocity, he sees the object falling down in the sheet of paper
then following an escape trajectory.

The Analogical Model of the Gravitational field

The analogical objectual model of the gravitational

field (Fig. 5) was carried out following Einstein’s
suggestion for the representation of space, also
referred to by Eddington [15], using a big rectangular
box covered with an elastic material. When a heavy
sphere representing Earth is put on the membrane, it
deforms the elastic material creating an hyperboloid;
masses with still or moving velocity may be placed
on this surface. This same objectual model had the
function of representing both local and global
situations and helping with the change of viewpoint Figure 5: Gravitational field model
for the children. In fact on the one hand it clearly
highlighted radial trajectories, with regard to the position of the mass at the center of the
elastic material, or of a body initially at rest, allowed to fall from any point of the material,
demonstrating a motion of falling with a increasing velocity. On the other hand, the same

367
object thrown down with increasing velocity, perpendicular to the direction of the previous
“fall” (i.e. perpendicular to the field direction), showed an orbital motion that gave the
children a global vision of a model of Earth-satellite.
Following the tests we analysed children’s ideas about the model, from this we observed different
representations (19,4% do not respond):
1) “architectonic” model33 (49,3%): that represents elements of a similar or analogical
reality with no relation to descriptive or interpretative physics quantities, which lead one to
consider the elastic material as a plastic or “architectonic” model.
2) Analogical model of a physics type34 (15%): that associates with the system the physics
quantity (gravity) considered the cause (interpretative element) of the phenomenology to be
observed.
3) Analogical model describing the phenomenology observed (18%): model that describes
the phenomenology in general terms of motion35 (7,5%) or specifics of orbit (6%), giving
meaning to the curvature of the material in terms of analogical explanation36. The system is
seen as an analogical system not physically comparable to reality, but useful in providing the
observed phenomenology. We observe that while in model 2) children are focussed on the
function (gravity, the force of gravity), in this case rather they focus primarily on the effect
(motion).
The children were later asked if this model helped them to understand the motion of objects
around the Earth. Amongst the children who reply to this question (60% of the total) the
majority (63%) expressed the need to return to an apparently more descriptive level37, which
instead resulted in a focalising of the phenomena in physics terms. In fact this implies a
greater depth of understanding in the observation and analysis of the phenomenology with
regard to the initial description relying upon common sense, which implied an interpretation
of motion not in physics terms. Only a part of the children (20%) who give an answer are
already on an interpretative level with both a global understanding (“universal gravity”) and
a comprehension of a local situation (“yes because Earth attracts satellites”), this being
supported in some cases by the analogy with magnetism38.
The need to return to a descriptive level is confirmed by the next question (an interpretative
question) where children are asked to explain the orbits of satellites. Almost half of the
children in fact (48%) did not respond, while only 12% put themselves on the interpretative
level, recognising orbit as a form of falling39. Another 12% instead recognise that the orbits
are produced by a central force40.

33
“for me the material represented the universe, the ball in the middle is the Earth and the billiard
balls are the satellites that we throw.”
34
“it represents gravity” or the “it represents force of gravity that attracts all objects toward the
center”
35
“the motion of satellites around the Earth”, “the motion of the rotation of the Moon”
36
“Given that the Moon is falling constantly around the Earth, the material is stretched and more or
less the same thing is happening”
37
“ the satellites are able to avoid hitting the Earth and can make an oval shape or a circle or a
different movement”
38
“The Earth and the satellite behave like two magnets and because of this the satellite is
attracted by the force of gravity of the Earth and can’t escape”.
39
“The orbits of satellites are nothing other than a continuous falling in a round fashion”,
“satellites are in constant falling around Earth or around planets”
40
“satellites are attracted by the force of gravity and they continue to turn”

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The Atmosphere as the limit of the gravitational field.

A few children mentioned the atmosphere as the limit of gravitational field in their
comments41 (10,2%) or represented this in drawings (6,3%), a fact underlined in various
studies [1,6].
We noted that in almost all cases (except one) where a circular orbit was represented as a
case of free-falling caused by the gradual growth of a parameter (velocity) of initial
conditions of motion (cat E), then the atmosphere disappears as a limit of the gravitational
field.

Conclusions

This CLOE laboratory has been directed toward: 1) the recognition of the cinematic of
decomposition of motion and of the velocity vector, upon which acts at every point a space
property in terms of an acceleration; 2) the relation between the trajectory of the fall of a
body at a local level (a ball rolling down a table) and planetary or global level (objects
thrown from a high mountain); 3) the clarification of gravity as an agent in the fall at the
local level (elevator) and the global level (spaceship). The laboratory encourages children’s
interpretation of phenomena and the comparison between their different representations of
free-fall motion of bodies, building a conceptual passage from the specific toward the
general, and in particular, it involves the recognition of gravity as a property of the points of
a space. It is the first step toward the understanding of the concept of a field.
The study of two-dimensional movements (rather than one-dimensional) where gravity has
an active role, acting upon the velocity vector, combined with the analysis of how a
trajectory changes by varying the initial conditions, allows the transferring of the analysis of
the process from a local to a global level and therefore allowing the recognition of orbit as a
form of falling. This introduces the even more general interpretative concept of gravity as a
“motion changer” (i.e. operator of change of motion).
The analogical comparison of situations that have the same interpretative origin allows the
overcoming of partial and local or commonsense models in order to use more general
interpretative schemes (models), that later will allow the description of phenomena in terms
of physics laws. For example it was shown to be particularly productive at the cognitive
level to pass from the free-fall of a ball rotating down a table in the local situation, to the
free-fall of an object from a mountain in a global situation.
As far as the role of the model in the interpretative process is concerned, we adopted an
objectual model of the gravitational field based upon previous research [11-12]. The results
show that half of the children consider it as an architectonic plastic model representing
elements of reality that are similar, while a smaller amount consider it as an analogical model
of physics type or otherwise as a model describing the phenomenology observed. This
model, built to encourage an interpretation of observed situations and demonstrate the
existence of a central force, in truth primarily encourages the children to have a more in-
depth perception of the phenomena in physics terms. This encourages them to return after the
first descriptive analysis based on common sense and upon contingent causality, to a more
in-depth descriptive level (in physics terms). This second descriptive level seems a pre-
requisite for the next step to an interpretative level of the phenomena.

41
“The balls from D to G are correct because gravity attracts every object towards the
center but for me the two lines on the outside are not correct because the ball outside the
atmosphere should be going straight ahead and it wouldn’t have the ‘impulse’ to go around
the Earth”

369
References
[1] Bar V, Zinn B and E Rubin 1997 Children’s ideas about action at a distance Int.J.Sci.Educ. 19(10)
p 1137-1157
[2] Borges A. T, Gilbert J K 1998 Models of Magnetism Int.J.Sci.Educ. vol. 20 n3 p 361-378
[3] Greca I M and Moreira M A 1997 The kinds of mental representations-models, propositions and
images-used by college physics students regarding the concept of field Int. J. Sci Educ. 19 (6) p
711-724
[4] Rainson S and Viennot L. 1992 Students’ reasoning about superposition of electric fields
Int.J.Sci.Educ, 14(4), p 475-487
[5] Tornkwist S, Pettersson K A, Transtromer G 1993 Confusion by representation: On student’s
comprehension of electric field concept Am. J. Phys. 61(4), p 335-338.
[6] Bar V, Zinn B, Goldmuntz, Sneider C 1994 Children’s concept about weight and free fall Science
Education 78(2), p 149-69.
[7] Galili I 2001 Weight versus gravitational force : historical and educational perspectives
Int.J.Sci.Educ, vol 23, n°10, p 1073-1093.
[8] Arnold P, Sarge A, Worrall L 1995 Children’s knowledge of the earth’s shape and its gravitational
field Int.J.Sci.Educ. 17(5) p 635-641.
[9] Vosniadou S, Brewer W F 1992 Mental Models of the Earth: A study of conceptual change in
childhood Cognitive Psychology 24, p 535-585.
[10] Nussbaum J. and Novak J D 1976 An assessment of children’s concepts of Earth utilizing
structured interviews Science Education 60, p 535-550
[11] Bradamante F, Michelini M 2004 Children’s ideas about gravitation, investigating a model of
gravitational field Proceedings of Girep, Ostrava.
[12] Bradamante F, Michelini M 2005 Children’s spontaneous ideas of magnetic and gravitational
fields Proceedings Esera Conference
[13] Bradamante F, Viennot L 2005 Fields as a mapping of space: An accessible conceptual target and
tool in primary education? Proceedings ESERA conf - Barcelona
[14] Stefanel A, Mossenta C, Michelini M 2001 Cognitive Labs in an informal context to develop
formal thinking in children Developing Formal Thinking in Physics, Girep Book of selected papers
[15] A.S. Eddington 1978 Spazio tempo e gravitazione Universale Scientifica Boringhieri.

370
A Titration Experiment as an Example for a Coordinated Approach in Science
Teaching at High School Level

Michele D’Anna, Paolo Lubini

Alta Scuola Pedagogica, Piazza San Francesco 19, CH-6600 Locarno (Switzerland)
michele.danna@aspti.ch, paolo.lubini@aspti.ch

Why a co-ordinated approach in science teaching?

Last year, a work-group comprising teachers of biology, chemistry and physics42 was
instituted at the Alta Scuola Pedagogica in Locarno with the aim of realising didactic
materials for the teaching of thermodynamics at the upper-secondary level. The work-group
had the following remit: the production, for colleagues, of complete didactic sequences
(texts, model experiments, exercises and evaluation tests) based on the introduction of the
concepts of entropy and chemical potential.
This project came to life within a vaster undertaking aimed at co-ordinating the teaching of
the three science subjects using an experimental approach. Quite apart from the structural
circumstances leading to this initiative43, we believe that a rethinking on these lines is
overdue at a general level. In fact, science-teaching suffers, in our opinion, from excessive
fragmentation. The pupils are often called upon to learn a large number of facts, which often
are presented in ways that differ from one subject to another and are seemingly disconnected,
even contradictory.
We, however, believe that pupils should be provided, explicitly and more directly, with the
means for conceiving and appreciating science as a vast, collective construct, both unifying
and logical. They must have the feeling of mastering, little by little, those basic tools
necessary for the gradual building-up of a framework which will enable them to interpret the
various processes which occur in nature or which are used in the field of technology. They
must become aware of being actively engaged in the building-up of their own knowledge and
understanding in this sector, rather than being mere passive spectators, effectively barred
from assimilating what is presented in class. We should also like to point out that co-
ordination of the kind envisaged should be an objective throughout the whole period of
schooling: in general, there is a lack of continuity when pupils move from one level of school
to the next.
Biology, chemistry and physics have each their own specificities: these must be
acknowledged, maintained and highlighted. However, these specificities also refer to a
common core of knowledge, to a sort of transversal, conceptual scaffolding which gives
shape and substance to all the various contexts. Thus, when considering a given school

42
The group consists of twelve upper-secondary school teachers of biology, chemistry and
physics in the Canton Ticino (in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland), who meet
regularly about once a fortnight, together with the methodology teachers of the respective
subjects at the Alta Scuola Pedagogica in Locarno.
43
This problem became particularly immediate for us with the recent reform of the Federal
Ordinance of the Swiss “Maturità” (ORR/M), which introduced, inter alia, a “basic course”
in the experimental sciences, to be taken by all pupils for two years, and which takes the
form of separate teaching in the three subjects but which leads to a common final mark in the
“Maturità”.

371
system, rather than focussing on an evaluation of the teaching of the single subjects, one
should verify what has been offered on the whole. It is not, therefore, a question of the
supremacy of one subject over the others or the defence of a single “territory”, but rather a
question of reflecting on the complex demands of the pupil who, at an upper-secondary level,
should still have the possibility of being confronted with a sufficiently vast, non-specialist
offer which will enable him to acquire a solid, basic grounding. The teaching of the three
science subjects should, therefore, be conceived in such a way as to take this consideration
into account. Seen from this point of view, an effective co-ordination between these subjects
becomes an indispensable requirement.

A (new?) model for a co-ordinated approach

All attempts to arrive at forms of co-ordination based on the chronological ordering of the
contents of the subjects involved, on the basis of a presumed propaedeutical or hierarchical
relationship, have failed to meet expectations: there are too many practical difficulties
connected both with curricular structure and with teaching conditions44. Nevertheless, as we
shall see shortly, such an approach, fortunately, is perhaps not the only one possible, nor is it
desirable either from a pedagogical or from a purely subject-oriented point of view.
In fact, the path we have followed is founded on another principle: the selection of a small
number of basic nuclei which are significant for the three science subjects concerned and
which can act as cognitive organisers 45. We have opted for the following three cognitive
organisers: energy, structure of matter and the concept of system. For each of these, we
intend to elaborate a common frame of reference, agreed upon by all three subjects
(knowledge and skills) demanded of the pupils by the end of the basic course46. In this way,
the time factor and restrictions resulting from the (supposed) hierarchical relationship of one
subject with respect to another can be avoided: on the other hand, what is expected is that the
consistency with the agreed general model be guaranteed by all subjects in each, single
didactic operation. Needless to say, the individual subject content must be dealt with in one
or more of the subjects concerned as and when is deemed fitting.
Over and above subject-specific considerations, particular importance is attached to the
methodological aspects which, by their very nature, are common to the three subjects
concerned. Amongst these methodological aspects, we attach considerable importance to the
maintaining of a strong experimental component and the introduction of modelling activities.
As far as the experimental aspects are concerned, we have at our disposal today particularly
versatile apparatus which enable pupils to acquire a high number of physical quantities on-
line, the use of which is easy and rapid and certainly effective from a pedagogical point of

44
With increasing frequency, the introductory courses in the three experimental sciences are
of brief duration and present two or three of the subjects in parallel: this, in fact, renders
impossible the simultaneous timetabling of contents specific to the individual subjects.
Another practical obstacle consists in the fact that a single teacher finds himself working
with a number of parallel classes and a number colleagues from the other science subjects: in
the resultant intertwining of the interests of the single teachers and of the single classes, the
chances of real agreement are reduced to a minimum.
45
For a more precise definition of the concept, see, for example, the chapter Contre le savoir
en miettes: les concepts organisateurs in Giordan [1].
46
At the moment, a concrete proposal for an energy model is given in the document
L'energia nel corso di base delle scienze sperimentali del liceo: riflessioni e proposte which
was written in the Spring of 2003 by the corresponding Gruppo per il coordinamento degli
inegnamenti in biologia, chimica e fisica and approved by the UIMS/DECS [2].

372
view. Modelling activities, as other contributors have illustrated, constitute both an important
instrument for the building of scientific knowledge and an intrinsically interdisciplinary
device [3], [4]: the cognitive performances realised by the pupils are particularly interesting –
especially if use is made of a working environment offering a graphic interface - since they
are called upon to explain a network of connections as opposed to single facts, a kind of
conceptual map, the connections of which nevertheless express the quantitative aspects.

A simple example from thermodynamics: a titration experiment

The teaching of thermodynamics is an area particularly in

need of intervention of the kind described above:
conventions which are not very consistent, a multitude of
quantities introduced ad hoc and a particularly complex
terminology make the science of heat unnecessarily
difficult and scarcely transparent for pupils. On the other
hand, thermodynamic aspects are important in physics,
chemistry and biology. So our attention focused on the
examination of this field of study, particularly linked to
the cognitive organiser energy, with the specific objective
of producing concrete didactic proposals.
As an example of a possible practical activity with pupils,
we present here a calorimetrical titration experiment,
underlining in particular the experimental and modelling
aspects. Figure 1: The
The experimental apparatus comprises (v. fig.1), in experimental set up.
essence, a calorimeter containing initially a certain
quantity of an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide, into which an aqueous solution of
hydrochloric acid is introduced drop by drop. The exothermic reaction which ensues leads to
a rise in temperature which is recorded on a thermometric sensor connected to an on-line data
acquisition system. A magnetic stirrer sees to it that, as far as possible, the temperature
distribution is kept homogeneous. A drop-counter is connected to the data acquisition system
in such a way as to record how much acid is introduced and at what intervals. The
neutralisation reaction

NaOH(aq) + HCl(aq) H2O + NaCl(aq)

is distinguished by two aspects: on the one hand, it occurs practically instantaneously (that is,
the resistance to the reaction is particularly low) and on the other hand it is distinguished by
an equilibrium which is (almost) entirely shifted to the side of the products. As already noted
by others [5], such experimental situations allow a semi-quantitative description of the
thermal aspects accompanying chemical reactions.

