Informal learning in CLOE Labs to build the basic conceptual knowledge of magnetic phenomena

Developing formal thinking and building conceptual knowledge as a background for formal interpretation of phenomena is one of the main challenges in teaching and learning physics. In the context of the experimental exploration of the electromagnetic phenomena, were investigated the pupils’ conceptual referents and representations of the phenomena and how they identify and explore conditions to produce electromagnetic interactions. Through semi-structured interview in framework of the Conceptual Laboratories of Operative Exploration, pupils construct global interpretations of phenomena starting from local interpretations of the single experiments synthetizing formal abstract entities in a qualitative early stage.