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The project is based on the collaboration among teachers of the Technical Industrial Secondary School and of primary school, related to the elaboration of common learning pathways concerned with some specific physics subjects (forces, sound, light) and the organisation of meetings between students of higher secondary school who act as tutors for the children of primary school, helping them by that to discover through playful approaches some important physics laws. At the same time elder students “learn by teaching”.

The project has been conceived thanks to the collaboration of two school institutions: The Scientific Technological Higher Secondary School Maxwell based in Nichelino and the Primary School Don Milani of Vinovo, both situated in the province of Torino. There has also been activated a collaboration with the Science Center of the province of Torino in order to carry out the physics exhibition “Beautiful discoveries”.

Yes

Yes

No

The project is based on a training course for science teachers of the Vinovo school institute, organised from 1998 to 2002, in public research institutes. Simultanuously there has been started a common approach of training and sharing wich has led to the development of the project called “Friendly Science”, carried out in the scholastic year 2002/03 in all classes of the Vinovo school, including the collaboration of a group of teachers of the Maxwell institute. The initiative has been carried on for the subsequent years. The project has been selected as good practice within the GOLD TRAIN database, a bi-annual project of transferral of good practices at school level, promoted by the San Paolo School Foundation, and developed by INDIRE (National Institute of Documentation for Innovation and Pedagogical Research) and the CLAS group. The GOLD TRAIN project is based on the selction of good practices at school level and its transferral to two other classes and school realities selected between the applicant ones. At present the project is replicated in one school of the Campania region and in another school at Sicily. Another form of promotion of main project activities is carried out by the Turin Science Center which promotes the travelling physics exhibition “Beautiful discoveries” with some experiences that use the didactic objects constructed by the pupils.

The project has been presented and discussed within the school curriculum commission and approved by the bord of teachers. There have been organised information meetings for science teachers; also parents have been informed about the project as they have to sign an authorisation so that their children can participate in the extracurricular project activities.

The project experience developed in class during the last years has been documented by a virtual online diary: http://web.tiscali.it/virtual_lab/ forces http://digilander.libero.it/kamram forces and sound http://digilander.libero.it/bardi.scienza experiences on show There has also been developed a CD-ROM which contains the simulations of the different project activities of the pupils of higher secondary school. The project work done by primary school pupils have been put together in a folder which can be consulted by teachers interested in the initiatiave. At the end of the project learning process there are regularly organised, at the Vinovo Don Milani primary school, the “Physics days”: three days of physics in which pupils and teachers have the opportunity to see and experiment the games produced and the laboratory tools used by the classes.

The project wants to facilitate and promote the teaching of physics at primary school level and motivate the pupils of higher secondary school for science subjects. It promotes science education in general by collaborating with the Turin Science Center for the realisation of the physics exhibition “Beautiful discoveries”, by answering the requests of training and update of the Vinovo primary school teachers with regard to science subjects, by making experimenting youngsters and children a parallel science learning pathway at different levels. The project has local dimensions, but having been selected as a good practice within the GOLD TRAIN database, it is at present also replicated in other Italian schools.

The project aims at laying emphasis on the physics laboratory and the physics teaching, also at primary school level.

The project stimulates remarkably the practical work, like the development of games and physics experiments with simple materials. The project favours the playful aspect of cognitive experiences with regard to primary school pupils, whereas it stimulates the responsability and creativity of higher secondary school students through the peer education mechanisms.

The project is based on an important preliminary phase of updating and training of teachers and sharing of knowledge.

The playful approach towards physics is without any doubt a useful means to stimulate primary school children who can experiment in a hands-on approach physics laws as part of games and tools proposed by higher secondary school tutors. Also these ones are attracted by this new reponsibility, and can live again the feeling of discovery through the younger pupils they are tutoring.

No special impact

Advantages: The use of a didactic experimental and operational modality which stimulates the curiosity and interest of young people with regard to science phenomena. The necessity to construct objects to explain the experience to children, allowing to integrate the manual activity with the intellectual one of youngsters. The possibility, for teachers, to conceive and realise new didactice learning paths, carrying out an experimentation linked to the evolutionary and comprehensive phases of science phenomena for children and youngsters. Disadvantages: Little autonomy of study of students, often distracted by numerous other activities which ask for less engagement and responsibility. Inadequate financing.