In fact, as we see from the data referring to temperature readings plotted versus time (v. fig.
2), three phases are easily recognisable: in the first phase, the exothermic aspect of the
reaction predominates and the temperature of the system rises.
At a certain point, there is no further reaction: in this second phase, the introduction of the
acid solution – which is at room temperature - has the sole effect of causing the temperature
of the system to fall. In the third phase, the tap of the burette is closed: from now on the fall
in temperature is the result only of the recipient's outward loss of heat.
On the basis of the values which can be read directly from the graph, it is possible, with a
simple calorimetric calculation, to determine the value of the molar enthalpy ∆H of the

373
 reaction: it is with the
data collected from the
drop-counter that it is
possible to determine
the amount of acid
added to the solution
during the titration.
A further step consists
in the description of
the time evolution of
the whole observed
process.
Seen in this light, the
dynamic modelling
assumes major
significance: it enables
us to face the whole
problem in terms of
instantaneous balance
Figure 2 : Temperature vs. Time. for the energy of the
system. The learner
must recognise and be able to represent mathematically the relations involved in the various
thermal exchanges encountered but he does not necessarily have to be able to perform the
integration explicitly: the latter is, in fact, carried out numerically thanks to a process of
iteration.
In the case under examination, we must consider the release of heat in the reaction, the
cooling effect of the solution which is introduced drop by drop into the recipient as well as
outward losses. If we know the various experimental quantities (mass and concentration of
the solutions, outside temperature, thermal capacity of the water), it is possible to use the
recorded temperature data to determine the various parameters which have not yet been
defined, amongst which is the molar reaction enthalpy. Figure 3 reports a version of the
model in which the specific heat of water was used for determining the heat capacity of the
whole system.

Figure 3: Simplified dynamical model:

notice the three thermal exchanges
intervening in the energy balance of the
system, as well as the capacitive and
conductive laws describing the thermal
properties of the system. The change of the
mass of the system as a function of time is
obtained via the experimental data collected
using the drop-counter. The temperature is
calculated with the usual calorimetric
relations. The temperature registered on-line
is also represented in order to make it
possible to compare the model output with
the collected data.

374
Figure 4 shows a comparison of the experimental data with the data generated by the model
under the assumption illustrated above: in order to get a better fit to the experimental data it
is necessary to employ a value of the molar reaction enthalpy about 20 % greater (absolute
value) than the standard molar enthalpy reported on thermodynamic tables. Alternatively,
using this latter value for the molar reaction enthalpy, it is possible to get a similar fit using
for the solution a heat capacity about 20 % less than that of water.
Figure 4: Comparison between
measured data and model output.
1. Model output for the
temperature using for the
reaction enthalpy a value about
20 % greater (absolute value)
than the standard molar enthalpy.
2. Model output for the
temperature using the standard
molar enthalpy for the reaction.
3. Measured temperature.

Conclusion and perspectives

The construction of a co-ordinated conceptual basis enables us to tackle fields of study in

which the components of the various subjects involved intersect naturally. In this way, the
pupils receive an initial but significant introduction to the complexity of the study of natural
systems without, however, losing the specificity of the contributions of the single subjects.
The use of transversal instruments such as dynamic modelling enables us to pinpoint one of
the fundamental aspects of scientific activity, that is to say the constant dialectical
relationship between theory and experiment. In this way the pupil sees directly what it means
to be confronted with the necessity to simplify the description of the system under scrutiny
and is encouraged to seek solutions of an ever more general and unifying amplitude. In the
case in point, for example, the next step could take the form of the introduction to a real
dynamic mechanism for the chemical transformation being considered on the basis of the
explicit use of the concept of entropy and of the differences in chemical potential as driving
force for the reaction. As well as being more consistent with the proposed energy model, this
approach would enable us to highlight the origin of the two contributions which determine
the value of the reaction enthalpy: on the on hand, the variation in free energy, on the other
the variation in the entropy accumulated in the system.

References
[1] Giordan, Une autre école pour nos enfants?, Delagrave, Paris (2002).
[2] The documents (only in Italian) can be downloaded at the following internet addresses:
http://www.gesn.ch/TD/0/organizzatori%20cognitivi%20IV-03.pdf
http://www.gesn.ch/TD/0/energia%20IV-03.pdf
[3] Michelsen, Integration of physics, biology and mathematics in upper secondary school,
Proceedings of the GIREP Conference 2004 Teaching and learning physics in new contexts,
Ostrava (2004).
[4] H.U. Fuchs, Modeling of uniform dynamical systems, Orell-Füsli, Zürich (2002).
[5] W. De Vos, H. Verdonk, A new road to reactions – Part 3. Teaching the heat effect of reactions,
Journal of Chemical Education, 1986, vol 63, 972-974.

375
Children’s Naive Ideas/Reasoning about some Logic Circuits Explored in an
Informal Learning Environment

Italo Testa 1, Marisa Michelini 2

1
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Udine;
2
Dipartimento Scienze Fisiche, Università “Federico II”, Napoli
sassi@na.infn.it

Many studies have shown that operational paths developed as games and experiments in the
framework of interactive exhibitions trigger informal learning procedures characterized by
personal involvement in the analysis and interpretation of processes. Activities such as semi-
structured interview-based cognitive laboratories can elicit children’s reasoning schemas and
naïve ideas. This is particularly true in learning situations in the framework of “islands”
featuring simple apparatuses aimed at exploring ideas and phenomena. Recently, the hands-
on exhibition GEI (Games, Experiments, Ideas) featured an updated version of the “island”
of electric circuits that simulates the basic logic operators NOT, AND, OR, NAND, NOR.
Cognitive laboratories held in the framework of “Marzo Scientifico 2005” (Scientific March
2005) at the University of Udine and the “Festival Internazionale dei Ragazzi 2005”
(Children International Festival 2005) in Tricesimo (UD) provided opportunities for
collecting data about the reasoning strategies of elementary schoolchildren (8-11 years).
Analysis of these data (written answers, graphical representations, oral discussions)
presented in this paper shows that pupils select essential elements for explaining the
functioning of the circuit, use elementary models of the circuit to justify observations of
phenomenology, and autonomously propose truth tables and correctly relate them with
physical states of the circuit.

Introduction

Physics Education Research (PER) has often studied how learners build their knowledge nets
[1]. Attention has also been devoted to reasoning strategies that address mental models used
to build knowledge [2-8]. In this regard, some recent research studies have shown the
importance of the learning context [9-12]. In this framework, the role of informal scientific
education contexts such as “science centers”, museum and exhibitions has been studied [13-
16]. The learner’s interaction with what is observed/studied is a key feature for fostering
understanding, specially when it involves activities focused on exploring phenomena,
expressing ones’ own hypotheses, and comparing them with experimental results [17]. The
interactive exhibition GEI (Games, Experiments, Ideas)47, developed in 1994 as a
collaboration amongst teachers and the PER group at Udine University, has been both an
effective informal learning environment to foster young people’s (4-15 years)
qualitative/quantitative exploration of basic physics phenomena (mechanics,
thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism) and a research tool for investigating naïve
reasoning and mental models used to interpret the observed phenomenology [18]. The special
focus of the exhibition is on electric circuits, through the “circuits’ island” section. Studies
on the nature of mental models used by students of various ages to describe the behaviour of
electric circuits have been a central line of PER research since mid eighties [19-23] and have

47
http://www.fisica.uniud.it/GEI/GEIweb/index.htm

376
lately attracted renewed interest [24-29]. Recently, the GEI “circuits’ island” has been
updated with basic logic circuits (in a. o. AND, NAND, NOR, NOT, OR); the aim is to
introduce pupils to basic components of everyday electronic devices such as mobile phones,
PCs, etc…. So the exhibition addresses a content area that is rarely addressed in PER because
logic circuits are not a basic physics content48; moreover, the introduction of elements of
logic in Mathematics syllabi has also raised words of caution. Nevertheless, we think that the
introduction of this topic may increase students’ motivation. Here some preliminary results
on GEI circuits activities are reported.

Context and data collection

The lab work activities took place during the Children’s International Festival 2005 held in
Tricesimo, a small town near Udine in north-eastern Italy. Five elementary school classes
were involved (2 fourth grade and 3 fifth grade classes), with a total of 87 pupils (8-11
years). Activities lasted about 90 minutes; 5 logic circuits were investigated (in sequence
NOT, AND, OR, NAND, NOR). All the circuits were constructed with everyday materials
such as batteries, wires, paper clips and hairpins (as switches representing binary inputs of
the circuits), and light bulbs (representing the output variable). The activities allowed the
introduction of a two-symbol system of numeration, given the two possible states of the
switch (open/closed) and of the light bulb (on/off). The activities were carried out according
to the following sequence: - open/free approach to the “context” (i.e. pupils, in small groups,
explore and manipulate the circuits); - questions/problem posing about the role/function of
circuit’s elements; - small group semi-structured interviews [30]. The protocol actually
featured some interaction amongst the first author, the pupils and their teachers; it was as
minimal as possible, being neither a guide for solving problems posed nor a support for
looking at/correcting possible errors/learning problems. The pupils’ answers to questions and
interview responses produced data of three types: graphical, written, oral.
In the case of the NOT circuit (see Fig. 1) the activity sequence was: interactively, the pupils
described the circuit’s functioning in terms of the hairpin’s position (touching/not touching
the paperclip). Then the “state” of the hairpin was formalized with 0 and 1 (0 = not touching,
1 = touching); the same was done for the “state” of the lamp (0 = off, 1 = on).
Finally, the pupils autonomously built a
truth table (shown below):

Hairpin Light Bulb

Touching (1) Off (0)
Not touching (0) On (1)

Fig. 1: NOT Circuit .

Data Analysis and Research Questions

The questions asked during the activities were: “What happens?”, “When is the lamp on?”,
“Why?”. Data analysis focused on: - identifying whether the observation description
includes some justification and which variables (if any) are named; - analyzing
possible/plausible models through which pupils could interpret physical processes; - studying
pupils’ ability to relate physical processes to logical organizers (i.e. truth tables).

48
In Italy, electronics is a subject usually taught in vocational schools for 16-18 aged
students

377
More specifically, the research questions are:
1.1) How frequently is the analysis a mere description of the circuit? 1.2) How frequently is
there also a justification of the observed behaviour? 1.3) Is there any difference between the
NOT and AND circuits?
2) Is it possible to distinguish between descriptions and justifications?
3) Which variable(s) are used in the circuit description?
4) Which viewpoints are used in the circuit description?
5) Which interpretations are used to justify what has been observed?
6) How frequently do pupils’ descriptions of circuit functioning correctly employ truth
tables?

Preliminary results

Analysis was made of 87 answer sheets, of which 61% derived from the fifth-grade pupils
(10-11 years). The analysis follows a schema already used in the GEI research framework
[17].
As far as RQs 1.1 and 1.2 are concerned, description and justification are quite often
confused. Two categories of response were identified: A) focus on the physics/topologic
elements of the circuit; B) focus on circuit behaviour and a physics variable justifying it. The
following are typical excerpts: A: “The bulb is on when the hairpin is not touching [the
paper-clip], it is off when the hairpin is touching [the paper-clip]. (NOT), B: “The hairpins
play the role of a bridge carrying the current needed to switch on the bulb” (AND). Global
results are shown in the following tables:

N=87 NOT (number of answers) AND (number of answers)

Type A 59 47
Type B 27 30
No answer 1 10

N=87 NOT (number of answers) AND (number of answers)

5th grade (N=53) 4th grade (N=34) 5th grade (N=53) 4th grade (N=34)
Type 31 28 19 28
A
Type 22 5 28 2
B
No 0 1 6 4
answer

Type A is the most common response (globally 69% for the NOT circuit and 61% for the
AND circuit): it is plausible to assume that the pupils found it easier to focus on circuit
elements. No significant differences appear between the 4th and 5th grade classes. Amongst
the pupils who adopted Type A answer for the NOT circuit, 53% belong to the 5th grade and
47% to the 4th grade; slightly different percentages can be found for the AND circuit with
40% belonging to the 5th grade and 60% the 4th grade. Type B is much less common (~ 31%
for the NOT circuit, 39% for the AND circuit). The pupils who have given this type of
answer mainly belong to the 5th grade (81% for the NOT circuit, 93% for the AND one). It
may be plausible to assume that the abstraction level is higher in the 5th grade pupils than in
the 4th grade. The A and B answer correlation for NOT and AND circuits regarding RQ 1.3
is shown in the following table.

378
 AND Type A (%) Type B (%) No answer (%)
NOT
Type A 69 21 10
Type B 26 63 11
No answer 0 0 100

The data suggest that:

- since a vast majority (~ 69%) described both NOT and AND circuits from a functional
viewpoint, it is plausible to assume that this viewpoint is a “natural” one for most pupils. One
fifth switched from type A to type B (21%), adding some kind of justification to their
answers.
- the majority (63%) of the pupils giving B type answers for the NOT circuit confirmed their
choice in the AND case. Almost one fourth switched to a type A answer. It may be possible
that the circuit’s structure influence the abstraction level at play.
These results might have been influenced by two factors in the activities: - the pupils’
interaction with their teachers and the researcher; - at the end of the NOT activity, the
collaboratively-built functional viewpoint (truth table, conditions for lamp on/off) was
summarised: it might have been partially acquired as an “automatic” approach; in this case,
some potentialities of other interpretations might have been lost.

RQ 2) Five types of answer have been identified; 1 and 2 correspond to Type A, while 3, 4,
and 5 correspond to Type B in RQ 1a, b. The data are shown in the following table.

Type of answer (N = 87) NOT (number AND (number of

of answers) answers)
1) description only 50 42
2) description mixed with tautological 9 5
justification
3) description mixed with justification 9 13
4) description and justification apart 13 2
5) only justification 5 15
6) no answer 1 10

The number of pupils who chose a descriptive viewpoint is about the same for both circuits.
Typical examples of Type 1 answers are: “We connected a battery to two wires. If you put
the two hairpins next to two paper-clips, a bulb comes on, while if you take them away, the
bulb goes off (AND)”
The Type 2 answers mix a description with a tautological justification: “… if the hairpin is
in the “0” position, i.e. it is not touching, the bulb is on… if the hairpin is in the “1”
position, i.e., it is touching the paper-clip, the bulb is not on.. (NOT)”. It is plausible to
assume that there is some confusion between a simple formalization (0/1 vs. touching/not
touching or on/off) and an interpretation of how the circuit functions (see below).
In Type 3 answers the description is mixed with a justification: “..(connecting) the circuit on
one side to a battery, and the other side to a light bulb, makes it switch on. But, if the
electricity path is blocked, the light bulb turns off since it is not fed… (NOT)”.
In Type 4, description and justification are separate, much more so for the NOT than for the
AND circuit. Answers with only a justification (Type 5) are more frequent (by about a factor
of 3) for the AND circuit.

RQ 3) The results of the analysis are shown in the following table.

379
 Variable NOT (number of answers) AND (number of answers)
Current or electric current 5 8
Electricity 11 3
Energy or electric energy 12 13
Total 28 24

Energy is the variable most widely quoted both in the descriptions and the justifications. This
fact may be plausibly related to the common-sense idea about a battery as a source of energy,
whatever the meaning given to energy.
Some pupils intended the named variable as something flowing through the circuit;
moreover, the variables are used without distinguish them: “…The circuit allows the
electricity to pass through the wires, moving the hairpin toward the paper-clip, the light is
blocked.. (AND)”. The identification of a variable is more frequent amongst the 5th grade
pupils; only six out of 34 pupils from the 4th grade name a variable.

