From Phenomenology to Interpretation: How to Face Superconductivity in High School

In the teaching/learning process of physics, it is of great importance to make students experience the different ways in which physics builds new knowledge on natural phenomena, to grasp the fundamental aspects of the nature of the discipline. The historical evolution of the phenomenological and theoretical knowledge about superconductivity make this topic an important context that can be integrated into secondary school curricula, according to different approaches. A research based educational proposal on superconductivity was developed with a phenomenological approach. The teaching/learning path offers to the students to experience how physics operates exploring phenomenology without the support of a consolidated theory. Students face the superconducting phenomena, constructing step by step the conceptual tools needed to account the electrical and magnetic properties of superconductors, the superconductive state and the Meissner effect, in the frame of electromagnetism. The research approach here discussed was tested in research studies carried out in Italian High Schools, in 10 h of inquiry based activities, conducted using stimuli tutorials and a pre-post test. The outcomes indicate that the students are strongly interested in the subject, have in general achieved a good mastery of phenomenology and in 84% of cases have also acquired the basic concepts of the phenomenological models developed, to account the condition R = 0 and B = 0 inside the superconductor.