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Attitudes towards Physics: Developing an instrument to measure the Physics learning improvement in Italian high school
No full textTo assess students’ attitudes towards Physics, teachers and researchers need an instrument focusing on the learning difficulties arising from different causes. As is well known in the literature, these difficulties depend on a number of factors deeply involved in the learning process and related with the teaching strategy and methodologies. Considering these main factors as referred to threedimensional model, we have developed an attitude scale according to the cognitive, affective and behavioral components. The reliability test on a sample of about 500
students in a scientific high school of Trieste (Italy) retained an excellent CronbachAlpha coefficient. A brief description of the statistical analysis is reported focusing on the main results from the collected data. The use of this tool is proposed for a more extensive investigation in order to quantitatively highlight which attitudes emerge and encourage the promotion of curricular and orientation activities better calibrated to develop a positive attitude towards Physic
High school students’ attitudes towards physics and physicists: An analysis based on multiple correspondence analysis
No full textIn this paper we describe high school attitudes toward physics using Semiotic Dynamic Cultural Psychology Theory (SDCPT). A View of Physics questionnaire was used to collect data about the views on physics and physicists with 337 high school (16–18 years old) students. Data were analysed through Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis. We identified four basic generalized meanings of physics. In particular, it turned out that students see physics as either: a) interesting and important for a technology-based society; b) quite interesting, but badly taught at school and not completely useful for society; c) difficult and irrelevant for society; d) fascinating and important to study at school, but with an underrated value for society. Our study supports the use of the SDCPT framework to refine interpretative models of students’ motivation towards physics and develop new ways of teaching physics at secondary and university level
Modelling surface displacement in restless hydrothermal regions: The case of a thermo-poro-elastic inclusion in a poro-elastic half-space
No full textHydrothermal regions experience various phenomena, including ground deformation and, in the case of calderas, interaction between deep magmatic processes and shallow aquifers. The present work considers a source model consisting of a disk-shaped thermo-poro-elastic inclusion subject to a sudden change of temperature and pore pressure, embedded in a homogeneous poro-elastic halfspace. We compare semi-analytical solutions for surface displacement with results from four other source models. The displacement components are similar to those of a spherical point-like source for a certain choice of geometric parameters, while they differ from the other models. On the basis of this comparison, we interpret the results of inversions on ground deformation data of the 1982–1984 unrest episode at Campi Flegrei caldera, Italy, where the thermo-poro-elastic source provides the best fit
Teaching Physics at the time of the pandemic
No full textThe health emergency caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic has forced university teachers to deeply modify and innovate their teaching methodologies. We wondered how and how much these new teaching methods have worked, whether they have contributed efficiently to the preparation of students and which of these could be used in the future as support for those students having problems in attending lectures and exercises on site, such as working students, students with disabilities and students with special educational needs (BES), i.e., characterised by stable or transitory difficulties requiring customised interventions. The survey presented here concerns, more specifically, the Physics Experiments I course, which in Italy is carried out during the first year of the Degree in Physics. The course involves laboratory exercises and, therefore, has significantly been modified by remote teaching
Silicon metasurfaces with tunable electromagnetic resonances for nonlinear optical conversion
No full textDielectric metasurfaces sustain electromagnetic modes which can be exploited to enhance nonlinear frequency-conversion processes such as thirdharmonic generation. In this work we employ electron-beam lithography to fabricate
silicon metasurfaces supporting electromagnetic resonances with different quality factors (Q), ruled by the geometry. This allows to investigate the trade-off between resonant enhancement and matching the spectral bandwidth of the ultrafast excitation source. Both experiments and simulations indicate that higher values of Q do not a priori bring about a stronger third-harmonic generation, which correlates to the spectral overlap between the metasurface resonance and the pump bandwidth
Position locking of a resonant gain-assisted metallic/dielectric nano-shell in Optical Tweezers
No full textWe calculate optical forces on dye-enriched resonant nano-shells in dual-beam Optical Tweezers. We investigate the non-linear gain-assisted enhancement of their optomechanics and study their behaviour through Brownian dynamics simulations. When the wavelength is red detuned with respect to the plasmon resonance, we observe that the particles are efficiently trapped at the laser beam
intensity maxima of the dual beam standing wave. Conversely, for blue-detuned wavelengths the nano-shells are channelled through the standing wave antinodes due to the sign reversal of the optical force. This open perspectives for gain-assisted optomechanics where non-linear optical forces are finely tuned to manipulate controlled nano-photonic systems
Study of enhanced radio-resistance induced by hibernation
No full textDuring hibernation/torpor, mammals show an enhanced resistance to radiation. This effect, whose mechanisms are still unclear, could have important applications in radiotherapy and for space travels. In recent years a procedure to induce a state mimicking torpor (synthetic torpor) was described for non-hibernators (rats), renewing the interest in possible human applications. The multi-disciplinary HIBRAD experiment was conceived to test the possible radio-resistance induced by synthetic torpor and investigate its molecular mechanisms, focusing on the early response. Analysis of tissue damage and gene expression indicate that synthetic torpor reduces radiation damage, possibly by the activation of specific gene pathways
Quasi-liquid crystals of electrons and positrons
No full textA new statistical analysis of infrared synchrotron radiation (IR-SR) emitted by electrons and positrons at DAΦNE Φ-Factory (Frascati) and Bessy 2 (Berlin) reveals inner degrees of freedom within bunches of relativistic particles. We thus propose a new methodological approach towards a theory that describes the passage from a phase of maximum symmetry to a condensed phase having the qualities of a nematic mesophase of positrons and electrons
Physics instrument makers in 19th-century Veneto: Two case-studies
No full textOften considered marginal figures in the history of physics, instrument makers, who often worked in the 19th century for institutions such as universities, high schools and observatories, actually contributed significantly to the
development of physics and to its diffusion thanks to the instruments they made and sometimes designed. In this article, we examine the case of the instrument makers
working in the Veneto region in the first half of the 19th century by presenting two instruments as case studies. These two instruments —a steam engine and a heliostat— won in 1822 and 1829 prestigious awards in the context of the industry
prizes promoted by the Venetian and Lombard Istituto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti. Through the study of these instruments, I will also shed light on the often unsuccessful attempts at technological development that characterised Veneto in those year
Seeing invisible colours: An on-line inquiry-based activity on electromagnetic radiation
No full textWe created a formal inquiry-based activity on electromagnetic radiation for high school students. The main topics of the activity are the electromagnetic spectrum and the matter response to different wavelengths, with a focus on visible, UV, near, and far-infrared. The activity is linked to some informal learning aspects from the scientific theatre of the Milan University project “The Show of Physics”. The activity can be done remotely, by maintaining an inquiry approach. In this work, we present the didactic path and the first results obtained