RQ 4) Here we analyze those answers referring to categories 1-4 of RQ2 in which a

description is present. Three main categories were identified:
D1: some elements (hairpin, paper clip) are acknowledged as components responsible for
how the circuit works: “… if you move the hairpin and put it close to the paper-clip the bulb
goes off (NOT)”.
D2: the circuit is looked at as a whole, it makes the lamp go on/off; it is plausible to assume
an implicit model focused on some entity flowing through the circuit: “The circuit is made
up of electric wires connected to a battery which transmits energy and makes the bulb go on.
Pushing the hairpin close to the paper-clip blocks the current …(NOT)”
D3: an explicit reference to how the circuit works is present. The answers to the question
“When is the lamp on?” identify the correct configuration of the hairpins, therefore this
group includes those answers where words such as “only” or similar clearly indicate the “on”
condition: “The circuit functions only if the hairpins are aligned…(AND)”
Nine pupils out of 87 for the NOT circuit and 26 for the AND circuit either do not clearly
identify any meaningful circuit element in their descriptions/justifications or do not write any
description at all. The data are shown in the following table:

Description Type NOT (number of answers) AND (number of answers)

D1 62 41
D2 12 3
D3 4 18
Total 78 62

RQ 5) For both NOT and AND circuits, three models have been identified:
M1 or “compensation” model: the energy stored in one of the battery’s poles is lost as soon
as a wire or a hairpin touches it, so the lamp is off. It is plausible to assume a kind of
compensation of the battery’s energy (what is lost at one pole is regained at the other): “…
touching the negative pole with the hairpin all the positive energy goes to the negative pole
and the positive disappears.. hence without the positive pole the bulb is not on…” (NOT).
M1 is never used to justify the lamp on.
M2 or “flux” model: something, named current or electricity, flows through the circuit. The
focus is on the topology of wires and hairpins; how the circuit works is expressed in terms of
interruptions/blocks: “… If you move the two hairpins and they do not touch the paper-clips,

380
the flow of current is interrupted”(AND). Moving the hairpins does not interrupt the flow in
the NOT circuit, while it does in the AND case.
M3 or “short circuit” model: in a very simple way the concept of mesh is acknowledged as
the only part of the circuit where something (i.e. current) can flow. The idea of how the
circuit works is linked to that of “turning off the lamp”: “..Because [the current] enters and
goes through the bulb, if the hairpin is touching the paper-clip, the current turns back
(NOT)”
Only one pupil used a model different from those cited above: “… when a hairpin falls onto
the paper-clip [the energy] is transmitted to the other hairpin and in this way the bulb is on
(AND)”. The following table summarises the data:

Model NOT (number of answers) AND (number of answers)

M1 5 0
M2 16 23
M3 6 0
Total 27 23

The vast majority of pupils used the “flux” model; in the AND case no other model is
present. In the NOT case about a dozen pupils used the other two models, distributed almost
equally. It seems plausible to infer that the circuit structure suggests the type of model used:
- the “flux” one is rather “natural” for the AND circuit because the two hairpins are in close
proximity; - the NOT circuit, which has 2 meshes when the hairpin is closed, also suggested
the other two more complex models.

RQ 6) The results of the analysis are reported in the following table.

Truth Table Type (N=87) NOT (correct tables) AND (correct tables)
0-1 58 35
0-1 and words 11 12
words 0 28
Total 69 75

About 80% (NOT) and 86% (AND) of the pupils are able to use truth tables autonomously to
describe observed phenomenology coherently. The 0-1 description is most common for the
NOT circuit (84%). For the AND circuit the 0-1 and the phrasal description (“touching/not
touching, on/off”) are about equally frequent (47% vs. 37%). Mixed descriptions are used
with almost the same frequency for both circuits (16%). The absence of phrasal descriptions
in the NOT case is a feature to be further investigated. The data plausibly suggest a capability
to correlate physical states with truth tables that here play the role of logical descriptors.

Conclusions and future work

The informal context of the GEI exhibition has again given hints for studying some
reasoning strategies of elementary school pupils (9-11 years). This preliminary data analysis
shows how possible “theoretical worlds” [31] are built on the basis of observations and
experiments. In summary:
1. the circuit descriptions are focused mainly on the role of specific elements rather
than on the circuit as a whole. It is plausible to infer that local viewpoints prevail
over the global one. The capacity to use both viewpoints is usually a high level skill.
On the other hand, the pupils’ tendency to select aspects of the circuits that help

381
 interpret what happens and to neglect those that do not may resemble a common
attitude in the physicist’s work, i.e. to analyse phenomena by focusing mainly on
aspects functional to their interpretation;
2. this study seems to support the hypothesis that the acquisition of a content/concept
is favored by the construction of mental models [24]. The pupils’ models of what
they had observed focus on those features perceived as most meaningful. It is
plausible to infer that the spontaneous construction of models may be strongly
influenced by the adoption of interpretation viewpoints if they are proposed by
“trustworthy” teachers. If this influence is confirmed, it has to be taken seriously
into account when designing/implementing activities aimed at eliciting pupils’
reasoning strategies;
3. in the pupils’ explanations of how the circuits work, three models have been
identified, all focused on the lamp on/off process. The most frequent model, for
both the NOT and AND circuits, is a “flux” model, where some physics variable
flows through the circuit;
4. the capacity to correctly use simple logical organizers such as truth tables (and
relate them to physical states) may plausibly set up anchors for functional “micro-
rules” (e.g. “hairpin touches->lamp on”) that help in interpreting the process.
Future data analysis will be aimed at correlating the phrasing and drawings used for the NOT
and AND circuits, and categorising the answers for the OR, NAND and NOR circuits by
focusing on features that foster comprehension of how the circuits function, their possible co-
relations and possible favouring/hindering factors.

Acknowledgments

This work has been carried out in the framework of the activities for the dissemination of
scientific culture organised by the University of Udine (law 6/2000, year 2005) and of the
INTERREG III Project, Italy–Slovenija 2004-2006, “Materials for Innovation in Physics
Education to Support Pre- and In-Service Teacher Training”.

References
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[3] Viennot, L. (1985). Analyzing students' reasoning: Tendencies in interpretation. American Journal
of Physics 53, 432-436
[4] McDermott, L. C. (1993). How we teach and how students learn. Australian and New Zealand
Physicist 30, 7, 151-163
[5] Viennot, L. (1994). Fundamental patterns in common reasoning: Examples in physics. TDß 12, 2,
89-103
[6] Ritchie, S., Tobin, K. , Hook, K. (1997). "Teaching referents and the warrants used to test the
viability of students' mental models: Is there a link?" Journal of Research in Science Teaching
34(3): 223-238
[7] Greca, I. M., Moreira, M. A. (2000). "Mental models, conceptual models, and modelling."
International Journal of Science Education 22, 1, 1-12
[8] Gutierrez, R. (2001). Mental models and the fine structure of conceptual change. Physics Teacher
Education Beyond 2000. R. Pinto, Surinach, S. Paris, Elsevier: 35-44
[9] Bednar A.K., Cunningam D., Duffy T.M., Perry J.D. (1991). Theory into practice: how do we
link? In Instructional Technology. Past, present and future. J.C. Angelin ed., Libraries Unlimited:
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[10] Duffy T.M., Jonassen D..H. (1992). Constructivism and the technology of instruction. Erlbaum:
Hillsdale, New Jersey.

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[12] Michelini M. (2004). Physics in context for elementary teacher training. In Quality Development
in the teacher Education and Training. Girep Book of Selected Papers, 389-394. Udine: Forum
[13] Honeyman B. (1996). Science Centers: building bridges with teachers. International Journal of
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[14] Pedretti, E. (2001). T. Kuhn meets T. Rex: Critical conversations and new directions in science
centres and science museums. Studies in Science Education 37, 1-42
[15] Anderson, D., Lucas, K. B., Ginns, I. S. (2003). Theoretical perspectives on learning in an
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[17] Michelini M., Stefanel A., Moschetta, C. (2002) Cognitive Labs in an informal context to develop
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Science Teaching 36, 7, 806-836.
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Komorek, M., Kross, A. Dordrecht, The Netherlands, Kluwer Academic Publishers: 235-240.
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383
The Force between Electric Charges and the Origin of Magnetism

Kjell Prytz

University of Gavle, 801 76 GÄVLE,

Kjell.Prytz@hig.se

We investigate the force between two electric charges and explore the origin of the magnetic
force. We show that magnetism is a pure motional consequence of the electric force. From
the consideration, special relativity arises naturally.

Introduction

From a pedagogical point of view the traditional way of teaching special relativity (SR)
contradicts several basic teaching strategies. Normally, we would base teaching on accessible
observations and conceptual understanding related to daily experience using concrete
concepts only. As a second step, one would perform measurements and quantify
mathematically. Finally the search for connections with other phenomena, interpretations and
model makings take place where the introduction of abstract concepts might be necessary.
In the standard teaching of SR the above pedagogical strategy is more or less abandoned. At
the starting point, we make extensive use of abstract concepts such as fields, light, time and
space as if these were known a priori. The time concept is based on light pulses sent back and
forth. The propagation time of these is taken as a time measure, a time definition which is
spurious. In fact, a natural and conceptual time definition is lacking in SR which is a key
reason for the general confusion of the real meaning of SR.
The Michelson-Morley experiment is the only experimental basis, used for showing light
speed invariance. The experiment is hard to perform and difficult to interpret since it
involves the abstract concept of light. In fact, the experiment is hardly ever done by the
students themselves. It also gives the wrong impression that light speed invariance is the
origin of SR, since it is really the fact that interactions take time.
As a consequence SR is filled with several thought experiment, such as space ship travels
and other phenomena no one has ever experienced. In the end, teachers therefore very often
emphasize that SR has no influence on real life. However, nothing could be more wrong
since it actually is the condition for life.
We therefore propose a method of introducing SR based on what is actually observed,
emphasizing the use of concrete concepts. By making clear that the sole observables in
nature are objects, their relative distance and their relative motion we obtain natural
definitions on space and time. Our recipe for SR follows the agenda:
1. Introduce electric and magnetic force
2. Introduce model for electric current
3. Identify the pairwise interaction between identical charges
4. Introduce the principle of relative motion
5. Identify motional effects (magnetism, time dilation)
6. Interpretations

384
Fig. 1: Charged balls on an air flow table and parallel conductors for studying electric and
magnetic forces.

1. Forces

The observation of electric and magnetic forces constitute the phenomenological basis for
our approach to SR. The measurements of these are tedious but straightforward, easily
accessible to students at any level, fig. 1.
In this way the Coulomb electric force
qq ' Rˆ
Fe =
4πε 0 R 2
and the magnetic force between parallel current-carrying conductors
µ 0 II ' ˆ
Fm = R
2πR
are measured and verified. The magnetic force law can be written as
II '
Fm = Rˆ
ε 0 c 2 2πR
so that the measurement will determine the quantity c which we later recognize as speed of
light.
With the help of Biot-Savart law and the Lorentz force the magnetic force between current
elements Jdτ of the conductor is

dFm =
1 (
Jdτ × J ' dτ ' × Rˆ )
4πε 0 c 2 R2
where J is current density, i.e. current per area, and dτ is a volume element.

2. Model for electric current

Traditionally, our primary model for electric current is the flow of charged particles,
introduced very early in school. Fig. 2 shows our model corresponding to the flow of
electrons in the current-carrying conductor. Of course, this is a highly idealized description,
taking into account only the drift motion of the electron and neglecting any quantum
mechanical effects. Still, relativity is based on this simple picture of nature as will be shown.
In figure 2 we note the electric force, not appearing in case of electrically neutral conductors.

385
 e- e-
fe fm fm fe

v
v’

R
Figure 2: Two parallel electron beams with speeds v’ and v.

3. The pairwise interaction

R

e- e-
fe fm fm fe
V
V’
Figure 3: Electric and magnetic forces between charges in motion.

The basis of physics is the pairwise interaction. In any area of physics, the system is
considered as built up from constituents. The total force on one of the objects is the sum of
forces from all the other. This holds true also in non-linear theories such as gravity and
strong interactions, taking into account so called feedback effects of the pairwise interaction.
In case of electromagnetism, we can easily identify the pairwise interaction as shown in fig.
3. We maximize the simplification by choosing the same speed v for the two objects.
Considering the current as a flow of particles, the current density J = ρv , i.e. charge
density times drift velocity of the electrons. Identifying ρdτ as the charge of one electron q,
the magnetic force on the primed (right-hand) charge of fig. 3 is
1 v 2 qq ' ˆ
Fm = − R
4πε 0 c 2 R 2

4. Principle of relative motion

As one of the two postulates for SR Einstein chose the principle of relative motion.
Einstein’s main argument for this principle was based on the induction phenomena. When a
magnet approaches a closed conductor, the same current is generated as when the conductor
approaches the magnet. This insight might seem trivial but it gives some rather striking
consequences.
Fig. 4 illustrates the principle w.r.t. the pairwise interaction.

386
 Observer at
rest
V V
V
Observer in
motion

Relative rest
Figure 4: Principle of relative motion. The grey arrows are magnetic force, the black electric
force.

Because of the principle of relative motion the force situation must be identical in the upper
and the middle figure. Thus, the observer generates the magnetic force purely by putting
herself in motion.
Therefore, magnetism is a pure motional effect and shouldn’t be called a force. Compare our
treatment of centrifugal and coriolis effects: being motional effects, i.e. they are generated
due to the motion of the observer, we don’t call them forces but rather ‘effects’. Accordingly,
the magnetic force doesn’t exist. There is only one force, the electric one, and its magnitude
varies depending on the motion of the charges. As a consequence, it should not be possible to
introduce a magnetic field, forcing us to reconsider the traditional Maxwell model of the
electromagnetic wave.
Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the magnetic effect between moving charges is a
well known effect in particle accelerators. Close to the speed of light the magnetic effect
balances the electric force which facilitates the stabilization of the beam. This experimental
fact is important since it verifies that it is not the relative motion between the charges that
causes magnetism but rather their motion relative an observer. This remarkable fact was not
realised before Einstein.

5. Motional effects

Our concept of time and space are heavily inherited from authorities, efficiently introduced
in our language. However, people working with human sciences such as art and literature
often discuss and question the concept of time and space. We physicists ought to treat these
concepts more carefully.
Since what are basically observed in science are objects, their relative distance and relative
motion, it is natural to interpret space as distance between objects and time as motion. Both
distance and time needs some reference and are therefore relative and also connected.
Noether’s symmetry theorem verifies this notion of time and space, stating that energy and
momentum conservation arise due to symmetry in time and space respectively.
For each object, energy and momentum is conserved only if there is no active force,
equivalent to unchanged motion and distance. On the other hand, an active force changes
energy-momentum of the object and accordingly space-time leading to the basic idea of
general relativity, i.e. the curved space-time.

387
Noether’s theorem is therefore just a reflection of the above definition of time and space.
Now, coming back to the pairwise electromagnetic interaction, fig. 4, we note that due to the
magnetic effect the transverse motion slows down when observed in motion compared to
relative rest. Using our concept of time, a slow down in motion means a slow down of time
flow, called time dilation in SR. In a teaching situation one might want to make use of the
film example here. A recorded film can be played at a slower speed giving a slow motion
effect interpreted generally as a slow down of time, convincing that our concept of time is
naturally connected to motion.
It is now straight-forward to derive time dilation, the essence of relativity, using Newton’s
force law, modified for the relativistic notion of time, fig. 5.

Time is motion in space. Observer in motion experience time T, observer at rest T0

V
 ∆R 
∆ 
∆T  1 qq '  v2 
m  =  1 − 2  Rˆ
2 
∆T 4πε 0 R  c 

R  ∆R 
∆  
∆T  1 qq ' ˆ
m  0 = R
∆T0 4πε 0 R 2

m is mass

Assume ∆T = γ∆T0 Divide equations =>

1 ∆T0
γ = ∆T = Time dilation is the
2 i.e. v2
v essence of special
1− 2 1− 2
c c relativity

Fig. 5: Derivation of time dilation

Another remarkable consequence of SR is the fact that nothing travels faster than speed of
light c. (In our approach c is just an experimental constant later to be identified as the light
speed, see next section.) Although the magnetic force law was measured for low speeds it
turns out that it is valid to extrapolate to high speed, verified for example by the accelerator
example above. At speed of light then (v=c), the magnetic force equals the electric force and
at higher speeds the observer would see an attraction instead of a repulsion. In the film
example, this is equivalent of playing the movie backwards giving the impression of reversed
time direction and violation of causality. Due to this, we have to postulate that light speed (in
vacuum) is the upper limit to possible speeds. A more basic understanding for this
astonishing result is not known at the moment.

388
6. What does all of this mean – an interpretation

Finally, we make an interpretation of our result. We ask ourselves: why does the magnetic
effect occur, i.e. what is the origin of the ‘magnetic force’? Pedagogically it would be
advantageous to let the students come up with ideas at this stage. Having presented the
phenomena in the above logical order one would expect that some students really find
themselves one of modern science’s most important discoveries, i.e. that interactions take
time. We even obtain the speed of the interactions in this way.
Fig. 6 illustrates this idea. When charges are moving the effective interaction distance
increases, causing the coulomb force to decrease. Time dilation can be obtained by assuming
that the motional change of one of the charges is felt by the other charge by receiving pulses
of information. A longer propagation time occurs when the propagation distance increases
which we experience as a slow down of time. This time concept is of course the conventional
one mentioned above and certainly needs careful consideration. In order to achieve the
already derived time dilation we have to put the propagation velocity to c, see fig. 6.
Furthermore, the propagation velocity cannot depend on the motion of the source since we
are forced to use the same propagation speed for both cases. We draw the conclusion that the
mediator travels at speed of light independent of the motion of the source. The latter property
is characteristic of waves (compare with sound and water waves here) indicating that we deal
with a wave motion.
Due to the principle of relative motion it must also hold true that the speed of the interaction
does not depend on the motion of the observer. Thus, we arrive at the Einstein principle of
light speed invariance, without actually using the concept of light.

c∆T
v∆T
v v
c∆T0

R
( c ∆ T ) 2 + ( v ∆ T ) 2 = ( c ∆ T0 ) 2
c ∆ T0 ∆ T0
∆T = =
c2 + v2 v2
1+
c2
Fig. 6: Derivation of time dilation from propagation speed.

7. Summary

Using the electric and magnetic forces as experimental inputs, the naïve model for electric
current and the principle of relative motion we may identify the magnetic force as a motional
consequence of the electric force. Therefore, magnetism is not a force but rather an effect.

389
Relativistic effects are the same thing as motional effects which in turn arise due to
magnetism. Time dilation results directly from a rather simple analysis of the force between
electric charges, using motion as the proper time definition.
The interpretation of magnetism gives at hand that interactions take time and that the
mediator travels at the speed of light independent of the motion of its source, a typical
property of waves. This is equivalent to Einstein’s postulate of light speed invariance which
accordingly is a consequence of this analysis. Therefore, the rather intricate experiment of
Michelson-Morley is redundant, which was also noted by Einstein.
Finally, we note that this analysis, being free from the concepts of fields and light, is
completely independent of Maxwell’s field equations.

References
[1] Relativistic electrodynamics:
Peter Johansson, project work in electronics, univ. of Gavle, 2001
JH Field, Arxiv/0501130
L. Nielsen http://www.rostra.dk/louis/quant_06.html
Derek J. Craik, Electricity, Relativity and Magnetism: A Unified Text, Wiley, 1999
Daniel V. Schroeder http://departments.weber.edu/physics/schroeder/mrr/MRRtalk.html
EM Purcell, Electricity and Magnetism Vol II, Berkeley, 1984
P. Lorrain, D. and F. Corson, Electromagnetic Fields and Waves, Freeman, 1988
[2] Movie of magnetic force: http://www.hig.se/pdf/n-inst/kpz/Parallel%20currents.mpg
[3] Einstein’s original paper on SR:
A. Einstein, Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper, Annalen der Physik, 17, 1905
[4] Ampere’s formula for the magnetic force
H. Grassman, Neue Theorie der Elektrodynamik, Annalen der Physik, 64, 1845
A-M Ampere, Mem. Acad. Sci. 6 (1823) 175-388
[5] That interactions take time was originally notified by introducing retarded potentials
A. Lienard , L’Eleclairage Electique 16 1898 E. Wiechert, Annalen der Physik 4 1901
[6] Animation of force mediation: http://www.hig.se/pdf/n-inst/kpz/magn%20force.htm
[7] Alternative derivations of time dilation:
J Byl, Galilean Electrodynamics 10 (1999) 107, 14 (2003) 99
OD Jefimenko, Am. J. Phys. 64 (1996) 812
J Ogborn, Physics Education, 40 (2005) 213-222
[8] Field free descriptions of electromagnetism
CF Gauss, Zur math. Theorie der elektrodynamische Wirkung, Werke (Göttingen), 5, 1867
W Weber, Elektrodynamische Massbestimmungen uber ein allgemeines Grundgesetz der
elektrischen Wirkung, Werke (Julius Springer) 3 (1893) 25
P. Moon, D. Spencer, Journal of Franklin Institute, 257 (1954) 203, 305, 369, 259 (1955) 293, 260
(1955) 213, 295
P. Moon, D. Spencer, Am. Journal of Physics, 22 (1954) 120
V. Bush, J. Math. and Phys. 5 (1926) 129
[9] Maxwell’s original field theory
J.C. Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1873
[10] Maxwell’s field equation as we see them in text books
O. Heaviside, Electromagnetic induction and its propagation, The Electrician, 1885, 1886, 1887
[11] Treatment of the pairwise electromagnetic interaction (only the third is fully correct)
WA Tripp, An analysis of Electromagnetic Forces, Electrical Engineering, 64 (1945) 351
R Eisberg, L Lerner, Physics. Foundations and Applications, McGraw-Hill, 1981
RD Sard, The Forces between moving Charges, Electrical Engineering 66 (1947) 61
[12] Motional consequences in gravitation (equivalent to magnetism)
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/19apr_gravitomagnetism.htm
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/20aug_gpbupdate.htm?list971555
[13] Noether’s theorem:
E. Noether, Nachrichten Gesell. Wissenschaft. Göttingen 2 (1918) 235
CH Kimberling, Am Math. Monthly 79 (1972 ) 136

390
Formal and Informal Aspects of the Teacher Formation: An Open Distance-
Learning Context for Educatinal Design on Simple Machines

F. Corni1, M. Michelini2

Research Unit in Physics Education of the University of Udine

1
Physics Department, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy
2
Physics Department, University of Udine, Italy
e-mail: corni@unimo.it

Some qualitative and quantitative results of a joint research on educational path design by
students of the degree courses in Primary Education of the Universities of Modena and
Reggio Emilia and of Udine are analyzed and discussed. A model of blended activity has
been developed and experimented; in particular, the web-supported joint activity about
simple machines completing the training path and consisting in three phases (in-depth study
of the assigned topic, search for experimental solutions and design of educational paths) is
object of this paper.

1. Introduction

A solid and widespread scientific culture can be achieved if science education and in
particular physics education start very early, together with the first experiments in observing
and representing the world around, at nursery and primary school; therefore the teachers have
to be formed for this task [1, 2].
Several studies on people’s familiarity with physics report that it is scanty, often resulting
from a reductionist teaching method, based on a synthesis of the main ideal laws offered as a
basic set of knowledge which can be applied to any context [3]. Pre-service education and
training of teachers, started in 1998 in many Italian universities more than eight years [4]
after the law which had instituted it, is an opportunity that should not be missed, in order to
offer the new generations of teachers a knowledge of physics which is solidly anchored to
their professionalism, so as to be used it in children’ education.
Educational design is one of the main professional skills [5], so an important issues to be
dealt with in pre-service training is to provide the teachers with basic scientific culture which
may enable them to perform successful educational design in spite of their limited knowledge
of the subject. This paper reports about a joint research experiment on educational path
design about simple machines carried out by researchers of the Universities of Modena and
Reggio Emilia and of Udine within the degree courses in Primary Education.

2. Work context and synchronous cooperation

Research collaboration is ongoing, between teachers of the degree course in Education of the
Universities of Udine and of Modena and Reggio Emilia, aimed at elaborating and testing
new strategies and methodologies for the teaching of physics [6]. The experiment here
reported was done in the academic year 2004-2005, when the courses of Design of
Educational Experiments of the two university sites were carried out during the same period
and according to the same syllabi, in order to enable the about 70 attending students to
perform both face-to-face and distance synchronous interaction.

391
Both single-site and joint-site activities were carried out: the focus of this paper is on the last
part of the intervention consisting in a network-supported distance cooperation between
students of both sites to perform joint design of educational paths on simple machines.
The web-based environment used for the experimentation supplies a variety of tools, ranging
from asynchronous communication tools such as web forums, internal messaging and
scricoll (a tool for distance cooperative writing), to synchronous communication ones such as
chats.
The reference materials for educational design (projects, cards, experiments, examples of
school activities) made available to the students were produced in the course of several
studies carried out in the field of scientific didactics and informal education [7] which can be
found in the webpage www.fisica.uniud.it/URDF/.

3. Web-based work methodology

The task was organized into 3 consecutive phases. Phase I (11 days long) where the students
analysed and discussed the physics concepts underlying simple machines by means of web
forums; phase II (13 days long) dealt with the search for and discussion of experimental
solutions starting from the students common experience and from the web resources
available to them; and phase III (7 days long) where the students in groups designed
educational paths by means of the scricoll. The scheme for drafting the paths was drawn
from the one carried out within the SeCiF project [8]. The activities were attended on-line by
a tutor who intervened in the process only to steer or correct the approach of the various
phases.

4. Results

The quantitative analysis, based upon statistical data, on the quality of the web-supported
cooperation has been described in a former paper [9]; only the elements necessary to the
analysis of the formal and informal aspects of educational design on simple machines will be
dealt with herein.
4.1 Phases I and II
During the first two phases of the activity the students performed individual on-line work,
taking part into several discussions launched and managed by themselves in the web forum.
Each student willing to propose a new topic was supposed to fix a title for the discussion and
to write the first message; the participants could joint the discussion either by proposing
further discussion threads (first-level messages) or by replying to messages belonging to
existing threads on any level.
Phases I was attended by 76 students who launched 88 discussion topics - not all of them
different from one another. A total number of 398 messages were sent (1.2 topics and 5.2
messages per student; 4.5 messages per topic). Phases II was attended by 69 students who
launched 76 discussion topics - not all of them different from one another. A total number of
330 messages were sent (1.1 topics and 4.8 messages per student; 4.3 messages per topic).
The level of cooperation among students was good, as is shown by the ramification index
[10] considering discussion topics containing more than 4 messages; therefore the qualitative
analysis of the contents - performed by grouping the whole of the students’ discussion topics
into macro-topics - is to be considered significant.
As regards Phase I, the macro-topics contained in the messages exchanged by the students
are relevant to three main categories: a) physics concepts (41%), i.e. force, torque, and
equilibrium; b) simple machines in general (19%); c) different kinds of simple machines, i.e.
levers, screws, and pulleys (40%). The topics were discussed by the students according to 4
main characteristics: 1) formal definition: mention of the relevant physical quantities and of

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their connections; 2) qualitative description of relevant aspects (e.g. “a wheel and axle is
made by a grooved wheel with a rope running over it”); 3) classification (e.g. the various
lever classes); 4) listing (e.g. “levers of second class are: nutcrackers and wheelbarrows…”).
Macro-topics concerning physics concepts are mainly introduced by means of the first two
categories, using formal terms.

Table I
MACRO- FORCE TORQU EQUILI SIMPLE LEVER SCREW PULLEY
TOPIC E BRIUM MACHI
NES
CHARAC
TER
Definition 36% 80% 83% 52% 66% 27% 44%
Description 27% 20% 17% 26% 28% 64% 33%
Classificati N/A N/A 17% 9% 24% 18% 44%
on
Listing N/A N/A N/A 17% 31% N/A N/A
N/A _ not applicable

As can be seen in Table I, students tend to quote definitions rather than providing
descriptions when dealing with unfamiliar concepts such as torque and equilibrium: it is as if
they tried to seek refuge in ready-made expressions in order to shirk responsibilities and to
avoid personal formulation of concepts, confining themselves to mere quotations of
statements and showing no in-depth knowledge of their meaning (inert knowledge area). The
concept of force, which is more familiar to students but requires deep critical comprehension
skills bound up with a mental model, is dealt with in a descriptive way as well.
Students provide non-formal verbal definitions of simple machines, together with
descriptions, classification and listing.
Messages exchanged by the students on the three kinds of simple machines are evenly
distributed in the first three categories, with less formal and less exhaustive presentations
which seldom refer to the physics concepts underlying their functioning. This reveals their
difficulty in connecting formal learning – namely physics concepts – with commonly used
everyday objects.
In Phase II (search for and discussion of experimental solutions) one can identify two main
strands in the messages exchanged by the students: particular kinds of commonly used
simple machines (74%), or educational activities addressed to children (26%).
The messages dealing with the 5 kinds of simple machines mentioned in the task assignment
sheet (lever, wedge, pulley, inclined plane and screw) were classified as follows: 1) technical
statements (T): the object is described in its parts; 2) physical statements (P): the physical
quantities involved and the mathematical relations which guarantee equilibrium are
mentioned, even though expressed in words; 3) didactical suggestions (D): activities are
proposed (most of which of experimental kind) to enable children to acquaint themselves
with simple machines; and 4) examples (E): examples of commonly used objects that can be
traced back to models of simple machines are provided (see Table II).
The incidence of messages dealing with wedges having low statistical relevance, this kind of
simple machine was ruled out from the analysis and comparison.
Levers are identified by students as commonly used everyday objects. Pulleys and screws are
often described in their technical details due to their use in technological instruments.
Finally, inclined planes are often described from the point of view of physics since they are
often dealt with in physics courses in different contexts.

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Table II
T P D E Tot.
messages
Lever 13% 14% 23% 51% 44%
Wedge 25% 0% 13% 63% 5%
Pulley 47% 12% 16% 26% 26%
Inclined plane 9% 35% 17% 39% 14%
Screw 44% 17% 6% 33% 11%

The educational activities proposed by the students definitely show that levers (88% of
messages) are the most easily identifiable simple machines among commonly used everyday
objects, and as such are the ones more frequently integrated into educational paths. Wedges
receive no consideration, whereas screws, pulleys and inclined planes appear in 7%, 4% and
2% of messages respectively
4.2 Phase III
During Phase III the students worked divided into 8 spontaneously created groups varying
from 2 to 13 students.
The educational paths produced appear to be globally (7 out of 8) coherent in their contents
and homogeneous in style though they have been designed by several authors. Web-
supported cooperation does not make design tasks heavier and favors the sharing of
knowledge and competence.
An informal, entertaining and ludic context is the reference framework of all the educational
paths produced during the experiment. The activities formerly performed raised the students’
awareness on this issue, that does not emerge from educational design carried out with
different methodologies [5]. Physics concepts re-emerge within the common-sense
framework characterizing informal educational approaches. Mechanical equilibrium is often
referred to as the avoiding of falling down of a body; weight is thought of as the only force to
be counterbalanced; active force is referred to muscular strength and by focussing only on its
intensity. Moreover, constraints are considered as physical points to be recognized as
fulcrums, and forces applied to them are hardly ever recognized.
The analysis of the educational paths produced by the students led to the identification of 2
general types of paths which are paradigmatic of the educational approach by teachers
undergoing pre-service training.
A. Pedagogic type: 4 paths out of 8. Good psycho-pedagogical grounding, including
quotations from the best-known authors in the field, prevail on the contents. The
activities proposed in these paths aim at enabling children to acquaint themselves with
materials (various kinds of simple machines) and terminology (lever, fulcrum,
equilibrium, inclined plane, etc.) or to instruct them in the use of simple machines
(mechanical advantage of simple machines) as if science learning could result from
children’s interaction with reality and not from the teacher’s supporting and guiding role
towards the achievement of a conceptual objective.
B. Balanced type: 2 paths. The activities proposed by these groups show special care for
the illustration of physical quantities and their correlation and for the support to be given
to children’ modelling skills through scale construction of models with commonly used
materials and through discussion of the children’s observations and of experimental data.
Group work ranges from nursery school to the last year of primary school and goes deep
into the theme of levers by means of a number of topics connected to one another in a
circular approach, making a correct use of the prevision-experiment-comparison cycle.
Besides the abovementioned general types, 2 particular cases emerged from the 8 paths.

394
a. Passive case (group 7). The contents deal with only one specific topic; prerequisites are
described in an imprecise and extremely general way; children’s difficulties in learning
are not ascribed to science concepts but to problems relevant to social, communication
and context issues; educational proposals are uncritically quoted from textbooks and
lesson notes. This reflects the students’ attitude of shirking responsibilities: they do not
feel the need of personal reworking and reflection upon the subject they are going to
teach.
b. Incoherent case (group 2). The path shows an evident lack of integration and
homogenization of the contributions provided by the group members probably due a lack
of adequate discussion among the students and to a lack of concurrence of views prior to
the joint design of the path.

