Abstract:

The literature review, aimed at deepening the design of laboratory practices in training courses for future teachers, returns a variety of theories and operational models which, on the one hand, reveal the students’ active participation in the teaching-learning process, but on the other hand, in the national panorama, there is still little research that proves the effectiveness of mixed methodological approaches in laboratory contexts.

Although there are, in general, significant results both in terms of learning and professional development in students engaged in laboratory activities, clear gaps are found when these activities are mediated by technologies. This paper describes the didactic-planning assumptions adopted in the Educational Technologies Laboratory, intended for students enrolled in the degree course in Primary Education Sciences at the University of Salerno.

A first part of this study is dedicated to theoretical recognition, which outlines the main educational features of a blended learning approach, a second part is dedicated to the articulation of activities and the presentation of specific technological tools for the realization of laboratory practices.

The evidence-based educational research emphasizes that technologies do not produce a substantial difference in the learning improvement, indeed they often hinder it. The technologies, in fact, act as opportunities in the moment are integrated in methodological approaches that express the functionality and the advantages regarding the objectives to reach.

From a methodological point of view, the proposed planning sees the alternation of directive-type teaching situations with moments focused on student activation, evoking, from an epistemological point of view, a hybrid context in which theory combines with practice and, in this mix, declarative, procedural and conditional knowledge is transformed into skills. Starting from an in-depth analysis of these results, we intend to reflect on the factors that characterize an effective digital educational environment.

Keywords:

Learning design, didactic technologies, laboratory, blended learning, Higher education.