2,555 research outputs found
The Higgs mechanism for undergraduate students
No full textAbstractThe Higgs mechanism gives mass to particles as a result of the interaction between massless particles and a scalar field. In this version it is reformulated in a purely classical form, using a simple formalism suitable for undergraduate students. The need for the Higgs field is justified with arguments following from a review of the concept of energy and from special relativity.While most of the popularisations of the Higgs mechanism relies on analogies with friction, the proposed explanation appears to be at the same time formally coherent and simple enough to be proposed to undergraduate students, the prerequisites being just the knowledge of the energy density of electric and magnetic fields
Physics Experiments with Arduino and Smartphones
No full textThis book on the use of Arduino and Smartphones in physics experiments, with a focus on mechanics, introduces various techniques by way of examples. The main aim is to teach students how to take meaningful measurements and how to interpret them. Each topic is introduced by an experiment. Those at the beginning of the book are rather simple to build and analyze. As the lessons proceed, the experiments become more refined and new techniques are introduced. Rather than providing recipes to be adopted while taking measurements, the need for new concepts is raised by observing the results of an experiment. A formal justification is given only after a concept has been introduced experimentally. The discussion extends beyond the taking of measurements to their meaning in terms of physics, the importance of what is learned from the laws that are derived, and their limits. Stress is placed on the importance of careful design of experiments as to reduce systematic errors and on good practices to avoid common mistakes. Data are always analyzed using computer software. C-like structures are introduced in teaching how to program Arduino, while data collection and analysis is done using Python. Several methods of graphical representation of data are used
Le moderne tecnologie digitali per il laboratorio di fisica
No full textLe moderne tecnologie digitali come gli smartphone e le schede Arduino rappresentano una preziosissima risorsa per praticare attività di laboratorio nelle scuole. Questi strumenti permettono di superare numerosi limiti, tipici dei laboratori tradizionali, e persino di continuare l’attività sperimentale in periodi
difficili come quello in cui ci troviamo a causa della pandemia da COVID-19, per la quale la prima attività a esser stata sacrificata è proprio il laboratorio.
L’adozione dei modelli proposti in questo articolo va ben al di là delle opportunità offerte per svolgere attività in remoto, rappresentando un’occasione unica e formidabile d’innovazione non solo tecnologica, ma, soprattutto, metodologica
Towards a demystification of quantum mechanics
No full textQuantum Mechanics is being included in numerous school programmes as part of the curriculum. Most modern textbooks introduce it emphasising its strange or, at least uncommon, somewhat paradoxical, character. We argue that such an approach is wrong because rather than attracting the interest of students toward the topic, it makes quantum mechanics almost unbelievable and artificial. The resulting perception is that quantum mechanics is in fact not understood at all and that we need a new theory that eventually will supersede it.
In contrast, we propose a new approach on classical physics that, stressing the role of the measure- ments in physics, introduces the concept of state very early in the curriculum. Such a concept is reviewed on each classical physics topic and the concept of force as a vector is almost abandoned for the concept of interaction defined as something that change the state.
In this way it is possible to introduce quantum mechanics without violating any conviction the students acquired learning classical physics. In other words quantum mechanics appears to be as natural as classical physics, at least from the point of view of the results of the experiments
Software tools at the Rome CMS/ECAL Regional Center
No full textThe construction of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter is under way in Rome and at CERN. To this purpose, two Regional Centers were set up in both sites. In Rome, the project was entirely carried out using new software technologies such as object oriented programming, object databases, CORBA programming and Web tools. It can be regarded as a use case for the evaluation of the benefits of new software technologies in high energy physics. Our experience is positive and encouraging for the future. (10 refs)
Riflessioni dall’esperienza dell’insegnamento della Fisica per l’innovazione didattica
No full textL'articolo illustra le innovazioni introdotte in anni di sperimentazione nel corso di fisica per biotecnologi di Sapienza Università di Roma. Le innovazioni proposte possono servire da stimolo per un ripensamento integrale della didattica della fisica a tutti i livelli scolastici e all'università
Reconsidering Physics Education for better understanding of modern physics
No full textMost current educational presentations of quantum physics still propose the same difficulties that emerged in the early twentieth century, often as a mean to engage students. Those difficulties emerged among physicists mostly because the lack of a suitable meaning of what “reality” has to be considered. Instead of engaging students, those difficulties leave them confused because they lack the awareness of what a physical theory is and its relationship with the experiments. We will discuss this problem, both from the epistemological and the educational point of view and give indications to provide an increasingly solid foundation for the educational reconstructions of quantum physics starting from classical physics that must be reconsidered in view of the final objective rather than opposing it to modern physics
Inducing the construction of formal axioms of Quantum Mechanics and fostering their comprehension by high school students: The effectiveness of a conceptual approach
No full textTaking as a paradigmatic example an educational reconstruction of Quantum Mechanics (QM), we discuss the approach and general research lines followed by the Physics Education Research Group of the Universities of Milan
and Rome. Our choice is prompted by the fact that through QM students can lay out the structure of a new grammar, which is necessary for the presentation of any quantum theory (in particular, Quantum Field Theory) in high school. In
particular, we discuss the results of a 15-hour pilot experimentation made in A.Y. 2021–2022, with high school students and teachers. The results obtained are highly
encouraging since they appear to indicate that the introduction of formal aspects of QM in Italian high school is possible with more than satisfying learning outcomes
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