Research activities

Education, communication, dissemination, history, physical science teaching: these are strategic sectors for contributing to the university's "third mission". The Laboratory deals with various areas with general attention to the problem of a correct perception of the importance of this scientific discipline at all levels of users, starting from citizens to include the school world at any levels (teaching staff and students) the realities of the territory (locally and on a larger scale), museum networks, cultural associations, research groups in teaching and more. All of this with great care for the various methodologies and technologies, both through traditional experimental laboratory paths, as well as in theoretical studies, with innovative, digital and multimedia approaches.
The topics covered range from classical mechanics, to thermology and thermodynamics (also with the use of infrared cameras), to geometric optics (in the astronomical field, but not only), to electromagnetism, to contemporary physics (quantum mechanics, gravitation, energetic technologies).
Refresher and training courses (initial and ongoing) are designed for primary and secondary school teachers in collaboration with the local school network and with the local office for experimentation and didactic innovation (IPRASE del Trentino).
Collaboration projects are active with various research groups and agencies in the field of mathematics and physics education and with most of the Italian physics departments in which there are working groups in the communication and educational fields.
The laboratory collaborates permanently with the Jet Propulsion Theater and Arditodesìo, an association for the design and implementation of events and science theater festivals at national and international level.
Research doctorate projects are underway in the Laboratory (in addition to numerous degree theses) which also involve secondary school teachers with the option of secondment at the Department of Physics.
The research staff of the Laboratory publishes numerous works in international journals dedicated to research in physics education and participates in all the most important national and international conferences and workshops.

Group members