Perspective Chapter: Teaching Intuition and Creativity - An Interdisciplinary and Playful Approach

Abstract

The students attending the Italian technical and vocational high schools have often a critical behavior towards the classes of Mathematics and Italian. They usually believe that these disciplines are sterile and marginal with respect to their main interests that rely on subjects characterizing their professional choice. We made some experiments intended to wake up the interest and reactivate the lost creativity in these two disciplines. We report on an interdisciplinary experience in the first-year class of a technical high school where we introduced a series of games in the classes of Mathematics and Italian, with the intent of stimulating creativity and empowering the students. In Maths, we applied the puzzle-based learning technique. In Italian, we used the creative writing technique. Despite the limited time devoted to this experience, the outcomes have been extremely positive.