  We describe in detail an advanced project devised for outstanding High School
(or undergraduate) students with appropriate abilities in physical reasoning
(rather than with a good standard preparation), centered around the well-known
historical case of Newton's theory of light and colours. The different action
lines along which the project is developed are aimed to let the students
involved to: 1) think as Newton did, by building step by step all his knowledge
and reasoning; 2) work as Newton did, by performing the whole series of his
original experiments with prisms; 3) deduce as Newton did about the nature of
light and colours; 4) present the results of their activity (including physics
demonstrations) to the general public, in order to test abilities in
communicating what learned and discovered (including video realization
published on YouTube youtube). Such didactic aim is complemented by the purpose
to realize a historically informed activity, given the potential key role of
the History of Physics in promoting science at a deeper level, especially when
no particular training in mathematics or advanced education is required. The
highly favourable reception of the project by the students involved, as well as
that deserved by the uneducated people to the activities demonstrated by the
students in public events, testify for the success of such work.
