1,720,974 research outputs found
A Digital-Analogical Intervention Program Following a Play-Based Approach for Preschoolers: The Effects on Executive Functions and ADHD Symptoms in a Pilot Study
No full textPromoting Students’ Well-Being and Inclusion in Schools Through Digital Technologies: Perceptions of Students, Teachers, and School Leaders in Italy Expressed Through SELFIE Piloting Activities
No full textDigital technology in its various forms is a significant component of our working environment and lifestyles. However, there is a broad difference between using digital technologies in everyday life and employing them in formal education. Digital technologies have largely untapped potential for improving education and fostering students' well-being and inclusion at school. To bring this to fruition, systemic and coordinated actions involving the whole school community are called for. To help schools exploit the full range of opportunities digital technologies offer for learning, the European Commission has designed and implemented a self-reflection tool called SELFIE (Self-reflection on Effective Learning by Fostering Innovation through Educational Technology). Based on the DigCompOrg conceptual framework, SELFIE encompasses key aspects for effectively integrating digital technologies in school policies and practices. The present study investigates how SELFIE can also support the school community to self-reflect about students' well-being and inclusion. In Italy, the SELFIE online questionnaire has been completed by 24,715 students, 5,690 teachers, and 1,507 school leaders, for a total of 31,912 users from 201 schools (at primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary levels) located in 10 different regions. The complementary data we have collected regarding student well-being and inclusion highlight significant differences in the perceptions on this issue reported by students, teachers, and school leaders. These findings have important implications for facilitating successful practices within the whole school community in order to promote students' well-being and inclusion using educational technologies, as well as for planning future actions following a systemic approach
Case Report: A playful digital-analogical rehabilitative intervention to enhance working memory capacity and executive functions in a pre-school child with autism
No full textBackground: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is often associated with deficits in Working Memory Capacity (WMC) and Executive Functions (EFs), as early as the first years of life. Research has shown that, even young children with ASD, WMC and EF deficits can be effectively addressed through interventions employing digital and/or analogical tools. Early intervention is important because executive dysfunction can negatively impact on the quality of life, both of children and their families. However, very few studies have been carried out involving intervention with pre-schoolers with ASD. To fill this gap, we developed an intervention that promotes pre-schoolers' WMC and EFs by employing both digital apps and analogical playful activities. This study reports on the feasibility of this intervention, which was carried out in a rehabilitative context.Methods: A male pre-schooler diagnosed with ASD was engaged in a total of 17 intervention sessions, all held in a clinical context, over a nine-week period. Outcomes were measured using a battery of pre- and post-treatment tasks focusing on WMC, EFs and receptive language. The clinician who administered the intervention made written observations and noted any improvements in the child's performance emerging from the digital and analogical activities.Results: The pre- and post-test scores for the cognitive tasks revealed qualitative improvements in the following cognitive domains: (a) WMC in the language receptive domain; (b) updating in WMC; (c) inhibition, specifically concerning control of motor response; (d) receptive vocabulary. Furthermore, when monitoring the child's performance, the clinician noted improvement in almost all the playful activities. Particularly notable improvements were observed in interaction with the apps, which the child appeared to find very motivating.Conclusion: This study supports feasibility of a playful digital-analogical intervention conducted by a clinician in a rehabilitation context to promote cognitive abilities in pre-schoolers with ASD. Further studies are needed to establish whether the intervention's effectiveness can be generalized to a broad sample of children with ASD
Visually impaired children and apps: Sharing formal and informal information to guide choice|Bambini ipovedenti e app: Condividere informazioni formali e informali per orientare la scelta
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Creare conoscenza condivisa sulle app usabili dai bambini ipovedenti: l'esperienza di Sharehab
No full textWeb 2.0: a new opportunity to create shared knowledge to support visually-impaired children in education and rehabilitation
No full textApps for intervention in executive functions in young children: A pilot study
No full textRecently, researchers have increasingly shown interest in studying executive functions (EFs) starting from a young age, in particular focusing on interventions in both educational and clinical contexts. Today's children's interest in digital tools is very high allowing for the introduction of new methods of assessment and training. However, there are only a few studies focused on technology-based interventions promoting or assessing EFs in young children. For this reason, a kit of four games for the assessment and training of working memory, inhibition, shifting, and updating in pre-schoolers was developed in the form of apps. The developed prototypes underwent a first test involving some teachers and clinicians who filled an online questionnaire. Data analysis showed that both teachers and clinicians gave a positive and homogeneous evaluation, showing that the apps can be considered useful for the assessment and training of EFs in both educational and clinical contexts
DUDA: a digital didactic learning unit based on educational escape rooms and multisensory learning activities for primary school children during COVID-19 lockdown
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digitization, access to IT resources, and digital inclusion in the Italian school system. This paper presents D-UDA (i.e., “unità didattica di apprendimento digitale”, in Italian), a digital didactic unit for learning mathematics concepts. The presented approach combines teaching methodologies and game-based activities (e.g., the escape room) with a multisensory approach to designing and developing digital and multimodal technologies. D-UDA is divided into two parts: the first part consists of logic puzzles that adhere to the guidelines set by INVALSI (the Italian Istituto Nazionale per la Valutazione del Sistema educativo di Istruzione e di formazione) for mathematics learning, while the second part involves a series of multisensory games designed to promote the development of transversal competencies, such as cooperation and engagement. Moreover, D-UDA encourages children to create their own adventure using the same tools employed by the designers to develop the experience. The children who participated in testing D-UDA in June 2020 were asked to complete usability questionnaires after the experience. Preliminary results indicate the effectiveness of the educational intervention presented, which integrates recent pedagogical theories and teaching methodologies with a multisensory perspective and a technological design
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