Best Practice in P.E. for gender equity-A review

This review wants to provide a summary of selected literature from the past 10 years on gender equity in P.E. It aims at providing an overview of the current research, while suggesting viable solutions to encourage girls to take a more active role in sport and physical activity. To ensure the respect of gender identity in education, the quality of teaching is crucial. Therefore, we argue that there is greater need for research in the field of gender equity in PE. While much research focused on how gender reproduced though pedagogical practice in PE, this review aims at analyzing how to challenge it and identify good practices. The analysis of the didactic process pointed out five dimensions (design, methodological, reflexive, organizational, relational). For each dimension, the critical aspects for education to gender equity have been identified, together with the effective practice and strategy to promote gender equity and equal education in PE. Methods and techniques useful for PE teachers were highlighted to give teachers the right tools to orientate students to sports, limit early sport dropouts and valorise the practice of all sports equally, as disciplines for both men and women. Key words: gender, physical education, didactic, curriculum, reflexive thinking, equity, methodology

Gender equality and transformative practices in Physical Education

A partire da un paradigma ecologico ad indirizzo critico, seguendo il filone degli studi femministi, le finalità della ricerca sono state: smascherare le forme di oppressione di genere nei contesti educativi (finalità trasformativa) e produrre un sapere utile alla pratica (finalità emancipativa). Data la complessità del contesto educativo scolastico e dell’argomento stesso che interseca vari domini di sapere, è stato adottato un approccio metodologico di metodo misto (mixed method) per poter dapprima costruire una configurazione del fenomeno oggetto d’interesse attraverso strumenti quantitativi e poi approfondirlo attraverso l’impiego di tecniche qualitative. Gli strumenti utilizzati sono stati: il questionario, l’intervista strutturata, le osservazioni, le biografie professionali, i focus-group. In sintesi, le evidenze emerse in letteratura ed empiriche mettono in luce la presenza di stereotipi di genere nelle lezioni di EF, sotto forma di pratiche inconsapevoli che gli insegnanti riproducono a seguito di un habitus socializzato in forma binaria secondo i due sessi e gerarchizzato. La dipendenza dell’EF dal mondo sportivo, dove gli stereotipi di genere sono presenti per ragioni storico-culturali e dal quale gli insegnanti attingono spesso parte del loro sapere professionale, li rende partecipi inconsapevoli del sistema di rinforzo degli stereotipi stessi, attraverso le pratiche che vanno sotto il nome di curricolo nascosto. Il termine nascosto sottolinea l’inconsapevolezza di tali pratiche, appunto nascoste alla coscienza e si deduce che la possibilità di svelarle necessita di una formazione specifica per gli insegnanti, una formazione che attinga ai processi riflessivi.Starting from a critical ecological approach, following the trend of feminist studies, the purpose of the research were to unmask the forms of gender oppression in educational contexts (transformative purpose) and to implemente transformative pedagogical practice in P.E. for gender equality (emancipatory purpose). Given the complexity of the school educational context and of the topic itself that intersects various domains of knowledge, a mixed methodological approach was adopted. First to build a configuration of the phenomenon object of interest through quantitative tools and then deepen it using qualitative techniques. The tools used were the questionnaire, structured interview, observations in situ, professional biographies and focus groups. In summary, the evidence that emerged in the literature and empirical, highlights the presence of gender stereotypes in P.E. lessons, taken in the form of unconscious practices that teachers reproduce following a habitus socialized in binary gender form and hierarchized. The sports world, where gender stereotypes are present for historical-cultural reasons and from which teachers often draw part of their professional knowledge, makes them unconscious participants of reinforcement of the stereotypes through the practices know as “hidden curriculum”. The term hidden underlines the lack of awareness of such practices. The possibility of revealing them requires specific training for teachers on the habit of reflection on teaching practices

Il genere e l’educazione fisica e le percezioni degli insegnanti: un’indagine esplorativa

