University Of Macerata Research Articles

Competenza ad agire insieme e senso di iniziativa: il tirocinio per attraversare i confini tra studio e lavoro

The pre-eminent motivation behind this contribution lies in the intention to offer students of three-year degree course in education and training sciences and master's degree in pedagogical sciences of the University of Macerata a further support than those already existing, aimed at expanding the educational meaningfulness of the internship experience. The main criticality of such experience is connected with the difficulty in translating knowledge, models, ideas into appropriate activities. This notably refers to the conceptual and educational core of the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship and, consistently, to the skill to act. Therefore, after a deepening of the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, followed by related pedagogical reflections based on the capability approach, the paper presents an operative proposal aimed at increasing young people's possibilities of action and supporting their personal and professional growth. With regard to this training proposal, the theoretical and methodological framework refers to the third generation cultural historical activity theory and to the tool of the boundary crossing laboratory, variant of the change laboratory

Assessing the Learning Outcomes of Food-related Educational Tourism Events for University Students: The Case of the International Student Competition of Fermo, Italy

This paper examines the International Student Competition on Place Brand­ing and Mediterranean Diet held in Fermo, Italy, in the context of the devel­opment of rural areas. This one-week food-related educational programme was organised by the University of Macerata’s Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism in collaboration with The Piceno Laboratory on the Mediterranean Diet, a local network of public and private stakehold­ers committed to the promotion of Fermo area as a touristic destination based on traditional gastronomy. The aim of this study was to understand how and to what extent such food-related educational events may con­tribute to providing students with the knowledge, expertise and soft skills needed for careers in the food tourism sector. Of interest also was how such events may benefit the development of rural areas. The ISC was founded in 2016 and continued in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In order to assess students’ perceptions about the experience, specifically regarding what they felt they had learned about food tourism, and which soft skills they had acquired or honed, 13 students who participated in the 2017 event were interviewed for a qualitative study. Moreover, the authors drew upon information gleaned from interactions with students and teachers, as well as with several important actors of the local food and tourism sector, in­cluding tourism and hospitality entrepreneurs and representatives of gov­ernment agencies, with whom they collaborated in the context of planning, running and evaluating the events. The findings show that the ISC can provide students with a good general understanding of the territory and practical knowledge about place branding and food tourism. In terms of career preparation, the combination of fieldwork activities with traditional lectures and group activities was particularly fruitful in promoting soft skills such as communication, efficient use of social media, teamwork, problem-solving and decision making.

School museums as dynamic areas for widening the heuristic potential and the socio-cultural impact of the history of education. A case study from Italy

ABSTRACT The contribution aims at introducing some points to reflect on the new role which university museums of schools and education can play today in the wake of current international processes of revitalisation of university heritage and museums, particularly in the light of the new objectives of the University Third Mission. Starting from the experience of the “Paolo and Ornella Ricca” School Museum in Macerata University, the authors illustrate how university museums can achieve several goals: on the one hand, to foster the opening up of the universities and academic research towards civil society, and the dissemination of the results of the most innovative historical-educational research; on the other hand, to promote the meaning and the value of the educational heritage as a collective cultural asset able to give participation and knowledge; finally, to make the historical-educational disciplines more valuable as a specialised knowledge which, through such heritage, can express a new specificity and a more active role within academic community.

Mangiare a scuola: un’indagine in alcune scuole italiane

The field research involved a survey in the contexts of school canteens, with the aim of identifying methods and good practices in school catering. 23 schools in the Marche region of Italy were involved in the survey, and the research reached 600 pupils, 81 teachers and 48 canteen operators. The research was designed and carried out by a group of 23 students from the course of Educational Psychology of the University of Macerata, with a survey methodology that saw a desk research on the Italian regulations dedicated to the school catering sector, the use of a structured observation checklist for canteens, the administration of semi-structured interviews with stakeholders. The analysis of the data describes a fragmented framework in the organization of school canteens, which, from a regulatory point of view, respect the parameters and rules of school catering, from the point of view of the educational approach to food have different characteristics. The research seems to confirm the lack of a common approach to food education, affirmed by the Ministry of Education itself in a national research on school catering (MIUR, FoodEdu 2018), highlighting strengths and weaknesses on which to leverage on aim to pursue the goal of a programmed and widespread and high quality nutrition education in all schools in Italy. As an answer to the issues raised from the data harvesting, we propose a food education project called Edueat - promoted by the training company Laboratorio delle Idee S.r.l. and scientifically supervised by the University of Macerata. The project aims to promote food education through the use of the senses, play and skills development, within the framework of the major theoretical references of Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Strumenti digitali per l’apprendimento scolastico

