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A weblog on physics of everyday objects for primary school teachers
Allasia Daniela(1), Amisano Giuliana(2), Montel Valentina(1), Rinaudo Giuseppina(1)
(1)Department of Experimental Physics of the University of Torino (Italy)
(2)USCOT – Faculty of “Scienze della Formazione” of the University of Torino (Italy)



GIREP Seminar
2003


Toys and everyday objects are very useful to illustrate physics at the level of primary school pupils because, by seeing and touching a concrete and familiar object, also the related physical concepts become, in a sense, real and concrete: the association concept-object is thus the basis for a stable understanding and learning process. It is rather common that primary school teachers use everyday objects in their didactics and there are numerous and very interesting examples of applications of this kind. However rather often primary school teachers need support to understand the real physics content of the objects or phenomena that they are proposing to their pupils, or simply need to exchange experiences with other teachers to compare results, methods and practice.
In support to a university course for the formation of primary school teachers we have experimented the use of a new form of communicating through the Internet using a “weblog” to exchange and discuss educational materials, teaching approaches and new developments. The positive aspects of the weblog is that its use is very easy and friendly and that, being accessible on the Internet, the communication is rapid and widespread.
Our weblog started in January 2003; its address is http://pergioco.splinder.it. It is followed both by university students, who have started their practical training in school, and by in-service teachers, who host the students in their classes. In the presentation we will discuss examples of proposals and dialogues on the weblog and possible developments.