Evidenze, miti e prassi didattiche: il caso dell’insegnamento della lettura nella scuola italiana

This paper aims to take stock of the acquisitions achieved by evidence-based research on teaching to read, to compare them with the teaching practices, as they emerge from the school textbooks proposed by the publishing houses in Italy. Moving from the importance recently assumed by scientific research on effective teaching and the need to avoid risks and misunderstandings that can be generated for its use in practice, the evidence acquired about the teaching of reading and writing is presented, recalling the need to focus on the grapheme-phoneme correspondence to be acquired by children in a progressive, systematic and explicit way. It is then pointed out that the textbooks in use propose approaches in clear contrast with this finding. The second part focuses on the experimental researches conducted in Italy in recent years, congruent with the framework previously indicated, which achieve better effectiveness and high motivation in all pupils. Particular attention is paid to the national research conducted recently by the Association S.Ap.I.E.

Validazione di uno strumento per valutare la partecipazione alle attività extracurriculari in area STEM. Il questionario Science Activities Evaluation Engagement (SAEE)

In this study, we present a new questionnaire, the Science Activities Evaluation Engagement (SAEE) instrument, for the evaluation of the students’ engagement in STEM oriented extra-curricular activities. The questionnaire was administered to about 1000 secondary school students who participated in the activities of the Piano Nazionale Lauree Scientifiche in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Through an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, it was possible to validate a four-factor structure of the instrument: Satisfaction with the followed activities; Utility of the activities; Difficulties in following the activities; Involvement of close people. The obtained factor structure shows a good model fit, with each of the obtained scales showing an excellent reliability. Criterion validity was established through the academic motivation scale. The proposed instrument shows also an adequate convergent validity and a sufficient discriminant validity. Implications of the study for the evaluation of Third Mission activities of the Italian universities are also briefly discussed.

The Mediating Effect of Creative Personality in the Relationship between Childcare Teacher’s Efficacy and Creative Teaching Behaviour

The purpose of this study is to identify the mediating effect of creative personality in the relationship between childcare teachers’ efficacy and creative teaching behavior. The participants of the study were 300 childcare teachers and selected the data between October 14 to 22, 2020. The study results were as follows. First, it evidenced positive correlations among efficacy, creative teaching behavior, and creative personality. Therefore, when childcare teachers show higher efficacy and creative personality levels, creative teaching behavior levels are likely to be higher. Second, childcare teachers’ efficacy directly affected creative teaching behaviors and creative personality, which also directly affected creative teaching behavior. Third, creative personality partially mediated between efficacy and creative teaching behaviors. As the childcare field continues to emphasize creative teaching behaviors, it must create an environment where childcare teachers can improve their efficacy and develop their creative personalities. Furthermore, educational programs should encourage teachers to enhance their efficacy and express their creative personalities.

Conflicts in Schools: Causative Factors and Resolution Strategies

This paper is an effort in reviewing and assembling the research findings of different researchers on the factors that cause conflicts in schools and the strategies adopted by schools for conflict resolution. The research is limited to certain databases only. The basis for selecting relevant literature for this study is their accessibility, language (English) and relevancy to the topic and only those research papers that highlight teacher-teacher conflicts and teacher-administration conflicts have been selected. The several factors that emerged from the study were classified as Structural and Personal factors only. The originality of this paper rests in an attempt to attract the attention of the research community towards the factors that lead to conflicts in schools and an insight into the strategies used by the school administration to resolve them. This study also recommends that school administrators be trained to identify at least some factors responsible for conflicts among their staff, even among the students of the school so that they can resolve it in a better way.

Il formative assessment nelle convinzioni e nelle pratiche degli insegnanti. Analisi secondarie da una indagine sui docenti di scuola media di due regioni italiane

All around the world, several scholars are reflecting on the role of the so-called «teacher variable» for orienting changes towards quality and equity in the education. In this field, it is stressed the importance of the relationship between teachers’ beliefs practices. Following this tradition, this paper aims to prove the existence of a relationship between democratic beliefs of the teachers and their adoption of formative assessment (FA) practices. Secondary analyses are conducted on data collected during a study, which involved a sample of more than a thousand middle school teachers. In this work we focused on data from two Italian regions: Emilia-Romagna and Piemonte. These data are re-analyzed to prove the relationship between the declaration on the adoption of FA practices and three beliefs variables, namely teachers’ beliefs on the FA, on the existence of natural gifts of students, and on the utility and dynamicity of instructional design. Personal, professional, and experiential variables are included to prove the existence of significant differences. The results suggest that the teachers who adopt FA practices more often and who present more democratic beliefs are: women, experienced teachers, those who teach literature or scientific disciplines, and those who are specialized in special needs teaching. Multivariate regression analysis, finally, confirm the relationship between the adoption of FA practices and positive beliefs towards the formative assessment and instructional design.

Virtual Museum Experience for Critical Thinking Development: First Results from the National Gallery of Art (MOOC, US)

In recent years, the use of innovative learning strategies within museum education contexts has been considerably supported by the use of digital technologies, especially in terms of critical thinking enhancement. As underlined by several studies in the field, the aesthetic experience is particularly effective in terms of reflection skills promotion, critical interpretation and analysis, both at individual and group level, as well as personal and creative reinterpretation (Biasi, Patrizi, & Fagioli, 2020). The present paper describes a research conducted within the MOOC «Teaching Critical Thinking through Art», created by the National Gallery of Art in Washington (DC), under the scientific supervision of the Harvard Project Zero researchers, pioneers of Visual Thinking Strategies within the museum context. The paper is aimed at illustrating the results of a content analysis conducted on the forum section of the above-mentioned MOOC during the 2020 edition. In particular, 163 posts from the «See/think/wonder» activity were assessed by two human evaluators using two different Critical Thinking evaluation tools (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2001; Poce, 2017). In addition, specific analyses were carried out selected users’ writing activities in order to identify possible positive correlations between the characteristics of forum posts and the critical thinking skills solicited.

Criterion Validation of the Scales of Autonomy, Collaboration, Empathy, Problem-solving and Self-confidence of the 3SQ. Soft Skills Self-evaluation Questionnaire Adapted for Lower Secondary School

The Soft Skills Self-evaluation Questionnaire (3SQ, 41 items) was validated using the responses of 1216 Italian students attending the fourth and the fifth grade of upper secondary school (Lucisano & du Mérac, 2019a), demonstrating good psychometric properties (du Mérac & De Santis, 2020; du Mérac, Livi, & Lucisano, 2020). The adaptation of the 3SQ (40 items) for 8th-grade students was validated in Rome using the responses of 507 students, confirming the factorial structure, sufficient independence, and a good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha between .75 and .92 and 52.23% of the total variance explained). Here, we present the criterion-related validity of the five scales of the adapted 3SQ: Self-confidence, Autonomy, Problem-solving, Cooperation, Empathy. During a PhD research project (Scippo, 2021), these dimensions were also measured in Rome with other instruments, using a sample of 403 8th grade students. The analysis of the data confirms good reliability of the five scales (between .79 and .92), shows good indices of the confirmatory factor analysis of all the scales (RMSEA = .05, SRMR = .08), and reveals significant correlations (between .38 and .68) between the scales of the adapted 3SQ and the other scales measuring the same dimensions. In conclusion, this concurrent validity check reinforces the validity of the adapted 3SQ construct and, consequently, its usefulness for both research and guidance.

L’affidamento familiare: le strategie educative elaborate dagli affidatari

Foster care is a condition of welcoming children with families in serious difficulty, legally regulated, aimed at guaranteeing to minors a suitable space for growth, and to families of origin the possibility of overcoming the problems so as to consent the return of the children. It is a challenging educational condition, to be deepened with research. The complexity of the backgrounds of origin and the co-presence of multiple risk factors in fact generate in children and young people in foster care, important difficulties in development, which foster families have to cope with, also with the support of specialists, services and associations. However, the skills that caregivers come to build over the years are valuable, deserving of pedagogical insights, so that good practices of positive parenting can be valued and shared. In this paper we will report the results of a survey, carried out with a national sample of 323 foster families. The study makes it possible to investigate the reasons for the custody prevision, the relationships with families of origin, the difficult life trajectories of the children in foster care (transitions, placements, discontinuities, years of foster care, continuation of relationships after foster care). In this way it is possible to identify the needs highlighted by the minors, the relevant problems that emerge and the promising strategies adopted by the foster families.

L’efficacia della musica a scuola: una rassegna delle evidenze

The Italian school legislation supports the educational use of music from preschool to lower secondary school for the improvement of skills included in the student’s profile at the end of the first cycle of education. In the framework of inclusive education, musical teaching is part of the school’s commitment to promote the development of academic skills, executive functions, self-regulation as well as emotional, affective, and social dimensions. All those elements are needed for improving learning and developing attitudes towards the consideration of the differences. This work presents an umbrella review of the evidence on the effectiveness of educational musical activities for the improvement of cognitive skills, socio-emotional skills, and school performance from pupils attending K-12 as well as the factors that are relevant for improving the quality of music interventions in school. The review includes meta-analyses already conducted on the effectiveness of music and presents the method adopted for searching, selecting, and coding the studies. By reviewing the evidence, it emerges the need to carry out new research in the field of music teaching that should be more rigorous in the method than the ones included in this umbrella review.