As an appropriate conclusion of the physics course, a scheme is suggested for one or more lessons on white dwarfs, including some history and some theory. […]
This article describes the goals, motivations and organization of the French National Physics Olympiads that began in the school year 1991-1992 and reports the Statutes of the competition. […]
The software Cabri Géomètre and a geometrical method essentially due to Richard Feynman are used to developa didactical approach towards Kepler’s first law (the law of elliptical orbits), starting from Newton’s gravitational law 1/R2. […]
Two small magnets applied to a simple spring-mass system offer remarkable insight into non-linear oscillation phenomena. We observed amplitude jumps and hysteresis in forced oscillations but not the transition to chaotic motions because the system, after a more or less complicated transitory, […]
Schemes of common sense knowledge of Italian students and teachers were inferred from the answers to a paper-and-pencil test concerning real-life situations involving thermal phenomena. Concept maps drawn from the test show that the schemes are richer and less detached from the scientific framework than generally supposed. […]
Schemes of commonsense knowledge of Italian students and teachers have been inferred by analyzing the answer to a paper and pencil test whose items are centered about real life situations involving thermal phenomena. The analysis, performed by the use of concept maps, […]