Perspective Primary Teachers Explores Magnetic Interactions as a Base to Understand Lorenz Force

Lorentz’s Force represents a conceptual gap as for the analysis of the simple effects related to the properties characterizing the electric and magnetic nature of phenomena. Searching for the definition of a teaching/learning path according to the Duit’s Model Educational Reconstruction a research dedicated to primary school prospective teachers has been carried out. This research focuses on the identification of the magnetic effects of an electric current as a first step towards the study of electromagnetic interactions. Starting from the explorations of magnetic phenomena and magnetic effects of an electric current, the first aim was to detect by a compass the properties of magnetic field produced by one or more magnets and so to identify the equivalence between a magnet and a solenoid. Than the identification of Lorentz’s Force was explored as a new aspect as regards the superposition of field. In this work the learning path is presented. It is structured and based on experimental practice according to the Pedagogical Content Knowledge guide lines whose main results are here presented on the side of teachers training.