Theatre as a Tool for an Inquiry-Based Physics Teaching

Physics is rarely attractive to students, being perceived as a science that gives answers to questions that no one would ever ask; on the contrary, physics is driven by curiosity, is fascinating, and scientists have fun studying it, discovering, and understanding natural phenomena. Unfortunately, students rarely imagine that. The research in education has shown that a radical change of paradigm is necessary and that an “inquiry-driven” approach can help to change the image of physics and to give a more realistic perception of how physics proceeds. When questions come from them, students do want to find answers and they can personally experience the scientific method that leads to a validated interpretation of results. It is important to engage and surprise students, showing unexpected phenomena that naturally drive curiosity and questions, but also to touch emotional chords, traditionally not associated with science. Theatre owns most of the ingredients that are needed to perform an effective communication: people who attend a show are well disposed and relaxed and are in an environment that naturally stimulates emotion and an open-minded attitude. These are only some of the reasons that can explain the success that the pairing of scientific theatre and education had in recent years and continues to have, witnessed by inquiry-based science educational projects that will be presented in this chapter.