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Skills in action! Linguistic-anthropological area

Real-life tasks with technology - Fifth grade

Ivan Sciapeconi, Eva Pigliapoco

Product: Book

Trim size in cm: 21x29,7cm

Pages: 230

ISBN: 978-88-590-2002-8

Publication date: 01/11/2019

Suitable for: Primary 2nd level (ages 8-10)


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There are many different ways to approach the topic of teaching skills and making connections with digital technology. Some focus on enhancing the lesson, others focus on the creation of learning environments, and others on the approach to technological devices as tools that one must learn to use.

 

Skills in Action proposes 5 workshops with the objective of developing problem solving skills and other complex skills through real-life tasks.

Each proposed activity is divided into 3 different levels of technological difficulty:

  • in the first level, basic skills and technological tools are required and step-by-step instructions are provided;
  • in the second level, which is considered intermediate, the activities are more structured both from a didactic-methodological point of view, and from the point of view of the use of technologies;
  • in the third, advanced, level, more detailed assignments from a technological and methodological point of view are dealt with.



  • Introduction

  • Chapter 1 - The skills in five steps

  • Chapter 2 - The activities

  • Real-life tasks


Assignment 1 – Romans on display

Assignment 2 – Grammar for fun

Assignment 3 – Comparing opinions — the debate

Assignment 4 – Let’s write poetry

Assignment 5 – A trip around Italy



Skills in Action!


Skills in Action! - Reality Homework Using Technology” is a series of books aimed at fourth and fifth grade primary school teachers. Each book offers 5 structured workshops divided into three levels of technological difficulty. The objective is to encourage young people – through realistic, complex, and new situations – to develop creativity and problem-solving skills that will be fundamental for their personal and social growth. The workshop activities are comprised of three levels of technical complexity. In this way, everyone can use them, even teachers who are less familiar with technology. In the various activities proposed, technology plays a secondary role with respect to the development of skills, which remains the main objective of the text.

THE BOOKS IN THE SERIES

LINGUISTIC-ANTHROPOLOGICAL AREA

Fifth grade

The 5 workshops:

Romans on display. Plan a small scholastic exhibit

Grammar for fun. Organize a quiz game based on grammatical concepts

Comparing opinions — the debate. Learn about a topic of your choice, form an option, reason about the opposing option, defend the various positions and speak in public

Let’s write poetry. Learn the secrets of poetry and write one first hand

A trip around Italy. Advertise a region in Italy to encourage your friends and family to visit

LINGUISTIC-ANTHROPOLOGICAL AREA

Fourth grade

The 5 workshops:

Listen to my story. Producing an audio story

Literary critics. A book review

Play with me. Organizing an event

How is the weather? Analyzing meteorological data

Active citizens. Recognizing problems in one’s own school

MATHEMATIC-SCIENTIFIC AREA

Fourth grade

The 5 workshops:

Science in a kit. Create a laboratory to experience simple, scientific phenomena firsthand

Animals in danger. Build a project to protect endangered animals

The Arctic... without secrets. Reconstruct the Arctic environment by creating analog and digital artifacts

A mathematics tournament. Organize a math tournament for your class or for multiple classes

The geometry dictionary. Create a file with the specific terms of the discipline

A Look Inside the Book

Here’s a little excerpt of the book translated into English.

THE 3 LEVELS OF TECHNOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY

Level A requires competence with basic technical instruments. Step by step instructions are provided and the activity is conducted in a way which provides use of some basic functions of the operating system or software.

Level B is an intermediate level. The activities are more structured, both from a didactic-methodological point of view and a use of technology point of view.

Level C is the advanced level. Composed of more detailed proposals from a technological and methodological point of view.

THE OBJECTIVES

1. Propose skill-based activities. Knowledge of a subject matter is important but acquiring the skills necessary to reach that goal is far more ambitious.

2. Expect the use of technology. Despite being a secondary objective, technology use still represents a brick in the wall of skill development.

3. Teacher support. Most of today’s teachers have immigrated into the digital world over the course of their professional lives, which makes it necessary for them to receive supported when needed. The activities illustrated in this volume, structured to have three levels of technological complexity, make it possible to "include" the teacher, by providing him/her with a useful and accessible tool.

4. Create meaningful scenarios. In each activity, a scenario that serves as a framework for the proposed activity is provided, so that the activity can be easily contextualized.

“SKILLS EDUCATION”

In Italy, the theme of teaching skills has been part of the educational debate for several years now. Regarding "skills", in the 2012 Ministry of University and Research (MIUR) Guidelines, we read: "The school curriculum is finalized to ensure the maturity of skills in the student at the end of the first cycle, which are essential for personal growth and social participation, and which will be certified".

The maturing of skills is considered as a fundamental purpose of the school, essential for the fulfilment of personal development in the students.

The Elements of “Skills Education”

What does it mean to work on skills education? Here are the elements that should characterize this type of teaching.

1. Complexity A complex task is a task in which there are numerous aspects to be treated and no one single way of solving the problem.

2. Newness In order to be considered “new”, the contents and skills of the task that the students should complete must have a different context than that with which the students are familiar.

3. Interdisciplinarity Interdisciplinarity is a consequence of the characteristics of newness and educational complexity for skills that refers to the world of reality.

4. Openness The term refers both to the partial definition of instructions given to students, so as to encourage greater creativity during the resolution phase, and the existence of a recipient of the "external" task, different from the teacher.

5. Cooperation The cooperative working mode must be learned and practiced because, in addition to simulating real, every day experiences in which we interact with others, it enhances and enriches the learning schemes of each individual student.