The professionalization of the educational psychologist in Italy: a testimony

Carlo Trombetta

The author, after examining some key concepts regarding the profession of the educational psychologist (referring to the sociology of the professions), presents the stages that have characterized this figure in Italy. The author underlines in conclusion the little importance given to this professional.

For a school with living bodies and rhythms Reflections on the transdisciplinary nature of making of music

Gianni Nuti

The paper intends to support the transdisciplinary value of sound-music communication within a multidimensional school model, available to adopt more transmissive and transposing tools to promote learning, and open to the creative intersection between individual disciplinary areas. In a neo-Renaissance perspective of recovering systematic correspondences between arts and sciences, a recomposition of computational and symbolic, logical-rationalistic and empirical knowledge is promoted, recognizing the same purpose of artistic practice as the search for the reasons for meaning and evolution of the given existence to scientific thought and permeating all the ways for the knowledge of a consubstantial presence of measure and emotion, of calculation and construction of emotional bonds between people and things. We suggest, as cross-contact points of contact: the recognition of profiles of corporeity, of musical behaviors musicality experienced by the human species in every age and place with different styles, both individual and collective; the relationship between the time of music and the existential one, the symbolic struggle against the flow and the end of things and forms of life. Of all this music is made and therefore cannot be considered one of the “educations”, but a possible way to understand them all.

A rhythmic approach for reading improvement in developmental dyslexia

Serena Germagnoli, Alice Cancer and Alessandro Antonietti

In recent years the hypothesis that music could be a valuable multi-sensorial tool to stimulate different areas of the brain underling specific cognitive abilities, including those involved in phonological and reading processing, has been the focus of many investigations. The paper describes the outcomes of a research project specifically aimed at verifying the effectiveness of a rhythm-based training program, the Rhythmic Reading Training (rrt), whose validity has been demonstrated by several studies that have tested its effectiveness under different experimental conditions.

Narr-Action, when narration meets action A study in preschoolers

Maria Chiara Bazzini, Cosima Marsella, Pamela Papangelo, Maddalena Fabbri-Destro and Valentina Gizzonio

The present study, conducted on 96 preschool children (m=4.09; ds=0.54), tested whether the combination between storytelling and story acting could significantly improve non-verbal reasoning skills and narrative competences. An experimental group (n=47) attended 32 experimental sessions including storytelling and story-acting activities, while a control group (n=49) maintained the curricular activities. Results showed how stimulating children in terms of executive, iconic and symbolic representation induces a significant increase in non-verbal reasoning (as measured by Colored Progressive Matrixes p=0.01) and in the Sentence Complexity (as measured by Bus Story Test p=0.01).

Mindfulness goes to school Effects on cognitive abilities in normotypical children and in children with difficulties

Annagrazia Tria, Chiara Ciracì and Dolores Rollo

Over the last years studies on the efficacy of Mindfulness-based interventions have increased considerably, showing beneficial outcomes on the psychological well-being in healthy populations as well as in clinical populations. The present study investigates the effects on cognitive level of psychoeducational program inspired by the principles of the protocol of Kabat-Zinn, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, in scholastic context. Pupils of the same primary school (N=60, mean age=11 years) were divided into two groups, balanced in number, gender and age: Mindfulness Participants and Control Group (no activity). All students have performed neuropsychological tests in baseline and at the end of the intervention. Analysis of the data reveals that the meditation program acts most on such cognitive components: short-term memory, planning and problem solving skills.

Cyberbulling. Protection of victims and accountability of aggressors in Italian law n. 2017/71

Carlo Marinoni, Riccardo Michele Colangelo and Maria Assunta Zanetti 

This essay outlines the main aspects of the law 29 May 2017 n. 71, which regulates, for the first time in Italy, the phenomenon of cyberbullying. The normative aspects related to the prevention and the implementation modalities are examined. The work aims to identify in the law 71 the recommendations for schools – e.g. to identify a school referent – and the safeguards for minors – the new procedure to obscure, remove or block data – to avoid the perpetration of harmful conduct and victimizing not only through physical force, but also through social networks.

“Mummy and daddy, let’s speak about love”. Description and evaluation of an intervention for parents aimed at sexual and relational education of children

Maria Brambilla, Chiara Agostino, Daniela Frizzele and Camillo Regalia

“Mummy and daddy, let’s speak about love” is an intervention for parents, organized in four steps, aimed at sexual and relational education of children. In the present paper, we describe its implementation and scientific evaluation. Three editions have been evaluated, both with quantitative and qualitative methodology. The quantitative evaluation considered answers given by participants (N=60) and a control group (N=69) to a pre/post questionnaire. Qualitative evaluation considered participants’ verbalization before and after the intervention. Results showed that parents who took part in the program communicate better with their children, are more confident in themselves as parents, and discovered the importance of not only speaking but also listening to children in everyday life.

Service Learning in the Ventimiglia refugee camp

Livia Cadei, Linda Boroni, Alessandra Carelli, Carola Conti Rojas, Claudia Peruzzo, Dalila Raccagni, Giada Scotti, Valeria Della Valle and Silvia Zerla

The article focuses on the Service Learning activity carried out at Caritas Ventimiglia and the Roja refugee camp of the Italian Red Cross, by a group of students of the Intercultural Pedagogy course of the Master’s Degree in Psychology of clinical interventions in the social contexts of the Catholic University of Sacred Heart of Brescia.

Service Learning is a pedagogical method which combines both volunteering for the community (service) and learning (learning).

In the contribution, the experience realized in the context is consolidated with a systematic reflection. Critical competence was activated through the methodology of cultural shocks and developed through the collective writing method. Therefore, the work is the result of the direct contribution of the students who participed in the Service Learning experience.