1,720,997 research outputs found
Robotica e tecnologie per lo sviluppo: come costruire le competenze del futuro
No full textA seguito della Raccomandazione Europea del 2006 (GAZZETTA UFFICIALE DELL'UNIONE EUROPEA) sono state delineate le competenze chiave per l’apprendimento permanente, ovvero quelle di cui tutti i cittadini hanno bisogno per la realizzazione e lo sviluppo personali, la cittadinanza attiva, l’inclusione sociale e l’occupazione. Alla base c’è l’idea che ciascun cittadino, per adattarsi in modo flessibile a un mondo in rapido mutamento e caratterizzato da forte interconnessione, abbia a disposizione un'ampia gamma di competenze chiave (GAZZETTA UFFICIALE DELL'UNIONE EUROPEA, 2006):
1) comunicazione nella madrelingua; 2) comunicazione nelle lingue straniere; 3) competenza matematica e competenze di base in scienza e tecnologia; 4) competenza digitale; 5) imparare a imparare; 6) competenze sociali e civiche; 7) spirito di iniziativa e imprenditorialità;
8) consapevolezza ed espressione culturale.
In tale prospettiva, l’istruzione gioca un ruolo fondamentale per assicurare che i cittadini acquisiscano le competenze richieste. L’obiettivo nel quadro comune Europeo è chiaro: avviare una transizione dalla cultura del sapere alla cultura della competenza. Competenza che racchiude al suo interno il sapere (conoscenze), il saper fare (abilità) e il saper essere (atteggiamenti). All’interno delle otto competenze chiave, giocano un ruolo di primo piano alcune delle competenze del XXI secolo individuate nell’ambito del World Economic Forum. Tali competenze sono suddivise in 3 categorie: le abilità fondamentali (foundational literacies), le competenze trasversali (competencies), ovvero gli strumenti con cui gli studenti affrontano problemi complessi), e le qualità caratteriali (character qualities), ovvero le modalità con cui gli studenti si relazionano al contesto in cambiamento. In questo capitolo, l’attenzione sarà focalizzata in particolare su due delle competenze trasversali: 1) pensiero critico/problem solving, ovvero il saper analizzare e valutare situazioni in modo da impiegare informazioni e idee per formulare risposte e soluzioni; 2) creatività, intesa come il saper impiegare modalità innovative per rispondere a domande, riformulare problemi ed esprimere significati. Sulla base degli assunti sinora descritti, l’obiettivo di questo capitolo è quindi quello di proporre alcune linee di ricerca (e attività) volte a sviluppare competenze di problem solving e di creatività in bambini che frequentano la scuola dell’infanzia e la scuola primaria, attraverso un contesto educativo di apprendimento in cui un ruolo centrale è giocato dall’’interazione con robot educativi
Italian adaptation of the System Usability and Acceptance Model scale: application to MatriKS a new digital test for fluid intelligence assessment
No full textThe perceived ease of use and attitude towards new technologies are particularly
relevant for the effectiveness and implementation of new digital neuropsychological tests.
Nevertheless, to date there are no instruments specifically targeted for developmental
age that encompass both the features of usability and acceptability. The present work
aims to describe the psychometrics properties of the Usability and Attitude Scale (UAS),
an Italian adaptation of the System Usability Scale (SUS; Brooke,1995) and Technology
Acceptance Model Scale (TAM; Venkatesh & Bala, 2008; Davis, 1989). Furthermore, the
study aimed at assessing the usability and attitude of MatriKS, a new computerized test
for the evaluation of fluid intelligence. The UAS was administered to a sample of 1,239
participants aged 4 to 70 (47% males and 53% females, M=19.43, SD=16.86) of the
general population. All participants completed different versions of MatriKS according to
their age and then completed the UAS. Overall, UAS showed good content validity and
internal consistency. Moreover, the results obtained using the Curved Grading Scale
Method (CGS; Sauro & Lewis, 2012;2016), confirmed the positive reception of MatriKS,
indicating that test-takers perceived the assessment as a positive experience.
Specifically, the usability resulted “excellent” for the version tailored to the younger
population, while the usability score of the other version resulted between “sufficient” and
“good”. Concerning the acceptability perceived by participants, the results obtained with
the CGS method, confirm positive ratings like those found for usability. In conclusion, the
UAS showed good psychometric properties and feedback provided by test-takers
suggest that the MatriKS is promising and deserves further research
Preliminary evidence on machine learning approaches for clusterizing students’ cognitive profile
Full text linkAssessing the cognitive abilities of students in academic contexts can provide valuable insights for teachers to identify their cognitive profile and create personalized teaching strategies. While numerous studies have demonstrated promising outcomes in clustering students based on their cognitive profiles, effective comparisons between various clustering methods are lacking in the current literature.
In this study, we aim to compare the effectiveness of two clustering techniques to group students based on their cognitive abilities including general intelligence, attention, visual perception, working memory, and phonological awareness. 292 students, aged 11–15 years, participated in the study.
