From 20^th January to 2^nd February the MMT Laboratory of Brescia’s University hosted eight students from the fourth year of Iseo and Salò’s secondary schools during the internship with the purpose to teach new technical and scientific knowledges and give the opportunity to elaborate publicity materials that broadcast the SI redefinition.
The new measurement system is no longer based on platinum alloys samples, which have been deteriorated with the passage of time, but is founded on universal constants that, by their own definition, will be the same despite of time.
Consider for example the metre, which corresponded to the length of a platinum-iridium bar, held in Paris at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), i.e. the international Office of Weights and Measures. Today the unit of measurement of the length is defined by the distance travelled by the light in the vacuum in a given time interval.
In addition, in the laboratory, the students attended the exhibition of theses and projects prepared by Professor Lancini’s pupils and lessons on the definitions of estimate and uncertainty. On the other, the students visited several laboratories and participated in the repeatability test of muscle reaction.
In this way, the boys had the opportunity to deepen the engineering field and enrich their scientific training in the direction of a course of future studies.

On 20th May 2019 the scientific world will go through a revolution: after years of working, the SI will redefine the kilogram in function of a set of universal constants. The kilogram is the last unit of measurement that was still defined by the prototype conserved by the BIPM.
This change will not affect daily life (“a kilo of apples will remain a kilo of apples”), but the youth, who study scientific subjects, must know this great change. So, how can this news spread in schools? The bureaucratic procedures will take much time, so students could have access to updated textbooks in schools only in few years. However, we can do something meanwhile…
The MMT Laboratory of UNIBS, coordinated by professor Lancini, is hosting 8 students from secondary schools “IIS Antonietti” from Iseo and “Liceo Fermi” from Salò. The students have received this opportunity thanks to the “Alternanza Scuola-Lavoro” national internship project.
In this week, pupils had theoretical lessons with the teacher, studying metrological and statistical topics, such as calibration, repeatability and uncertainty. The professor has used a clear language which all students that attend the 4th year in a scientific Liceo can understand.

Between activities, the students have visited many university’s laboratories. They have seen other machines and engineering techniques, and found out how a researcher works, that isn’t a clear idea for the people that do not know anything about the universities.
Next week, students are producing educational materials about the SI and its redefinition, as posters, presentations or videos, to share them in secondary schools.