5. Concluding remarks

Below are reported some points as guidelines for teachers’ training activities to come.
Investigation on the physical concepts underlying the design of the educational paths has
only inertly activated formal learning contexts. The competence applied to the design activity
belong to scientific and operational contexts which however are kept separated from each
other. The necessity to place learning in actual situations shifts attention from the general to
the particular and from physical concepts to the single everyday objects. Search for
experimental solutions appears to be correlated to the contents of Phase I only when the
learning context is informal and particular. The operativeness of educational proposals acts
as a bridge between physical concepts and their location in everyday-life contexts. Students
who design learning activities for children act in the light of a physical concept which is clear
to them and that they propose to children in ludic terms: the rules of the game are the rules of
physics. The students’ attitude is formal or informal according to the extent of their
familiarity with the single topics. Mere web-supported discussion along the same thread does
not enable students to overpass the boundaries of a single context; it is necessary to
strengthen the motivations for overpassing such boundaries thanks to the support of a web
tutor. On-line cooperation boosts the integration of different styles in dealing with the same
subjects, thus allowing the design of coherent learning paths. The paths may become more
specific thanks to a reflection upon the physics concepts underlying them (to be performed
during Phases I and II).
The available resources are not effectively and autonomously retrieved by the students: the
necessity emerges to support them in finding suitable documentation materials. It is to be
remarked as a particularly impressive feature that, though they were provided with adequate
reference materials, students still do research in the web or in books and publications in order
to carry out the task.
Much research work is needed yet to study the ways to activate the links between
disciplinary and professional competencies.

References
[1] Pfundt H and Duit R 1995 Students' alternative Frameworks and Science Education (Inst. for Sci.
Educ. Kiel D)
[2] Viennot L 1996 Raisonner en Physique (DeBoeck).
[3] Michelini M 2004 New approach in physics education for primary school teachers: experimenting
innovative approach in Udine University Inquires into European Higher Education in Physics, ed
H. Ferdinande, E.Valcke, T. Formesyn, European Physics Education Network (EUPEN) vol 7
p180.
Michelini M 2004 Physics in context for elementary teacher training GIREP book of selected
papers “Quality Development in the Teacher Education and Training” (Forum, Udine) p 389

395
[4] he difficult task of starting pre-service education for teachers has been accompanied by a cultural
debate documented since 1996 by the Journal Università e Scuola, edited by ConCURED
(National Conference of the Education and Didactic University Research Centers) in cooperation
with the University of Udine. The abstracts can be consulted on the Web site www.uniud.it/cird/
[5] Green Paper on Theacher Education in Europe, High Quality Teacher Education for High Quality
Education and Training eds F Buchberger, B P Campos, D Kallos, J Stephensen
(http://tntee.umu.se/)
[6] Corni F, Michelini M, Stefanel A (2003) Strategies in formative intervention modules for physics
education of primary school teachers: a coordinated research in Reggio Emilia and Udine GIREP
book of selected papers “Quality development in teacher education and training” (Forum, Udine)
p 382
[7] Michelini M (2004) Ricerche e collaborazione tra scuola ed università per l’educazione scientifica
(Udine, Forum)
[8] SeCiF - Studiare e Capire in Fisica (Studying and Understanding Physics), a PRIN project in
which 9 universities took part, aimed at producing educational projects for the teaching of Physics.
The materials produced by Udine University are available under the SeCiF icon at the page:
www.fisica.uniud.it/URDF/.
Items of the scheme: Introduction (remarks on the educational, methodological and scientific
assumptions); Methodological layout; Approach; Strategies and methodologies; Prerequisites;
Conceptual/organizational map; Thread (educational path, sequence); Activities to perform;
Conceptual cruces and learning challenges; Educational tools.
[9] Corni F, Fornasier P, Nichelini M, Virgili C (2005) Proc Associazione Italiana Calcolo
Automatico Conference (in press)
[10] Simoff S J (1999) Monitoring and evaluation in collaborative learning environments Proc
Computer Support For Collaborative Learning Conference (CSCL)

396
Informal Training of Primary School Teachers on Magnetic Phenomena

Marisa Michelini, Alberto Stefanel

Research Unit in Physics Education, University of Udine, Italy

michelini@fisica.uniud.it, stefanel@fisica.uniud.it

Introduction

Society’s demands upon the individual imply a capacity to make choices according to
themes, requiring specific scientific knowledge within a basic culture of wide spectra [1, 2,
3]. In this context we address the issue of basic cultural formation within a scientific field [4]
and, as a consequence, we suggest radical change in didactic content and strategy, revealed
to date as being incapable of providing this grounding [5,6]. Various studies have highlighted
the importance of an operative and active role of children in exploring phenomenological
contexts in order to build this awareness [3-8]. Primary school teachers are required to
possess new skills, for example: preparing and carrying out simple experiments; the use of
active and colloborative strategies in teaching-learning; the use of new technologies in order
to utilise their didactic-methodological fruits [4]. The main problems, faced in particular by
teachers in open teaching activities, concern either poor or non-existent scientific training,
cronic difficulties with regard to formalization and changes in the development and
consolidation of methodologies used in teaching [5, 6, 9, 10].
Literature differentiates three models of teacher formation: metaculturale, experience-based;
on-site [11]. It defines the different role and the limitations of each, and moves toward a
blending of the three in order to overcome the problems above [12-13]. A metacultural
reflection allows us to develop an organic frame of the theme in question, both on a
disciplinary level and on that of a related didactic proposal. Didactic laboratory activities
with experience-based methods enable us to deal with the disciplinary and methodological
challenges of a particular path. In addition they provide fundamental expertise for didactic
planning [14-16]. On-site experiments taking place in class provide concrete evidence, rather
than real innovation. [17-19]. They may reveal details and problems hidden in the planning
phase. Taking this unintentional or unconscious learning path is what characterises informal
learning [20-21].
The objective of this study has been the role of the experimentation carried out in school as
an informal learning in for primary school teachers formation. For this scope, during
2003/04, a collaboration between the University of Udine and two Schools in the
surrounding is activated in the context of action-research study of magnetic and
elettromagnetic phenomena (1). The principal results are documented in this paper.

The characteristics of the training programme and materials utilised

The four phases of the training course for teachers are presented in table 1.
These were developed over the two years of the project (1). The first phase was completed in
the first year. The second and third phases were carried out over the two years. Phase 4 took
place entirely in the second year.
The first phase began with a review of the available research relating to the principal learning
problems involved in the study of magnetic and electro-magnetic phenomena [22-23]. This

397
was integrated with an analysis of a didactic proposal, developed in response to these
problems [24].
In experience-based activities in the didactic laboratory, teachers carried out simple
experiments of phenonmenological exploration, similar to those that would be proposed to
the children in the following areas in the third phase: orientation of a suspended magnet or
compass; interaction between magnets; interaction between a magnet and other systems
(ferromagnetic and non-ferromagnetic); the concept of field; simple electromagnetic
phenomena and applications (electro-magnet). Materials of the phenomena section of the
GEI exhibit [25] were used, of which three examples are represented in fig. 1 [24]. Such
materials are simply assembled and easily available, given that they are everyday objects or
components of magnetic toys.

Phase W.S. Activities Teachers involved

1 8 - Review (Metacultural) of learning 4 teachers  6-7 year old children
problems concerning magnetic 4 teachers  9-10 year old children
phenomena and presentation of
educational proposal
- experience-based didactic
laboratory concerning educational
proposal
2 3 Didactic planning and preparation 2 teachers  6-7 year old children,
of methods and materials for 2 teachers 9-10 year old children
monitoring
3 1 On-site training in class 4 teachers  6-7 year old children,
experimentation and counseling via 2 teachers 9-10 year old children
email
4 2 Analysis of data from class 3 teachers (*)
experimentation

Table 1: Project phases; number of meetings in which teachers and researchers were
involved; activities and number of teachers involved (* - not foreseen for project). Two
teachers did not complete and second and third phases as they were transferred to other
schools.

Figure 1: Basic experimental apparatus to explore: a) suspended or floating magnets and

compasses; b) repelling magnets enclosed in a tube of plexiglas; c) different materials objects
interacting with magnets.

Expressly prepared work-sheets were provided when the experiments began. These were
organised in the following sequence, utilising the PEC (Prevision, Experiment, Comparison)
strategy [6]: Situation – a photo and a brief description present the situation teachers have to
work with; Prevision – a forecast of the experiment must be presented; Observation –
questions are aimed at stimulating the exploration of hypotheses and recognising different
aspects involved in the experiment that has taken place; Comparison – an invitation to

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discuss differences and analogies between prevision and observation; Conclusion – a re-
epilogue phase, activating the interpretative reconstruction of the phenomenon;
Transferability – a reflection on the transferability of the activity to the school setting and its
didactic role. This experimental phase required the strong participation of teachers both on
disciplinary and didactic levels, taking place using didactic tools [3-6].
The second phase of planning was characterised by an intense colloboration between
teachers. It produced two shared didactic projects: one for the classes of the first year of the
study and one for the classes of the second year. These were discussed on various occasions
with researchers, and modified/integrated by teachers on the basis of the observations that
emerged. In this phase objectives, tools and monitoring methods were set up.
In the table 2 we see the detail of the experimental groups working during phase 3. They
involved six teachers and four classes, and a total of sixty-two children. The teachers carried
out the experimentation in class with remarkable autonomy, posing a few questions via email
and in the course of one formal meeting.
In the phase 4, the active partecipation of teachers was not foreseen, but three teachers
involved in the experimentation wished to be directly involved in the analysis of data.
The following documentation, of the work carried out , provides key data of teacher training:

• Work-sheets, filled in during phase 1, provide indications of the initial ideas of the
teachers and of the impact of the experienced-based training;
• Monitoring, carried out by researchers during meetings and providing indications on
the problematic contexts arising during training;
• Work-in-progress projects, produced by teachers, providing indications on how the
content and didactic proposals evolved through the diverse phases;
• Implemented projects, these highlighted the impact of different training elements in
schools in terms of a product;
• School-results, of the implemented projects, providing an indirect view of teacher
learning;
• Summary sheets, handed in by teachers at the conclusion of class experiments,
providing the teachers’ specific ideas following training.

Class – School N° children (age) N° teachers Period N° Hours N° Work-

sheets
Class I - 21 (6-7 years) 2 (°) May 04 4 12
Pagnacco
Class I - 21 (6-7 years) 2 (°) May 04 4 12
Colloredo
Class IV - 7 (10-11 years) 2 April-May 03-04 10 3
Treppo Grande
Classes I e II - 13 (6-8 years) 2 April-May 04 26 10
Cassacco Oct. 04 - April 05

Table 2: Table of the experiments carried out. Six teachers were involved: 2 (°) worked
with the first two classes; four worked in pairs with the other two classes.

Teacher formation problems and situated activity role

Here we will discuss the principal contribution that informal activity, carried out on-site in
class during the third phase, brought to the formation of teachers, in terms of resolution of
problematic aspects not addressed in the previous phases.

399
With regard to concepts and physics teachers declared on their summary sheets that training
had helped significantly toward:

• Magnetic interaction and the different aspects describing this and, in particular,
‘property and behaviour of free or fixed magnets’ and ‘reciprocality of interaction’;
• Force as a formal description of interaction and in particular the ‘pair of forces that
act upon magnets in the interaction between free rotating magnets’;
• The concept of field.

The first two aspects are to be found in all of the work-in-progress projects. These have
borne the major influence of experiencial-based training, as shown by the compiled work-
sheets, which have then translated into effective competence with the situated activities. For
example, in the case of explorative activity concerning the interaction between suspended
magnets, the prevision of attraction between opposite poles and repulsion between similar
poles’ had been formed on the basis of prior knowledge. This was completely disproven by
the observations carried out. When this was compared with the experiment, it contrasted with
fact, as the same teachers observed: ‘while I was expecting it to repulse, in reality the magnet
positioned itself, turning around, to attract the other’. The resulting crisis was in part
compensated by the investigation of the interaction between fixed magnets. It was recognised
that with the interaction between magnets: ‘that distance influences effect’ and ‘when the
magnet turned, two forces are called upon’, but the problem of describing the phenomena
with a material point model remained unresolved. This problem was overcome initially in the
planning phase and eventually in class experiments. With regard to these concerns teachers
documented class activities and the learning path of the children in a greatly detailed manner.
In the case of situated training, therefore, discliplinary competence transformed into
professional competence within the specific and restricted environment under analysis, in
order to be able to: translate into effective didactic objectives; work operatively by preparing
relevant experiments; work with the children through motivational games and interpretative
challenges aimed toward specific objectives.
The third area dealt with by teachers, the concept of field, does not appear in the work-in-
progress projects and was introduced with a lesser role in the implemented projects. Despite
the documentation of the experiments, we see the various specific ways in which the children
dealt with this concept. For example the children spontaneously applied a primitive concept
of field to explain the repulsion between magnets (‘..because the two similar poles form ‘an
invisible ball’’). They recognised and worked with the effects of superimposition of the
action of different magnets in the same region of space, and also magnets in a series or
parallel magnets. The attainment of this level of understanding with children brought the
teachers to include an understanding of the concept of field among the most significant
learning of the training session.
On the methodological-didactic level, it was specifically recognised that the training was
oriented toward a didactic framework of personal operative involvement of the children, and
thus a collaborative construction of knowledge. In the summary sheets, the teachers agreed
that one of the principal contributions of the course ‘Acquisition of a working methodology
aimed at internalising concepts’, was ‘valorizing an experimental approach to content and
cooperative work’. These assertions find resonance in the implemented projects and in the
documentation of classwork and are not thus mere declarations of principle. Rather, they
represent the explicit awareness of the formative path taken, which itself may be
reconstructed using the detailed documentation materials.
From the first meetings teachers showed an interest in the themes to be dealt with,
recognising their importance in basic scientific training. They declared themselves

400
inadequate to deal with the topic at school due to a limited knowledge of the field restricted
to what could be found in scholastic texts, and they lamented the lack of documentation of
activities carried with children, limited to results research [26]. This combined with an
assertive approach to scientific education which is implied in the frequent question: ‘How do
you explain this detail/concept to children?’
In the work-in-progress-project teachers gave priority to an interpretative framework based
upon action at a distance, according to the explorative proposals they had evolved. Teachers
methodological proposals suggested an indeterminate manipulation, or an assertive strategy,
where scientific concepts were outlined by the teacher in a form not related to the
phenomenology. Themes and activities had a spontaneous nature, not linked to a coherant
didactic path or refined to a precise role.
With the implemented projects however, the themes were expressed in terms of well-defined
objectives of monitored learning with work-sheets for the children, re-elaborated by the same
teachers with a wider scope than that used in training. The activities were collated within a
didactic sequence with a definite role. We observed a tendency to ‘explain’ uncertain
concepts, for example that of field. This uncertainty was overcome with the direct experience
in the classroom. Discussing the phenomenology with the children and observing how they
were able to recognise and manage processes, such as those involved in the interraction
between free magnets, and more complex concepts such as that of field, helped them to
evolve a disciplinary and didactic competence ahead of the teachers, especially in these areas
where the latter had faced problems in the training and planning processes.
The methodological problem of the role played by the documentation of work in training
remains unresolved. Teachers judged the work-sheets to be ‘too long and structured.. but
important in order to specifically explain and recognise problems, acquire new
methodologies, to keep in mind conceptual problems and how it is possible to overcome
these.. ’. They were considered a non-stimulating part of the project and the children thought
they were a phase of compilation, of ‘recording the experiment that took place and the
relative conclusions on the sheet’, more a bureacratic duty than a learning activity.

