Three Stories, Three Toolkits: Magnetize Attention, Light up Coloured Ideas, Gas Fantasy into Science

Abstract

In the context of the European project TEMI (Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated), that came to an end in July 2016, the Italian research group of physics education of the University of Milan, developed six experimental toolkits, as legacy materials, about 6 different physics topics (vision of the colours, geometrical optics, electromagnetic induction, electrical circuits, harmonic oscillations, and gas laws). Although the educational paths related to each of them were designed for secondary school, we decided to extend their use to the primary school, selecting two particular topics among those mentioned above (colours and gas behaviour), plus the extra-topic of magnetism, as an extension of the toolkit for the electromagnetic induction. We chose these themes because of their proximity to the children’s everyday world, and because they are relevant to their toys (magnets, toy balloons, and colours). Our toolkits, and the lab-sheets included, are based on the 5E’s model, that we already used and practiced in the TEMI project. In the present work, children are expected to play freely with the materials contained inside the toolkits and are supposed to do things similar to those performed by their teacher. We will describe the three toolkits and the key concepts that we would like children to face during the lab activities and through storytelling. We will also report on some of the key steps that the stories used to approach particular physics concepts.