Educare a pensare criticamente nella scuola primaria: risultati preliminari da uno studio empirico

This paper describes the epistemological, theoretical, and methodologicalframework of an empirical study on the development of critical thinkingskills for primary school students. Critical thinking has been recognizedworldwide as a key competence to enable active citizenship. The current researchdesign comprises a two-year intervention in 12 experimental and controlclasses (grades 2-3 and 4-5) in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. Teachersnominated their classes to take part in the project through a region-widesurvey aimed at investigating the most implemented teaching approaches.After a teacher training on one of the existing frameworks to promote thinking(TASC - Thinking Actively in a Social Context, by B. Wallace), the teachersare implementing the approach in their classes with the continuing supportof the researcher. A tool specifically developed was employed as an initialand mid-term assessment to appraise students’ performances, in terms ofcritical thinking dialogue and dispositions. The final assessment will takeplace in April 2020. The current paper will address and discuss the researchdesign and the preliminary results of the study.Questo articolo descrive il quadro epistemologico, teorico e metodologicodi uno studio empirico sullo sviluppo della capacità di pensiero critico neglistudenti delle scuole elementari. Il pensiero critico è stato riconosciuto intutto il mondo come una competenza chiave per l’esercizio della cittadinanzaattiva. Il disegno di questa ricerca prevede un intervento biennale in12 classi sperimentali e di controllo (classi II-III e IV-V) nella regione FriuliVenezia Giulia. Gli insegnanti hanno candidato le loro classi a prendere parteal progetto attraverso un questionario a livello regionale, volto a studiare gliapprocci didattici più implementati. Dopo una formazione docenti su unodei framework di apprendimento esistenti per la promozione del pensiero(TASC - Thinking Actively in a Social Context, di B. Wallace), gli insegnantistanno utilizzando l’approccio nelle loro classi con il continuo supporto delricercatore. Una prova appositamente costruita è stata utilizzata come valutazioneiniziale e intermedia delle performance degli studenti, in termini didialogo e disposizioni sul pensiero critico. La valutazione finale avrà luogoin aprile 2020. Il presente articolo affronterà e discuterà del disegno della ricercae dei risultati preliminari dello studio

La cornice di apprendimento TASC per l’educazione alle competenze non-cognitive: Applicazioni nelle scuole di ogni ordine e grado

The recent approval in the Chamber of Deputies of the draft law aims at introducing non-cognitive competences in the curriculum of schools of all levels on an experimental basis. While this is a relevant proposal, this article identifies some aspects for improvement based on the scientific literature. In particular, the use of an innovative learning framework, Thinking Actively in a Social Context (TASC) by Belle Wallace and Harvey B. Adams, is suggested as it is considered a valuable proposal for the promotion of thinking and problem-solving skills. In the context of primary education in Italy, this approach has already been used for accurate experimentation, from which significant trends have emerged in terms of thinking skills (e.g., reasoning, metacognition, creativity), argumentation, and interaction (e.g., peer relations, autonomy), but also in terms of motivation, self-esteem, inclusion and, more generally, learning processes. With the same learning framework, other promising experiences have been conducted in kindergarten, at university, and in adult training, which will be reported on in the text. The outlined proposal is considered a valuable contribution to non-cognitive competences education for students at all levels.La recente approvazione alla camera del disegno di legge punta ad introdurre in via sperimentale le competenze non-cognitive nel curricolo delle scuole di ogni ordine e grado. Pur essendo una proposta rilevante, il presente articolo identifica alcuni aspetti di miglioramento basati sulla letteratura scientifica. In particolare, si suggerisce l’utilizzo di una cornice d’apprendimento innovativa, Thinking Actively in a Social Context (TASC) di Belle Wallace e Harvey B. Adams, ritenuta una valida proposta per la promozione delle capacità di pensiero e di risoluzione dei problemi. Nel contesto della scuola primaria in Italia è già stata attuata con questo approccio una sperimentazione puntuale, dalla quale sono emerse significative linee di tendenza in termini di capacità di pensiero (es. ragionamento, metacognizione, creatività), di argomentazione e interazione (es. relazioni tra pari, autonomia), ma anche in riferimento a motivazione, autostima, inclusione e, più in generale, ai processi di apprendimento. Utilizzando la stessa cornice d’apprendimento sono state condotte altre esperienze promettenti alla scuola dell’infanzia, all’università e nella formazione con gli adulti, di cui si renderà conto nel testo. Si ritiene che la proposta delineata possa essere un valido contributo per l’educazione alle competenze non-cognitive degli studenti di ogni ordine e grado

