Course Topics
See the individual course modules.

Teaching format
Lectures, classroom experiences, case discussions, laboratory activities in small groups.

Educational objectives
Knowledge Acquisition of the fundamental scientific and didactic concepts of the teaching of biological sciences and chemistry in pre-school and primary school, as set out in the Provincial Indications of the Autonomous Province of Bozen/Bolzano, the National Indications for the Curriculum and the PAT Guidelines: Methods of teaching biological sciences in primary education; human biology; living organisms and their main biological functions; similarities and differences between living organisms; transformations and changes occurring during the life of living organisms; relationships between living organisms, and between living organisms and their environment; morpho-functional adaptations of living organisms; evolution; chemistry as a bridging science between the scientific disciplines for an interdisciplinary view of science; elements of nature conservation. Critical knowledge of the fundamental contents of the teaching of physical sciences in pre-school and primary school as set out in the Provincial Directions of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, the National Directions for the Curriculum and the PAT Guidelines. Knowledge of the fundamental elements of planning teaching activities and teaching experiences in the physical, chemical and biological sciences from an interdisciplinary perspective. Competences Ability to scientifically read and interpret natural processes/events, particularly those related to everyday life. Ability to find, critically analyse, use, modify and develop materials for work in situations involving the physical, biological and chemical sciences. Ability to design interdisciplinary teaching/learning paths in natural, physical, chemical and biological sciences, appropriate to the context situation and able to stimulate the development of specific competences of the individual scientific disciplines. Ability to qualitatively evaluate learning processes. Ability to read and interpret everyday situations in scientific terms. Ability to find, criticise, use, modify and develop materials for work in situations involving the physical sciences. Ability to design interdisciplinary teaching/learning paths in physical, chemical and biological sciences adapting to the context situation. Ability to formatively assess learning. Disciplinary skills Knowledge and understanding: Critical knowledge and understanding of the basic and theoretical foundations of biology and chemistry, related to everyday life experiences consistent with the age of the children; knowledge of the disciplines' own research methods, including those applied to school contexts. Knowledge and mastery of the subject content of physics to be taught in pre-school and primary school; knowledge of the fundamental and transversal concepts of the discipline necessary for comprehension; knowledge and understanding of the specific and formal language of the discipline. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: Ability to design didactic interventions concerning basic topics of physics, chemistry and biology, transversal to the sciences, which actively involve the class group, with its specificities; ability to promote intrinsic motivation in pupils to problems related to everyday life situations; ability to work in groups for the design, organisation and verification of educational-didactic interventions. Ability to use fundamental concepts in different everyday life contexts; ability to use natural language to correctly describe phenomena, ability to formalise, ability to differentiate fundamental concepts. Ability to design and carry out experiences in the field and in the contexts of everyday life. Ability to design and carry out laboratory experiences. Ability to collect, analyse and interpret experimental data Ability to construct graphs, tables, diagrams etc. for the analysis, representation and interpretation of processes. Soft skills Autonomy of judgement: Capacity for autonomous and critical reflection in relation to the acquired chi-mico-biological competences and the contents of the disciplinary teaching. Students must be able to interpret natural phenomena autonomously and originally, using the concepts discussed and dealt with in the course. Communication skills: Students should be able to communicate their own thinking clearly and critically, to be able to question it by identifying developments and improvements from the dialogue with other students, the teacher or hypothetically children; to be able to communicate the contents of the discipline in an appropriate way to children, to be able to interpret children's speeches from the perspective of science education. Learning skills: Possess skills that can be used in study strategies for continuing education and have the ability to find sources to update and deepen them. Students are expected to demonstrate autonomy in learning with the ability to formulate questions, plan activities, and synthesise.

Assessment
Examination procedure: individual oral examination on the content of the lectures, with discussion of group work carried out in the labs. The exam score is composed of the scores of the individual parts (lecture and lab of physics, lecture and lab of biology) weighted against the relative number of CFUs. The four parts must be passed individually with a score of no less than 60%. In the event of a failing grade for the entire course, any parts successfully passed will be considered as already passed on the next attempt to take the entire examination. It should be taken into account that, even in this case, a negative mark for the entire course will be counted in the number of attempts available to take an examination. According to the Examinations Regulations, if a student fails an examination in three consecutive attempts, he/she may not attend the same examination in the three sessions following the last attempt (Art. 6(4) of the current Regulations for Proficiency Examinations).

Evaluation criteria
In the examinations, students are required to demonstrate that they have learnt the content covered in the course and are able to apply it to concrete situations, also by producing teaching materials. Assessment criteria: knowledge of the required content, logical structure, clarity and coherence of argument, formal and linguistic correctness.