A group of Italian researchers (RD&RS) reflected for some years on the contribution of the history of physics in teaching/learning physics in secondary school. This group RD&RS cooperate to design the T6 Module of the Master IDIFO2426 aimed at professional development of secondary school physics teachers at national level. A preliminary questionnaire explored the role attributed and the...
This presentation explores the role of analogical reasoning in astronomy and cosmology, emphasizing how analogies have shaped scientific discovery, theory development, and communication. It examines key historical examples such as Galileo’s analogy between the Moon and the Earth, Newton’s gravitational analogy, and visual models like Eddington’s expanding balloon. Special attention is given to...
In the history of the study of physics, the principle of inertia and the concept of force have been the toughest stumbling blocks for students. But they have also been for teachers, if it is true that, to date, more cognitive research has been carried out in this area than in any other. More generally, all three laws of dynamics have proved difficult to understand and explain, if authors such...
The amount of rainfall over a certain territory within a specific time interval has always been highly relevant for understanding hydrogeological and atmospheric phenomena. Its importance is steadily growing due to the need to monitor and study climate change. While the analog rain gauge for measuring cumulative rainfall may seem like a simple graduated container, the choice of its shape and...
Educational games have a long and rich history. Among them are numerous examples of card and board games that have been used over time to teach and popularize scientific knowledge.
This practice was particularly widespread among the middle and upper classes of European society between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. However, even earlier—in the 17th century—such games had already...
In Italian upper secondary schools, especially in techno-scientific courses, contemporary physics topics such as special relativity and quantum mechanics are often treated superficially as late-stage additions rather than integral components of the curriculum. This is mainly due to structural limitations but also to resistance to methodological innovation. Yet in today's world, permeated by...
The title of this paper, a clear paraphrase of Eugene Wigner’s renowned essay on the role of mathematics in the natural sciences, is intended to highlight the epistemological significance of analogical reasoning—a process that the history of science has shown to be pivotal across numerous domains and in a wide range of discoveries. The resemblance between concepts, the referencing and...
The Dedalo publishing house in Bari has shown great interest in popularisation of science and political commitment since it began publishing in 1965. The acceptance of il Manifesto, rejected by Einaudi and Feltrinelli, as well as the purchase in 1967 of the seminal magazine "Sapere", the first science popularisation magazine in Italy, are just two examples of the many publications that have...
Astronomy has always had a big charm on people of all ages and it is therefore a discipline well suited to draw them closer to science. In this talk, we'll present an initiative in which university students organize and carry on in first person dissemination and didactic events for kindergarden kids to high school students to third-age people by joining the StarAntola association of volunteers...
The project NOCTIS aims at building and coordinating a network of already existing small telescopes covering the whole Italian territory. These regional and/or private observatories may be used to perform simultaneous observations or to overcome the drawback of local bad weather allowing delocalised observations. NOCTIS will provide both scientific photometric data (either stand-alone or...
Anyone who teaches physics in high school is familiar with the challenges that arise when tackling certain topics. If one does not want to resolve the issue in an authoritarian manner by retreating to the textbook, it becomes necessary to seek out paths that aid in understanding—not so much of a concept as it is presented in the book, but of how that concept came into being. Added to this is...
