Corso di laurea magistrale a ciclo unico in
Scienze della Formazione Primaria

As far as the objectives of the course, we highlight the following specific objectives: 

• acquisition of scientific structural concepts the Life Sciences and Earth Sciences, selected according to their relevance and accessibility in the context of nursery and primary schools and their regional and territorial specificities;
• acquisition of awareness of the existence of a ecosystemic and complex nature, as evidenced by the relations of interdependence between living and chemical-physical environment;
• acquisition of knowledge and teaching skills relating to various scientific disciplines interconnected (learning to identify the scientific concepts and structuring their connections, to reflect on the cognitive obstacles, to develop possible activities and educational courses and to develop a systemic vision);
• acquisition of the ability to reflect on their own behavior in terms of use of natural resources and the ethical principles of the sustainability.

At the end of this course, the student should be able to:

• Understand and model the basic and organizing concepts of Earth Sciences in a non-stereotypical way.
• Recognize the main conceptual obstacles and misconceptions inherent in the field of study.
• Connect the various proposed concepts, distinguishing the essential from the superfluous.

Applied Knowledge and Understanding.

At the end of this course, the student should be able to:

• Design learning pathways on Earth Sciences topics and sustainability education.
• Organize and implement teaching interventions consistent with the competencies to be achieved.
• Understand and structure educational research to improve the effectiveness of teaching interventions.
• Investigate the mental representations of children and adults.

Autonomy of Judgment.

At the end of this course, the student should be able to:

• Select content and levels of depth in the discipline based on specific teaching/learning contexts.
• Recognize misconceptions and evaluate specific levels of learning.

Communication Skills.

At the end of this course, the student should be able to present geological topics covered in class and related didactic issues using appropriate language.

Learning Skills.

At the end of this course, the student should demonstrate an aptitude for epistemological and didactic reflection on the main knowledge areas related to Earth Sciences and sustainability.

• Investigate the spontaneous mental representations of children and adults;
• Reflect on the typical problems and cognitive obstacles of the discipline;
• Identify the connections between the conceptual organizers necessary to tackle the subject;
• Reflect and adopt perspectives (anthropocentrism - biocentrism - geocentrism…) and ways of looking at complex reality and reasoning in different ways (structural, functional, systemic, temporal approaches).

The first part of the module discusses with the structuring concepts of Earth Sciences, referring to the Earth dynamic, geomorphology, natural resources, geological risks and biogeochemical cycles, selected according to their relevance and accessibility in the context of the school and our region. Starting from the analysis of mental representations of students and teachers, we intend to consolidate some basic knowledge of the discipline, identify the structuring concepts and their connections, to reflect on the cognitive obstacles, develop possible activities and integrating educational paths and developing a systemic vision. In the second part, it provides a interdisciplinary path of knowledge of our planet: the complex and systemic nature of the relations of interdependence between living forms and the chemical-physical environment is recognized in situations and environments of everyday life. Examples of educational activities and reflections develop the possibility of becoming conscious protagonists of the use of natural services, material and energy resources, renewable and non-renewable, in a perspective of sustainable development.

The module will be using, through the use of original powerpoint, attend frontal lessons  where it is required the active participation of students. In some cases small individual and group activities will be planned, which will then be discussed in the classroom. All the materials presented to the course and others materials to deepen will be present on the Moodle platform.

Associated with the module there is a 25-hour laboratory activity (16 hours of practical activities in the field in the teachers presence and 9 hours of individual work) whose attendance is mandatory. It is possible to make a maximum of 3 hours of absence that must be regularly justified and only for the preliminary lesson (except field trips). It is not possible to make absence at the field trips. The student must then recover the absence, making agreements with the teacher of the laboratory, through the realization of an alternative job.

Remote mode: Use of the Moodle platform with numerous resources: slides presented in classroom (files PWP), some scientific articles, short videos, various supplementary material with links to websites. Activities: homeworks to be accomplished, forums.

ORAL EXAM (associated with the "Basics and Didattic of Life Sciences" module) TO MUST BE SUBSEQUENTLY SUBMITTED IN THE SAME APPEAL.

The oral exam (of about 15/20 minutes) tends to ascertain the basic knowledge (as planned) and the reflective and integration skills of the knowledge itself. In particular, the ability to organize the knowledge learned will be evaluated (with a final grade expressed in thirtieths); the critical reasoning skills on the study carried out; the quality of the exhibition and the competence in the use of the scientific vocabulary; the effectiveness, the linearity and the ability to summarize in the conversation; the ability to critically discuss environmental issues and to identify solutions in everyday life.

Students are examined according to their registration date for the exam. Any specific and verifiable needs must be indicated in the 'Note' field during registration.

The final evaluation, expressed in thirtieths, will be the average of the results from the oral exams of the two modules, rounded up.

There is a written exoneration test for attending students of the course (for at least 50% of the lessons). The exoneration test will consist of two parts: one related to the Earth Sciences module and the other to the Life Sciences module.

The test of Earth Sciences module consists of 2 parts: a first part with 5 multiple-choice questions, for which the chosen answer must be justified (max 1 point per question); a second part with two open questions where it is necessary to analyze the characteristics of an illustrated landscape and design coherent educational activities (max 5 points per question).

The final vote (sum of the two parts expressed in fifteenth) will be expressed in thirtieths. The duration of the exoneration test and the possibility of accepting the vote and registering it as a result of this test will be valid until the last appell of the current academic year. It will be possible to take the oral exam for the improvement of the exoneration test vote, realizing a correction of any errors committed; once the oral exam has been taken, the written exoneration test will be canceled and will no longer be valid for the subsequent appeal

The training offer relating to the workshop is very various (from the workshops where daily excursions are planned on different themes and in different places to residential workshops in alpine shelters, marine hostels or itinerant). In all workshops, the main objective will be to discover the natural environment and its peculiarities through perceptual and practical activities, with collection, description and manipulation of natural materials, also through Land Art artistic practices.

For the schedule of the individual laboratories, see the item TEACHING MODULES on the page of the integrated course Fondamenti e didattica delle Scienze naturali (Savigliano) INTEGRATO 

-   Ferrero Elena, Provera Angela & Tonon Marco, 2004, Le Scienze della Terra: fondamenti ed esperienze pratiche, Ed. Cortina, Torino.

 -   Ferrero Elena, Provera Angela & Tonon Marco, 2004, Le Scienze della Terra: la scoperta dell'ambiente fisico, Ed. Cortina, Torino.

- Scientific and didactic articles selected from time to time and uploaded to the Moodle platform

Students are advised to register for courses on the Campusnet platform, so as to receive timely communications from the teacher.