History of Journal: a witness

Carlo Trombetta

This paper makes available, for the first time, a number of facts and events that made it possible to create and develop an Italian journal devoted to educational psychology. The journal has had a continuous life, even if the title changed somehow throw the decades; its mission has always been the connection of theory and methodological rigorous research with the professional engagement in educational psychology.

 

 

 

Scaffolding process in the teacher-student relationship for children with Special Educational Needs

 Chiara Diaferia e Fabiola Casarini

The review analyzes some key points of the scaffolding process in the teacher- student relationship, especially how the process condition the learning of student with Special Educational Needs (BES). First will be described the three characteristics of the process: contingency, fading and transfer of responsability. Second will be addressed tutorial functions and strategies that the teacher can use to facilitate the learning. Finally it will be described one of the most recent major models of analysis of the process of scaffolding within the class.

 

 

 

Experiments of educational and inclusive theater at the borders of the school and the city

Santa Parrello

Naples, like all contemporary metropolises, is crossed by internal borders that lead into geographical and mental peripheries, areas of social exclusion and dispersion in which the relationship between young people and adults is especially difficult and education seems an almost impossible challenge.

Since 2009, the Department of Humanities of the University of Naples Federico II and the Association of Maestri di Strada collaborate experimenting educational strategies within and outside the educational institution. The Project E-vai opposes the loss of motivation to learn and to actively manage their own existence experienced by dropout adolescents and in school dropout, supporting the work of the teachers in the school and creating educational centers in the territory, using an approach that is centered on the narration and the reflexivity of the group. Among the instruments used, the theater workshop stands out: to the adolescents convinced of not having resources, to be predestined to defeat, theater offers, literally and metaphorically, a stage that allows the emergence of hidden knowledge and informal skills, encouraging the building of new intergenerational alliances, supporting the dynamics of identity exploration. The theatrical experience becomes an instrument of knowledge of the self, the other and the possible, leading the way beyond that feeling of internalized suburbs that paralyzes and prevents constructive action: among the results, many stories of growth of adolescents, but also of young professionals who choose to invest in theater with educational purposes.

 

 

 

The overcoming of the traditional teaching through the Serious Games

Antonietta Caputo e Roberto Marcone

The development of skills, learning and competencies tout court is the main outcome of child play. Recent studies shown the advantages of using electronic game’s tools; lately, the attention is directed towards the Serious Games, also used to support teaching to children with Special Educational Needs. But the use of “special” tools at school might emphasize the difference in learning between students with Special Educational Needs and those with Typical Development. Then, the implementation of different software for the whole classroom, supported by an appropriate teachers’ governance, would increase school inclusiveness.

 

 

 

Appearances are deceiving: observe the world as it looks and how it is

Lucia Bigozzi e Alessandra Di Cosimo

In this paper we propose to evaluate an aspect in the scientific thought’s development: the distinction between appearance and reality from 3- to 5-years-old, recognizing its implications in the school activities’ context.

91 children took part in the research, their ages ranged from 3 to 5 years and they were divided into 3 groups: 37 children aged 3 years (mean age 3.4 years), 23 children aged 4 years (mean age 4.5 years), and 31 children aged 5 years (mean age 5.4 years).

To assess children’s ability to distinguish appearances, as a representation believed to be true, from the reality, it was used one of the tests devised by Flavell (1986), in which an apparent change of an object’s color it has been produced using a colored filter.

To check the development of the distinction between appearance and reality, we proceeded to the construction of contingency tables (two-way tables: "test" x "age") and to the calculation of the Chi-Square test.

The evolutionary trend of the comprehension in the distinction between appearance and reality shows a significant relationship with the age.

In particular, results show that there are many 3-years-old children who do not respond properly to the test, while only few of them provide correct answers. Instead, participants of 5-years-old that make mistakes are significantly lower.

 

 

 

The effects of a short training aimed at enabling teachers in primary schools to alter the verbal feedback given to their pupils

 Francesco Sulla, Eusebia Armenia, Pier Paolo Eramo e Dolores Rollo

In a recent study on approval and disapproval in the classroom (Sulla, 2015), Italian and British teachers were compared: higher rates of both teacher disapproval and pupils off-task behaviour were found in Italian classrooms across the school grades. As a result, a group of 32 Italian primary school teachers took part in a training programme specifically designed to encourage them to change aspects of the verbal feedback they gave to their pupils. A revisited version of the ‘Power Point’ presentation ‘Managing behaviour – four essential steps’ (Swinson, Harrop, 2005) was presented to the teachers; Furthermore, there was a 30-minute session during which a sample videotape of a teacher was used for teaching participating teachers to score different types of verbal feedback. The teachers and pupils were observed both prior to and after the teachers had received some training aimed at increasing both the quality and quantity of their feedback. Thus, the effects that changes in teacher feedback had on pupil behaviour were examined. The effects on teachers’ job satisfaction, self-efficacy, and on a series of praxis related to classroom management were evaluated. The training produced a significant increase in both teachers’ social and academic approval; an increase in pupils’ on-task behaviour was registered. While no changes were registered in teachers’ job satisfaction, a significant increase in both teachers’ self-efficacy and praxis was registered.

 

 

 

“CoSE a scuola”: socio-emotional skills and academic achievement in primary school

Anna Di Norcia e Gemma Marano

Teaching and learning in schools have strong social and emotional components. Moreover evidence showed that class climate can be improved by improving social and emotional skills in children. “CoSE a Scuola” is an intervention research aimed to teach 4^th grade children how to solve social problems with their peers, following the Social Problem Solving theoretical model. 179 children participated to the research (107 in the intervention group and 72 in the control group). Results, according to previous studies, showed that interventions aimed to improve social and emotional skills at school can be effective. In fact the children that participated to the intervention improve their social problem solving skills, by resisting to peer pressure in favor of dequate behaviours.

 

 

 

“By your hand”: a social emotional learning program to smooth the transition from kindergarten to primary school

Valeria Cavioni e Maria Assunta Zanetti

This paper describes a quasi-experimental longitudinal study among a sample of preschool children attending the last year of kindergarten school (N = 57) in order to analyze short and long-term effects of the “By your hand” to promote social and emotional skills. The effectiveness of the program is assessed over four waves measuring emotional competence, behavioral problems and emotional distress, social behavior, prosocial and general adjustment. The results showed significant improvements in the experimental group that joined the program in several variables considered in this study.