A two-level approach based on the joint use of Kohonen's Self-Organizing Map (SOMs) and k-means clustering algorithm was compared with an approach based on the k-means clustering algorithm only. The resulting profiles were then predicted via AdaBoost and ANN supervised algorithms.
The results showed that the two-level approach provides the best solution for this problem while the ANN algorithm was the winner in the classification problem.
These results laying the foundations for developing a useful instrument for predicting the students’ cognitive profile
AdapTol: un nuovo strumento computerizzato per discriminare tra sviluppo tipico e disturbi del neurosviluppo
No full textNumerosi studi dimostrano che i disturbi del neurosviluppo (DNS) sono caratterizzati da alterazioni delle funzioni esecutive (FE). Esistono, tuttavia, evidenze contrastanti, spiegate dalla forte eterogeneità e variabilità interindividuale. In questo scenario, gli strumenti digitali permetterebbero di valutare campioni ampi, rappresentando meglio tale eterogeneità.
AdapTol è un nuovo strumento per valutare le FE in modalità computerizzata. Questo studio preliminare indaga la capacità di AdapTol di discriminare tra popolazioni con DNS e a sviluppo tipico (TD). Sono stati valutati 719 bambini tra 4 e 14 anni (374 femmine) mediante AdapTol, di cui 61 con DNS. L’accuratezza ed il numero di violazioni sono state analizzate mediante analisi della varianza multivariata, con diagnosi di DNS come fattore tra i soggetti ed età come covariata. I risultati mostrano che il gruppo DSN ha prestazioni significativamente inferiori per l’accuratezza (F=8.4; p=.004) ma non per il numero di violazioni (F=1.5; p=.22) rispetto ai TD; l’età ha un effetto marginalmente significativo soltanto per l’accuratezza, mostrando un miglioramento con l’aumentare dell’età (F=7.1; p=0.08).
Complessivamente, i bambini con DNS riescono a completare le prove, suggerendo una buona usabilità di AdapTol. Inoltre, nonostante la variabilità di prestazione nella popolazione clinica, AdapTol sembra un efficace strumento per discriminare tra popolazione clinica e TD
PROFFILO: a new digital assessment tool to evaluate learning difficulties in secondary school
No full textDevelopmental trajectories of accuracy and type of errors in Fluid intelligence assessment as detected by a new digital tool: MatriKS.
No full textFluid intelligence (FI) is the ability to think logically and solve problems in new situations. It is generally assessed through nonverbal reasoning tests (e.g.,Raven’s Matrices). Studies assessing FI through standard tests highlighted that this skill improves during development. Moreover, prior research showed that the matrices’ complexity is influenced by several factors - such as the number of elements, perceptual characteristics, rules number, and complexity. Yet, to date few evidence exists on changes in different types of errors during development.
This study aims to evaluate the developmental trajectories of MatriKS, a new digital tool for the evaluation of FI. We analysed the total accuracy and the different types of errors (i.e., repetition, wrong principle, difference, incomplete correlate). MatriKS was administered to N=590 typically developing participants (males = 311, females = 279) aged 4-11 years old (M = 8.39, SD = 2.19).
Results of generalised linear model (glm) on accuracy showed that children’s performance significantly improves with age (z = -29.06, p<0.001). Results of glm on error types showed an overall decrease of errors number with age (z = -23.58, p<.001). To better investigate the relation between changes in the different types of errors and age, we divided the sample in 2 years-step age groups and performed an ANOVA. Results showed significant main effects of error type (F(5,561)=30,91, p<0.001) and age (F(4,561)=89.64, p<0.001), as well as a significant interaction (F(11,1300)=5.94, p<0.001). Specifically, the number of errors significantly decreases with age in all the distractor types, but not in “Difference”.
In conclusion, MatriKS proves to be a tool capable of detecting differences based on age, both on accuracy and error types. Information about the characteristics of errors and how they change with age is pivotal for planning targeted and individualized interventions in several clinical populations
Italian adaptation of the System Usability and Acceptance Model scale: application to new digital tests for executive functions assessment
No full textThe perceived ease of use and attitude towards new technologies are particularly relevant for the effectiveness and implementation of new digital neuropsychological tests. The present work aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Usability and Attitude Scale (UAS), an Italian adaptation of the System Usability Scale (SUS) and Technology Adaptation Model Scale (TAM) for children. The study includes 361 children (age 4-8: n=177; age 9-13; n= 184). All participants completed the AdapTol - a new digital assessment tool based on Tower of London Test - and were subsequently required to fill in the UAS. Exploratory Factor Analysis was performed in two groups of age (4-8 and 9-13) separately. In both analyses, the 3 factors extracted explained the 68% of the total variance. The 3 factors included items dealing with usability (F1, 3 items), with expressing the perceived ease of use of the tool (tablet) (F2, 3 items), and concerning the usability perceived by peers (F3, 2 items). Besides good content validity, the questionnaire showed adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha =.52-.84). In conclusion, the UAS shows good psychometric properties and appears to be a valuable tool for the assessment of the usability and acceptance of new digital neuropsychological tests
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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