Conclusions

This study has been a collaborative project between schools and the university regarding the
training of primary school teachers in the teaching of magnetic and electro-magnetic
phenomena. In particular, the objective has been to isolate the role of the informal phase in
the learning process in class.
The teachers involved in the training programme immediately recognised the importance of
practical activity in the learning process of the children. In addition they revealed experience
in proposing games, experiments, and imagination in inventing these. By contrast they
showed difficulty in recognising the role of learning in the proposed activities, with the
exception of those concerning motivational aspects. They did not demonstrate other
shortcomings in disciplinary competence, in the scientific field in general and in particular on
the specific theme of magnetism, where their experience was limited to shared general
knowledge or information recorded in scholastic books.
Experience-based training has been highly important in recognising of the role of hands-
on/minds-on activities in the stimulating of ideas, producing analogies and developing formal
thinking. Activity carried out in class enabled informal learning and operability to become
part of the competence of teachers at least in certain disciplinary fields. It provided an
occasion to master concepts and produced a didactic path. It produced the capacity to carry
out activities with a cognitive, differentiated objective, able to meet the requirements of
children and with a specific role for learning. It made full use of PEC strategies to build the
capacity to discuss one’s hypotheses in a rigorous manner. This has allowed us to recognise

401
which cognitive paths children follow. We have completed both didactic and disciplinary
training, in a way that the learning process of the children has provided proof that the
phenomenology of magnetic interaction may be explored and interpreted in macroscopic
terms. This may occur within the school environment where teachers have been able to
activate the children’s capacity to recognise and work through complex processes and
concepts, such as those involved in the interaction between free magnets and the concept of
field.
The impact upon the children and the ability to activate an operative discussion with them
thus became the mode of self-evaluation for teachers to view the efficiency of their own
training, particularly concerning the aspects that had been problematic previously, such as
the interraction of unfixed magnets and the concept of field. The teachers recognised,
however, that the operative approach to the construction of concepts allows children to
explore interpretative models and not only areas of experience. Thus they are able to
overcome the assertive style of description and transmission of knowledge, which produces a
disconnection between everyday experiences and scientific awareness.
In this way informal teacher learning, activated from the moment when one commits to
educational action which remains the professional task of all teachers, becomes the key to
their training.

Note
(1) Collaborative project PRIUS (PRojects of Interest for the linking of University and
School) Formare alle scoperte, co-financed by two School Institutions (Tricesimo,
Pagnacco) and the University of Udine and based on a partnership between university
and scholastic research units.

References
[1] Nersessian N. (1995) Constructive Modeling in Doing and Learning Physics, in C. Bernardini, C.
Tarsitani, M. Vicentini eds. (New York: Plenum Press,) pp. 77-95
[2] Euler M. (2001) Physics and physics education beyond 2000: views, issues and visions, in Physics
Teacher Education Beyond 2000, Pintò R., Surinac S. eds (Paris: Elsevier) p. 3-10
[3] Michelini M. (2003) New approach in physics education for primary school teachers:
experimenting innovative approach in Udine University, Inquiries into European Higher
Education in Physics, H .Ferdinande et al. eds. EUPEN, vol.7, p.180
[4] Michelini M. (2004) Physics in context for elementary teacher training, in Quality Development in
the Teacher Education and Training, M. Michelini ed. (Udine: Girep-Forum) pp. 389-394
[5] Longo A., Michelini M., Stefanel A. (2005) Blended activity using learning object in web open-
environments for primary school teachers formation in physics education, in M Michelini, S
Pugliese Jona eds, Physics Teaching and Learning (Udine: Girep-Forum) pp. 103-112
[6] Corni F., Michelini M., Stefanel A. (2004) Strategies in formative intervention modules for
physics education of primary school teachers, in Quality Development in the Teacher Education
and Training, M. Michelini ed., Girep book of sel. Pap. (Udine: Forum) pp. 382-386
[7] Bednar A.K., et al. (1991) Theory into practice. How do we link?, in Instructional technology.
Past, present and future, J.C. Angelin ed. (Colorado: Englewood, Libraries Unlimited)
[8] Duffy T.M., Jonassen D.H. (1992) Constructivism and the technology of instruction, Hillsdale:
Erlbaum, 1992
[9] Michelini M. (2004) Quality Development in the Teacher Education and Training, M. Michelini
ed. (Udine: Girep-Forum) capp. 1 and 3.6
[10] Michelini M., Stefanel A. (2005) Materiali e strumenti interattivi in rete telematica per la
formazione iniziale degli insegnanti elem. in fisica, Journ. of e-Learn. and Know. Soc. 1 (2)
[11] MicheliniM., Sartori C. (1998) Esperienze di laboratorio didattico in una struttura di raccordo
scuola-università Università e Scuola III, 1/R, pp. 18-29
[12] Sperandeo R.M. (2001) I.MO.PHY. a Netcourse supporting teachers in implementing tools and
teaching strategies in R Pintò, S Surinach eds. PhyTEB2000 (Paris: Elsevier) pp.135- 144

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[13] Sperandeo R.M. (2004) The pre service physics teacher education model in the FFC Cooperative
Italian Project: in M. Michelini ed. Loc. Cit. (Udine: Forum) pp.89-95
[14] Marucci G., Michelini M., Santi L. (2001) The Italian Pilot Project LabTec of the Ministry of
Education, in Phyteb2000, R.Pinto, S. Surinach Eds. (Paris: Elsevier), pp. 607-610
[15] McDermott L C, Shaffer P S, Costantiniou C P, 2000, Preparing teachers to teach physics and
physical science by inquiry, Phys. Educ. 35 (6)
[16] Sokoloff D R., Thornton R K., and Laws P W. (1999) RealTime Physics, Wiley, New York
[17] Landinin D. J. (1986) Classroom practice: teacher images in action (London: Falmer Press)
[18] Day C., Pope M., Denicolo P. (1990) Insights into teachers’ thinking and practice (London:
Falmer Press)
[19] M Eraut (1994) Developing professional knowledge and competence (London: Falmer Press)
[20] Tuomi-Gröhn, T.; Engeström, Y. (eds). (2003) New perspectives on transfer and boundary
crossing (Amsterdam: Elsevier)
[21] Griffiths, T. and Guile, D. (2004) Work experience as an education and training strategy: new
approaches for the 21st century..
[22] Pfundt D. and Duit R. (1994, Students’ Alternative Framework and Science Education. IPN Kiel,
Germany
[23] Bradamante F., Stefanel A. (2004) Learning problems related to field concept, in FFP-6 Udine
2004, sel. Contrib., approvato in stampa
[24] Michelini M., Stefanel A. (2004) Esplorare con gli oggetti di ogni giorno i fenomeni
elettromagnetici (Udine: Università di Udine) - materiali disponibili in rete all'indirizzo:
www.fisica.uniud.it/URDF
[25] Bosatta G. et al. (1996) Games, Experiments, Ideas, in Teaching the Science of Condensed Matter
and New Materials, M. Michelini et al eds. (Udine: GIREP-ICPE, Forum) p.445
[26] Fedele B., Michelini M., Stefanel A. (2005) Five-ten years old pupils explore magnetic phenomena
in Cognitive Laboratory (CLOE), Proc. Esera Conf. 2005, Pinto R. ed. in press.

403
The Danger of Misrepresentations in Science Education

John C.Moore1, Alexander Kazachkov1,2, Alexander G.Anders2, Courtney Willis3

1
Mathematics and Science Teaching Institute, University of Northern Colorado,
Greeley, USA,
2
Department of Physics, V.Karazin Kharkov National University, Kharkov,
Ukraine,
3
School of Chemistry, Earth Sciences, and Physics, University of Northern
Colorado, Greeley, USA
john.moore@unco.edu, akazachkov@yahoo.com

The science education literature has long recognized the importance student prior knowledge
in shaping concepts, but is also keenly aware of the misconceptions that can emerge from it.
However, factors that have been shown to lead to misconceptions include the overt or
inadvertent misrepresentations of science content fostered by textbooks or through
visualizations. In this paper we provide two vignettes of misrepresentations of physical
principles to explain resonance and surface tension. We question the heuristic value of these
representations, as they erroneously appeal to a student’s prior experiences, are misleading
on several levels, and have the potential of generating persistent misconceptions. Our aims
are not to simply point out the misrepresentation and the misconceptions they lead to, but to
explore the underlying roots and commonalities between them, and to offer solutions to
clarify them.

Introduction

Misconceptions of scientific principles among students originate from a variety of sources

including cultural background and everyday practice. However teachers and authors of
textbooks are no less responsible for the erroneous views of their pupils [1]. Even the most
concerned educators are often unaware of how misleading their presentation of the studied
natural phenomena and processes may be for the students. Unfortunately, most learners have
a single opportunity for formal instruction on the topic and thus retain a false, or at best a
confused, understanding. Even worse, instead of supporting the earlier acquired knowledge,
educational misrepresentations may violate the most basic scientific laws and thus undermine
integrity of students' education.

We define a misrepresentation as an incomplete, misleading, or incorrect explanation,

definition, construct, or metaphor of a complex phenomenon. We present an example of how
an incomplete and misleading explanation with the concept of resonance and how an
incorrect explanation using the concept of surface tension can lead to minor and gross
misrepresentations of scientific principles.

Vignette I -Resonance

It is a very common practice to illustrate resonant phenomena with a ‘pushing child on a

swing’ example which seems to be quite adequate and in a perfect agreement with the prior
knowledge of the students. Textbook authors and teachers regularly claim that to achieve the

404
greatest increase of the swing’s amplitude one should push it at the frequency that exactly
equals the natural frequency of the swing’s oscillations. The latter are reasonably assumed to
be harmonic, as in Fig.1.

Figure 1: Free motion of the swing.

Pushing the swing once a period in an amplitude position is nothing like a continuous action,
though. In particular, such a discrete impact produces a phase shift that changes temporal
characteristics of oscillations – Fig.2.

Figure 2: Pushing of a swing in an amplitude position once a period.

Addressing students experience in a more informal presentations, their instructors state that
‘every kid already knows’ that an exact coincidence of the frequency of external repetitive
pushing with the swing’s natural frequency is required to obtain resonance. Meanwhile, what
every kid certainly knows is that pushing every period it is not necessary for a wide swing,
one can miss it at random (the case of ‘lazy pusher’, Fig.3).

405
 Figure 3: ‘Lazy pushing’ (some pushes are missed at random).

Moreover, kids well know that when they are lucky to have two laborious friends to push
(Fig.4), the swing is reaching high amplitudes much quicker even though the strict textbook
requirement seems to be violated: frequency of pushing is not equal but twice as big as the
natural one.

Figure 4: Pushing a swing at double natural frequency.

406
To go further with the kids’ experiences: every child has a good idea how to damp and stop
swinging. Even the ones too young to know the definition of the phase of oscillation know
how to swing their legs at just the right moment to efficiently decelerate.

One is advised not to confuse the case of harmonic external force acting upon the system
oscillating at single natural frequency with pulse pushing of an oscillating swing, which is a
different problem. Otherwise, resonance that arises from discrete and continuous actions may
be confounded. In a simple, ‘conceptual’ approach, ‘pushing child on a swing’ is a it is a
perfect model to discuss storage and release of energy, phase conditions, etc. [2]. An explicit
spectral analysis of a series of acting pulses that requires from the students a solid
mathematical background will justify their intuitive understanding of the swing’s behavior
acquired due to the vast swinging practice.

Also it is worth commenting on a ‘classic’ textbook example of resonant phenomena, the

destruction of the Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge near Seattle, Washington (USA) by a
strong wind. That is an essentially complex problem illustrated by the uniform air flow
making flags flap [3]. A much more transparently resonant is an accident that happened in
Angers, France, with a group of soldiers when persistent in marching in step on a bridge [2]
caused its collapse. It is not hard to build a model for classroom experiments of the sort, to
supplement the swing/pendulum demonstrations of mechanical resonances.

Vignette II - Surface tension

Surface tension is ordinarily explained by inward attraction of the outer layer of liquid from
the bulk. According to this model, since the molecules in the surface layer have more
neighbors inside the liquid than on the outside, this layer is attracted towards the interior, and
an unbalanced net inward force is acting upon the surface molecules. But the Newton’s
Second Law of Motion leaves no alternative to the behavior of objects under the action of an
unbalanced net force: they must accelerate. And thus this simple model requires eternal
accelerated motion of surface molecules, which definitely is not the case. In other words, this
common textbook model is erroneous.

A realistic model of molecular interaction [4,5] in the liquid accounts for both attraction and
repulsion between the molecules depending on their separation (Fig.5a). For any pair of
interacting molecules there is a distance r0 of equilibrium between the attractive and
repulsive mechanisms of inter-molecular interaction, zero force acting between the molecules
and a minimum potential energy of the system U0, see Fig.5b.

The more neighbors around, the deeper is this minimum of potential energy, so less
neighbored surface molecules are more energized than the bulk ones [6]. The entire outer
layer bears an excess potential energy which is decreased as the area of the liquid's free
surface is reduced. The sufficient mobility of the molecules in a liquid allows a random walk
mechanism to account for a free volume of liquid reshaping into a sphere when gravity or
other external forces are not dominant. But either inside the bulk of the liquid or on its
surface, the net force of a molecule’s interaction with the neighbors is zero.

407
 Figure 5: Forces (a) and energy (b) of inter-molecular interaction as a function of distance
separating two molecules.

This gross textbook mistake is likely to originate from an over-generalization of the situation
created in the liquid when the surface tension is measured by the standard method of
stretching a film of liquid attached to a frame with moving side bar (Fig.6), or when children
force air over or through a soap film over wire loop when blowing soap bubbles.

In both cases, under an action of the external applied force Fext, molecules in the stretched
film are pulled beyond their equilibrium distance r0 (Fig.5a) into the range of attraction. Still
there is no net force acting upon the molecules of liquid as the attractive inter-molecular
force Fσ is balanced by the external force Fext .

408
Figure 6: Apparatus for measuring surface tension by stretching the film of the liquid; forces
acting upon the moving bar are shown.

Conclusions

Both examples cited above erred on the side of simplicity in order to convey complex
interactions or phenomena, tapping into a student’s prior experiences. Practicing teachers
should beware the danger of a misleading explanation hidden on the textbook pages. Critical
analysis of the traditional presentation of natural phenomena is mandatory and also provides
a good opportunity for the teachers to apply and develop their creativity.

Acknowledgements

Authors acknowledge support of this work by grants from the US National Science
Foundation (ESI-0109786, DEB-0217631, OPP-0425606).

References
[1] Hubisz, J., Middle-School Texts Don’t Make the Grade. Physics Today, 2003, 56, pp.50-54.
[2] Ogborn J. and Whitehouse M., eds., Advancing Physics A2, IOP Publishing, Bristol and
Philadelphia, 2000, pp.23-24.
[3] Walker J., The Flying Circus of Physics, John Wiley, New York, 1977, p.83.
[4] R.P. Feynman, R.B.Leighton, M.Sands, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Addison-Wesley,
Reading, MA, 1965, pp. 12-6, 14-5.
[5] Swartz C.E., Goldfarb T.D., A Search for Order in the Physical Universe, W.H.Freeman and Co,
San Francisco, 1974, p. 150.
[6] Zisman G.A, Todes O.M, General Physics Course, Nauka, Moscow, 1974, pp.216-217 (in
Russian).

409
Teaching Error Theory Using Virtual Data

Srdjan Verbić1,2
1
Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro
2
Petnica Science Center, Valjevo, Serbia and Montenegro
verbic@ceo.edu.yu

Undoubtedly, the best teacher of the error theory is experimental practice. However, practice
has three seriously weak points: 1) Practice is expensive and time consuming. It is hard to
provide opportunities for all students to design and repeat experiments as much as necessary.
2) Real experiments cannot be controlled completely. Such systems have too many
parameters that make all errors to follow Gaussian profile. 3) Parameters of a real system
cannot be manipulated easily. Hence, we cannot design "pathological" cases, very important
for educational purposes. Relatively simple way to overcome such difficulties is introduction
of virtual experiments. Virtual experiment can be defined as computer program that simulate
real experiments along with pseudo-random variation of measured values according to
postulated statistical distribution. Such experiments appear to be fertile area for investigation
of error distributions, mutual dependency of system components and testing of theoretical
models. Correct estimation of an error is equally important as correct estimation of mean
value. Only "ordered pairs" gives a meaning to a measurement and that is the point where
science education usually fails. Formula for an error of complex system based on total
differential gives a good prediction of output error only if relative errors become small and if
all components happen to be independent. Virtual experiments can help developing of
research intuition on such systems. Further, modeling and search for relationships between
parameters can achieve higher level of reliability if prove them on virtual variants of the real
experiments.

