Bringing the Physics Laboratory at home: Tools and methodologies for distance learning at the University of Trento

Experiments play an essential role in the scientific training of stu- dents. Therefore, a crucial challenge in distance learning is to offer students an authentic and meaningful, possibly collective, laboratory experience that requires rigorous data analysis and ensures an active learning environment. This challenge has become urgent in recent years, as the global education system has led to a rapid shift to distance learning and training and social distancing measures have required universities and schools to readily adapt to remote education methods, an adjustment that is particularly difficult for scientific laboratory courses. As part of a project called COSID-20 (COllaborazioni per le Scienze In laboratorio Didattico - 2020), we followed different approaches and methods to design a remote physics laboratory: experiments using tools and materials from a specially designed home kit, created and sent to the participants, “kitchen experiments”, simulations, exper- iments pre-recorded by the teacher, remote access laboratories and virtual laborato- ries. With the aim of answering the crucial question of whether a physics laboratory course can be effectively delivered remotely, we will examine how students carried out the different activities and which of them are considered by students to be most effective and engaging. This will be done by discussing, for each methodology, whether the learning objectives for the physics laboratory indicated by the most recent research in Physics Education have been achieved.