Given the speed with which the modern world changes and digital tools become part of everyday life, even the teaching and learning of them must be introduced to the lower age – at primary school. But before developing the skills in the pupils, the teachers in the first place must know how to use digital tools, knowing how to use them in the teaching of subjects other than the computer science. Digital competence is then required not only for the business purpose, but more and more often we are faced with the need to know how to learn and improve our knowledge in the professional field through digital tools. Based on this analysis we formulated our research question: how prepared are the students of primary education in the digital environment? Could they think and write projects for children in the area of knowledge of the territory through digital tools? To help our students prepare and achieve this goal during the course of Educational Psychology with the students of the fourth year of Primary Educationat the University of Macerata, we have created the “Digital education and discovery of the territory” workshop, proposing to the students to use some innovative tools and thinking about how they could be included in the activity of primaryschools that concern the study of the territory they belong to (the city, the province, the region). The work has been dividedinto 3 phases. During the first phase, tools were presented that would be used (The application MyCicero developed in our Marche region, Maps of OpenStreetMaps and Vikidia) The second phase was both individual and collective work on the cognitive map that concerned the term “Promoting the territory”.The theme of promotion and knowledge of the territory it belongs to is part of the primary school curriculum and certainly help schildren to understand their roots and appreciate them. During the third phase the students had to think and write a project that they could help thepupils learn something about their own territory through the digital tools mentioned above.The digitalage or information era, as we understand it, is the historical phase characterized by the widespread diffusion of the various digital products and the whole series of social, economic and political changes that occurred with the advent of the digitization of most of the access to information. Today’s children are already born in the digital age and must be ready to use it also in learning that makes our work in the preparation of their future Teachers even more important.

I Am Seen, Therefore I Am

Section of Legal Medicine University of Macerata Macerata, Italy [email protected] Section of Legal Medicine University of Macerata Macerata, Italy. The authors report no conflict of interest and no sources of support. Reprints: Sara Gioia, MD, PhD, Section of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, via Don Minzoni 9, Macerata 62100, Italy. E-mail: [email protected].

From the informative feedback to the generative feedback

The complexity of the class context changes knowledge that, today, experiments more and more the ambiguity between global and local. Knowledge seems to aim at the construction of nets of modal meanings. Even the posture of teachers and students change and feedback is one of the aspects that can mostly affect learning by fostering the acceptance of reciprocal worlds present in the class context. In this direction, also feedback seems to change and from an informative structure, as proposed by Gagné, feedback is acquiring a generative rationale, that is, a structure able to open different interpretative perspectives. In the present contribution modalities of feedback collection are described such as Mentimeter.com and Google.com forms being used in different courses at the department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism at the University of Macerata. Those tools were used to valorise the students' informal and non formal knowledge and to define personalized trajectories. Feedback surely was the tool able to bridge the students' and teachers' experience and knowledge towards the construction of a net of meanings built in context.

Identification of Levels of Sustainable Consciousness of Teachers in Training through an E-Portfolio

The contents of Education for Sustainable Development should be included in teachers’ initial and advanced training programs. A sustainable consciousness is one of the main foundations for determining the key competences for sustainability. However, there are not many empirical studies that deal with consciousness from education. In this context, the e-portfolio appears as a tool that promotes reflection and critical thinking, which are key competences for consciousness development. This work intends to propose a categorization system to extract types of consciousness and identify the levels of consciousness of teachers in training. For this research work, which is of an eminently qualitative nature, we have selected 25 e-portfolios of students (teachers in pre-service training) in the last year of the School of Education at the University of Macerata (Italy). The qualitative methodological procedure that was followed enabled deducing three bases that shape the consciousness of teachers in training: thinking, representation of reality, and type of consciousness. We concluded that the attainment of a sustainable consciousness in teachers requires activating and developing higher levels of thinking, as well as a projective and macrostructural representation of reality.