Introduction

Idea presented in this paper emerged from mutual interaction between participants of physics
seminars at Petnica Science Center [1,2,3]. Experiments exhibited in this paper are a part of
the Learning through Research (LTR) educational model [2,4] realized at Petnica. Target
group for this educational approach are extraordinary gifted and motivated high school
students already familiar with elements of experimental physics, higher mathematics and
programming. Practically, this paper is a concept for a series of lectures whose depth and
extent depends only on students' motivation. A lot of calculations presented here were
realized through homework proposed to students.

Unlike the traditionally defined curricula, learning through research has a program not
specified in terms of what is to be taught, but rather in terms how it is to be taught. LTR is a
model that enables two important moments in the process of knowledge acquiring. The first
one is an opportunity to "discover". A fact or conclusion emerged as a result of exploration
becomes unforgettable as well as a pathway. This route is a major source of research joy and
excitement, but a way of much more efficient learning also. The other important moment of
LTR is possibility of implementing new science ideas and techniques in order to confirm
well-known fact or principle. Results in students’ research surely don’t have to be "numbers"

410
seen for the first time. Seeking new methods for establishing the same old fact is research as
well.

One of the most important problems of physics education is invoking of measurement and
error concepts. Intensive laboratory work and analysis of results are equally important parts
of the solution. LTR requires a lot of critical thinking, so great attention is paid to the nature
of results' analysis itself.

Computers enabled not only new branches of physics, but also new approaches in physics
education. Somewhere between experiment and theory emerged numerical physics and that
area exhibited enormous potential for extra-curricular learning. Results of measuring in
numerical physics have the same attributes as those obtained through classical experiment.
However, numeric has one great advantage – computers can perform enormous number of
"experiments" and that enables us to see what would happen if we could make a million or a
billion measurements. This shift of limits is very important for educational applications.

Virtual measurements

Before we introduce virtual measurements, let's do a simple, classical measuring. Let a

simple pendulum swing and measure single periods of its oscillations. Suppose that we have
measured ten periods and got following set of values T[s]={1.47, 1.51, 1.44, 1.37, 1.44, 1.47,
1.56, 1.50, 1.58, 1.40}. Ten numbers are more than enough for calculating mean value and
standard deviation, so we can present obtained result as T=1.47±0.07 s and that would be the
end of an experiment. However, the end of real measurement can be the start of a different
one, virtual.

If we choose to use standard deviation as a measure of uncertainty, that way we implicitly

assume Gaussian profile of the distribution which is, fortunately, valid for the great majority
of different measurements. In other words, we assume that all measured values are coming
from a random number generator with normal distribution. It would be nice if we could show
students that real measurements of the period really form normal curve, however, that would
require hundreds or thousands of measurements. That would be too much for a
demonstration. If we make a virtual stopwatch instead, we could make millions of virtual
measurements easily. The only difference is that in the latter case we as teachers know exact
values of mean value (<T>) and standard deviation (σ) for our series of virtual measurements
doesn't matter how long it is. That could be a nice advantage for a demonstrator.

One of important things about measuring that we would like to show to students is that mean
value and standard deviation converge and that our uncertainty about their values is
decreasing in a certain way as we increase number of measurements. Naturally, it would take
too much time to demonstrate that using real measurements. Look at Figure 1. There is
presented how standard deviation depends on number of measurements (for the series of ten
measurements given in our example). It is obvious that we cannot be sure that standard
deviation converges at all until we make many more measurements.

411
 0.07

0.06

standard deviation
0.05

0.04

0.03

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
number of measurements

Figure 1: Standard deviation depending on number of measurements

If we want to find out more about the distribution of period values of that exact pendulum,
we have to make much more of measuring. However, if we want to investigate certain
properties of distributions and errors per se, we can use virtual measuring instead. We
already assumed that our measurements are samples from normal distribution determined by
<T> and σ. We can simulate measuring process by generating pseudo-random numbers from
the same distribution. A lot of mathematical software has implemented functions for
sampling from normal distribution. In MATLAB, for instance, that function is called randn.
At Figure 2 we can see an example how to generate new results obeying the same
distribution as for the first ten.

T=[1.47, 1.51, 1.44, 1.37, 1.44, 1.47, 1.56, 1.50, 1.58, 1.40]; % ten measured periods
Tm=mean(T); % the mean value
Td=std(T); % standard deviation
N=10000;
Tv=Tm+Td*randn(1,N); % array of 10000 values for virtual measurement

Figure 2: MATLAB code for generating of virtual results

If we want to see what is alike distribution of values for great N, for instance 10000, or to see
whether standard deviation really converges, we would have to measure period of a simple
pendulum for many hours and that would be hard and boring task. Generated "pseudo-
results" simulate real experiment and we can do further investigation. Figure 3 shows a part
of histogram for 10000 "pseudo-measurements". Obviously, fluctuations are less exhibited
and experimental distribution looks more like expected theoretical curve. Of course, there is
no reason why σ should behave in the same manner for yet another virtual experiment. If we
want to discover general behavior of σ value, we should find average σ for an ensemble of
different experiments.

412
 frequency of occurrence 0.072

standard deviation
0.070
600
0.068
0.066
400 0.064
0.062
0.060
200
0.058
0.056

1.38 1.40 1.42 1.44 1.46 1.48 1.50 1.52 1.54 10 100 1000 10000
"measured" period [s] number of measurements
Figure 3: Histogram of virtual measurements and Figure 4: Standard deviation depending on
expected theoretical curve number of measurements

The mean value error

Investigation of general behavior of the mean value and standard deviation demands more
than one virtual experiment. The first of all, we would like to show students that uncertainty
of the mean value decreases with number of measurements, but such conclusion can not be
inferred from a single experiment. MATLAB code given at Figure 5 demonstrates how
standard deviation of a set of different virtual experiments mean values depends on number
of measurements, i.e. iterations. Further, such "investigations" can lead students to "discover"
relations usually presented as a fact that can be inferred from a theory. For instance, let's see
what we can get from the example shown at Figure 5. Results are given on the log-log scale
at Figure 6. Undoubtedly, we get a power law. The slope of the graph, in this case -
0.51±0.02, gives us the power exponent. That means that uncertainty of a mean value
decreases as N-0.5. When students "discover" that relationship, they are open and ready to
learn about the standard error.

n=100; % n represents number of experiments.

Tv=zeros(n,N); % Instead of one, here we have n different arrays of virtual results.
Tvm=zeros(n,N); % matrix of the same size for successive mean values
for i=1:n
Tv(i,:)=Tm+Td*randn(1,N);
for k=2:N
Tvm(i,k)=mean(Tv(i,1:k)); % This is the simplest way to compute successive mean
end % values, but very far from optimal.
end
Tvmd=std(Tvm); % stand. dev. of mean values for different experiments with the same
% number of measurements
loglog(Tvmd,'.-'); % plot on the log-log scale

Figure 5: MATLAB code for computing mean values and its standard deviation

413
 log(standard deviation of the mean value)
-2.0

-2.5

-3.0

-3.5

-4.0

0 1 2 3 4
log(number of measurements)

Figure 6: Standard deviation of the mean value vs.

number of measurements

Indirect measurements

Virtual experiments are even more useful in indirect measurements. Virtual measurement
cannot replace real, just to simulate it using already determined parameters. However,
indirect measurements are the result of calculation from one or more direct measurements, so
we have the same prerequisites for real and virtual measurement – correctly made direct
measurements and relationships between values that enable us to compute the value that
cannot be measured otherwise.

Gravitational acceleration cannot be measured directly if we are equipped with a stopwatch

and a ruler only, but we can measure periods for different lengths of simple pendulum and
hence compute the slope of the graph of the square of the periods against length. It is trivial
to apply linear fit on experimental results and obtain the slope. More serious problem is how
to compute the slope's error. Unfortunately, majority of available mathematical software do
not include information about the error in the least square algorithm and therefore we get
unreliable or totally useless estimation for errors of fitting parameters. Problem is even
bigger if distribution of measurement values does not obey Gaussian distribution. Using
virtual experiments we can determine how individual errors influence final result in all these
cases.

l [m] ∆l [m] T [s] ∆T [s] T2 [s2] ∆T2 [s2]

0.54 0.01 1.47 0.07 2.15 0.2
0.80 0.01 1.79 0.07 3.20 0.25
1.04 0.01 2.05 0.08 4.20 0.35

Table 1: Lengths, periods and accompanied errors for a simple

pendulum

414
In Table 1 are given values for periods, pendulum lengths and accompanied errors as an ex-
periment example. Our task is to compute g and its uncertainty using a virtual experiment.

In this case, virtual experiment samples pseudo-results, for both co-ordinates, from estimated
distributions and determines fitting parameters (Figure 7). The mean value and the error of
parameters can be obtained statistically. An algorithm for determining gravitational
acceleration and its error is given at Figure 9.

4.5 <k>=4.07
square or periods [s ]
2

500
σk=1.63

frequency of occurrence
4.0

400
3.5

3.0 300

2.5
200
2.0

1.5 100
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1
pendulum length [m] 0
2 3 4 5 6 7
Figure 7: Possibilities of linear fit through points value of the slope
with significant experimental errors
Figure 8: Histogram of slopes from Figure 7

x=[0.54, 0.80, 1.04]; % points' x values

y=[2.16, 3.20, 4.20]; % points' y values
ey=[0.2, 0.25, 0.35]; % y-axis errors
ex=[0.01, 0.01, 0.01]; % x-axis errors
for i=1:10000 % 10000 repeats
vy=y+randn(1,3).*ey; % varied y values
vx=x+randn(1,3).*ex; % varied x values
kn=polyfit(vx,vy,1); % linear fit
sl=kn(1); % a slope
k(i)=sl; % array of slopes
end
ak=mean(k); % average value of slopes
dk=std(k); % standard deviation of slopes
hist(k,20); % histogram of slopes
g=(2*pi)^2/ak; % value for g
dg=dk/ak*g; % value for ∆g
sprintf('g=%1.1f±%1.1f',g,dg) % display final result as g±∆g

Figure 9: MATLAB code for determining distribution of virtual values of g

Histogram of virtual slopes clearly visualizes distribution of that parameter. The same routine
we can use to calculate the intercept or coefficient of correlation.

Conclusions

The error theory is a tale about small students' discoveries and better understanding of natural
phenomena. There are, obviously, many things concerning correct use and interpretation of

415
results that cannot be demonstrated in the classroom because of the lack of the time. Using of
virtual measurements can speed up the learning process significantly.

It is also important to notice that there exist a lot of experiments that we cannot easily
perform in schools for reasons other than lack of time, like radioactive decay. Simple virtual
experiment could compensate such a shortage. Ultimately simple mechanism of radioactive
decay, for instance, allows us to simulate the process by typing a few lines of code only in
front of our students. That is real advantage of computers in a classroom.

References
[1] http://www.psc.ac.yu
[2] Verbić S., 1999 Conceptual Distinctions of Petnica Science Center Physics Education Program
Proc. of GIREP 1998 Conf. 375-378 Duisburg
[3] Majić V., 2000 Science Education Newsletter 2000 152 1-3
[4] Verbić S. and T. Damjanović, 2001 A Model of Advanced Science Education – "Learning
Through Research" Proc. of 1st IOSTE Symposium for Southern Europe 2001 Nicosia

416
Evaluation of Superconductivity Program

Erika Mechlová, Libor Koníček

University of Ostrava, Ostrava, the Czech Republic,

erika.mechlova@osu.cz

Introduction

The Superconductivity Multimedia Educational Tool [1] were prepared in the Leonardo da
Vinci Programme SUPERCOMET in 2002-2004 years [2]. Target group for this tool is the
secondary school teachers of physics. This tool can facilitate not only the learning activities
of pupils in schools but out-off activities of pupils, too. The Superconductivity Multimedia
Educational Tool consists of the Teacher Guide, the multimedia Superconductivity CD, and
the Superconductivity Demonstration Kits and Material. The aim of this Tool is integrating
superconductivity into the curriculum in upper secondary schools in different countries. The
multimedia Superconductivity CD was evaluated. The stress was given on active learning of
pupils and how these materials facilitate the teacher preparation of pupils’ activities.
Constructivism, cooperative and collaborative learning, inquiry-based learning were the main
content of questionnaires.

The electronic materials Superconductivity Multimedia Program on CD have translated into

the languages of 15 countries and it is adapted to the systems of education of these countries
in the Leonardo da Vinci Programme SUPERCOMET 2 in 2004-2006 years. There are many
activities in SUPERCOMET 2 program. The evaluation of the Multimedia Superconductivity
Program on CD was one of the first activities. The reason of the evaluation was improving
the quality of the Superconductivity Multimedia Program. The results of this evaluation are
given in this contribution.

There were two groups of evaluators - reviewers. The first evaluation was carried out by
experts from different countries – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Great Britain, Poland,
Italy, and Belgium. The second one was carried out by teachers of partners’ secondary
schools from the Czech Republic.

The questionnaire for the first evaluation was prepared by Erika Mechlova (CZ), Nadezhda
Nancheva (BG), Pervoletka Docheva (BG), Libor Koniček (CZ), and Vegard Engstrøm (NO)
at the 3rd SC2 Meeting in Ostrava in April 2005 and it was corrected by Harvey Mellar (GB).

The questionnaire for the second evaluation was prepared by Erika Mechlová, Libor
Koníček, and Petr Smycek (CZ).

The electronic program Superconductivity consists of six modules. The list of developed
modules is as follows:
1. Magnetism of wires and magnets
2. Magnetism of coils and materials
3. Electromagnetic induction
4. Electric conduction
5. Introduction to superconductivity

417
 6. History of superconductivity

1. Evaluation of Superconductivity CD by the international experts

The group of international reviewers consisted of professor in physics education, professor in

physics, senior lecturer in physics education, professor in experimental physics, senior
lecturer in educational computing, physics teacher secondary education, teacher trainer and
coach.

The electronic material on Superconductivity CD were evaluated from the point of view
1. Technical aspects of the computer applications
2. Scientific aspects of the computer applications
3. Pedagogical aspects of the computer applications
The results of these evaluations are 27 pages of recommendations that are on website of
Leonardo da Vinci programme for all members of team that come from 15 countries. The
short conclusions of these recommendations are given in this article because of to avoid these
matters in future.

1.1 Technical aspects of the Superconductivity CD computer applications

The Superconductivity multimedia program on CD operates on MS Windows XP and MS

Windows 2000. Browsers that were used without any complication were MS Internet
Explorer, Mozilla, and Netscape. There were any technical difficulties with starting up and
using the applications. All characters were displayed correctly on screens including Greek
alphabet and exponents.
Hotkeys for navigation were not implemented in the evaluated version of program;
navigation was done by mouse clicks. The opinions of the international experts were
different, they prefer both type of navigations.
The numbers of pages are missing, it has to be improved.
The “BACK” in inner parts of modules is missing, it has to be improved.

1.2 Scientific aspects of the Superconductivity CD computer applications

The questionnaire had three parts as concern scientific aspects:

a) Scientific errors in the animations and suggested improvements
b) Scientific errors in the text explaining the animations and suggested improvements
c) Correspondence of the scientific content of animations and texts with the stated
prerequisites and learning objectives in the Teacher Guide

Every six modules were evaluated from above stated points of views. Results are as follows:

Scientific errors in the animations in modules from 1 to 6 take in different running of real
experiment and animation. Animations don’t correspond to real experiments especially as
concern following phases of experiments and duration of these phases. Preparation of
animation is suggested through model: real experiment – phases of real experiment – model
of real experiment – animation.

Scientific errors in the text explaining the animations in modules from 1 to 6 take in
microscopic explanation of Ohm’s law, explanation of Cooper pairs, incorrect names of
physicists, using vectors in place of scalars and vice versa, labelling of axes incorrect way

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only by units of quantities in place of quantities and units, one axes with scale and the second
one without scale.

Correspondence of the scientific content of animations and texts with the stated prerequisites
and learning objectives in the Teacher Guide are good. There were only a few remarks.

Expert’s recommendations:
The modules from 1 to 4 are structured in the same way and they are complete. The modules
5 and 6 are not complete at all. There is no systematic approach to the different items in these
modules. Especially module 6 “History of superconductivity” is not suitable for the
secondary schools – recommendation to remake it.
Use systematically the ISO-31 and especially ISO-31-11 Mathematical signs and symbols for
use in the physical sciences and technology [3] as concern terminology, types of characters,
legend on axes.

