Abstract:

From the data of a 2015 OCSE statistical survey concerning the extent of investments in research and development emerged the lack of scientific culture in the "average" Italian citizen, denounced as a lack of scientific curiosity, rather than scientific knowledge. This thesis has set itself the goal of developing an educational path that tends to increase the scientific interest in two fourth grades of the primary, related to the animal kingdom and its classification.
The course presented was composed of three meetings concerning firstly the elaboration of a classification of animals hypothesized by the pupils in the first person, based on their foreknowledge, and subsequently the discovery of the classification of animals conventionally recognized and illustrated in the science book of the students.

Because of the school conditions due to the health emergency caused by the spread of the flu from SARS COV-19, it was not possible to offer the students a direct observation experience with the animals treated in class; the study of the animals was therefore carried out using the observational-comparative method applied to photos, with the support of a magnifying glass.

The characterizing aspect of the didactic planning was the active involvement of the pupils, called to collaborate to create classifier models through schematizations and representations. The theoretical horizon in which the didactic experience has its roots were the National Indications for the Curriculum (2012) and the theory of reverse design by Wiggins and McTighe.

The experience was documented using multiple tools, such as pupils' papers during lessons, recordings of discussions between pupils, logbooks, a self-assessment questionnaire, an evaluation rubric, and a final test. The results achieved by the pupils in the final test attested the understanding of the main elements of classification, while the pupils' responses to the self-assessment questionnaire attested the increase in interest in animals in the pupils of the two classes.

Keywords:

Classification, animal kingdom, scientific interest, observational-comparative method.