COVID-19 has accentuated new methodological and epistemological-ontological questions in Physical Educa-tion. It is not only a didactic problem but sits alongside other central important issues waiting to be resolved, such as gender discrimination. This contribution presents evidence, gathered from twenty-eight P.E. teachers, on the subject of gender and the awareness that derives from it. This evidence deals with the tendencies towards competitiveness and performance inherited from sport, historically a male domain. Physical Education, due to its educational role, must address the issue of gender, in order to outline original and up to date strategies. The gender-related data from the questionnaire demonstrate that for the didactic orientation criteria applicable to Physical Education to be determined, teacher training needs to be initiated in the reflective laboratory, allowing for the fact that professional experience gained in school or through university training does not explore these issues in depth.La pandemia accentua nell’educazione fisica, nuovi interrogativi sul piano metodologico ed epistemologico- on-tologico. Se la didattica deve rinunciare a contatti e vicinanze corporee, altri nodi centrali attendono di essere sciolti, come la discriminazione di genere. Il contributo presenta evidenze, emerse da ventotto insegnanti di educazione fisica, riferite al genere e alla consapevolezza che ne deriva. Tali evidenze devono fare i conti con orientamenti alla competitività e performance ereditati dallo sport, storicamente dominio maschile. L’educazione fisica, per il suo ruolo educativo, deve affrontare il problema del genere per delineare strategie proprie, originali, attuali. I dati del questionario, riguardo il genere, fanno emerge la necessità di attivare una formazione, degli/delle insegnanti, sul laboratorio riflessivo, da cui determinare criteri di orientamento didattico applicabili all’educazione fisica, anche in ragione della dimensione etica e politica dell’esperienza educativa o formativa universitaria

The Baltimore declaration toward the exploration of organoid intelligence

We, the participants of the First Organoid Intelligence Workshop - "Forming an OI Community" (22-24 February 2022), call on the international scientific community to explore the potential of human brain-based organoid cell cultures to advance our understanding of the brain and unleash new forms of biocomputing while recognizing and addressing the associated ethical implications. The term "organoid intelligence" (OI) has been coined to describe this research and development approach (1) in a manner consistent with the term "artificial intelligence" (AI) - used to describe the enablement of computers to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence. OI has the potential for diverse and far-reaching applications that could benefit humankind and our planet, and which urge the strategic development of OI as a collaborative scientific discipline. OI holds promise to elucidate the physiology of human cognitive functions such as memory and learning. It presents game-changing opportunities in biological and hybrid computing that could overcome significant limitations in silicon-based computing. It offers the prospect of unparalleled advances in interfaces between brains and machines. Finally, OI could allow breakthroughs in modeling and treating dementias and other neurogenerative disorders that cause an immense and growing disease burden globally. Realizing the world-changing potential of OI will require scientific breakthroughs. We need advances in human stem cell technology and bioengineering to recreate brain architectures and to model their potential for pseudo-cognitive capabilities. We need interface breakthroughs to allow us to deliver input signals to organoids, measure output signals, and employ feedback mechanisms to model learning processes. We also need novel machine learning, big data, and AI technologies to allow us to understand brain organoids

Un'indagine sul gradimento delle lezioni di educazione fisica: lettura in un'ottica di genere.

Molte pratiche di educazione fisica sono ancora legate ad una sottolineatura di attivit\ue0 maschili e femminili, con una sottovalutazione delle ricadute sugli stereotipi di genere. Il questionario, di cui presenteremo l\u2019analisi di alcuni dati, raccoglie le percezioni dei ragazzi e ragazze su alcune questioni legate all\u2019educazione fisica e pratica sportiva. La somministrazione \ue8 avvenuta nel marzo 2019 a 524 ragazzi di scuola secondaria di primo grado della provincia di Rimini. Gli item riguardano motivazione, soddisfazione, coinvolgimento durante le ore di educazione fisica. Letto usando una lente di genere questo studio contribuisce ad espandere il corpo di ricerche e conoscenze sullo stato dell\u2019arte dell\u2019equit\ue0 di genere in educazione fisica

