INFN programme for teachers gets underway: first time at european gravitational observatory

Getting teachers to discover the experimental activities of INFN research laboratories and telling them about cutting-edge research activities in the field of fundamental physics. The 2024-2025 edition of the INFN Teachers Programme, an update course for high school science teachers organised by INFN at its national laboratories, starts today,14 October.

As from today, 24 teachers from different regions of Italy (Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Piedmont, Sardinia, Tuscany, Veneto and Umbria) will be visiting the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) for five days, where they will attend seminars and events and be the protagonists of experimental activities dedicated to gravitational wave observation techniques. Indeed, EGO hosts one of the three large gravitational detectors in the world, the Virgo interferometer, protagonist of the great discoveries on gravitational waves, the visit to which will be one of the central moments of the course.

After this first course at the European Gravitational Observatory, two more courses will follow this school year, one at INFN Legnaro National Laboratories from 21-25 November, and one at INFN Southern National Laboratories to be held in spring 2025.

INFN Teachers Programme is a project started in 2018 to develop the role of science disciplines in student education and support teachers in teaching related to STEM subjects. Since 2020 it has been carried out in collaboration with Pearson Italia, now Sanoma Italia, a leading Finnish group in Europe in the education sector. A collaboration that in recent years has also led to the creation of ITP@HOME online courses.