Discusses a study designed to determine whether early reading instruction constitutes a positive factor in the cognitive development of children. The subjects for this study were 25 children in a nursery school in Macerata, Italy. (CFM)

Reports on a study of 43 Italian fifth-graders about their understanding of the functions of banks and the role of monetary interest in banking before and after a lesson on banking. Finds that most children could speak correctly about both deposit and loan interest and their relative amounts after the lesson. (CFR)

The paper reports on a case study from a teaching experiment on the construction of meaning of integral at secondary school level, starting from the cognitive root of area. In the considered activity, students are faced with some graphs of functions and are asked to work in group to trace the corresponding integral functions. The analysis…

The main aim of this contribution is to describe an instrument devised to study some of the cognitive processes that occur when people interpret social events (Discrepant Story Task-DST; Smorti, 2004). In particular, this instrument analyses the narrative processes of interpretation used by an observer when witnessing progressive and…

Discusses: (1) how mole concept is defined/used in textbooks; (2) development and administration of a multiple-choice test to secondary school pupils (N=783) in Bologna and the surrounding district; and (3) results of the diagnostic examination, focusing on student mistakes and misconceptions. (Author/JN)

Four experiments investigated phonemic and visual similarity effects in 5- and 10-year olds. Results suggested that young children rely on modality-dependent codes, which are probably automatically activated, and do not use a speech-based memory code for drawings and words. This pattern of findings appeared to be independent of culture and…

This study investigated the role of talking-to-learn in small- and large-group discussions about a knowledge object and writing-to-learn in individual time after collaborative reasoning and arguing. The study involved a fifth-grade class in Italy studying ecological concepts, and results show that by sharing cognition students constructed more…

In this paper we report on some patterns of reasoning, which emerged during an activity of proving a mathematical statement performed by nine grade and university mathematics students. The statement in question involves drawing figures, working in arithmetic and in algebra. As for secondary students we detected fluency, flexibility and ability of…

Conceptions of 50 third graders (aged 8-9 years) in Italy about shopkeepers' profit were examined using the Piagetian clinical procedure, with an interview followed by a comparison task that checked comprehension. Teaching children about profit had a higher impact at posttest on children who could compare correctly. (SLD)

Criticizes the current method of formalization in Italian schools and the use of tools of the mathematical method. Proposes a general three-stage formalization method which can used for physical quantities, the particular significance of certain quantities, and the description and interpretation of phenomena. (TW)

Focuses on an area within pragmatics, that of speech acts, considers the underlying performance of such speech acts, and looks at the effects of explicit instruction in this area. The article makes distinctions in the description of speech acts, such as between sociocultural and sociolinguistic ability. (47 references) (Author/CK)

Presents a study of the acquisition and development of information coordination ability. Examines students' composition of texts comparing two cultural groups after reading either one text describing both or a separate text on each. Concludes that older students used more complex information integration levels, whereas all subjects performed…

Maintains that there is increasing interest in the approach to art education in the Reggio Emilia schools in northern Italy. Describes the Emilia approach to early childhood education and characterizes it as child-centered and emergent. Includes a dialogue between a teacher and students using the approach. (CFR)

We are delighted to welcome you to the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT) 2016, taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 30 of April to 2 of May, 2016. Psychology, nowadays, offers a large range of scientific fields where it can be applied. The goal of understanding individuals and groups (mental functions and…

These proceedings contain the papers of the International Conference e-Learning 2014, which was organised by the International Association for Development of the Information Society and is part of the Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems (Lisbon, Portugal July 15-19, 2014). The e-Learning 2014 conference aims to address the…