The course aims to provide some basic knowledge in the field of physics so that students can acquire a view of the discipline more consistent with actual scientific practice. For this reason, lectures will focus not only on content but also on disciplinary epistemic practices (observation under hypotheses, qualitative and quantitative experiments, use of ideal cases, simulations, counterfactual mental experiments, etc.), with insights related to the history and epistemology of the discipline and the science-society relationship. At the same time, issues related to the didactic transposition of physics will be addressed, starting with the analysis of students' spontaneous ideas in relation to the topics covered.

Specifically, the course aims to promote the following educational objectives:

• Understand the descriptive/interpretive function of Physics toward everyday phenomena.
• Identify the theoretical and experimental components of Physics and be able to justify from an epistemological point of view the operationalization of concepts and the function of verification/falsification procedures.
• Understand the relevance of scientific education for making responsible choices on issues of public importance.
• Develop a scientific attitude through repeated exercise of the peculiar "habits" of thought and action that characterize it.
• Understand what the goals of physics teaching in pre-primary and primary school are and design teaching activities consistent with them.
• Identify disciplinary epistemic practices and know how to design teaching activities that enable children to enact them, taking into account widespread misconceptions.

The course addresses from disciplinary, didactic and historical-epistemological perspectives and with different levels of depth the following topics:

• The role of science education in the knowledge society
• Epistemic products and practices: the didactic transposition of mathematised physics
• The mathematisation of nature through measurement 
• Pre-Galilean physics: spontaneous/ingenue ideas about force and motion and students' misconceptions (speed and acceleration)
• Movement without force: Galileo and the principle of inertia (uniform rectilinear motion)
• Newton and the principles of dynamics
• Force versus energy
• The law of universal gravitation
• The law of falling bodies (uniformly accelerated motion)
• Archimedes’ Principle and Buoyancy
• Heat and temperature 
• Light and colours

None

Knowledge and understanding:

At the end of the course, the student will have to demonstrate that: he/she knows and understands the concepts, models and fundamental laws of Physics together with disciplinary epistemic practices; he/she has understood the educational aims of teaching physics in infant and primary school; he/she knows historical and epistemological aspects of the discipline useful for its adequate didactic transposition; he/she knows the main difficulties in learning physics due to the ideas that children spontaneously form in relation to the natural phenomena they experience; he/she has acquired the criteria for designing teaching activities consistent with the educational objectives of pre-primary and primary school.

Applying knowledge and understanding:

At the end of the course the student should demonstrate the ability to formulate falsifiable hypotheses to be checked empirically by verification/falsification procedures; to interpret inductive generalizations in probabilistic terms; to use of ideal models or counterfactual mental experiments to interpret natural phenomena; to solve simple problems by justifying individual steps; to distinguish naturalistic experience of phenomena from experiment (observation vs. manipulation of variables); to design teaching activities that foster contextualization of children's spontaneous ideas by comparing them with scientific knowledge.

Making judgments:

Upon completion of the course, the student will be expected to demonstrate the ability to: assess the quality of scientific information on the basis of the authority of the sources and the reliability of the epistemic practices used; critically evaluate the appropriateness of epistemological and pedagogical choices in the selection and didactic transposition of disciplinary content and epistemic practices; evaluate the coherence between learning objectives and the teaching activities designed to achieve them.

Communication skills:

At the end of the course, the student should have acquired the ability to communicate the knowledge learned through the use of discipline-specific language; the ability to articulate and coherently argue epistemological and pedagogical choices related to the didactic transposition of the discipline.

Learning skills:

By the end of the course, the student will have acquired the ability to independently investigate historical-epistemological and didactic aspects consistent with the purposes of teaching physics in pre-school and primary school, based on his or her personal interests; the ability to independently research scientific information by evaluating the authority of sources; the ability to compare, by identifying similarities and differences, the epistemic practices of physics with those of other experimental (e.g., experimental pedagogy) and non-experimental (e.g., history) disciplines.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Formative assessment tests are planned during the course to enable students to evaluate the level of their preparation. These tests are intended as self-assessment tests (with answer key) and will be made available on the Moodle platform› blended.uniurb.it

Teaching

The course includes multimodal lectures and practice exercises that will be made available on the Moodle platform› blended.uniurb.it

Innovative teaching methods

Some topics in the course will be covered following the practice of "learning by doing" (use of open access simulative models) and "flipped classroom".

Attendance

Attendance of the course is not mandatory, however it is recommended. 

For a better understanding of the course content, a review of basic math knowledge through the materials (theoretical explanations and guided exercises) made available within the Moodle platform. It is recommended. However, any difficulties will be taken into account during the lectures and may become the subject of targeted group exercises.

It is also advisable, but not essential, to have acquired basic knowledge of General Didactics.

