Mauro Tavella

Developing strategic and reasoning abilities with computer games at primary school level

The paper reports a small-scale, long-term pilot project designed to foster strategic and reasoning abilities in young primary school pupils by engaging them in a number of computer games, mainly those usually called mind games (brainteasers, puzzlers, etc.). In this paper, the objectives, work methodology, experimental setting, and tools used in the project are outlined, together with an analysis of some findings. In particular, we perform a brief analysis of some of the cognitive processes involved in playing with the computer games considered; we then discuss software features that, in our experience, help children tackle different cognitive tasks. The quantitative data collected during the pilot allow us, also, to take account of childrens performance according to a number of different parameters, such as their level of achievement, the games degree of difficulty and the type of data handled. Moreover, we reflect on the general impact of the project on childrens reasoning abilities. The extent and duration of the study mean that, whilst the findings are not generalizable, they do offer insights into mechanisms underpinning basic strategic and reasoning skills as well as the educational potentialities offered by some of the existing computer games; they also point to some areas for further research.

Pedagogical plans as communication oriented objects

This paper focuses on pedagogical plans intended as objects to support human communication. Its purpose is to describe a structural model for pedagogical plans which can assist both authors and users. The model helps authors to engage in the design of a plan as a communication project and helps users in the process of understanding, customizing, enacting and evaluating an existing plan. A distinctive feature of the model is the adoption of a hierarchical representation where each plan can be represented as a hierarchical network of constituent elementary plans that focus in on more specific parts of the learning process, thus going from more general to more concrete, detailed levels. This makes it possible to approach plan authoring as a top-down process, something that presents considerable advantages. It is a valuable aid for mastering the complexity of design and at the same time represents a maieutic factor that encourages authors to establish levels of conceptualization and abstraction which would otherwise remain unexpressed. The user too comprehends the plan in terms of a top-down process, where the specific steps of a learning activity are seen as originating from more general and abstract conceptualizations. In this way communication and understanding are enhanced and facilitated. The paper provides an easy-to-understand example of a hierarchical plan and describes a prototype tool that has been developed for managing hierarchical plans. Finally some preliminary results are presented from initial application of the model and the associated tool in the context of an international research project on educational innovation in mathematics.

Supporting the Design of Pilot Learning Activities with the Pedagogical Plan Manager

Pilot actions for introducing ICT-based innovation in school education generally involve a multitude of elements and a range of different actors. Accounting for and grasping this complexity calls for systematic pedagogical planning efforts that provide a solid basis for accommodating the different perspectives, for analysing the factors at play and also for casting light on the initial assumptions and theoretical framework adopted. These are the issues currently being addressed in a European project called ReMath, in which the authors are developing and testing a prototype ICT-based tool called the Pedagogical Plan Manager (PPM). The system supports the construction and sharing of pedagogical plans within a community of different actors operating in different contexts with different visions. This paper briefly describes some of the requirements that have shaped the PPM and outlines the conceptual model on which it is based. The system is described in the light of two vital characteristics it presents for the design of learning activities, namely expressiveness and flexibility.

Scaffolding Pedagogical Planning and the Design of Learning Activities: An On-Line System

This paper examines pedagogical planning as a means to foster the introduction of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) tools into classroom practice. The authors illustrate IAMEL, an ICT-enhanced system aimed at supporting teachers in the process of designing, structuring and planning educational activities. Pedagogical planning, which is a traditional school practice, is meant as the description of a learning situation aimed at the acquisition of a precise body of knowledge through the specification of roles, activities, educational theories and methods. ICT-enhanced pedagogical planning offers significant added value to the intended scope: 1) helps teachers fully express their didactical ideas and finalize the educational approaches and methods to be adopted 2) supports the sharing of practice among teachers and communities of teachers 3) fosters “a posteriori†reflections on the planned educational experience, once implemented in real school settings.

