ACARISS PROJECT: A TWO YEARS EXPERIENCES OF IBL METHOD FOR SCIENCE TEACHING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Experimental activities are a powerful tool in science teaching and stimulate students learning and reasoning. In this paper we describe the framework of activities of the ACARISS (Increasing the knowledge on environment and pollution risks involving schools in experimental activities) project that adopted the IBSE (Inquiry Based Science Education) method. ACARISS started in May 2011 from the collaboration among three partners: Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Pisa), Institute of Biometeorology-CNR (Florence) and University of Florence. More than 30 secondary schools in Tuscany (Italy), distributed in several provinces engage the project activities. The main results have been a strong exchange of experiences between students, several practical guides for teachers reproducing numerous classroom scientific experiences; a website (www.acariss. it) acting as a coordination network, source of materials, blog and connection between schools.