Course books

M. Leone, Insegnare e apprendere fisica. Nella scuola dell'infanzia e primaria. Mondadori Education spa, Milano, 2020.

M. Tombolato, La conoscenza della conoscenza scientifica. Problemi didattici, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2020.

Additional in-depth texts uploaded by the lecturer on the Moodle platform ' blended.uniurb.it.

Notes, slides and exercises (with solutions) referring to the programme contents will be uploaded on the blended page in the sections of the lectures dedicated to these topics.

Mathematical tools for physics, Zanichelli (online), available on the Moodle platform ' blended.uniurb.it.

Open-access videos and simulations analysed during the lectures, indicated within the materials and/or in the lecture sections, accompanied by questions to guide their viewing and understanding.

Optional texts:

Ugo Amaldi, Le traiettorie della fisica azzurro. Da Galileo a Heisenberg con interactive e-book, con Physics in English (VOLUME UNICO). Prima Edizione, Marzo 2012. Ultima ristampa, 2016. Zanichelli editore, Bologna 2012.

O. Brondo, G. Chirico, Insegnare la fisica nella scuola primaria. Il laboratorio e il metodo scientifico, Carocci, Roma, 2019.

M. Dorato, Disinformazione scientifica e democrazia: La competenza dell’esperto e l’autonomia del cittadino, Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano, 2020.

J.J. Schwab, P.F. Brandwein, L'insegnamento della scienza come ricerca e in relazione all'insegnamento di base, Armando editore, Roma, 1965.

Assessment

The intended objectives are tested through a written test consisting of 8 exercises and 2 open-ended questions. The test will last 90 minutes.

The evaluation criteria for the exercises are as follows:

• Correctness of the procedure
• Justification of the solving steps

The evaluation criteria for the open-ended questions are:

• coherence and relevance of the answer in relation to the programme content;
• exhaustiveness of the answer;
• adequacy of the disciplinary language used.

Each of the criteria is assessed on the basis of a four-level value/judgement scale with equal weight assigned to each criterion.

The final evaluation is expressed in thirtieths.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Those unable to attend class lectures will study on their own according to the program outlined in this vademecum and taking into account the files available on the platform Moodle › https://blended.uniurb.it.

Attendance

For a better understanding of the course content, a review of basic math knowledge through the materials (theoretical explanations and guided exercises) made available within the Moodle platform. It is recommended. However, any difficulties will be taken into account during the lectures and may become the subject of targeted group exercises.

It is also advisable, but not essential, to have acquired basic knowledge of General Didactics.

Course books

M. Leone, Insegnare e apprendere fisica. Nella scuola dell'infanzia e primaria. Mondadori Education spa, Milano, 2020.

M. Tombolato, La conoscenza della conoscenza scientifica. Problemi didattici, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2020.

Additional in-depth texts uploaded by the lecturer on the Moodle platform ' blended.uniurb.it.

Notes, slides and exercises (with solutions) referring to the programme contents will be uploaded on the blended page in the sections of the lectures dedicated to these topics.

Mathematical tools for physics, Zanichelli (online), available on the Moodle platform ' blended.uniurb.it.

Open-access videos and simulations analysed during the lectures, indicated within the materials and/or in the lecture sections, accompanied by questions to guide their viewing and understanding.

Optional texts:

Ugo Amaldi, Le traiettorie della fisica azzurro. Da Galileo a Heisenberg con interactive e-book, con Physics in English (VOLUME UNICO). Prima Edizione, Marzo 2012. Ultima ristampa, 2016. Zanichelli editore, Bologna 2012.

O. Brondo, G. Chirico, Insegnare la fisica nella scuola primaria. Il laboratorio e il metodo scientifico, Carocci, Roma, 2019.

M. Dorato, Disinformazione scientifica e democrazia: La competenza dell’esperto e l’autonomia del cittadino, Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano, 2020.

J.J. Schwab, P.F. Brandwein, L'insegnamento della scienza come ricerca e in relazione all'insegnamento di base, Armando editore, Roma, 1965.

Assessment

The intended objectives are tested through a written test consisting of 8 exercises and 2 open-ended questions. The test will last 90 minutes.

The evaluation criteria for the exercises are as follows:

• Correctness of the procedure
• Justification of the solving steps

The evaluation criteria for the open-ended questions are:

• coherence and relevance of the answer in relation to the programme content;
• exhaustiveness of the answer;
• adequacy of the disciplinary language used.

Each of the criteria is assessed on the basis of a four-level value/judgement scale with equal weight assigned to each criterion.

The final evaluation is expressed in thirtieths.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

For updates and information relating to the Course and Workshop, we recommend systematically checking the lecturer's communications on the platform Moodle › https://blended.uniurb.it.