The experience
In March 2006 our school organized an
interactive exhibition on the light phenomena, open for
ten days to the territory.
-
Eleven classes, guided by seven
teachers, worked for two months for choosing, preparing,
checking,
adjusting the exhibits.
After an introductory lesson, aimed at presenting the initiative,
exploring the pupils' prior knowledge and experiences about the
topic and collecting their suggestions, each class was divided
in teams of three/four. Each team was responsible for a particular
experiment, studied and realized it and, guided by the teacher,
tried to interpret the results. Finally each team presented their
experiment and findings to the classmates.
-
Nine classes of the nearest primary
school visited the exhibition and, guided by our pupils,
played with mirrors, lights, colours, lenses... and
began to reflect on the physical laws underlying the
observed phenomena.
The teachers: M. Barbara, R. Bettiol, S. Boccardo, G.
BoccalonL. Dotto, I. Pellegrini, F. Runello, S.Turra
-
The main characteristics of
the light: it travels straight, reflection, refraction
-
The colours of the light: how
to compose and separate them
-
The colours of the matter: how
to compose and separate them
-
Perceptions: optical illusions,
persistence of the image on the retina
-
Optical instruments: convergent
and divergent lenses, prisms, glass container filled
with water.
The choice of the experiments was based on
two priorities:
-
the effectiveness, in order to
understand the basic concepts about light and vision
-
the impressiveness, in order to
capture the pupils’ and visitors’ attention.
Why an exhibition?
Because…
-
the
awareness of the
importance of the event
makes
pupils feel themselves
responsible for respecting
the deadline, for
well organizing
the exhibits…
-
the success of the event gives
pupils a reward for their efforts
To sum up, to improve motivation, because it strongly
influences learning
The two educational strategies
underlying the initiative (according
to a constructivist approach):
Learning by doing
Environments which inspire and stimulate active participation
promote learning and foster the construction of knowledge about
rules and laws because:
-
enable pupils to have first-hand experience
of scientific phenomena
-
develop curiosity, awe, interest to know
more
-
give pupils the time to discover things
on their own and follow their own pace, use their prior knowledge
and experiences in a wider way
-
develop self-control and sense of responsibility
Cooperative work and peer teaching
Explain to others is an effective way to reach
a best comprehension of the topic because:
-
expressing thoughts verbally helps to
clarify ideas
-
assuming the role of expert promotes self-confidence
and increases motivation for further learning.
-
shy pupils are encouraged to express their
thoughts
-
finding out the right way for explaining
a phenomenon force pupils to reflect on their knowledge,
reorganize and deepen it.
The outcomes
(pupils’ interviews)
The questions:
What did we like more?What didn’t we like?What did
we learn?Your emotions...
The answers:
... I really enjoyed teaching the children and miss school hours,
I’ve learnt a lot about the light but most of all I’ve
learnt how to communicate effectively
... I’ve learnt a lot about the light and, as a person, I’ve
learnt to be more self-confident and responsible.
... I liked all about the exhibition: the experiments, the many
things I learnt from my classmates. I taught others, and in this
way I was learning, because when the pupils were asking me something,
I tried to find out the answer by myself
… At the beginning the children didn’t understand me
very well, because my explanations were too difficult for them, but
then I find how to capture their attention, by asking questions,
involving them in the experiments…
... The children were attracted by the experiment I was showing
them and paid attention at my explanations… this fact made
me happy, I felt fulfilled.
... I’ve seen how it is hard for a teacher to teach …
|