A ‘Blended’ Model for Science Teachers Training Antonella Bachiorri, Vincenzo Boccardi, Giovanni Di Pasquale, Serena Goracci, Ricardo Govoni, Michelina Mayer, Anna Pascucci, Maria Giuseppina Staderini, Giuseppe Valitutti INDIRE - National Institute for Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research (Italy) s.goracci@indire.it Abstract In the last ten years, 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, students11-14 years old, and especially low results in the regions of the South of Italy. As a reaction to these results, the Italian Ministry of Education has launched within the PON (National Operational Program), funded by the European Community, an innovative science training course for the teachers of lower secondary schools in the South of Italy, that has involved in the last 3 years, more than 800 science teachers. The training methodology has been a ‘blended’ one, offering to groups of teachers regular meetings with a trained tutor in one of the schools of the region (Presidi), experimental activities and experience comparison, web activities with teaching materials to download and implement, web meetings with disciplinary experts, evaluation units, Forum for debates. The materials prepared and implemented took into account the national and international orientations for Science Education of the last ten years (i.e. the National ISS plan for Teaching Experimental Science, the Rocard report, et al.), and presented the science contents and competences provided by the national programs organized in more than 60 teaching ‘journeys’, belonging to 4 ‘thematic cores’ - Energy, Transformation, Reading the Environment, Earth and Universe - and in 3 transversal themes - History of Science, Sustainability and Evaluation. The teaching methodology proposed, the organization of contents, and the very organization of the teachers courses constitute a new model for science teachers training in Italy. The first results collected show a large teachers satisfaction and an improved interest to new approaches in science education, notwithstanding the difficult situation of the Italian economy, and of the Italian schools, in these last years. 1. The context 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 and particularly, in society. The results are based on average data, which conceal the profound differences between Northern and Southern Italy and between different types of schools. However, the data are still alarming, particularly as regards the Southern Italian regions and the 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 (Gruppo interministeriale per lo sviluppo della ricerca scientifica e tecnologica) and the European analyses (Rocard Report), we cannot ignore the way Sciences are taught at school. In the Italian lower secondary school, we find the following situation: - 2 hours of Sciences a week; - a large number of topics covered; - unequipped classrooms (no scientific instruments, no IWBs, no computers); - no science labs, or where available, they are not used at all or very little; - no lab assistants. The result is a transmission modal of teaching, textbook based with little use of hands-on methods.