Enrica Giordano
Dipartimento di Scienze Umane per la Formazione "R. Massa"
Edificio U16 - Via Giolli ang. T. Mann - 20100 Milano  -  Italia

phone  ++39-2-64484850
fax  ++39-2-64484805
e-mail Enrica.Giordano@unimib.it

Born in Milan, Italy: September 17, 1950
Private address: Via G.A.Amadeo, 3 - 20133 MILANO - Italy

Enrica Giordano, graduated in Physics in 1974 at Parma University. Since 2001 she is associated professor (confirmed in 2005) of Didactics of Physics and Didactics of Astronomy at the "Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca”, Milan-Italy.
Since 1974 she has carried out her researches about History of Physics first and then mainly about Didactics of Physics. She faces topics of research about Teaching and Learning of Physics at different school levels, from kindergarten to high school and adults’ preparation. Since middle of the 80ties she started studying problems about the diffusion of scientific culture in contexts different from school collaborating with regional and national institutions and initiatives (Museo Nazionale di Scienza e Tecnologia di Milano, Giocheria di Sesto San Giovanni, Festival della Scienza di Genova, Scienza Under 18). 

Her main research focus is about designing, testing, revising and writing, teaching paths for a meaningful learning of scientific culture to use in school, for long term works (from kindergarten to grades 8 -10) about topics in physics in connection with astronomy, earth sciences, biology, mathematics. In collaboration with colleagues of different Italian University she designed a model of pre-service teachers’ preparation about physics and astronomy topics, tested in the University courses to prepare science and math teachers in primary and secondary school (Corso di Laurea in Scienze della Formazione Primaria - Scuola di Specializzazione all’Insegnamento Secondario).

Besides school teaching and pre-service teachers’ preparation, a specific interest of Enrica Giordano is in adults’ long life learning and dissemination of scientific culture. She is designing and testing models for continue teachers development and professional preparation of extra-school educators.
In about the last 15 years her research is devoted to meaningful uses of information technologies, in particular: telematic networks for studying environmental issues and for learning physics in collaborative, national and international, projects linking students, teachers and researchers of different countries . 
Since early nineties she mediated and monitored the active participation of a group of Milan teachers, to the international project "Global Laboratory" (promoted by TERC, Cambridge MA, USA). In 1993 she promoted the Italian project "Laboratori in rete" devoted to science teaching innovation and cooperative professional teachers development.

The teachers’ network is still working and it is a special context where to test models for in-service preparation, to implement research-action activities collaborating with university research and to get data about difficulties to transfer research results in actual school classes.
Recently she starter designing learning objects and environments for e-learning blended situations (or if necessary in completely at a distance interaction) and testing them mainly in primary school teachers’ preparation and in the national second level Master for elementary and middle school science teachers’, nationally coordinated by prof. G. Luzzatto.

She was scientific coordinator of Milano-Bicocca research group involved in the national project SeCiF (Explaining and Understanding Physics, 1999-2001), FFC (Physics for Cultural Formation, 2001-3), F21 (Physics for the 21st century, 2004-2006), aimed to design and to implement innovative teaching materials for in-service or pre-service teachers' and museum educators’ preparation, to be diffused through the web. She is now monitoring the diffusion of the materials in school and extra school environment, testing difficulties and advantages of the suggested approach.She participate to several teachers’ professional development programs in particular:

- she is member of the Scientific Comitee of the National Plan ISS (Teaching Experimental Sciences) of the Ministry of Instruction (MIUR)and of the local group coordinating and monitoring the Plan at regional level. 

- she is the coordinator 2009-2010 of a project from the regional institute of MIUR (Direzione Scolastica della Lombardia) about testing and implementing in school (from kindergarten to first grade secondary school) the new National Indications for the revision of the mathematics and science curriculum in compulsory school.

Selected papers