È possibile promuovere una didattica attiva e laboratoriale per le discipline di base della scuola secondaria di secondo grado? E come la si può diffondere per far sì che diventi la pratica prevalente all’interno di un’istituzione scolastica?
Il volume “Didattica laboratoriale e discipline di base”, a cura delle ricercatrici INDIRE Loredana Camizzi e Serena Goracci, appena uscito per Carocci editore, presenta i risultati di una ricerca-azione partecipata svolta da INDIRE con l’IISS “Enriques Agnoletti” di Sesto Fiorentino (FI) e con la dirigente scolastica dell’Istituto Silvia Baldaccini.
Partendo dall’osservazione e dall’analisi di alcune pratiche didattiche in matematica, fisica, scienze e italiano, sono stati individuati alcuni fattori comuni che sembrano caratterizzare una specifica accezione di “laboratorialità” attinente tanto agli aspetti curricolari (ad esempio l’approccio induttivo e la selezione oculata dei contenuti) quanto a quelli di mediazione didattica (come l’uso frequente della discussione, del lavoro di gruppo o della verbalizzazione scritta degli studenti). Facendo leva su questi elementi trasversali, le pratiche laboratoriali sono state diffuse all’interno della scuola, trovando un buon riscontro e consolidamento.
I percorsi didattici realizzati nelle quattro discipline sono illustrati nel dettaglio nella seconda parte del volume e costituiscono un utile stimolo per tutti i docenti interessati.
La ricerca indica come l’innovazione delle pratiche didattiche debba coinvolgere parallelamente le due dimensioni (curricolare e metodologica), in un lavoro collegiale all’interno dei dipartimenti e dei consigli di classe.
A European dimension in history education helps foster European values and citizenship.
lastfurianec / Adobe Stock
Exploring the concept of the European Dimension
The European Dimension (ED) concept initially focused on fostering closer relations between the educational systems of different European countries. It has since evolved to encompass broader objectives, including the promotion of pupil exchanges, language teaching, international schools, teacher training and teacher mobility.
The ED covers three distinct ideas: education in Europe, education about Europe and education for Europe. This multifaceted approach underscores the importance of integrating European perspectives into educational practices across disciplines.
History teaching and the European Dimension
Based on the core principles of the ED, the European Dimension in History Teaching (EDiHT)aims to create and develop a sense of European identity among students. It does so by emphasising Europe’s political, social, economic and cultural knowledge, alongside the values of humanism, democracy and tolerance.
eliminate bias and prejudice from history teaching;
reconcile the conflicts and disagreements between European countries by emphasising their historical unity and diversity;
reflect political, social, economic, cultural and intellectual dimensions of history from various perspectives to represent Europe’s multiculturalism;
develop students’ skills in analysing historical documents and in questioning and recognising diverse perspectives.
Safeguarding history education
The Observatory on History Teaching in Europe (OHTE) was established in 2020 under the Council of Europe to support both the development of history teaching in European countries and the EDiHT.
By fostering a deeper understanding of European history and values, teaching the EDiHT equips learners with the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to a more cohesive and inclusive European community.
ETwinning Europe interviewed Zbigniew Janczukowicz, the initiator of LARP for Climate, an Erasmus + project seeking to increase climate literacy among young people.
Working on one of the LARP games / Nausika Foundation
Meet Zbigniew Janczukowicz, the initiator of LARP for Climate, an Erasmus + project that grew out of a local branch of Fridays for Future in Krakow, Poland. LARP (Life Action Role Playing) games on climate change and political action seek to increase climate literacy among young people. The project was developed with partners from Estonia, Greece, and Norway and counts by now more than 2000 participants in 10 countries. Translations of the games are available in several languages.
Could you give us some examples of the games that you have developed so far?
