Abstract:

Information literacy is included among the foundational skills for the 21st century and involves a critical and responsible use of data and web resources (Dede, 2010; WEF, 2015; Vuorikari, Kluzer, Punie, 2022). Some frameworks, specifically aimed at schools, promote the development of this skill according to technical, ethical, cognitive, motivational dimensions (Menichetti, 2017). Frameworks provide a horizon of meaning, but to make them effective it is necessary to translate them into curricula: intentional, systematic, explicit proposals, through which each school institution, considering its own context and within the scope of its autonomy, composes the learning experiences designed by teachers (Tyler, 1949; Kerr, 1969).

This paper illustrates the work of a team, made up of teachers from various levels and grades of school and university experts, within a project funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, aimed at the creation of curricula for the development of digital competences, tested within exemplary practices.

The project adopted the action-research methodology, leading to a recursive process of design, implementation, observation, reflection by a “community of inquiry” (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1982; Wells, 1999). This methodology allowed to elicit the needs of the schools and to value the empirical perspective of the teachers, as well as to have experts challenge from the outside those a priori assumptions that could have hindered the understanding and change of processes.

The experts defined the structure to guide the collaborative design of vertical curricula and indicated effective teaching strategies (Slavin, 1986; Hattie, 2009; Calvani & Menichetti, 2020). The structure was filled with specific educational objectives and contents by the schools, and implemented in thirteen classes (one of kindergarten, two of primary school, three of middle school, seven of secondary school).

The interventions involved, with positive results, teachers of many disciplines, some with not high digital competence. In the school, a loosely coupled organization, collaborative planning often proves to be the only way to change, allowing teachers to appropriate a method and effective strategies, to be able to progressively internalize them.

Keywords:

Digital curriculum, teacher training, action-research, educational design, data literacy, good practices, effective strategies.