Research based discussions on optics with teachers to integrate professional development with everyday school work

Within the Italian project on innovation in teaching/learning IDIFO4, research based labs for in-service teacher professional development was carried out. In the rich environment of 20 kindergarten, primary and low secondary school teachers, the discussion of content knowledge (CK) was integrated with activities on simple experiments proposed in examples of coherent paths, according to Experiential Teacher Education Model (ETEM). Activities were focused on the analysis and the discussion of tested educational paths both on conceptual change, subject matter content and educational plans. Action oriented contents and methods emerge as teaching/learning proposals based on research on children learning processes, where they melt in coherent paths as an outcome of the experienced modules of formative intervention. Optics lab offers an example of this kind of integration between educational research and teacher professional development.