Abstract:

The Mathematical High School is an experimental didactic research-project, promoted by the Department of Mathematics of Salerno (Italy) and currently active in over 160 institutes in the whole Italy. It is developed in high level secondary schools performing integrative interdisciplinary activities in laboratory mode with the collaboration of universities and research centers. Among the activities proposed to the third year high school students participating in the project, an interdisciplinary path in the scientific field was developed in collaboration between the mathematics department of the University of Salerno and the National Institute of Nuclear Physics in Naples (INFN – Napoli Unit). The students were guided by researchers to develop activities in the field of astroparticle physics by playing the role of researchers firsthand: using the Cosmic Ray Cube, a portable detector based on the latest technologies developed to construct the instruments for the real experiments, they counted the cosmic muons as function of the zenith angle and identified their trajectory. They compared the collected data with theoretical expectations and used statistical methods to reconstruct particle directions.

These activities began in presence in the classroom where the students observed and studied how a particle detector is built and understood the geometric, mathematical and physical significance of the data they collected. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic led to the transformation of an activity designed to be carried out in person to an activity to be carried out completely online. The students therefore used the apps already prepared and available open source online for data analysis. The whole process was monitored both from the scientific point of view, because the data collected have experimental value, and from the didactic point of view, because appropriate monitoring instruments were set up to evaluate the impact that this experience had on the students’ education.

Moreover, researchers intended to assess if and how the students were affected by the switching to remote activities. The data have been scheduled and in the article the results will be analyzed.

Keywords:

Technology-enhanced learning, interdisciplinarity, astroparticle physics, mathematics.