Psychological Sciences and Techniques

The lessons will focus of the main theoretical approaches on educational psychology, and on cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational processes involved in learning. A monographic part will focus on bullying and cyberbullying, with particular attention to group dynamics, risk and protective factors, long-term consequences for wellbeing, and prevention and intervention strategies in educational contexts. Interactive and collaborative activities will also be proposed during the course, centered on the themes of bullying and cyberbullying. These activities aim to develop skills of critical reflection, autonomous research and study, and collaboration in working groups. The activities will be oriented to the autonomous reflection on specific risk and intervention situations (discussion forum), and to the creation of school-based prevention programs (working groups). Interactive and collaborative activities will be optional and will be evaluated with a maximum of 2 additional points on the final exam. Moreover, students who have completed both activities with a positive evaluation will be exempted from the question on bullying during the exam (as it is assumed that they have studied the topic during the activities).

A prerequisite is having attended and carefully studied the first part of the course (Developmental psychology, prof. Nicolais)

Main Text: “Psicologia dell’Educazione”. Woolfolk, A.. (2020) Ed. Pearson Not study chapters 3, 5, 9 and 12. Monography: ““Prevenire e Contrastare il Bullismo e il Cyberbullismo”. Menesini E., Nocentini A., Palladino B. E. (2017) Ed. Il Mulino Slides of all lessons will be available during the course, constituting an integral part of the program.

Students can attend the videotaped lessons online on each moment during the course weeks. The webinars with the teacher are optional online meetings, which take place on established days and time.

The exam consists of an integrated written test on the two parts of the exam (Part I, Prof. Nicolais; Part II, Prof. Bianchi). As regard the Part II, Educational Psychology, the exam will be written with multiple-choice answers on the main text (Woolfolk, Psicologia dell’Educazione) and with one open-ended question on the monography (Menesini, Prevenire e Contrastare il Bullismo e il Cyberbullismo). For passing the exam, it is necessary to obtain a vote of 18/30 or more, which also include a sufficient evaluation in the open-ended question. For obtaining a sufficient evaluation in the final exam (18/30 or more), the student must show a sufficient knowledge on the theories and processes of learning, and a basic knowledge on bullying and cyberbullying phenomena, demonstrating to be able to correctly interpret specific risk conditions and to design adequate educational interventions. For obtaining the maximum evaluation in the final exam (30/30 e lode), the student must demonstrate an excellent knowledge of all the topics of the course, and he/she have to be able to connect them in a logical and coherent way. During the course, there will be optional in-depth activities on bullying and cyberbullying topics. Students who will carry out only the first activity (forum) may obtain a maximum of 1 extra point in the final exam (basing on the quality of the work). Students who will carry out both the activities (forum and working group) may obtain a maximum of 2 extra points in the vote of the final exam (basing on the quality of the products of the activities) and they will also be exempted by the open-ended question (bullying and cyberbullying) in the final exam. It is not possible to participate only in the second activity (the first activity is preparatory to the second one). The additional points will be assigned only to students who get a sufficient evaluation in the written exam (18/30 at least, or more).

The lessons are at-distance and in e-learning modality. All video lessons are uploaded on the course homepage, in the Unitelma Sapienza website. Each week one chapter of lessons will be made available.