Microphase morphology in two dimensional fluids under lateral confinement

We study the effects of confinement between two parallel walls on a two dimensional fluid with competing interactions which lead to the formation of particle micro-domains at the thermodynamic equilibrium (microphases or microseparation). The possibility to induce structural changes of the morphology of the micro-domains is explored, under different confinement conditions and temperatures. In presence of neutral walls, a switch from stripes of particles to circular clusters (droplets) occurs as the temperature decreases, which does not happen in bulk. While the passage from droplets to stripes, as the density increases, is a well known phenomenon, the change of the stripes into droplets as an effect of temperature is rather unexpected. Depending on the wall separation and on the wall-fluid interaction parameters, the stripes can switch from parallel to perpendicular to the walls and also a mixed morphology can be stable.Comment: accepted by Physical Review E (rapid communications

“Otherwise, There Would Be No Point in Going to School”: Children’s Views on Assessment

Assessment is a much-discussed dimension of school life, as it is deeply connected to teacher–student power relations, where teachers’ responsibilities for individual assessment and support coexist. Moreover, children’s views are hardly investigated in the research. Studies reflecting those aspects in inclusive school systems, such as the Italian one, are still rare. Assuming assessment is a social practice that shapes classroom differences, in our research project on “Children’s Perceptions of Performance in Primary Schools” (CrisP), we conducted 35 narrative interviews with 3rd graders from six schools, framed by classroom observations, to reconstruct their perceptions of performance and assessment and develop individual case portraits through Open Coding as defined within Grounded Theory and the Documentary Method. The study was conducted in the Province of Bolzano (Italy). Children seem aware of the teacher–child power relations that emerge in the assessment field and the reciprocity and interdependence of the two roles. In the reconstruction of Alice’s case, she demonstrates she trusts adults but can also work pragmatically on her position, redefining her power role that benefits from teachers’ services. Along with a brief overview of crucial findings and the reconstruction of Alice’s perceptions, we ask for implications for appropriate assessment practices in inclusive primary schools

Modelling the timing of migration of a partial migrant bird using ringing and observation data: a case study with the Song Thrush in Italy

Abstract Background The study of the timing of migration is fundamental to the understanding of the ecology of many bird species and their response to climate change, and it has important conservation and management implications e.g., for assessing the hunting seasons according to the EU Directive 2009/147/EC (Birds Directive). Methods We developed a new method for the analysis of ringing data (both first capture and re-encounters) and citizen science observations, to assess the timing of pre- and post-nuptial migration of birds. This method was tested on the Song Thrush Turdus philomelos, using i) the Bird Ringing Database hosted by the ISPRA Italian Ringing Centre from the whole Italian peninsula, the three closest large islands (Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica), and Canton Ticino (Switzerland) and ii) the eBird data for the same study area. Results The results from both datasets consistently showed that pre-nuptial migration starts during the first 10-day period of January (Jan 1) in some central and southern areas of the Italian peninsula, in central Sicily, southern Sardinia, and Corsica. The onset of migration occurs on Jan 2 in the rest of central and southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia, and western Liguria, while it starts later in the north-eastern Alps, up to Mar 3. The end of post-nuptial migration is more synchronous, occurring on Nov 1 across most of Italy, slightly earlier (Oct 3) in northern Italy and later (Nov 2) in Sicily. The uncertainty of the estimated dates was < 2 days in most cases. Conclusion This method represents a novel and valuable tool for the analyses of the timing of migration using ringing and citizen science data and provides an important contribution to the Key Concepts Document of the EU Birds Directive, where migration timings are considered and used to define the hunting period of birds

