INTRODUCTION TO MENDELIAN GENETICS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL

In recent years, the teaching of Life Sciences has undergone some changes in school history, both as regards contents and the methods used. At the normative level for teachers it is required, since primary school, to adopt teaching methods that allow the students to build ways of thinking, and not simply to acquire information. The focus of this educational research is to address the teaching of Mendelian genetics through active learning. This is a topic of Life Sciences, normally addressed in secondary school, but it has been experienced in a 5th class of Primary School (Rovigo, Italy), adapting contents to the age of students, and at the same time proposing an approach that places in the center active experimentation, so trying to overcome the limitations of traditional teaching. The project included a first speech devoted to the evaluation of prior knowledge of the students, and then the proposal to theoretical contents of Genetics, addressed through discursive practices and active experimentation. These methods have been proposed in an educational trail in which they complement each other. In particular, the basic concepts of genetics have been presented, alternating narration and discussion activities to experimental ones, that allowed students to concretely apply their knowledge and skills. To address these issues appropriate instruments and materials have been used, such as light microscope and various genetic strains of fruitfly (Drosophila melanogaster) bred in tubes. The obtained result showed that the goal has been achieved overall, despite the class was very heterogeneous, and included some children with Special Educational Needs.