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.
