Abstract:

The Italian government has recently reformed the examination which concludes the Secondary School study programme. With reference to Liceo Scientifico, i.e. a specific kind of High School with students specialising in scientific subjects, this reform has emphasised the crucial role played by Physics in this curriculum. As a consequence, a renewal in the teaching of Physics should be a primary aim. This change ought to increase the time and energies allotted to experimental didactic activities as well as the use of ad hoc educational videos on Physics phenomena.

From this perspective, an interesting case is the quantum theory studied during the high school program and firstly introduced to students by presenting the elementary electric charge. The electric field is usually explained by comparison with the gravitational field. This comparison is rather useful and straightforward from a mathematical point of view, but it is experimentally less evident. In facts, the effects due to the gravitational uniform field are more easily comprehensible by students, whereas the effects of an electrical field are not so clear and measurable.

Although several qualitative experiments are usually carried out by teachers to explain electrical phenomena, quantitative studies are more difficult to be performed due to practical reasons and lack of adequate laboratory equipment in many schools. Among others, a meaningful quantitative experience to comprehend the electric field and its effects is the oil drop experiment performed by Millikan. Even though the core of his work was the measurement of the “quantum of charge”, it involved many topics such as the motion within a viscous fluid, the electric uniform field and its force on a charge and the elementary charge.

Indeed, this experiment was proposed to a group of 17-years-old students attending Liceo Scientifico opzione scienze applicate at the “IIS J. C. Maxwell” school located in Milan (Italy). By following Millikan’s approach to the experiment, the students could formulate hypotheses, collect and analyse data; furthermore, they verified the compatibility of experimental results and expected values and explained these findings to a public.

A didactic video of the same experiment was produced by the Experimental teaching lab. ST2 [1] of Politecnico di Milano in order to foster the students’ reflection on the same experience as a follow-up activity and, in an Open Educational Resources philosophy (OER), it will be made available on the web site of Lab. ST2 YouTube channel.

Our project was developed in the context of Piano Nazionale Lauree Scientifiche (PLS), a government programme which funds didactic innovation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in Higher Education and Secondary School.

References:
[1] http://www.st2.fisi.polimi.it

Keywords:

Learning effectiveness, Physics.