Physics in primary schools
Teaching physics in an interactive way, showing concretely what we are talking about, is one of the most important goals of outreach projects promoted by European Physical Society [EPS] Young Minds. With the help of Sara Lombardi, a high school physics teacher who has been involved in outreach projects in primary schools for many years, the Naples YM Section decided to focus on the challenge of teaching physics in primary schools.
They worked with the Italian national project “Lauree Scientifiche per la Fisica”, in particular with Giovanni Chiefari, the local coordinator based at Naples University. About 100 children took part in the EPS Young Minds initiative.
The project consisted in ten meetings of two hours in different classes, for the presentation of different topics: thermodynamics, flotation, gravitation and reflection of light. The aim of the project was to teach the basics of scientific thought to children, encouraging them to make hypotheses and suppositions before doing the experiment. The hands-on portion of the experiments was done with the help of Young Minds students. The conclusions of each experiment were collected, and presented on a poster kept in the classroom for future activities.
At the beginning, Young Minds students were a bit hesitant about teaching physics in primary schools, due to the young age of the audience. Soon however, they noticed that the children were really interested in the topics, and they showed an uncommon taste for scientific thought.
Read more on the website of the EPS Young Minds Naples section.
