Using storytelling to foster the teaching and learning of gravitational waves physics at high-school

• Main Authors: Tuveri, Matteo, Steri, Arianna, Fadda, Daniela
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 14-02-2024
• Subjects: Physics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics; Physics - General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology; Physics - Physics and Society; Physics - Physics Education
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2402.09035

Studies in Physics Education Research show that interdisciplinary approaches
in education foster students' motivation, creativity, curiosity, and interest
in physics. We discuss their features and potential role in bringing
contemporary physics topics to high school, and how to use them to integrate
formal educational programs. We make an explicit example of the use of
storytelling and theatrical techniques to introduce secondary school students
to black holes and gravitational waves topics. The activity has been designed
by the Educational Division of the Physics Department at the University of
Cagliari. Participants were 200 high-school students (17 to 19 years old) from
five schools (scientific, humanities) in Sardinia. A measure of the efficacy in
the use of artistic tools to communicate and teach the proposed subjects has
been done utilizing a research questionnaire. We collected 76 answers. Results
show that our methodology is useful to introduce students to contemporary
physics themes, fostering their interest and learning of such contents.
Students from humanities significantly appreciated more the use of poetry and
artistic tools than their scientific peers. Finally, we discuss the
potentiality of our approach in orientating students towards a STEAM (STEM and
Arts) career.