Pedagogical Sciences

Educational objectives

General aims. The course aims at providing the students with theories and methodologies
regarding the study of socialization practices in different educational contexts, and at developing
students’ skills in designing relevant socialization contexts involving both children and adults. The
course grounds onto a cultural, situated and interactionist perspective, which emphasizes the
concepts of participation, discursive competence and community of practices.
The course develops across two different modules: 1) Children and socialization to language; 2) )
Socialization processes and forms of participation in intercultural contexts.
Both modules include a theoretical and an applied section. The first module examines the main
theories of language socialization in a cultural perspective and particularly focuses on children’s
participation to conversational interactions in family, educational and peer contexts, also
examined across different cultures. The second module deepens, within a situated and
interactionist framework, forms of participation and the relationship between these forms and
results in learning and socialization to sociocultural competence in different intercultural contexts:
processes of socialization and inclusion of unaccompanied foreign minors will be examined,
together with their close interrelation with organizational dimension of the different hosting
contexts. Both modules provide students with research methodology including observational and
analytical methodology for the study of interactions in socialization in family and educational
contexts. Interview data, texts, video and transcripts of family interaction , interaction in
educational contexts and peer interaction will be examied, in order to identify different participant
structures, beneficial for the inclusion.
Both modules aim at fostering students’ skills in applying methodological research tools (such as,
interviews, observation and analysis of video and transcriptions of conversations) to design and
assess socialization practices in different domains. The expected learning outcome would be: to
know the main theoretical perspectives, and main research interdisciplinary areas, dealing with
socialization practices of children and adults; to know methodological research tools including
ethnographic observation and the analysis of discursive interaction for the study, the observation
and the assessment of socialization practices; to know how to analyze, within a cultural and
interactionist perspective, the socialization processes in different educational contexts, both
formal and informal; to learn about the main epistemological frameworks in socio-psychological
research and to learn how to apply methods and tools of situated, qualitative research to the
analysis, the design and the assessment of practices of socialization that may enrich the novices’
participation in specific educational contexts.
Specific aims. For the students, passing the exam would imply being capable of: 1) Knowing the
most relevant theories in language socialization and the relationship between socialization
processes, culture and discourse; knowing and understanding the methodological qualitative tools
to observe, analyze, design and assess the characteristics and effectiveness of a socialization
context (Descriptor 1 : Knowledge and understanding); 2) to apply the knowledge of the
epistemological frameworks relevant in a cultural and interactionist perspective to the analysis of

the main dimensions implied in socialization processes in different educational contexts; to
develop reflexive skills in applying methods and tools of situated and qualitative research (e.g.,
ethnographic observation, narrative interviews, discourse and conversation analysis) in order to
analyze, design and assess socialization practices in different educational settings and to
understand their relationship with personal and social identity, in an inclusive perspective; to
develop analytical and planning skills to design different discursive participation structures
relevant for different educational (such as, inclusive ) aims and contexts and to reinforce one
own's sociocultural competence (II Descriptor: Applying knowledge and understanding); 3) to
develop critical judgment and interpretive skills to analyze video data and transcriptions of
interactions in different activities and socialization contexts, by means of: research (individual and
group) activities that will include the collection and the analysis of research data, and the writing
of research reports and their collective discussion in the classroom; to develop reflexive skills with
regards the ethical implications of the research about the socialization in different contexts, by
means of the consideration of ethical and relational aspects implied in the observer’s access to the
field of observation (III Descriptor: Making judgments); 4) to develop skills as regards the
communication of empirical results of observation and analytical interpretation of data collected
in socialization contexts, to both expert and non expert audiences, by means of: public
presentations of data and observations in the classroom, collective classroom discussions of data
and analyses , and the writing of analytical reports regarding collected data, which will be assessed
at the end of the (IV Descriptor: Communication skills); 5) to develop skills in autonomous learning
and the detailed study of theoretical methodological and applied knowledge usable to the study
and the design of effective socialization practices in different
educational contexts (V Descriptor: Lifelong learning skills)

