The aim of this study was to assess the quality of the processes of a Youth-led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) citizenship education project by examining a 2-year intervention that involved 43 Italian high school students. We collected qualitative data (focus groups with students and interviews with teachers) to capture participants'…

This study contributes to the literature on the role of communities of learners in the professional development of physics teachers. It offers insights from the "Collabora--A Community of Learners on Laboratory Work" program, designed to enhance the use of laboratories in secondary school physics teaching. The program's foundation rested…

This article explores how pedagogical documentation, as the refusal of method, can be aligned with post qualitative inquiry, opening up possibilities for refuting dogmas and methods in early childhood pedagogy, theory, practice, and research. It delineates understandings of pedagogical documentation in the educational project of Reggio Emilia, and…

The GeomBot is a drawing robot that combines the well-known strengths and opportunities offered by Scratch with those of Papert's original robotic drawing-turtle. In this study we look at the GeomBot as a physical programmable artifact around which action research with a group of teachers and a researcher was carried out with the aim of designing,…

This paper describes the main findings of a national action-research project, promoted by Regional School Office of Campania (South of Italy), aimed at improving numeracy and mathematical literacy through supporting schools' activities. The main focus is on processes underlying the creation of capabilities in representation, reasoning and…

The digitalization of operations is disrupting frontline technical jobs, entailing new competency needs currently not being met by upper secondary education and corporate training programs. To discuss how technical universities can help bridge the resulting "middle-skills gap" without incurring an unwarranted academization of these…

The training of professionals for a global world remains a challenge for Higher Education. From an intercultural educational approach, this study describes and analyses two educational proposals in Italy and Spain, which have helped to develop students' intercultural competences, thanks to a teaching framework based on participatory strategies. A…

The present contribution aims at describing the main phases of implementation of a Transformative Action-Research project named 'L'AltRoparlante'. This project began in school year 2016/2017 and is still being implemented in five Italian multilingual schools. Its main purpose is to acknowledge students' individual and collective multilingual…

This paper draws upon learning from three action research projects conducted as part of a Europe-wide project exploring young people's social and political participation. Challenging dominant discourses about what 'counts' as participation and what does not, the paper explores how, through the action research projects, young people engaged in…

Although pupil mobility is a core educational activity within the process of internationalising secondary school education, only modest efforts have been made to investigate pupil mobility in upper secondary school and how to asses it. The aim of this article is twofold. First, it presents an assessment framework--the "Intercultura assessment…

Youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) is a theoretical-methodological approach that has been designed to promote positive development (e.g., well-being and health, social-emotional and cognitive development, academic or career advancement) and civic engagement among young people. Although YPAR holds particular promise, there has been…

Many universities in different parts of the world are seeking to enhance the cultural diversity of their staff and student body and yet repeated studies have shown that good integration can be difficult to achieve. Although several studies have examined the reasons why such integration is difficult, there has been very little research into the…

Many educational agents offer paths that allow school to turn itself into a 'third space'. Caritas Ambrosiana, based on a 'pedagogy of facts', proposes interventions to promote soft skills in schools. This non-formal education agency committed Research Center about Media Education, Innovation and Technology (CREMIT) of Catholic University for a…

This study investigates how students and researchers shape their knowledge and perception of educational topics. The mindset or forma mentis of 159 Italian high school students and of 59 international researchers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) are reconstructed through forma mentis networks, i.e., cognitive networks of…

Purpose: The paper analyses the emerging role of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) universities in contemporary society via third- and fourth-mission activities. In particular, the paper investigates the potential contributions that SSH universities can offer in developing and enhancing capacities, supporting the changing conception of…