1.3 Pedagogical aspects of the Superconductivity CD computer applications

Based on work with the SUPERCOMET material, more advanced pupils shall be able to [1;
10]:
1. Argue how a theory is related to evidence
2. Explore actively possible uses of phenomena
3. Explore actively technological implications of a new discovery
4. Describe how scientists gain and interpret data
5. Describe how science and technology uses new ideas
6. Communicate scientific ideas to different audiences
7. Ask questions to themselves about physics and how it is related to everyday life
8. List some connections between different fields of physics
Achieving of overall aims and learning objectives are realistic only for the most advanced
pupils.

Animations and text correspond with the stated prerequisites and learning objectives.
Recommendation is to add some movies from real experiments.
Organisation of content inside each module is good. There are only a few recommendations
for module 5 and remake module 6.
Experts recommended new module in he next version as concern quantum phenomena and
some experiments in “tips” or “SEE MORE”.
The others pedagogical suggestions for the next version of the computer application are as
follows:
- Only further explore modelling and development of simulations rather than
animations
- Make stop-picture easily possible.

2. Evaluation of Superconductivity CD by the secondary school teachers

The Czech teachers of the partners’ secondary schools filled up questionnaires. They gave
points from 6 to zero to the questions, the best quality was 6 points, and the worst quality
was zero points. They gave the appreciations in a few items of questionnaires. Results are
given in tables as follows.

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 2.1 Evaluation of the technical aspects of Superconductivity CD

The teachers had to give points from the best 6 to the worst zero.

Table 1: Technical aspects of Superconductivity CD

Questions Points
Give points from the best 6 to the worst 0

Is the interface intuitive? 4.5

Is the material well systematized? 5.0
Is navigation clear? 5.0
Is the resource technically stable? 5.5
What is your opinion about quality of the animations? 6.0

The animations were regarded as the best, the resource was technically stable. The interface
wasn’t intuitive – it has to be improved.

2.2 Evaluation of physics content on Superconductivity CD

Table 2: Physics content of Superconductivity CD modules

Module
1 Magnetism of coils and materials:
Are the aims of module clearly formulated?
2 Electromagnetic induction:
Are the aims of module clearly formulated?
3 Electric conduction:
Are the aims of module clearly formulated?
4 Magnetism of wires and magnets:
Are the aims of module clearly formulated?
5 Introduction to superconductivity:
Are the aims of module clearly formulated?
6 History of superconductivity:
Are the aims of module clearly formulated?
Appreciations
Good module, more universal point of
view is missing
Good module, more universal point of
view is missing, formulas are missing
Very good module, errors – Ohm’s law,
labelling of axes by units, graphic
representations of physics functions
y = f(x)
Very good module, formulas are
missing
The best module, questions are difficult
without previous modules
Module is focused theoretically

Table 3: Properties of physics content of Superconductivity CD

Questions Points
Give points from the best 6 to the worst 0
Is the content accurate? 4.75
Is the content up-to-day? 6.00
Is the content objective? 5.50
Is the content reasonably comprehensive? 4.25
Does the content making clear its bias? 5.00
Is the content relevant for learner? 5.00
Does the content appropriate vocabulary? 5.50
Are the animations presenting the physics content clearly? 6.00
Is the text for the simulations clear? 5.00
What is your opinion about quality of the animations? 6.00

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From the point of view the Czech teachers the best module is “Introduction to
superconductivity”. The modules “Magnetism of coils and materials” and “Electromagnetic
induction” have a lack of more universal point of view. The worst module from the point of
view teachers is “History of superconductivity.

2.3 Evaluation of content on Superconductivity CD from the pedagogical view

Table 4: Pedagogical rate of Superconductivity CD content

Questions Points
Give points from the best 6 to the worst 0
Is it clearly formulated addressee of program? 5.25
Are the aims of program clearly formulated? 4.75
Is the structure of program clear? 5.50
Do the resources provide support? 5.25
Do the resources give feedback? 4.50
Do the resources give the enhancing collaborative learning by 5.00
encouraging learners to discuss problems?
Do the resources share information and ideas and group agreement? 4.75
Are the animations present clearly the studied effects and phenomena? 5.75
Will the animations help students to create mental images of studied 6.00
effects and phenomena?
Is the text to the animations clear? 5.50
Do the simulations provoke student’s interest in physics? 5.75

The evaluation of physics content is positive. The accuracy of physics content has lower
level. The Czech secondary school teachers are familiar with the texbooks where the
statements are very exact.

Conclusions

The evaluation of Superconductivity on CD is very useful for enhancing of learning

effectiveness for the target group and for eliminations of all errors - obscure texts, incorrect
statements, curious pictures, animations, simulations, videos, etc. The first evaluations of
SUPERCOMET CD ROM were made by experts from different countries. These experts
were specialists in physics, physics education, and computer science. The second evaluations
of SUPERCOMET CD ROM were made by experts – the partners’ secondary schools
teachers from the Czech Republic. The results both evaluations and recommendations were
the same.
The third evaluations will be made by secondary school pupils. They are the final recipients
of all superconductivity materials.
Leonardo da Vinci Programme yields very good experience in international co-operation.
The evaluations serve for all countries - every country can receive the best material at the end
of project. But the educational history and present educational policy are different, the
country has own history and adaptation of materials for different countries is necessary.

References
[1] Earle A 2004 Supercomet. Superconductivity Multimedia Educational Tool. Trondheim: Richard
Birkelands, 2004. 208p. ISBN 82-8130-045-0.

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[2] Engstrøm V 2004 The SUPERCOMET Project - animation electricity and magnetism for upper
secondary school Teaching and Learning Physics in new Contexts. University of Ostrava, 2004, p.
149-150. ISBN 80-7042-378-1.
[3] Mathematical signs and symbols for use in the physical sciences and technology 1999 Part 11 ISO-
31-11

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Web-Based Multimedia Application “Solid State”

N.Nancheva, D.Kirilova

University of Rousse, Bulgaria

nancheva@ru.acad.bg

The application “Solid state” is part 7 from the set of web-based multimedia applications
cover the general course of physics and is aimed at graduation students in all engineering
specialities with a four years curriculum. In the application all multimedia elements are
included – text, images, animations, Java applets. The lecture material is organized in four
modules: Solid state structure, Band theory, Contact phenomena and Luminescence, which
are linked to each other. Except basic theoretical parts and description of the basic physics
laws, in the application are included the sections “Questions and tasks”, “Virtual
laboratory”, presented by 18 applets and “Biographies”. The material in the section
“Question and tasks” is for self-evaluation and can be considered only if the students have
passed through all the stages.
The application contains and proposes a high number of traditional and interactive examples.
Emphasis is put on the motivation of students and stimulating their interest in “Solid state”
and generally in physics.

Introduction

The main goal of teaching and learning physics in the field of engineering courses is deep
understanding and acquisition of the physics phenomena, laws and principles. On their base
the students can successfully model, analyze, syntheses, and optimize the real-word objects
in the taught specialized subjects.
Visualization of physical phenomena and laboratory experiences has always been important
component for reinforcement and understanding of physics concepts. Visualization of
phenomena through such techniques as demonstrations, simulations, models, real-time
graphs, and video can contribute to students` understanding of physics concepts by attaching
mental images to these concepts. These visualization techniques not only allow students to
observe how objects behave and interact, but also provide students with visual associations
that they may capture, and preserve the essence of physical phenomena more effectively than
do verbal descriptions [1].
Within the higher education community, multimedia is being used more and more and with
increasing success. Multimedia-based systems provide the student with a very rich source of
educational material in a form that makes learning exciting.
This paper presents a web-based multimedia application “Solid state’’ that will be used for
teaching and learning physics for the students from all engineering specialties at the
University of Rousse.

Used products

The application “Solid state” is WEB based multimedia application, created mainly as
HTML format with Java applets in addition. Macromedia Dreamweaver and Flash have been
used. By producing materials in the form of Web pages, we can introduce students naturally

423
to the use of Web browsers such as Netscape, and to sites that may be of future interest to
them as professionals.

Application structure

The application “Solid state” is part 7 from the set of web-based multimedia applications
cover the general course of physics and is aimed at graduation students in all engineering
specialities with a four years curriculum.

SOLID STATE

Solid state Contact Questions Biographies

structure phenomena and tasks

Band Luminescence Virtual laboratory

theory

Figure 1: Application structure

We are gathered here to share our ideas and experiences to improve physics education for the
future, and this paper is focused on the use of multimedia and modern information
technology. The application can be used for distance education too. The document is
available in html format and simulations and animation are based on Java applets. As a
background for the application a lecture material [2] and some ideas from [3 - 9] has been
used. The lecture material is organized in four modules: Solid state structure, Band theory,
Contact phenomena and Luminescence, which are linked to each other. The structure of a
web-based application is presented in Fig. 1
The basic page concept is simple. Navigation through the application is not a problem. From
the screen “Menu” students can choose different sections to work (Fig. 2).

424
 Figure 2: Main page

Figure 3: Edge and mixed dislocations

The module Solid state structure contains: Atomic structure and bonding – types of atomic
and molecular bonds, ionic bonding, covalent bonding, metallic bonding, secondary bonding,
mixed bonding; Crystal structure – the space lattice and unit cells, crystal systems and
Bravais lattices, principal metallic crystal structure, atom positions in cubic unit cells,
direction in cubic unit cells, Miller indices for crystallographic planes in cubic unit cells,
FCC, HCP and BCC crystal structures; Crystalline imperfections (Fig.3, Fig.4 and Fig.5) -
vacancy, dislocations - edge, screw, mixed; Quasi-crystals; Liquid crystals (Fig.6);
Amorphous solids; Polymeric materials; Thermal properties of solid state.

425
 Figure 4: Crystalline imperfections

The module Band theory contains: Metals, dielectrics, semiconductors; Electrical properties
of materials – electrical conduction in metals, energy-band model for electrical conduction,
semiconductors- intrinsic, extrinsic; photoconductivity – impurity and intrinsic; Dember`
effect.

Figure 5: Shotky` defect

The module Contact phenomena contains: contact metal-metal, contact metal-

semiconductor, contact p-n semiconductors; Volta` effect; Seebeck` effect; Peltier` effect.

426
 Figure 6: Liquid crystals

In the module Luminescence all type of luminescence are included: photo-, hemi-, tribo-,
thermo-, electro-, cathodo-, et ….

Figure 7: Questions and tasks

Except basic theoretical parts (Fig.2, Fig.3 and Fig. 4) and description of the basic physics
laws, in the application are included the sections “Questions and tasks” (Fig.7), “Virtual
laboratory” (Fig.8 and Fig.9), presented by 18 applets and part “Biographies” (Fig. 10).

427
 Figure 8: Crystal structure and properties of CdS

Figure 9: Fermi` level

Conclusion

In the application all multimedia elements have been included – text, images, animations,
Java applets. The application contains and proposes a high number of traditional and
interactive examples. Emphasis is put on the motivation of students and stimulating their
interest in “Solid state” and generally in physics. The material in the section “Question and
tasks” is for self-evaluation and can be considered only if the students have passed through
all the stages.

428
 Figure 10: Fermi` biography

References
[1] Cadmus, R. R. A video technique to facilitate the visualization of Physical Phenomena, American
Journal of Physics, 58(4), 397-399, 1990
[2] Nancheva, N. Physical Effects and Phenomena, Siela, Sofia, 2003
[3] Apostolov, A. Physics of Condensed Matter, Sv.Kliment Ohridski, Sofia, 2000
[4] William, William F. Principles of Materials Science and Engineering, McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1996
[5] http://materials.npl.co.uk/
[6] http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/applets/
[7] http://jas2.eng.buffalo.edu/applets/education/
[8] http://crystal.com/steffenweber/
[9] http://www.lassp.cornell.edu/sethnal/hysteresis/hysteresis.html

429
Author Index
A I
Allasia, D. ...........................................196
Alves, C. .............................................175
Anders, A. ...........................................404
B
Baptista, C...........................................175
Bazovsky, M. ......................................161
Bertolini, M.........................................120
Biznarova, V. ......................................113
Bradamante, F. ....................................364
C
Capra, N. .....................................120, 126
Cardella, M. ........................................154
Cerreta, P. ...........................................328
Chiaverina, C..............................190, 275
Corni, F. ..............................................391
D
Dąbkowska, E. ....................................322
Danese, B. ................... 126, 133, 227, 285
D'Anna, M...................................359, 371
Defrancesco, S. ...................126, 133, 227
Del Longo, L.......................................133
Dirckx, J..............................................233
Dvořák, L. .....................................91, 201
E
Engstrøm, V. .......................................221
Euler, M. .................................................9
F M
Fazio, C...............................................236
Fishman, A..........................................233
G Micklavzina, S.................................... 282
Głowacki, M. ......................................139
Gołąb-Meyer, Z...........................291, 311
Gratton, G. ..........................126, 133, 227
Gratton, L............................................221
Grifo, M. .............................................133
Guardini, R..........................120, 126, 133
Guastela, I. ..........................................236
430
Ignatova, T. ........................................ 249
Ireson, G. ............................................ 221
J
Jankowski, R. ..................................... 322
Jejčič, S............................................... 168
Jurdana-Šepic, R................................. 149
K
Kamińska, A............................... 221, 311
Karbowski, A...................................... 322
Karwasz, G. ................................ 221, 311
Kazachkov, A. ............................ 249, 404
Kirilova, D.......................................... 423
Kocijancic, S. ..................................... 243
Kocik, B. ............................................ 139
Koníček, L. ......................................... 417
Kos, M........................................ 108, 187
Koupil, J. ............................................ 201
Kranjc, T............................................. 334
L
Lambourne, R....................................... 53
Lanzinger, M. ............................. 120, 133
Lasič, S. .............................................. 255
Lavarian, C. ........................................ 133
Lawrence, I......................................... 291
Levrini, O. .......................................... 347
Logiurato, F. ............... 126, 133, 227, 285
Lubini, P. ............................................ 371
Mathelitsch, L..................................... 298
Mechlova, E. ...................................... 417
Michelini, M..18, 207, 364, 376, 391, 397
Milotić, B. .......................................... 149
Mohorič, A. ........................................ 262
Moore, J.............................................. 404
N
Nagy, A. ............................................. 351
Nancheva, N. ...................................... 423
Niedzicka, A....................................... 311
Niedzicki, W....................................... 311
Nowakowska, H..................................311
O
O’Sullivan, C. .....................................243
Osiński, G. ..........................................322
Oss, S. .................................126, 133, 227
P
Papp, K................................................351
Pecori, B..............................................347
Peeters, W. ..................................221, 233
Peternel, V. .........................................214
Pitrelli, N.............................................317
Planinšič, G.................................108, 187
Poljšak, G............................................255
Pospiech, G.........................................305
Prytz, K. ..............................................384
Przegietka, K.......................................322
R
Rajch, E.......................................221, 311
Rinaudo, G. .........................................196
Rishpon, M............................................58
Rodari, P. ............................................154
Rogers, L.............................................359
Rossi, A...............................................347
S
Sabaz, L. .............................................143
Santos, L. ............................................175
Sayavedra-Soto, R...............................341
Schlichting, H.J.....................................40
Sebestyen, D. ......................................180
SłuŜewski, K....................................... 322
Sokoloff, D.R. .................................... 267
Spizzichino, A. ................................... 347
Staszel, M. .......................................... 184
Stefanel, A. ................................. 207, 397
Strnad, J................................................ 82
Szczyrba, I.......................................... 249
T
Tarabelli, R................................. 120, 126
Tarantino, G. ...................................... 236
Teplanova, K. ..................................... 104
Testa, I................................................ 376
Titulaer, U.M........................................ 63
Toglia, C.L. ........................................ 328
Turlo, J. .............................................. 322
U
Ucke, C............................................... 101
V
Van Dyck, D....................................... 233
Verbic, S............................................. 410
Vollmer, M.......................................... 190
W
Walton, R. .................................... 69, 104
Willis, C. ............................................ 404
Wróblewski, T. ................................... 311
Z
Žuvic-Butorac, M. .............................. 149
431