Innovative STEM lessons, CLIL and ICT in multicultural classes

Abstract

This article aims to describe a number of scientific activities carried out efficiently and effectively in English, French, Spanish and Italian in High Schools. Cooperative and constructive methodologies in multicultural classes, the learner’s centrality, Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and laboratorial tasks are the core of these projects. Every student, regardless of their linguistic, conceptual and scientific background acquired and reorganized his/her knowledge learnt by doing in multilingual contexts. Working in pairs or small groups Italians and migrants were able to perform complex and demanding tasks and create valuable digital products. Integration and the acquisition of knowledge of STEM were promoted through the awareness of teenage and adult students’ language competences, their conceptual and linguistic repertoire, their learning style and their type of intelligence. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) proved to be a suitable approach to increase motivation, develop the key European competences and promote integration. A quadrilingual approach in teaching STEM was the first successful attempt to find a solution to some problems that usually arise in multicultural classes.