Active and Cooperative Learning Paths in the Pigelleto's Summer School of Physics

TL;DR

The paper discusses the structure and activities of the Pigelleto's Summer School of Physics, emphasizing active and cooperative learning methods to engage students and train teachers in advanced physics topics since 2006.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model of active and cooperative learning paths in a summer school setting for physics education and teacher training.

Findings

Enhanced student engagement through laboratory activities.

Successful implementation of cooperative group work.

Training of young teachers in physics education methods.

Abstract

Since 2006, the Pigelleto's Summer School of Physics is an important appointment for orienting students toward physics. It is organized as a full immersion school on actual topics in physics or in fields rarely pursued in high school, i.e. quantum mechanics, new materials, energy resources. The students, usually forty, are engaged in many activities in laboratory and forced to become active participants. Furthermore, they are encouraged in cooperating in small groups in order to present and share the achieved results. In the last years, the school became a training opportunity for younger teachers which are involved in programming and realization of selected activities. The laboratory activities with students are usually supervised by a young and an expert teacher in order to fix the correct methodology.