Introducing astronomy: a way to renovate school curricula

One of the most urgent tasks facing society today is to make science more attractive to the younger generation and to foster the continuous improvement of the knowledge and skills. These objectives assume ever greater importance because, firstly, young people are opting less and less for scientific studies, secondly, we need to establish new starting points for them in order that they could better understand and improve our changing world. To achieve these aims, it is necessary to expand innovation in secondary education. In this paper, a few suggestions, which can help assess and prioritize the usefulness of astronomy-related material for improving the educational process, are presented