FISICAST: A PODCAST TO TRAIN SCIENTIFIC REASONING

Several experiences show that physics is fascinating, especially when it comes to everyday experiences. Based on that, we have realized "FISICAST, the physics podcast" available for listening at www.radioscienza.it/fisicast (in Italian).

FISICAST consists of audio tracks whose length is of about 15-20 minutes, usually in a dialogue format, told in common language, without assuming a specific predetermined level of preparation and without using mathematical formulas. The project aims to exercise people capacity to follow scientific reasonings about the concepts of physics, natural phenomena and common technologies. The goal is to stimulate scientific knowledge and interest in research. Also we contemplate the possibility that the instrument can be used in teaching in secondary schools to stimulate curiosity in young people and to provide interconnections between subjects.

We chose a purely audio mode, based on a text prepared by the author and then refereed by a board of experts. The editorial process than continues taking into account the feedback from potential listeners before publishing podcasts. For the listener the mode is convenient because the product can be easily enjoyed with simple and widely available devices (iPod, CD, radio, Mp3 player, smartphones) and while performing other activities (fitness, travel, etc.).

For the rapporteur the audio mode obliges to a deeper understanding of the concepts and to the construction of easily understandable explanations of sometimes very complex concepts. This is advantageous for them, as we observed in producing the tracks.

In FISICAST we pay particular attention to keep the scientific rigor, telling the correct explanation of the phenomena, while avoiding to use the words of science that have a different meaning in everyday language. When this occur we always emphasise the different meaning and the reasons for which there is such a difference.

We decided to issue about a podcast per month, to have a sustainable project for researcher whose core activity is elsewhere and we chose to speak italian because our target audience is not necessarily fluent in english.

To date we have published more than 50 episodes that cover a wide spectrum of topics, from astronomy to particle physics, from mechanics to relativity, with about 400.000 unique downloads in total.