The first game we created was Climate Perspectives, a diplomatic game where players take the role of politicians and journalists in the year 2050 evaluating climate change efforts. Since then, we have created a variety of games for different age groups responding to locally relevant challenges of our partner countries. Our Norwegian partner created a game called Ceremony for Hope, which facilitates discussion and reflection on climate grief. Our Greek partner developed The Reservoir, an outdoor game on water scarcity, which is set in post-apocalyptic times with players competing for water to survive. Our Estonian partners designed a game called A Tree of Life. Players symbolise small creatures living on a tree. When the tree gets sick nobody knows why because everyone only knows about one part of the tree. So, players need to cooperate to see the bigger picture. In Poland, there is The Golden Sun, a new game on greenwashing in the media. The players are supposed to be journalists who compete for jobs by using climate change as clickbait for articles. 16-year-olds are surprisingly good at this because they are constantly exposed to greenwashing in their daily life.
Which challenges did you face along the way? And how did you address them ?
One of the initial challenges was bridging the communities of LARP game designers with those of climate activists and teachers. For the former, LARP is often a mere hobby. From the perspective of the teachers and activists, LARP looked complicated. While being part of the LARP community, and with our training and teaching background, we were able to act as connectors and adapt our events and trainings to the different audiences.
Another challenge was writing easily understandable instructions for someone who had never facilitated a LARP game. We spent long hours discussing and testing different formulations to be able to make it as accessible as possible.
Sometimes, challenges turn into opportunities. Two years ago, the city of Krakow asked us to present LARP at a big movie festival. However, the crowded setting with a food truck on the one side and a movie screen on the other was less than ideal for a LARP game because it needs space and time to build trust between players. So, we developed shorter festival approved versions of two of our games in which players only interact with the game for 15 minutes. It turned out be a great success!
How have you experienced scaling up the project and working with different partners across Europe?
The value of having partners from all over Europe is the diversity they introduce to the game design. In the Norwegian context the cold North is in focus while the Greeks deal with heatwaves. These differences are reflected in the games and characters. However, there have also been disagreements about the definition of what constitutes a LARP game across countries. This was difficult to navigate at times.
What do you hope to achieve in the coming years?
We are currently at the multiplier stage where we look for tools to spread the games and reach more educators. We are planning workshops on how to facilitate and organise the games and we are creating a database of non-digital games on sustainability. We also plan to connect our games more directly to the competences in the GreenComp framework and to develop training material on how to teach GreenComp to game designers in a digestible and understandable manner.
What is one thing everyone could learn from your project?
LARP offers a way to put yourself into someone else’s shoes, get used to thinking from a different perspective, and understand that nobody is fully right, and everyone only knows a part of the full picture.
School-community collaboration is generally considered beneficial, but it can be especially effective and rewarding when it comes to education for sustainability.
Phimwilai / Adobe Stock
In our survey on sustainability, 38% of respondents indicated that their schools have partnerships with local environmental organisations or businesses, and 19% replied that a lack of these partnerships affects teaching sustainability in schools.
The types of partner organisations can differ greatly, depending on a school’s context and resources. However, benefits can be seen in three areas as indicated below.
Educational – community-based learning can enrich teaching, for example through field trips or having guest speakers visit the school. Hands-on learning experiences in their local area help pupils better understand environmental issues.
Social – increased communication, collaboration skills and community engagement are important outcomes of sustainability partnerships. They also improve pupil wellbeing, intergenerational understanding and collective knowledge sharing.
Environment – partnerships can support circular economies, the protection and improvement of local nature areas and green spaces, and foster an understanding of the importance of protecting and preserving the environment.
On the other hand, schools must be cautious of some challenges – including greenwashing, limited teacher numbers and pressure on resources – that can undermine sustainability initiatives. Above all, schools must ensure that all collaborators share the same objectives.
A 2024 Eurydice study on Learning for sustainability in Europe found that 18 (out of 39) European education systems provide some form of support for schools to work with organisations in their local or wider community. The most commonly supported type of cooperation is with NGOs and public authorities; projects that involve engagement with parents and families have less support.
Programmes and projects that foster school-community partnership
The Eco-Schools programme promotes hands-on, participatory learning experiences that focus on real-world environmental issues. In one of the programme’s schools in Spain, a study on local contamination took pupils to the local water treatment plant to seek information from local authorities and they later distributed their findings to local business and homes.
