On Teaching Quantum Physics at High School

Abstract

In the Italian education system, secondary students (ages 14-19) are confronted with the foundations of quantum physics during the final term of scientific high school (pre-university year). The Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (acronym MIUR) has remarked its importance in the syllabus to address the high school exit examination (30 percent of the 5th year physics course) but, due to limited learning time and intrinsic difficulty, this branch of physics is neither assimilated nor appreciated as it should. We wish to illustrate six didactic suggestions focused on learning motivation, emerged during a 17-year long teaching experience, which could help to tackle the main problems found. The key references are two peer-reviewed talks given, respectively, in 2018 at the "6th Annual International Conference on Physics" by the Athens Institute for Education and Research and in 2013 at the 2nd Rome workshop "Science Perception" by the Roma Tre University together with a concise and evocative poster outlining the history of quanta. Other useful resources are a 2015 conceptual diagram and four invited lectures held in the years 2010-2017.