The Scientific Degrees Plans (PLS), established in 2004 at the initiative of the MIUR, the Conference of Heads of Science and Technology, and Confindustria, is a national intervention plan aimed at:
- Promoting enrollment in scientific degree courses, also aiming to promote gender balance, through the offer of active orientation opportunities that place high school students as subjects facing scientific disciplines;
- Reducing university dropouts and improving students' careers by introducing innovative teaching tools and methodologies consistent with the student-centered approach to learning;
- Implementing training, support, and monitoring initiatives for tutors who support basic courses in the early years, in order to provide tutors with the basic tools necessary to identify the difficulties students encounter and to implement the most suitable forms of support; preparing educational support materials for tutoring activities; developing monitoring actions to identify the most effective tutoring methods.
- Carrying out self-assessment activities for high school students with the aim of verifying their preparation for entry into universities in relation to the required requirements and increasing awareness of their knowledge for the purpose of choosing their educational path;
Providing in-service teachers of scientific disciplines with opportunities for professional growth through active participation in the design of activities carried out jointly with the University;
The "PLS methodology" proposes that students, in orientation and self-assessment activities, and teachers, in training activities, do not limit themselves to passive participation in the proposed activities but play an active role. The tool for achieving this goal is the laboratory. The definition of a laboratory, even before referring to a physical space equipped with particular equipment, concerns a learning methodology that brings students closer to scientific disciplines with an experimental approach. The joint design and implementation of laboratory activities by teachers from the School and the University constitute the element that characterizes the PLS and promotes the development and strengthening of relationships between the school system and the university system. These activities, together with those carried out within the framework of university teaching in the early years, through the introduction of innovative teaching tools and methodologies and training and support activities for the action of university tutors, ensure that the PLS accompanies the entire path of a high school student who wants to successfully undertake university studies in the scientific field.
With this reading key, the PLS activities carried out at all university sites should be considered, developed according to the PLS Guidelines within the scope of the six actions:
ACTION 1 - Orientation to enrollments, favoring gender balance
ACTION 2 - Reduction of dropout rates
ACTION 3 - Training, support, and monitoring of tutor activities
ACTION 4 - Laboratories for teaching basic sciences
ACTION 5 - Educational activities for self-assessment
ACTION 6 - Teacher training
The following Scientific Degrees Plans are present in the Department: