Open AccessA sequence of experiments and models to grasp the strange nature of light
Author(s) -
Pasquale Onorato,
Massimiliano Malgieri,
Marta Polesello,
Alessandro Salmoiraghi,
Stefano Oss
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1929/1/012056
Subject(s) - grasp , meaning (existential) , scientific modelling , electromagnetism , sequence (biology) , mathematics education , domain (mathematical analysis) , computer science , cognitive science , theoretical physics , epistemology , psychology , physics , artificial intelligence , mathematics , philosophy , quantum mechanics , mathematical analysis , biology , genetics , programming language
We present a sequence of activities designed to stimulate students to reflect on the nature of light and on the different models (ray, wave, classical and quantum particles) used in teaching and learning optics. These activities are also aimed to help students in evaluating the profound meaning of the “correspondence principle” and develop their own views about some aspects of nature of science even if it is not taught explicitly. In fact, optics is a paradigmatic case where different scientific models are proposed in the University (and high school) courses. Even the oldest of these models have non empty domains of validity and both Maxwellian electromagnetism and geometrical optics are largely still used in the Physics curricula. As a consequence students are often puzzled, and think that each of these theories works in a specific domain, without any connection one with the other. Thus we investigate students’ mental models of light in different contexts and we show how they develop hybrid models in explaining different phenomena or use models inconsistently.