EXPERIMENTAL PEDAGOGICAL PATH TO STIMULATE TRAINING IN YOUNG PEOPLE IN CONDITIONS OF SOCIAL DISCOMFORT

Situations of youth discomfort represent a constant threat to the formative development of future adult generations and, for this reason, pose an important challenge to the entire pedagogical community. This research work intends to propose an innovative and structured training program for these young people, in order to stimulate the construction, or re-construction, of some fundamental educational values that are essential for a comprehensive and proper growth of the individual in society. The innovative didactic activities will be based on the Outdoor Training approach and will also make use of the motor and sport dimension, which has always been an essential key for an effective educational development for everyone, especially for young people

TAKING CARE OF EDUCATORS' TRAINING: A SURVEY OF THE ATTITUDES AND FEARS OF TEACHERS-IN-TRAINING TOWARD DISABILITY

Tra i principali fattori in grado di influenzare il successo o fallimento dei processi volti all’inclusione scolastica, la letteratura scientifica individua anche quelli inerenti gli atteggiamenti e le paure degli insegnanti nei riguardi della disabilità e dei compiti caratteristici della propria figura di educatore. Partendo da questa prospettiva, il presente lavoro di ricerca riporta i risultati di uno studio sperimentale condotto sugli atteggiamenti e le paure di un gruppo di insegnanti in formazione per il conseguimento della specializzazione per le attività di sostegno didattico agli alunni con disabilità. I risultati dell’indagine condotta ravvisano l’importanza di tale tematica e la necessità di stimolare nuovi studi al proposito; sono, infatti, emerse indicazioni circa le criticità e le principali dinamiche proprie di un ruolo difficile come quello del sostegno alla persona con disabilità, portando all’evidenza aspetti emotivo-relazionali ed esperienziali sui quali bisognerebbe puntare maggiormente al fine di performare i processi di formazione dei futuri educatori nel campo della pedagogia speciale.Among the main factors that can affect the success or failure of processes aimed at school inclusion, scientific literature identifies also those inherent in teachers' attitudes and fears regarding disability, and the tasks peculiar to their figure as educators. Starting from this perspective, this research paper reports the results of an experimental study on the attitudes and fears of a group of teachers undergoing training for specialization in educational support activities for disabled students. The results of the survey carried out reveal the importance of this issue and the need to stimulate new studies in this area. In fact, indications have emerged about the critical issues and the main dynamics peculiar to such a difficult role as that of supporting a person with disabilities, bringing to light the emotional-relational and experiential aspects on which to focus more in order to perform the training processes for future educators in the field of special pedagogy

DISTANCE PLAYFUL-MOTOR DIDACTICS: AN EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT TO STIMULATE EDUCATIONAL WELL-BEING AND IMPROVE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS AT THE TIME OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

In the developmental age, the playful-motor activity, understood as a movement game, plays a fundamental role in the child’s educational training and psycho-physical health, and is therefore functional to the development of a healthy growth. In this period of emergency, linked to the spread of COVID-19 which unfortunately forces everyone to spend a lot of time at home, it is consequently necessary to propose some movement activities and games to children, through experimental initiatives that differ from the traditional ones, in order not to slow down this fundamental process of personal development. The playful moment is to be considered important for both children, in terms of educational well-being, and for their parents too; through the game, parents can build up a relationship with their children capable of supporting an effective educational and training process. Based on these premises, this study proposes a protocol of didactic activities in the playful-motor sphere that can be delivered remotely, and are aimed at stimulating the educational importance of corporeal games in the parent-child relationships too, providing an effective educational alternative in a period characterized by prohibitions, constraints and critical issues in this sense

An experimental didactic path to "re-educate to values" through motor and sports practice

Physical and sports practice, to date, is called to explode all its educational potential both in formal and non-formal training contexts. This assumption takes on even more importance when the pedagogical and training action must be aimed at critical social contexts. In order to achieve this task, it is essential to structure didactic strategies that convey motor and sports activities towards the pursuit of educational-pedagogical objectives. In this regard, this research work proposes an experimental didactic path aimed at subjects who have experienced social deviance phenomena, and oriented towards their "re-education to values"

Development of high-performance light-weight electrodes for hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells Second quarterly report, Jul. 6 - Oct. 5, 1965

High performance lightweight electrodes for hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell

Development of high-performance lightweight electrodes for hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells Third quarterly report, 6 Oct. 1965 - 5 Jan. 1966

High performance, lightweight electrodes for hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell

An efficient flamelet progress-variable method for modeling non-premixed flames in weak electric fields

Combustion stabilization and enhancement of the flammability limits are mandatory objectives to improve nowadays combustion chambers. At this purpose, the use of an electric field in the flame region provides a solution which is, at the same time, easy to implement and effective to modify the flame structure. The present work describes an efficient flamelet progress-variable approach developed to model the fluid dynamics of flames immersed in an electric field. The main feature of this model is that it can use complex ionization mechanisms without increasing the computational cost of the simulation. The model is based on the assumption that the combustion process is not directly influenced by the electric field and has been tested using two chemi-ionization mechanisms of different complexity in order to examine its behavior with and without the presence of heavy anions in the mixture. Using a one- and two-dimensional numerical test cases, the present approach has been able to reproduce all the major aspects encountered when a flame is subject to an imposed electric field and the main effects of the different chemical mechanisms. Moreover, the proposed model is shown to produce a large reduction in the computational cost, being able to shorten the time needed to perform a simulation up to 40 times.Comment: 26 pages, 13 figures, paper accepted for publication on Computers and Fluid

Review on the effects of physical activity on body composition and shape in people with down syndrome

People with Down Syndrome (DS) are often characterized by overweight or obesity and result to be less active than their peers. Both overweight/obesity and physical inactivity are considered important risk factors for health, thus augmenting mortality risk. World Health Organization recommends different training programmes for health benefits in different age ranges of general population. Effects of physical activity may be even more important in preventing health consequences in people with DS. In this context, we conducted a literature search of original articles, published between May 2010 and May 2020, on the effects of physical activity on body shape, body composition and bone quality in people with DS. We found twelve articles from all the continents, investigating the effects of different types of physical activity on body fat and lean masses, bone composition and anthropometry. In sum, the included studies reported improvements in body composition (with augmented lean mass and reduced fat mass), body size (with lower weight, waist circumference and BMI) and bone quality (in terms of bone mineral content and/or bone mineral density). In particular, body composition improves after conditioning and plyometric jumps training program, 2-wheel bicycle training, whole body vibration and swimming. Body shape is significantly improved by bicycle training, interval training and swimming. Finally, bone quality shows positive results after conditioning and plyometric jumps training program, whole body vibration and weight bearing exercise. Although different types of physical activity are investigated in people with DS, however the best training programme for this population is not clear. So future studies may focus on the comparison or combination of different types of physical activity to assess which one could maximize benefits