Abstract:

The laboratory practice is essential for learning physics and scientific subjects: this is the core of the scientific method, whose first formulation is traditionally claimed in Italy, with Galileo Galilei and its experimental approach to the study of physical phenomena, from the observation to the abstraction of theories and models.

Unfortunately, the experimental approach is often overlooked in teaching, for several reasons: school laboratories may be not adequately equipped (obsolete or non-functioning instrumentation, poor assortment, lack in maintenance, missing catalog); due to the combination of reduced number of hours in the weekly schedule and increased contents to be delivered for the final exam, some teachers may favor lecture style of instruction rather than hands-on sessions or other student-engagement practices; the teachers themselves may lack of laboratory training.

In order to establish a solid contact between schools and experimental science in academia, Sapienza Università di Roma and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) launched Lab2Go, an initiative in the framework of actions promoted by the Italian Ministry of Education (PLS, Programme for promoting Scientific curricula in the university; PCTO, Path for acquiring Transversal Competences and Orientate students’ career), with the goal of spreading the laboratory practice among students and teachers in high schools.

Lab2Go was born in Rome and was focused on physics, however in just few years it has expanded across Italy reaching a large number of regions and town thanks to the increasing involvement of INFN, and has enlarged its scope to other scientific disciplines (Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Robotics, Earth Science and History of Science). Moreover, for preserving the specific vocation of the project to promote hands-on learning despite the circumstances introduced in schools by the COVID-19 pandemic (on-line teaching and strong limitations in accessing laboratories in most of the schools), an innovative formula has been introduced: Lab2Go@Home, consisting in a series of on-line seminars aimed at showing experiments that can be made at home using easily accessible materials, and exploiting resources commonly available, as smartphone (with their integrated sensors, in combination with dedicated physics apps), or other devices and on-line tools, that can be employed as well for introducing programming and coding in a multidisciplinary framework. Initiated to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, Lab2Go@Home can aid at facing off some of the issues of school laboratories, since contents and instructions provided during the on-line sessions can indeed offer hints and suggestions for enriching the laboratory equipment and introducing new approaches in traditional classes.

Keywords:

STEM, science, physics, experiments, school laboratory, laboratory practice, equipment, instrumentation, teaching, hands-on, smartphone, Arduino, coding.