A ‘BLENDED’ MODEL FOR SCIENCE TEACHER TRAINING Serena Goracci 1 , Anna Pascucci 1 , Antonella Bachiorri 1 , Vincenzo Boccardi 1 , Giovanni Di Pasquale 1 , Riccardo Govoni 1 , Michelina Mayer 1 , Maria Giuseppina Staderini 1 , Giuseppe Valitutti 1 1 INDIRE (National Institute for Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research), Florence, Italy Abstract: International surveys on Science Education (TIMSS and PISA) have indicated a low level of science performance of the Italian students, with an evident decrease during the lower secondary school and especially low results in the regions of the South of Italy. Focusing on this target in 2009 the Italian Ministry of Education launched within the PON (National Operational Program), funded by the European Community, an innovative science training project: the PON Educazione Scientifica. In three years more than 800 science teachers have been involved. The program developed a ‘blended’ model, characterized by in-presence training courses and online activities. A group of experts and authors outlined a corpus of 60 teaching proposals, moreover they created innovative resources that foster a productive integration of teaching and learning “tools” and “languages”: from pencil to microscope, from test-tubes to IWBs, from observation to videos creation, from ruler to calculation software, in a dynamic synergy created by old and new technologies, old and new languages. The approach, the organization of contents and the training plan represent a new model for science teachers training in Italy. The first results show a large teachers satisfaction coupled with an improved interest to new approaches in science education. Keywords: teachers training, science education, blended model, national curriculum, lower secondary school. INTRODUCTION The OCSE-PISA comparative survey carried out in 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009, highlighted that many Italian 15-year-old students lack the basic competences and skills required not only in school life, but also in society The results are based on average data (OECD PISA 2007, 2010, 2013), but the National Analysis stressed the profound differences between Northern and Southern Italy and between different types of schools (INVALSI 2008, 2010). The data are alarming, particularly as regards the Southern Italian regions and the TIMMS data (2007) showed a possible responsibility of lower secondary school (11-14 age group), where students usually decide what type of upper secondary school (15-19 age group) they will attend. If we consider both the National group for the relevance of Scientific Culture Documents (2007) and the European analyses (Rocard Report, 2007), we cannot ignore the way Sciences are taught at school in Italy. In the Italian lower secondary school, we find the following situation: