Innovative Teaching and Digital Literacy in Preschool. App Content Analysis and Experimental Case Studies in a Sociological Perspective

The objective of this article is to illustrate, from the theoretical and methodological perspective, the construction of an experimental process of a “digital education app” in several preschools in the municipality of Rome. The general objective the project fits into is related to a sociological analysis, based on the relationship between theory and empirical research, of the effects of introducing digital media into preschool didactics. Preschools are a privileged site for observing and analyzing the formation and development of children’s capabilities (Nussbaum, 2000), since the plasticity of the child’s thought begins to be configured as early as preschool and evolves progressively taking into account the perceptive, sociocultural and behavioural conditions emerging from different educational agencies (Piaget, Inhelder, 1950). The article refers to the research project of the Mediamonitor Minori Observatory of the Sapienza University of Rome entitled “Media Usage in Pre-school. Analysis and Evaluation of the Influence of Digital Media on the Socialization of Children between 0-6”. The article retraces in particular the stages of the research strategy designed to structure a formative, experimental protocol to be experimented in some case studies in Rome and illustrates the main results

Discovering Design Possibilities through a Pedagogy of Multiliteracies

Research and educational policies have alerted teachers to the importance of multiliteracies. Communication in society today is characterised by rapidly changing and emergent forms of meaning-making in a context of increased cultural and linguistic diversity. This paper responds to these imperatives, releasing key findings of a critical ethnography concerning interactions between pedagogy and access to multiliteracies among culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Data collection involved 18 days of lesson observations over 10 weeks using field and journal notes, continuous audiovisual and audio recording, and the collection of cultural artefacts. Semi-structured interviewing was also conducted with the teacher, principal, and four students. Data analytic tools included low and high inference coding and pragmatic horizon analysis. Findings concerned the use of overt instruction and situated practice in the teacher’s enactment of the multiliteracies pedagogy. This had a significant influence on the learners’ability to access claymation movie designing. Comparisons are made between the learning that occurred for students of the dominant, Anglo-Australian, middle-class culture, and for those who were not. The conclusion addresses relevant literature concerning how to apply the multiliteracies pedagogy to enable meaningful designing

Using the Rural Economic and Enterprise Development (REED) framework for analysis and joint action: outline and workplan for action research

The framework for fostering Rural Economic and Enterprise Development (REED) which is based on the analysis of successes and experiences of programmes and projects by an international group of practitioners from different professional backgrounds and countries is an example of a more holistic and spatial approach to local, rural and urban development. The framework, which tries to address the shortcomings of the traditional rural-urban dichotomy, is comprised of ten cornerstones for successful intervention, covering the policy and institutional dimension, access to infrastructure, services and markets, entrepreneurial competence and stakeholder links (see Figure 1). The REED framework can be applied at different levels, i.e., national and regional, because it is areabased. For example, many decisions concerning the political, economic and institutional environment for Rural Economic and Enterprise Development are made at national level. Decision-makers on public policies for rural areas are charged with designing strategies for rural development. Increasingly, this is done in a programmatic way, such as in inter-ministerial committees for designing PRSPs, sector investment programmes (SIPs) and sector-wide approaches (SWAPs). The REED framework adds value to the planning process because it feeds the perceptions, needs and experiences of relevant stakeholders in a systematic way. Where the focus is on developing a certain region (at sub-national level), regional development authorities can use the REED framework to create a dynamic environment for economic activity and to stimulate innovation. In this way, the specific characteristics of the region and the relevant framework conditions can be taken into consideration when elaborating and formulating key strategies, processes and possible ways to implement them, related to the individual cornerstones (see Figure 1). Within the cycle of typical government and donor-supported public investment, policies/ interventions, there are several options for applying the REED framework

Psychological principles of successful aging technologies: A mini-review

Based on resource-oriented conceptions of successful life-span development, we propose three principles for evaluating assistive technology: (a) net resource release; (b) person specificity, and (c) proximal versus distal frames of evaluation. We discuss how these general principles can aid the design and evaluation of assistive technology in adulthood and old age, and propose two technological strategies, one targeting sensorimotor and the other cognitive functioning. The sensorimotor strategy aims at releasing cognitive resources such as attention and working memory by reducing the cognitive demands of sensory or sensorimotor aspects of performance. The cognitive strategy attempts to provide adaptive and individualized cuing structures orienting the individual in time and space by providing prompts that connect properties of the environment to the individual's action goals. We argue that intelligent assistive technology continuously adjusts the balance between `environmental support' and `self-initiated processing' in person-specific and aging-sensitive ways, leading to enhanced allocation of cognitive resources. Furthermore, intelligent assistive technology may foster the generation of formerly latent cognitive resources by activating developmental reserves (plasticity). We conclude that `lifespan technology', if co-constructed by behavioral scientists, engineers, and aging individuals, offers great promise for improving both the transition from middle adulthood to old age and the degree of autonomy in old age in present and future generations. Copyright (C) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel

Architects and designers meet sociologists to design urban space : reflection on the (im)possible crossing of disciplinary borders

Space as an academic concept occupies a place in various disciplines and professions. In each case it tends to be named, studied, understood and created in the appropriate conceptual apparatus, using the relevant methodology for the acquisition and analysis of data. On the other hand, an ever greater role in the process of designing space is accorded to the users themselves, who have certain specific preferences and their own models of shaping the space. Awareness of these different perspectives requires interdisciplinary cooperation. The paper refers to experience gained during interdisciplinary spatial design workshops, at which students of architecture, interior architecture, sociology and philosophy jointly prepared designs for urban space. The design process is analysed as communication between the representatives of disciplines using different resources of reflexivity about space. This workshop experience is not treated as ordinary, empirical research. It is rather an impulse and a starting point for further research on the cognitive aspects of cooperation gathering together experts rooted in different institutional contexts and fields of knowledge. The article discusses the possibility of cross-disciplinary cooperation between architects, designers, sociologists, philosophers, artists and other space constructors and users. Our assumption based on the conceptions of reflexivity by Pierre Bourdieu, Scott Lash and Anthony Giddens is that this cooperation is practised as an interdisciplinary relationship, incapable of overcoming disciplinary borders

What should a robot learn from an infant? Mechanisms of action interpretation and observational learning in infancy

The paper provides a summary of our recent research on preverbal infants (using violation-of-expectation and observational learning paradigms) demonstrating that one-year-olds interpret and draw systematic inferences about other’s goal-directed actions, and can rely on such inferences when imitating other’s actions or emulating their goals. To account for these findings it is proposed that one-year-olds apply a non-mentalistic action interpretational system, the ’teleological stance’ that represents actions by relating relevant aspects of reality (action, goal-state, and situational constraints) through the principle of rational action, which assumes that actions function to realize goal-states by the most efficient means available in the actor’s situation. The relevance of these research findings and the proposed theoretical model for how to realize the goal of epigenetic robotics of building a ’socially relevant’ humanoid robot is discussed

Female Under-Representation in Computing Education and Industry - A Survey of Issues and Interventions

This survey paper examines the issue of female under-representation in computing education and industry, which has been shown from empirical studies to be a problem for over two decades. While various measures and intervention strategies have been implemented to increase the interest of girls in computing education and industry, the level of success has been discouraging. The primary contribution of this paper is to provide an analysis of the extensive research work in this area. It outlines the progressive decline in female representation in computing education. It also presents the key arguments that attempt to explain the decline and intervention strategies. We conclude that there is a need to further explore strategies that will encourage young female learners to interact more with computer educational games

A model for hypermedia learning environments based on electronic books

Designers of hypermedia learning environments could take advantage of a theoretical scheme which takes into account various kinds of learning activities and solves some of the problems associated with them. In this paper, we present a model which inherits a number of characteristics from hypermedia and electronic books. It can provide designers with the tools for creating hypermedia learning systems, by allowing the elements and functions involved in the definition of a specific application to be formally represented A practical example, CESAR, a hypermedia learning environment for hearing‐impaired children, is presented, and some conclusions derived from the use of the model are also shown