New Perspectives in Science Education
Brownian motion: an interdisciplinary teaching proposal
Immacolata D'Acunto, Dept of Physics, University of Salerno (Italy)
Roberto Capone, Dept of Physics University of Salerno (Italy)
Umberto Dello Iacono, Dept of Maths, University of Salerno (Italy)
Flora Del Regno, Departmento of Physics - University of Salerno (Italy)
Abstract
Repeated teaching experiences show that students should always be made aware of the historical and theoretic path of mathematical sciences, bringing them closer to the origins of any scientific thoughts. As a consequence, it is strongly advisable to provide students with concrete references to everyday reality, in order to help them to accomplish their targets in the educational process. Most likely, one of the best ways to deal with “Brownian motion” and it lies in recalling phenomena ordinarily and spontaneously occurring in nature, Arts, Physics and Biology.
The activities proposed in an action-research approach, such as Mathematics and Physics laboratories to learn by discovering, can be considered a part of the cultural background of skills-based education.
In order to facilitate the transition from knowledge to action, interdisciplinary expertise has been proved to be the best choice. In fact, “(skills) cannot be reduced to a single discipline; they assume and create connections between knowledge and suggest new uses and mastery, which means ‘skills beget skills’” (D'Amore, 2000).
This report is an educational proposal for students based on Brownian motion and integrates many disciplines all around this interesting topic.
We empathize analogies and differences between phenomena in different fields: statistics, physics, computer science and biology.
Besides, introducing many concepts of probability and statistics, also using tools of Information Technologies, we invite to teaching avoid the "sealed compartment of knowledge” that often characterizes our educational system.
Learning by doing is very important because “when we experience something we act upon it, we do something; then we suffer or undergo the consequences. We do something to the thing and then it does something to us in return: such is the peculiar combination. The connection of these two phases of experience measures the fruitfulness of experience…”. (Dewey, 1916). In addition to theoretical explanation so that we propose many experimental activities around the exploration of Brownian motion, from the macroscopic to the microscopic scale. Starting from historical Brown’s experience we propose also a simple macroscopic model of chaotic motion, easily implementable in a classroom activity.