Discipline-oriented approach

Science teaching is profoundly innovated, as this project pushes the teacher to review both contents and methods, as there is to build up a learning pathway to stimulate students in a non-traditional approach who become protagonists as tutors. On can get “excited” with science. Furthermore, in the relationship between youngsters and children, youngsters and visitors, the students are obliged to act with responsibility which helps them to grow. In this learning pathway there is revalued the expository and historical role of science. Therefore, also the formal aspects of the physics discipline are recovered when the student has discovered the pleasure and beauty of physics. The initiative uses some well-known didactic approaches, like peer education and guided problem solving, in a quite innovative context which puts together realities which are normally rather separated, like upper secondary and primary school.

New technologies are not in the centre of the initiative, but are used as well for documentation purposes (web sites) and multimedia materials (simulations) produced by the students of the ITIS school institution.

The project has collaborated with the Science Center of the Turin province, realising an itinerary exhibition with some of the experiments carried out during the years of collaboration between the ITIS Maxwell and the Vinovo school institution.

The learning environment created by the project is very pleasant for pupils, both during the prepararatory phase based on goup work and search of sources, construction of games and simulations, the search of effective expository techniques and communication, and during the meetings with primary school children, lived as touching events. Also for primary school children the learning environment is a significantly positive one, both with regard to the playful approach and the peculiar atmosphere created by the presence of the young tutors.

The project has been developed thanks to the idea that is is never too early to teach how to look significantly at reality. The teachers have met in a training course organised to introduce some physics subjects in primary school. But the initiative has been started thanks to the initiative of the Vinovo school director who had the idea to propose a common project for both school orders, higher secondary and primary school.

The group is presided over by prof. Bardi, coordinating teacher of the ITIS Maxwell school. There are part of the project working group the following persons: 13 primary school teachers, coordinated by Sabrina Passerella, and 24 secondary school pupils. The assistant teacher prof. Giuseppe Abbenante and prof. Roberto Raverta have helped during the update and preparatory phase of experiences. The technical assistants Pellegrino Michele and Loredana Porcu have finalised the construction of some didactical objects. Prof. Nicola Spinelli has developed in 2003 the unit on the dynamometer. At the higher secondary school level the modules are developed in relation to the requests of the primary school, the training of primary school teachers is carried out with reagrd to new phenomena and the tutors are prepared for the work, the learning experiences are build together. The primary school teachers prepare their pupils according to the basic physics phenomena: equilibrium, forces, sound, light, gravity. After having accompanied the children to the physics laboratory at the Maxwell school, they re-elaborate the activities with the class with the help of posters. Last year one teacher, prof. Maria Teresa Guidice, has even reproduced the experiments on sound to other pupils of primary school on a small level. Decisions are taken together according to the respective availabilities.

This year the primary school has paid the training of six hours for primary school teachers carried out by one teacher and two assistants, and the transport of ca. 250 children for five laboratory meetings and one exhibition meeting. In the higher secondary school there are involved in the project one teacher, one assistant, two technicians. There have been acquired new equipments and built different objects with simple materials. The time spent in meetings has been 8 hours. There have been used the physics laboratory of the ITIS Maxwell for 3 training meetings and the meeting room for the physics exhibition at the beginning of the year. For preparing the exhibition together with the Turin Science Center there have been spent 90 hours of time. For the preparation and training of students there have been spent 30 hours of time. 10 hours of time have been dedicated to the presentation of laboratory experiences by students to primary school children. The project work is carried out in extra-curricular hours.

The working group meets periodically in a formal way, presided by prof. Bardi. The coordination of primary school teachers is carried out by Sabrina Passerella. There are no particular collaborative instruments used, but traditional email, phone calls, sms, meetings, segnalations of the stduent-tutors in the class registers. During the exhibition there has been created a web page on the school web site informing about the activities and opening hours.

The school director is constantly informed about the project activities, but is not directly involved in the project development, except its preparatory phase and the inauguration of project events. The vice school director has collaborated in the organisation of the workshop in 2004.

The recent project is to be considered a development and study in depth of the former “Friendly Science” project, but is is totally new with regard to the problems related to basic learning issues of youngsters. The theoretical pedagogical references with regard to the zone of proximal development are Vygostskij, for the preparation of students there has been created a scaffolding structure, to start and stimulate learning.

The project involves mainly teachers and pupils of both schools. With the participation of the Turin Science Center it involves also other schools of the Turin province which can visit the interactive exhibition with games developed by students.