Valentina Mazzoni

An international experience of research with children: moving forward on the idea of children’s participation

This article examines a research collaboration in which an Australian and an Italian researcher came together in order to develop a project with young children to document their standpoints on the quality of their experiences of the early childhood services they were attending. As such, this article provides a reflection on working from different international viewpoints and narrates a research story that identifies some of the questions met, both in the conceptual framework and in the research design. In order to realize this research project, the collaborators’ challenge was to construct a shared understanding of their work, which meant addressing philosophical, ethical and practical points of tension. These points are described in the article as they emerged within the research endeavour, rather than being theoretically illustrated. The aim here is to offer the reader a lived experience example of meaning-making: how the researchers worked together, exploring the commonalities and differences that characterized each individual’s research practice, with the aim to construct a synergistic approach to working with children in research.

Guided Participatory Research on Parallel Computer Architectures for K-12 Students Through a Narrative Approach

The approach to computer science (CS) education is typically geared towards the knowledge of the principles behind information technology, but there are social indicators that it overlooks some important educative aspects such as thinking competences and social attitudes. Such aspects play a fundamental role when bringing CS education to the K-12 level. In order to enable a truly educational experience, we propose to bring specific CS research problems within reach of K-12 students, because the active knowledge construction process that takes place during research requires children to be engaged with all of their knowledge, skills and attitudes. This poses the challenge of overcoming the knowledge gap of students, which we address by means of a synergistic cooperation of CS experts and educators. More specifically, we propose the narrative approach as the key enabler for CS participatory research with K-12 students.

Interdisciplinary design of a research experience on microelectronic systems for K-12 students

The approach to microelectronics education is typically geared towards the knowledge of the principles behind electronic circuits and systems, but there are social indicators that it overlooks some important educative aspects such as thinking competences and social attitudes. Such aspects play a fundamental role when bringing microelectronics education to the K-12 level. Therefore, the need to couple the acquisition of technical skills and concepts with a truly educative experience arises. In order to tackle this challenge, we propose to bring the research experience in electrical engineering within reach of K-12 students, because the active knowledge construction process that takes place during research requires children to be engaged with all of their knowledge, skills and attitudes. This poses the challenge of overcoming the knowledge gap of students, which we address by means of a synergistic cooperation of electronic experts and educators. More specifically, we propose the narrative approach as a key enabler for participatory research with K-12 students under the guidance of an expert.

Discovering Virtues with Children

In ‘Does ethics have a chance in a world of consumers?’ Zygmunt Bauman (2008) wrote about intractable crises: ecological, financial, health and political. However at the root of these aspects there is an ethical crisis, which has been accelerated by cultural changes, which emptied out ethics visions, previously conceived as social architraves. This crisis obliges all of us to heed and challenge the present moral lag. Assuming that education plays a fundamental role in facing this crisis, it is urgent for educational research to search out meaningful ways for imparting a new vigour to ethics education.