Ateneo - UPO

The course will concern active and passive teaching methods, applying them to subjects of chemistry and focusing on the problems related to their learning / teaching. Moreover, the course provides knowledge and skills useful for the organization of chemical laboratory activities in high schools.

Copies of the slides shown during the course and laboratory notes from the teacher will be available on D.I.R. together with other useful material. The following texts are recommended:
-M. Castagna, Progettare la formazione, FrancoAngeli;
- V. Domenici, Insegnare e apprendere la Chimica, Ed. Mondadori Università, Milano, 2018;
- Cipolla, Didattica della Chimica - Metodi e strumenti per l’insegnamento e l’apprendimento della chimica, EdiSES;
- Y. Vercher, N. Gerber, Chimica in casa – Atomi e molecole tra le mura domestiche, Ed. Dedalo;
- G. Paladino, C. Spalatro, Didattica capovolta: matematica e scienze, Ed. Centro studi Erickson.

The course aims: (i) to raise awareness of issues related to the teaching / learning chemistry; (ii) to suggest teaching strategies based on the involvement of the student as an active subject; (iii) to offer future teachers the opportunity to compare each other and with more experienced teachers; (iv) to describe educational pathways aimed to develop transversal skills.
Moreover, the practical laboratory experiments will allow to acquire the basic principles of organization of the didactic laboratory, the ability to explain to the public the principles of the techniques used in a simple and clear way.

Course of General chemistry

Lessons with active engagement of the students and collective discussions; lesson simulations. Laboratory experiments.

In itinere learning will be evaluated through classroom and laboratory discussions during the experiments.

The exam will consist in the evaluation of the clarity and precision of a didactic pathway suggested by the student about a chemistry topic related to the course and of a related brief lesson that will be carried out by the student. Moreover, the ability of the student to answer to the clarification questions will be evaluated.
The presence in the laboratory is compulsory and the student will have to write individually notes for students on a laboratory experiment. The notes will be discussed during the oral exam
Such an exam allows to evaluate the acquired theoretical knowledges, communication skills in their presentation, the ability of making judgment and autonomously learning. The student with all the listed abilities/capacities (see expected learning outcomes) will be given the highest grade. To pass the exam the student will have to prove at least the knowledge and understanding of the basic concepts and the use of a suitable scientific language.
The final grade will be the result of the whole oral exam and of the evaluation of the written notes.

Chemistry in the school. Introduction to epistemology. Introduction to learning models. Skills teaching. Passive teaching methodologies: lesson. Active teaching methodologies: case studies, simulations, flipped classrooms, laboratories, problem-solving, etc. Importance and use of new technologies: blended learning, use of videos, brainstorming tools, etc. Application of these methods to chemistry topics (matter and mole, periodic table, redox reaction, acids and bases) and to current topics (green chemistry, sustainability, pollution, etc).
Before the laboratory part, the fundamental principles on how to organize laboratory activities for high school students will be presented. During laboratory activities, students will have to organize laboratory activities for young students by testing the experience itself, identifying the critical points and the difficulties.

Knowledge and understanding: skills teaching, effective teaching methods, organization methods of the didactic chemical laboratory.
Applying knowledge and understanding: ability to explain in clear and effective way, ability to build an didactic pathway, ability to organize laboratory experiences for single or group students.
Making judgements: ability to interpret and rationalize basic concepts from a critical point of view with a scientific approach; ability to identify critical issues in laboratory activities and know how to organize a laboratory experience taking into consideration the timing.
Communication skills: acquisition of a vocabulary of chemical terms to be able to expose chemical-scientific topics and to answer the pupils’ questions in a precise, concise and clear manner; how to write a dispensation for students on laboratory activities.
Learning skills: ability to autonomously study in depth a subject to be presented.