  Why is modern physics still today, more than 100 years after its birth, the
privilege of an elite of scientists and unknown for the great majority of
citizens? The answer is simple, since modern physics is in general not present
in the standard physics curricula, except for some general outlines, in the
final years of some secondary schools. But, is it possibile to teach modern
physics in primary school? Is it effective? And, also, is it engaging for
students? These are the simple questions which stimulated our research, based
on an intervention performed in the last year of Italian primary school,
focused on teaching gravity, according to the Einsteinian approach in the
spirit of the Einstein First project, an international collaboration which aims
to teach school age children the concepts of modern physics. The outcomes of
our research study are in agreement with previous findings obtained in
Australian schools, thus they contribute to validate them and show that there
is no cultural effect, since the approach works in different education systems.
Finally, our results are relevant also in terms of retention and prove that the
students involved really understand the key ideas.
