Many studies have explored how Language-Minority Bilingual Children (LMBC) read and comprehend, while the way they learn to spell and write has received less attention. This study aimed to assess a comprehensive profile of spelling and writing skills in LMBC, comparing performances of 4th and 5th grade bilingual (n = 74) and monolingual (n = 131)…

The present research aims to extend findings from a recent study in which a large sample of primary and secondary school pupils was asked to choose a hypothetical classmate they would invite to share five different activities. Results demonstrated that a visible disability represents a barrier for social participation and involvement. In the…

Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to reflect on and process the sounds of spoken language and to conduct mental operations on the units that represent them, that is, phonemes. This study intended to examine the descriptive and psychometric properties of the phonemic awareness of schoolers test assessment (PASTA), a new tool that assesses…

In today's world, technology and digital media are no longer separate, "other" than "natural" human and social life. Technology has become pervasive, transparent, reaching a "stable" form, no longer revolutionary. A new concept, "the post-digital," is emerging and gradually taking hold in a wide range of…

We aimed to validate a long and a short version of the popular SDO6 scale for children, by testing their reliability and factorial structure, as well as divergent and criterion validity. Italian fourth- and fifth-graders (N = 271; 49.45% female) were administered the Child SDO6 scale, composed of 16 items, along with a series of personality and…

The paper contains progress reports supported by data about two short activities aimed at introducing physics themes in primary school. The first is a formal storytelling intervention named "Mommy Comet" carried out in first- and fifth-grade classes and concerning motion in the absence of forces in the Solar System broad context. The…

The present study investigates whether exposure to multilingual pedagogies enhances emergent bilingual children's narrative abilities. These abilities are among the most reliable indicators of children's literacy skills. We compare two groups of emergent bilingual children with migrant background attending the fourth and fifth grade of a public…

Various investigations have applied meditation protocols in the school context, with beneficial effects. Transcendental meditation, however, received little attention in primary school settings and few controlled studies are available. The present study is aimed: 1) to investigate the implementation of a school protocol (Quiet Time-QT) based on…

Can a bodily engagement with music affect the process of musical meaning formation and, as such, affect children's graphic representation of music? To address this question a comparative study was conducted in which primary school children (n = 52; age = 9-10) without any formal music education participated in a verbal-based (describe the music…

Difficulties in mathematics have been described in very preterm children, but their origins are not well understood and may differ from other populations with specific learning disability. Very preterm children, children with learning disability, and typically developing children were compared in mathematics skills, using standardized tools,…

Inhibition is thought to help suppress interference from misconceptions in science learning. Using a pre-, post-, and delayed posttest design, we examined the influence on learning from science texts of three inhibitory-related functions--prepotent response inhibition, resistance to distractor interference, and resistance to proactive…

Background: Attitudes of classmates has been considered as one of the major problems in inclusive education, negatively influencing the participation of students with disability in school contexts. The goal of this study was to examine Italian typically developing children's attitudes towards their peers with disabilities. Method: In a sample of…

Background: Children with dyslexia often show second-language reading and writing difficulties, but the cognitive mechanisms connected to this impairment need to be clarified. Aims: The present study examined the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying learning English as a foreign language in 4th- to the 8th-grade Italian students showing…

Educators and several national standards highlight the role that problem solving should play in students' mathematics education: problem solving is recognized as one of the most significant activities of doing mathematics. From the research point of view, nowadays, it is well established that cognitive and affective factors come into play in…

In this work, a Storytelling FabLab has been designed for the realization of virtual performances on a Shakesperian play in an elementary school. In this FabLab, many elements have been digitally manipulated: text, audio files, virtual actors on a 3D stage, and 3D Greek masks. Learning of contents and motivation have been assessed and compared to…