Riflettere sul genere, una proposta formativa per gli insegnanti di educazione fisica

Le pratiche degli/delle insegnanti di educazione fisica, possono riflettere assunti e credenze sul genere sviluppatisi normalmente in contesti eterosessuali e che non considerano visioni alternative di genere. La ricognizione sulle proprie in- fluenze socio-culturali, richiede un processo riflessivo che indirizzi la decostru- zione degli stereotipi di genere e le azioni didattiche. Ma la riflessivit\ue0 \ue8 un \u201cha- bitus\u201d che pu\uf2 essere acquisito e migliorato attraverso la pratica. L\u2019obiettivo del presente contributo \ue8 quello di delineare una proposta di formazione/apprendi- mento per insegnanti o futuri/e insegnanti di educazione fisica, a partire da un approccio riflessivo sul genere. Nella letteratura relativa all\u2019insegnamento delle scienze motorie e degli sport, gli studi sulla pratica riflessiva sono in aumento, ma \ue8 necessario arricchire la riflessione critica della dimensione etica e politica dell\u2019insegnamento/apprendimento, inclusa la dimensione di genere. La forma- zione alle pratiche riflessive nei curricula universitari e nella formazione per futuri/e insegnanti aumenta la consapevolezza nei confronti delle pratiche e dei discorsi sul genere ed \ue8 riconosciuta nel processo di riforma del genere in edu- cazione. L\u2019idea pedagogica di un laboratorio riflessivo per gli insegnanti di edu- cazione fisica e scienze motorie merita quindi un'attenta considerazione.In a Physical Education class, practices can reflect a teacher\u2019s assumptions and beliefs that are generally created in heterosexually normed contexts that don\u2019t consider alternative gender conceptions. The recognition of socio- cultural gender influences requires a reflective process that can lead the way to thedeconstruction of stereotypes and to didactic actions. However, reflexivity is a \u201chabitus\u201d that can be achieved and improved trough practice. The aim of this contribution is to outline a training/learning proposal for Physical Education teachers or perspective teachers, starting from a reflexive approach to gender. Studies of reflective practice are growing in the Physical Education and sports literature. Nevertheless, it is paramount for Physical Education teachers critically reflect on the political and ethical dimensions of teaching and learning, including gender\u2019s dimension. The inclusion of such reflective practices in the curricula of Physical Education University Degrees and increasing Physical Education teachers\u2019 awareness of gendered discourses and practices is an effective step in the process of gender reform in education. The pedagogical idea of a reflexive workshop for Physical Education teachers deserves, therefore, careful attention

A post COVID Lockdown pilot study on the effect of PA intensity on cognitive function in male children aged 6-8 years old.

In a sedentary world (WHO, 2020), physical activity seems an important tool that helps the development of cognitive functions (Tomporoski et al. 2011). However, the majority of the studies investigated the effect through cross sectional studies while only few ones are interventional. In this interventional experiment we focused our attention on how the physical activity modulated a pletory of cognitive functions. Specifically, during three weeks of a summer camp, 13 children performed physical activities at various intensities. In the first week, participants performed activities without any particular suggestions, in the second and third week children performed physical activity at high and low intensity, respectively. Children performed at the first (Baseline) and the last day of the summer camp a series of cognitive function tests in order to understand whether the level of physical activity employed in the Summer Camp week increased the cognitive functions tested. In particular they performed an Attention task (Posner Cueing task, Chun, 2000) and both Working Memory Forward (WMF) and Backwards (WMB) tasks. Results highlighted an increment of the cognitive functions tested: reaction times (RT) of the Attention task were significantly faster in high intensity week compared to the baseline while in the other two experimental weeks this improvement was not occured; similar results in both Working Memory Forward and Backward were found