ICT, coding, pensiero computazionale e Informatica: aspetti antropologici e problemi epistemologici, nella prospettiva dell’inclusione per tutti

In recent times, the attention initially focused on digital technologies has turned to the type of thinking involved in their use – computational thinking – identifying it as a matrix to be enhanced in knowledge processes. At the same time, the term Coding and some practices connected to it are becoming more and more frequent in the school, without a distinction between coding and Computational Thinking being well defined. Some scholars believe that Computational Thinking could be separated from Computer Science and taught separately. In the face of a growing confusion in language and related concepts, which goes hand in hand with a lack of scientific experiments founding Coding/Computational Thinking, a law is passed that provides for the integration of learning objectives into school curricula of childhood and primary school by the 2024/25 school year. Therefore, it becomes more urgent than ever to clarify these concepts, considering that the very high expectations still expressed on the potential of coding, which would be introduced as a transversal activity in the curriculum, risk weakening the system and the methodological-didactic approaches adopted so far, especially in the first cycle of education, while it is necessary to focus on an effective and scientifically based proposal. Underlying all this is a new conception of the relationship between the human being and technology that seems to subvert the terms of the problem, to the extent that what is programmed can take the place of the programmer. It is therefore necessary to place the various educational proposals, linked to the development of digital skills, within a conceptual framework founded on pedagogical principles, rather than on partial visions that do not have the 'person' at their centre. Particular attention is paid to the use of ICT and AI in school inclusion processes where instead a synthesis of ordinary didactics and technological innovation is realised, based on the principles of personalisation, so much so that it can constitute a model to be followed in the perspective of inclusion for all.