The volume presents the results of a study on the implementation of the constructivist paradigm to academic teaching. The research was developed in the context of a course about epistemology of life sciences, context in which the editor of the volume has some experience. In the thirteenth century, the philosopher Moshe Ben Maimon, in his "Guide to the perplexed", indicated the possession of the highest intellectual faculties not only as the maximum degree of perfection attainable by man, but also as the only human excellence with a very personal character. About seven hundred years later, the American psychologist Jerome Bruner added an important distinction: the most personal knowledge we have is what has been discovered by ourselves. Then, to achieve those high intellectual faculties about which Maimon said, the discovery seems to be one of the most powerful tools we have at the disposal. The volume shows what can happen when one considers these reflections seriously and consistently, translating them into a university course that is built around the concept of hierarchical organization of the living systems. Carefully explored through group work and peer education, this concept showed to be a subject which offered the opportunity to undertake a reflection on science, its teaching and the importance of building a shared meaning around scientific concepts, often accepted uncritically and passively by both the students and the teachers themselves. It also demonstrated the continuous need to update the representations of the reality that science offers to the public not experienced. In the first part of the volume the editor discusses the didactical choices on which he set up the course and the main scientific contents related to the concept of hierarchical organization of living systems; then he describes the development of the group discussions that that allowed to build the course contents. In the second part are collected the materials on which students have been examined: as a consequence of the specific educational features adopted, they were required to produce a document that would present the most relevant content of this experience to an audience that was not present at the debate in the classroom. In the final part of the volume, this allows to discuss the implications of the constructivist education on the professor's choices about students evaluation.

Costruire la scienza con la mano sinistra

MATRICARDI, GIORGIO
2009-01-01

Abstract

The volume presents the results of a study on the implementation of the constructivist paradigm to academic teaching. The research was developed in the context of a course about epistemology of life sciences, context in which the editor of the volume has some experience. In the thirteenth century, the philosopher Moshe Ben Maimon, in his "Guide to the perplexed", indicated the possession of the highest intellectual faculties not only as the maximum degree of perfection attainable by man, but also as the only human excellence with a very personal character. About seven hundred years later, the American psychologist Jerome Bruner added an important distinction: the most personal knowledge we have is what has been discovered by ourselves. Then, to achieve those high intellectual faculties about which Maimon said, the discovery seems to be one of the most powerful tools we have at the disposal. The volume shows what can happen when one considers these reflections seriously and consistently, translating them into a university course that is built around the concept of hierarchical organization of the living systems. Carefully explored through group work and peer education, this concept showed to be a subject which offered the opportunity to undertake a reflection on science, its teaching and the importance of building a shared meaning around scientific concepts, often accepted uncritically and passively by both the students and the teachers themselves. It also demonstrated the continuous need to update the representations of the reality that science offers to the public not experienced. In the first part of the volume the editor discusses the didactical choices on which he set up the course and the main scientific contents related to the concept of hierarchical organization of living systems; then he describes the development of the group discussions that that allowed to build the course contents. In the second part are collected the materials on which students have been examined: as a consequence of the specific educational features adopted, they were required to produce a document that would present the most relevant content of this experience to an audience that was not present at the debate in the classroom. In the final part of the volume, this allows to discuss the implications of the constructivist education on the professor's choices about students evaluation.
2009
9788856812299
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11567/243295
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