The Chorus in Drama

Over time the originally tragic chorus has undergone significant changes which have emphasised its melodramatic potential, reshaping its role from the fourth century b. C., and later, from the sixteenth century onwards, fostering controversial revivals. Despite these transformations, however, the chorus has always represented a constant feature of tragedy since its classical origins, when during festive rituals the panhellenic myth was turned into drama and the chorus became its focus (the dithyramb being the expression of the Attic tribes from the Cleisthenic reform onwards). Before involving two characters, the dialogue took place within the choral collective. According to Aristotle, Western theatre was born with the recitative of the singer who, by starting to sing the dithyramb, prompted the chorus\u2019s mixed response of recited and sung passages. Traces of these mixed forms can still be found in the so-called epirrhema of fifth-century tragedy. This dialogic process brought about the gradual qualification of roles: that of the actor, who developed narrative and/or pathetic monologues, but also, after the \u2018invention\u2019 of the second and third actors, exclusively recited dialogues; that of the chorus, who, albeit closely involved in the action, remained a distinct entity, not only for its specifically choreutic components (music and gestures in the articulation of the theatrical space) and stylistic ones (syntax, lexis, intertextual relationships with the lyric genres etc.), but also for the slightly Doric nuance of their language, which, being absent from the recited and recitative parts, had an estranging impact upon the audience. To its formal features corresponded a markedly self-referential identitary awareness, even when the chorus took on the role of actor among actors (synagonist\ue9s, as Aristotle defines it with reference to the Sophoclean chorus). At the end of the fifth century b. C., when the chorus was about to be transformed into an interlude, the most daring experimentations comprised the development of performative modes verging on the operatic, including the chorus\u2019s elaborate interaction with one or more actors in both sung and recited parts. This complex historical phase, which includes the genesis, development, and end of the Attic theatrical chorality, both comic and tragic, will be the focus of some of the articles of the issue: they will concentrate especially on the intertextual relation between the chorus and the epic tradition, as well as on the comic chorus. In the sixteenth century, the rebirth of the ancient dramatic chorus was meant both as a re-appropriation of the classical legacy and as an exploration of the potential of an independent choral semiosis. It was influenced by Aristotle\u2019s Poetics, which \uabvirtually dictate[d] the devaluation and neglect of choral lyric\ubb (S. Halliwell), and \u2013 especially in regard to Greek tragedy \u2013 by the difficulty of understanding the structural hallmark of the lyrical sections as well as the traces of the interaction between the \u2018libretto\u2019 and the by now irretrievably lost musical score. This began, however tentatively, only after the relics of ancient scholarship allowed to restore the metrical forms of the sung texts. From the first half of the sixteenth century, the most relevant philological contributions can be found in the editions of Greek tragedies produced by Adrien Turnebou and Willem Canter. Theoretical studies and experimental research on ancient music, instead, were carried out in the same period especially by Italian scholars and learned amateurs, as will be seen in one of the article included in the issue. The purely \u2018choral word\u2019, occasionally neglected and dismissed as unnatural by playwrights, persisted thanks to innovative forms, such as the allegorical \u2018intermezzo\u2019, or by the replacement of the collective chorus with an individual actor \u2013 as in the Shakespearean Chorus/Prologue \u2013, or by transferal of its gnomic and allegoric function to a character (the advisor, the trusted friend, or the fool), or, finally, through the diffraction of the collective voice into multiple characters. In the most crucial phase of poetical and philosophic in-depth critical reflection on the dramatic chorus, a paradigmatic case in point of this diffraction is provided by the first part of Wallenstein (1796), while soon afterwards Schiller would compose the tragic chorus in its classical form in Die Braut von Messina (1803), also adding a theoretical preface to the play. The modern dramatic chorus in prose theatre, opera, and oratorios, re-elaborates, with ever fresh insights, the word/music dichotomy already implicit in Monteverdi\u2019s melodrama and later foregrounded by the \u2018reforms\u2019 carried out in the eighteenth-century musical theatre, and further developed by Wagner in his Opera und Drama (1851). The modern chorus also draws on the philosophical and anthropological analysis of the tragic chorus inspired, on the one hand, by the philosophy of \u2018the tragic\u2019 of German Romanticism, and, on the other, by K.O. M\ufcller\u2019s insights, later appropriated by Nietzsche in his Basel lectures and in Die Geburt der Trag\uf6die (1869 and 1872). Within such a theoretical and historical framework there stand contemporary versions of the classical chorus, as well as twentieth-century experimentations with anti-tragic \u2013 in Aristotelian terms \u2013 forms of choral counterpointing or complementing of the hero, as in Eliot\u2019s Murder in the Cathedral