”Free Ideas”: Results from an innovative project for teacher development in Calabria (Italy)

The paper illustrates the most important actions of a project granted by the administration of Calabria (a region of Southern Italy) aimed to promote the dissemination of good teaching practices based on the use of scientific laboratories and assisted by the proper utilization of new technologies. It has involved 29 schools spread throughout the Region and operating in highly differentiated socioeconomic contexts. In the aim to bridge the gap between the educational research and the school teaching practice, the learning paths supplied to students have planned the simultaneous presence in the classroom of two teaching professionals having different roles and referred to as ”experimenter” and ”trainer” teacher. The former was identified by the school manager among teachers in service, while the latter was selected by a competition among people usually involved in educational research. The teaching activities with students were directly conducted by the experimenter, supported throughout the educational path by the trainer teacher. Analysis of project outcomes highlights some peculiarities in the interaction dynamics between the two professionals, giving useful hints for the design of effective training of teacher in service.