Psychology of typical and atypical development

The program deals with the theoretical and methodological foundations of the social psychology of groups and organizations, considering also their relationship with research and intervention projects in educational organizations. The course is organized along two interconnected learning units. In the first learning unit "Cultural psychology of groups and organizations", theories and constructs of the cultural and interactionist perspective for studying groups and organizations are explored, starting from classical theories up to the most recent developments. (18 hours). The functional and organizational characteristics of some educational organizations (schools, school federations, training centers, and so on) and some cases of successful development and innovation in complex educational organizations (12 hours) will also be explored. During the second learning unit "Theories of situated learning and organizational innovation" theories and models of social and situated learning will be explored as well as the empirical research that, in the Practice Based Studies approach, contribute to highlight the notion of distributed competence and organizational learning. These issues will be further investigated, also through simulations and discussion of organizational interventions, discussing their use for the development of training paths for educators and for supporting innovation practices in educational organizations (18 hours).

Prerequisites are the knowledge of the historical development of social psychology, its main theories and epistemological/methodological orientations.Ability to understand articles in English.

1) C. Zucchermaglio (1996) Vygotskij in azienda: apprendimento e comunicazione nei comntesti lavorativi. Roma: Carocci 2) M. Saglietti (2012) Organizzare le case famiglia. Strumenti e pratiche nelle comunità per minori. Roma: Carocci 3) Zucchermaglio, C., Alby, F., Fatigante, M., Saglietti, M. (2013) Fare ricerca in psicologia sociale. Bologna: Il mulino

Attendance is highly recommended

For the students attending lessons, there will be two assessments in progress (one with closed answers and one with open answers) and the evaluation of the project work carried out during the Laboratory. The final grade will be the average of the scores obtained in the three assessments. In case of failure in one of the three (or absence), the assessment can be recovered during the oral examination in the scheduled sessions during the academic year. For students not attending class, the exam is oral on the three textbooks specified in the syllabus.

Lectures, small group work and discussions, practical exercises, testimonials from professional practitioners, collective analysis of video recorded interactions and transcripts, simulations