Educational objectives

The course is mainly aimed at supplying deep knowledge and understanding skills of the main principles of Hygiene, of determinants of health and disease, of principles of health education and prevention, in order to make the student able to apply them for health promotion and maintenance in any operational context.
The specific goals are:
 to know and understand the main social health, demographic and health indicators;
 to know and understand the fundamental concepts of hygiene and epidemiology of infectious and chronic degenerative diseases, as well as of environmental hygiene;
 to know and prevent some menaces to public and individual health, operating on social and ethical responsibilities, especially on vaccine issues, smoking, obesity and posture;
 to know and understand issues on global health.

At the end of the course, the student is expected to (Learning results):
 know and understand the elements to promote health and prevention culture, especially in the school and among the youths;
 identify the health social determinants (the "weak" subjects) and the measurement methods of the health state.

At the end of the course, the student, applying the acquired knowledge, will (Skills to be acquired):
 be able to promote health and prevention culture;
 know well his/her role of educator and model for promotion and maintenance of healthy lifestyles;
 be able to analyse, with scientific proficiency, critical abilities and autonomously, problems and data concerning health and its protection;
 be able to carry out researches with a scientific method and make analysis with a presentation of data, to communicate the results and to engage with colleagues.

Educational objectives

Educational goals:
 to know and understand topics and problems within the study area of mathematical, physical and natural science didactics;
 to learn to see, recognize and appreciate the connections that city objects and places have with sciences and with their story;
 to experience, through a first-hand example, diversified and active methods of teaching-learning, where body and movement in space are tools of knowledge too;
 to appreciate the real operability connected to the thinking and planning active teaching materials;
 to apply the didactic-pedagogical knowledge in realizing educational projects;
 to make the students feel responsible for their knowledge co-construction.
Acquired knowledge:
 to recognize the effect of the knowledge, also a scientific one, of city objects and places;
 to experience a reading of scientific texts (direct texts of scientists or of science history or of epistemology), even asking questions regarding science's participation in the history of an era, in a society's culture and history, and in problems of intercultural kind and type;
 to know and understand the methodological and didactic aspects of the experiences and activities had during the course, with reference to the scientific topics addressed.
At the end of the course, the student will have an advanced knowledge of research aspects in science areas, such as the passages from a description to the next schematization, quantification and research of the causes of a phenomenon observed. The student will also have acquired knowledge on an historical epistemological plan within the science area [Dublin Descriptor No. 1].
The skills acquired will be about a greater ability in working in group, in making questions with a clear and correct wording, in thinking of one's learning and mental difficulties and uncertainties, in analysing the educational aspects from the point of view of several disciplines involved in educational and training actions. The student will have added ways of use of his/her body and sensorial abilities among the knowledge tools [Dublin Descriptor No. 2].
Acquired cross proficiency is about critical and judgmental abilities strengthened by a participation to reflection and laboratory activities, as well as about the ability of asking questions and use a circumstantial-kind method [Dublin Descriptor No. 3].
Course's halfway activities and final ones under the form of "Science stand" organized by the students autonomously or in group and presented to recipients specialised or not will allow to use explanatory skills, and to choose relevant questions, materials and problems, also on the recipients' age basis, and to apply skills of following evaluation of the proposed actions in a multidisciplinary viewpoint [Dublin Descriptor No. 4].
The student will have reached meta-reflection skills about his/her own attitude and others' toward new situations and topics regarding scientific disciplines, as well as uncertainties and difficulties in understanding, so as the student will be better equipped to continue autonomously his/her study during the whole life, and to examine in depth the scientific topics and those of educational planning; he/she will also know how to critically face, with a complexity viewpoint, materials relative to scientific disciplines [Dublin Descriptor No. 5].
Learning results - Skills acquired:
 students who pass the exam are able to create, plan and evaluate interventions and educational projects through museum visits and in meaningful anthropic and natural spaces, and to select and reject pieces of information concerning the topics studied in formal and informal contexts.