Un esempio di percorso integrato tra Scienze e Matematica progettato per la formazione del personale docente

Abstract

The decrease in the interest in scientific studies, the difficulties pointed out by OCSE and PISA surveys stress a need for a revision of subjects and methodologies of study plans by whoever aims at turning their qualification into effective teaching. The transition from an accumulation of concepts in series to the identification of grounding concepts, which are selected with historical and epistemological precision, is possible, though still problematic. Teaching based on superficial factual knowledge, with priority given to content transmission, is still the prevailing approach and represents a major critical aspect. More useful would be a “knowledge in action”, i.e., teaching of skills, where, according to “National Giudelines”, “skills” refer to processes that “favour exploration and discovery, in order to promote enthusiasm when looking for new knowledge”, In particular, within the Natural Sciences, “skills” refer to the ability and willingness to use the set of acquired information and methods to explain the world around us, being able to identify problems and draw conclusions based on experimented facts. Within Mathematics, “skill” is defined as the ability of an individual to identify and understand what roles mathematics play in the real world”. Mathematics is, therefore, given a formative value, through which a student is enabled to have significant and factual experiences: observation of an event, identification and representation of relationships, definition of a problem, elaboration of models for real situations. Therefore, the challenge for teaching essentially pivots on the stimulation of motivation, and this is no easy matter. The indications provided by international research, the European Union, and the OCSE concern integrated multidisciplinary teaching paths and converge to suggest the use of educational paths, which both stimulate questions and induce a “search for why”, and arouse interest in historical-epistemological paths. All of this needs a teaching curriculum based on an experimental approach. A plan of integrated paths for scientific subjects can be especially formative in the Scuola Secondaria di Primo Grado (Junior High School, age 11-14). In fact, it allows firstly, the use of the specific language, methods and tools for each subject, and subsequently, the set up of concepts and principles with an interdisciplinary value, so as to promote a deeper understanding of the relationships existing between different scientific domains. The integrated teaching path shown here as an example has been developed from the point of view of both the teacher and the teaching follow-up. It presupposes that the teacher has a solid social and cultural expertise, in accordance with the law 107/2015, which deals with the training of the teaching staff, considered to be a “mandatory, long-life, structural” requirement.