Inducing the construction of formal axioms of Quantum Mechanics and fostering their comprehension by high school students: The effectiveness of a conceptual approach

Taking as a paradigmatic example an educational reconstruction of Quantum Mechanics (QM), we discuss the approach and general research lines followed by the Physics Education Research Group of the Universities of Milan and Rome. Our choice is prompted by the fact that through QM students can lay out the structure of a new grammar, which is necessary for the presentation of any quantum theory (in particular, Quantum Field Theory) in high school. In particular, we discuss the results of a 15-hour pilot experimentation made in A.Y. 2021-2022, with high school students and teachers. The results obtained are highly encouraging since they appear to indicate that the introduction of formal aspects of QM in Italian high school is possible with more than satisfying learning outcomes.