Diego Di Masi

Dialogical and Reflective Activities in The Classrooms to Improve Moral Thinking

This research aims to develop and implement a curriculum for citizenship education based on the principle that the rules that govern life in a community are the result of a path that begins with the recognition and respect of one’s self and of others. Highlighting the etymology of the term law – relationship, liaison – involves thinking about lawfulness in the context of education for coexistence, giving the educational act its original context: the community. Teaching lawfulness thus becomes civilized coexistence that creates paths for citizenship.

L’inclusione scolastica dei bambini Rom, Sinti e Caminanti: il “profilo inclusivo” per comprendere il clima di classe

L’articolo presenta una proposta operativa per l’osservazione e la valutazione dei processi di gruppo composta da un repertorio di strumenti scelti per raccogliere informazioni sulla qualita delle relazioni a scuola. Il Profilo Inclusivo (PI) di classe e stato disegnato e sperimentato all’interno del “Progetto nazionale per l’inclusione e l’integrazione dei bambini Rom, Sinti e Caminanti (RSC)”, finanziato dal Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali e coordinato dall’Istituto degli Innocenti (2013-2016). Il PI rileva gli effetti di metodologie cooperative sull’inclusione scolastica dei bambini RSC attraverso una piattaforma dei dati raccolti con gli strumenti del questionario sociometrico e del disegno della classe. L’obiettivo e superare la “pedagogia ingenua” dei gruppi, utilizzando strumenti per l’osservazione delle relazioni che facilitino l’emersione di variabili “invisibili” ad una percezione immediata e la condivisione dei punti di vista tra i docenti. Il PI viene costruito dagli insegnanti per monitorare, valutare e progettare le proposte educativo-didattiche a partire dalla prospettiva dei bambini e dei ragazzi stessi.

Supporting Higher Education—Hospital Transition through Blended Learning

Blended learning is a pedagogical approach which is designed to enhance complementarity between face-to-face and online learning (Dziuban et al., 2004). According to Qian et al.’s (Qian et al., 2016, p. 8) systematic review and meta-analysis “Blended learning appears to have a consistent positive effect in comparison with no intervention and appears to be more effective than or at least as effective as nonblended instruction for knowledge acquisition in health professions.” In line with Hew and Cheung (2014) and Kich (2016), we are not particularly concerned with the mere ratio of delivery modes. What we consider crucial in blended learning is the effectiveness of the pedagogic design in taking advantage of both environments to improve the student–student as well student–teacher interaction and collaboration. Such interaction is crucial in education that focuses on learning outcomes and specifically in competence-based medical education (CBME) which promotes the “integration of knowledge, skills, and behaviors in practice” (Snell and Frank, 2010, Bourgeois et al., 2015). According to the CBME approach, “competence” cannot be reduced to a list of learning objectives or reductionist performance as it implies a broad objective (Snell and Frank, 2010; Parent et al., 2013). The paper describes two research and educational tools that can be instrumental within a blended learning approach in tracking, discussing, and reflecting on the professional development of students in the context of Italian hospitals. The two tools are complementary to each other in offering data that take into account the international frameworks and debate on the identification and description of the competences that health professionals are required to meet. The purpose of this paper is to present two exploratory studies that have a potential for identifying research-based blended learning tools for CBME. The studies focus on the development of a group of medical students’ professional image (in Genova and Rome) during their hospital internship. The paper addresses three related questions:

Backward design in-service training blended curriculum to practitioners in social work as coach in the P.I.P.P.I. program

The paper presents the initial training addressed to practitioners in social work involved in P.I.P.P.I., a national program aiming at preventing out-of-home child placement. The course adopts a blended approach and flipped classroom methodology to train social workers, phycologists and educators to act as coaches while implementing the P.I.P.P.I. program in their work with neglecting families. The initial course has been planned following the backward design model and using the Moodle platform as learning environment.

Learning Democratic Thinking: A Curriculum to Philosophy for Children as Citizens.

Abstract In 2008, the Italian government passed a law that introduced a new school subject: Citizenship and Constitution. The law requires all students between the ages of 3 and 16 to attend almost 400 h of Citizenship Education during their 13 years of compulsory schooling. The law is part of an increasingly wider international effort that focuses on improving pupils’ knowledge of and involvement in society by exposing them to history and civic content. The aim of this article was to present a Citizenship Curriculum and its possible implementation in schools and other areas. Taking into account the Curriculum Transposition model, we propose both an External Transposition, which analyses international and national documents about Citizenship Education, and an Internal Transposition, in order to design a curriculum that will enable children to participate in decision-making processes and improve their complex thinking. The Implemented Citizenship Curriculum (Poli§ophia project) was introduced into the Municipal Council of Children, and the Philosophy for Children method was applied in order to help children make moral judgments, a fundamental component of democratic thinking.