Abstract:

Promoting the process of a deeper learning experience and help students to develop the skills required to face the challenges of the 21st century needs the activation of a series of resources, like the knowledge of concepts and procedures, cognitive strategies, personal skills and the appropriate attitudes. The debate on what are the most effective strategies of teaching to stimulate these process gets more and more relevant. The very moment of the didactic planning becomes crucial for identifying the specific goals for every single stage of the learning path. Necessarily the attention shifts from the products of the learning to the learning process itself [1], and this evenmore when new technologies are used in classroom. Following the experiences of INDIRE in the use of 3D printers in the pre-primary and primary school [2,3,4,5] and the use of MINECRAFT application in primary school and considering the latest researches in the field of education at the international level (iTEC) the need evolved to build a framework of reference to define a student-centered methodology which promotes an effective learning process and improves the skills of the 21st century [6]. Inspired by the Design Thinking [7] and by the model of Think Make Improve [8], the researchers are developing a methodology focused on the iterative design cycle able to enhance the mechanisms of cognitive activation of the students [9]. This contribution illustrates the development of the framework and the peculiarities of the intervention in the classroom. During the 2018/2019 school year the methodology will be tested in a range of K-8 classes in order to optimize the methodology and to develop the evaluation tools to measure the effectiveness of the process.

References:
[1] Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. R.. A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Complete Edition. New York: Longman. (2001)
[2] Guasti, L. & Rosa, A. eds., Maker@Scuola. Stampanti 3D nella scuola dell’infanzia. Firenze: Assopiù Editore (2017)
[3] Di Stasio, M., Guasti, L., Niewint-Gori, J., & Nulli, G., Looking for Good Practices of Teaching and Learning with 3D Print in Primary School. In Conference Proceedings. The Future of Education. libreriauniversitaria.it Edizioni. (2017)
[4] Mori, S., Niewint, J., Beni, C., Cognitive enhancement and 3d printer in kindergarten: an exploratory study, ICERI2018 Proceedings, pp. 2388-2392.doi: 10.21125/iceri.2018.1524 (2018)
[5] Guasti,L., Benassi, A., Nulli, G., "Costruire Giocattoli con la Stampante 3D nella Scuola dell’Infanzia. Spazi di utilizzo, sperimentazione e co-progettazione didattica" - Conference Proceedings Learning digitals: which issues from Education 2.0? Università di Cagliari 2-3 luglio 2015. (2015)
[6] P21 - Partnership 21st century learning, Framework, Accessed 11 July, 2018. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21-framework
[7] Meinel, C., Leifer, L., & Plattner, H., Design Thinking: Understand-Improve-Apply. Springer. (2010)
[8] Martinez, S. L., e Stager, G., Invent to learn: Making, tinkering, and engineering in the classroom. Torrance, CA: Constructing Modern Knowledge Press. (2013)
[9] Trinchero, R., Il gioco computerizzato per il potenziamento cognitivo e la promozione del successo scolastico. Un approccio evidence based. Form@re, 3, 14, 7-24 (2014)

Keywords:

Innovation, ICT, 21st Century Skills, cognitive enhancement, evidence based teaching.