Children’s Performance with Digital Mind Games and Evidence for Learning Behaviour

This paper investigates the relationship between the possession of some of the reasoning abilities required to play digital mind games and the school performance of primary school pupils. It draws on an in-field experiment involving 60 Italian primary school children; the experiment was based on the use of the standardized test LOGIVALI which foresees ten one-hour gaming sessions with five mind games. The pupils were divided in three groups according their school achievement (high, medium and low achievers) and their performance at the test was studied; a substantial consistency was found between school achievement and ability to solve the adopted digital games. A closer insight was also given into the specific reasoning abilities actually possessed by the three different categories of pupils, thanks to the fact that the LOGIVALI test also allows a finer distinction among the different types/levels of reasoning abilities required to perform the proposed gaming tasks.

Immersion’s Impact on Performance in a Spatial Reasoning Task

The present paper presents the results of a first experiment aimed at assessing if different levels of immersion can affect performance in a Spatial Perspective Taking (SPT) task. Since SPT is an embodied skill, the hypothesis was that the more immersive a tool is, the better the performance should be. Ninety-eight students from a local primary school have played with three different versions of a game: immersive using a Head Mounted Display, semi immersive played on a computer screen and non-immersive in which no movement was possible for the player. Results do not support the initial hypothesis: no significant impact from the immersion level has been found on performance.

Widening Access to Intangible Cultural Heritage: towards the Development of an Innovative Platform

The paper discusses around Human Computer Interaction aspects of advanced learning systems. It underlines the added value (in terms of widening the learning possibilities and enhancing the learning experience) of designing the system itself only after having carefully taken into account the users’ requirements regulating the interactions between the learners and the technological environments. In doing so, it offers the view of what has been done in the EU project i-Treasures, which focuses on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICHs) and investigates whether and to what extent new technology can play a role in widening the access to the underpinning rare know-how, and possibly sustaining its transmission / passing down to next generations. The project can be regarded as exemplar since it instantiates a very peculiar situation where HCI aspects are deeply affected by the fact that the i-Treasures technological system foresees the massive use of cutting edge sensors.

Empowering the Design and the Sharing of Learning Plans by Means of Net Technologies: The IAMEL System

This paper reports on the research work carried out by the authors in the framework of the IAMEL project, supported by the Italian Ministry of Education. The project was mainly aimed at enhancing the teaching/learning of mathematics by providing teachers with specific e-learning platforms endowed with a number of dedicated tools supporting the setting-up and the carrying-out of specific in-field experiments. One of the main results of the project was the development of a methodology to carry out the design of educational interventions; such a methodology was based on a conceptual goal-oriented framework and on different authoring tools among which the IAMEL system, an online tool fully described in the paper that allows both the production and the sharing of pedagogical plans and consents the design and the modeling of educational interventions with different levels of granularity and scope.

SMART VIEW: A Serious Game Supporting Spatial Orientation of Subjects with Cognitive Impairments

The paper presents SMART VIEW a serious game developed with the aim of helping young people with moderate cognitive disabilities acquire those spatial abilities that are key prerequisites to autonomous mobility. The game was conceived for cognitively impaired teenagers; it proposes exercises supporting the acquisition and consolidation of competences related to space awareness and self-perception in the space; such skills are necessary to develop the sense of spatial orientation, which is critical for the target population. SMART VIEW makes use of Touch Screen tables so to allow easier access to the game content and augmented interaction. Particular attention has been devoted to the game interface design, so to make it free from cognitive barriers and fully accessible to the target population. Contents are as close as possible to reality and the educational strategy entails slow and gradual increase of the game complexity, so to properly sustain the users’ cognitive effort.

Inclusive learning plans using ict: the Aessedi project

Education is a prime context for preventing social exclusion and providing people with special needs with opportunities for active participation in all spheres of life. A major objective of the school system is to ensure the participation of all students in the processes of learning and skills acquisition. This paper presents a pilot study concerning the design and classroom testing of learning plans based on the use of multimedia technologies developed for full inclusion of people with special needs. The learning plans are the result of collaborative efforts involving both curricular and special education teachers, who were supported by a web-based environment called AESSEDI; this represented scaffolding by providing a series of indicators supporting reflection on inclusion issues.