Similarly, the Bavarian Climate school initiative emphasises the importance of local partnerships, including field trips, events and collaboration with local companies.
The EU-funded MOST project aims to improve science education by fostering partnerships between schools and communities. It has produced a manual for school-community projectsthat explains the five steps of a participatory project: invite, co-create, act, share and evaluate.
Additional information
Education type:School Education
Target audience:Teacher Student Teacher Head Teacher / Principal Teacher Educator Government staff / policy maker Other
È disponibile in open access, edito da Pensa Multimedia, il volume scientifico A cosa serve la ricerca educativa? Il dato e il suo valore sociale, che raccoglie gli Atti del Convegno SIRD (Società Italiana di Ricerca Didattica), svolto a Milano il 21-22 settembre 2023.
Il volume curato dalla Prof.ssa Renata Vigano e dalla Prof.ssa Cristina Lisimberti accoglie i contributi scientifici dei ricercatori della Rete delle Piccole Scuole, valorizzando differenti metodi di ricerca.
Il primo contributo di Giuseppina Cannella e Giuseppina Rita Jose Mangione (INDIRE) L’ecosistema di una scuola in ricerca, promuove una riflessione su come la dimensione della Rete sostenga e si nutra di una postura di tipo research engaged delle scuole che vi aderiscono. INDIRE, guardando alla scuola come soggetto attivo dei processi di ricerca (research engaged schools) che opera nel sistema istituzionale, individua differenti “livelli” di una scuola “research engaged” :
capacità di promuovere un approccio pedagogico research rich (pedagogy) nella pratica didattica in classe (Microsistema);
capacità di trasporre le research orientation nella visione di scuola e nei valori culturali della proposta educativa (Macrosistema);
capacità di promuovere una research community sia a livello di contesto scolastico che tra la singola istituzione e il territorio (Mesosistema);
assumere un approccio di ricerca nelle politiche e nelle pratiche scolastiche (Esosistema) generalmente indicato nell’atto di indirizzo di una scuola. Il lavoro propone una chiave per rileggere l’atteggiamento research engaged di una piccola scuola applicando gli indicatori del livello “Macrosistema” rintracciando gli elementi chiave per estendere una comprensione della postura in ricerca tra quelle realtà che da anni prendono parte alle Reti di innovazione di INDIRE.
Il secondo contributo a cura di Giuseppina Rita Jose Mangione(INDIRE) insieme a Michelle Pieri(Università di Trieste) e Stefano Cacciamani (Università della Valle D’Aosta), dal titolo L’uso del Design Based Research per lo sviluppo di modelli didattici innovativi nelle scuole piccole e rurali. Il caso di “Classi in rete”, pone attenzione a come la ricerca educativa che si occupa di scuole piccole e rurali abbia dedicato una crescente attenzione cercando di comprenderne le caratteristiche, i problemi e le potenzialità, ma anche di progettare e valutare interventi in grado di migliorare anche attraverso l’uso delle tecnologie la qualità dell’istruzione e a promuovere lo sviluppo locale. Tra gli approcci metodologici utilizzati in questo ambito, il Design Based Research, rispondendo alla critica del metodo sperimentale in ambito educativo permettendo di: integrare la ricerca e la progettazione di soluzioni educative al fine di testare soluzioni (chiamate “interventi”) ai problemi educativi; generare teorie che possano spiegare e migliorare i processi di insegnamento e apprendimento; di generare innovazione e cambiamento delle persone e dei sistemi coinvolti.
Il lavoro presenta l’applicazione del DBR nel contesto delle piccole scuole italiane. In particolare viene descritta la progettazione, attraverso la tecnica del Conjecture Mapping, del modello “Classi in rete”, messo a punto per affrontare il problema dell’isolamento sociale e culturale delle classi remote. Verrà quindi proposta l’analisi dei risultati ottenuti dalla sua prima implementazione nelle scuole delle aree interne della Regione Abruzzo e verranno infine presentate le indicazioni di cambiamento del modello per la progettazione del secondo ciclo di sperimentazione attualmente in corso nella Regione Liguria.
Italianistica, Didattica Innovativa, Internazionalizzazione 