La ricerca italiana nel contesto del progetto Europeo Material Science

We will discuss the Italian contribution to the European project Material Science. Participants of the project were: University of Naples Federico II, University of Cyprus, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Helsinki, University Autonoma de Barcelona, University of Western Macedonia. The Italian group designed and validated a teaching module on the optical properties of materials using optical fiber as motivating technological context. The activities of the module have been optimized through three cycles of planning - implementation - redesign with a total of about 70 high school students and 20 math and physics prospective teachers. The results show that after three cycles of optimization, the activities of the module helped students overcome well known learning difficulties in geometrical optics (vision , refraction, total reflection) and to understand the principle of functioning of light guides and optical fibers. Implications for research in physics education about teaching-learning sequences based on technological contexts are briefly discussed.