Inclusive University didactics and technological devices: a case study

This paper provides a review of projects related to new technologies used to favour the teaching-learning processes and the inclusive practices in the University context for students with disabilities and with Specific Learning Disorders. Authors present a review of strategies, trajectories and perspectives activated in the national and international scene, aiming to guarantee a significant pedagogical framework of reference. Furthermore, the paper focuses on a meaningful path activated at the University of Macerata, the project Inclusion 3.0, a relevant example of new technologies in support of teaching-learning processes and inclusion practices among all students.   

Education for Social Work as a Self-regulating Profession

The paper was given on 5 April 2000 as an invitational paper at the university of Macerata in Italy upon the opening of their new program preparing for social work (assistence sociale) practice in Italy. The paper discusses models of social work education which would prepare for free-standing, self-regulated practice (una libera professione) of social work, similar to professions of physicians, lawyers, accountants, etc. there is discussion of international models of social work practice, the general scope of work an advanced, specialized practice

Marketing Research for Cultural Heritage Conservation and Sustainability: Lessons from the Field

This paper investigates the contribution of marketing research to cultural heritage conservation and sustainability, based on the assumption that the comprehension of the meaning of cultural heritage by new and extended audiences is a prerequisite for the future survival of tangible and intangible heritage. After discussing steps and achievements in the scientific debate on museum marketing, current gaps and possible further developments are considered. Since the early 1980s, marketing research has investigated visitors’ profiles, motivations, and behaviors, and has progressively focused on improving the experience of cultural heritage, especially through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in museums and heritage sites. A literature review suggests that scant attention has been paid to qualitative research that is aimed at investigating the knowledge and skills of visitors and non-visitors and their understanding of the value of cultural heritage. Moving from these results, and taking into account recent data about the attitudes and opinions of people in Europe on cultural heritage, the field research focuses on the perception and communication of local cultural heritage among young generations. The results of six focus groups conducted in 2016 with undergraduate and postgraduate students (University of Macerata, Italy) are analyzed. The research findings reveal a number of difficulties and limitations with regard to communicating and understanding the value of heritage. In order to better investigate these gaps, the outcomes of this preliminary study could be tested and put to cross-analysis using different methods. However, they do provide useful evidence for understanding the link between audience development and cultural heritage sustainability.

Universities and smart specialisation strategy

Purpose The paper analyses the emerging role of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) universities in contemporary society via third- and fourth-mission activities. In particular, the paper investigates the potential contributions that SSH universities can offer in developing and enhancing capacities, supporting the changing conception of innovation coherently through a Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) approach. Design/methodology/approach The case study presents multiple third- and fourth-mission activities carried out by the University of Macerata (Italy). The activities are framed according to the roles universities could have in supporting S3. Findings Within third- and fourth-mission activities, SSH universities can play different and broader roles (generative, absorptive, collaborative and leadership), which could support regions in designing and implementing S3. Practical implications The paper shows the important contributions that SSH universities can make in their regions, both to support S3 and enhance the transition to sustainable development. Social implications The article emphasises SSH universities’ multiple contributions to sustainable development and to innovation in the knowledge society/economy framework. Originality/value This case study captures SSH universities’ contributions to S3 and the wider innovation paradigm, by highlighting their transformational effect on regional economies.

Full Access to Cultural Spaces (FACS): Mapping and evaluating museum access services using mobile eye-tracking technology

Abstract The present paper aims to present significant results stemming from the FACS (Full Access to Cultural Spaces) project, launched in 2014 by the University of Macerata and concluded in 2016. In particular, this paper reports on stages one and two of the FACS project which aimed first to explore the state of the art of universal access services across a large variety of museums in Italy and nine other EU countries. Based on the first stage, an analysis of some of the most significant data obtained from a questionnaire sent out to over 1,200 European museums will be presented, with a special focus on multilingual devices and access services for the sensory impaired. The first stage was followed by an eye-tracking study on an Italian museum, Turin’s Museo Nazionale del Cinema (National Cinema Museum), aimed at evaluating visitors’ experience, attitudes and patterns of fruition through a test with a portable eye tracker (Tobii Pro Glasses 2, 50 Hz). Based on this second stage, the fruition of information panels by museum visitors at the Museo Nazionale del Cinema will be explored, specifically focusing on reading patterns and behaviours.

Soft Skills Identification for Guidance and Job Placement: Presentation of the Project UNIMC (Macerata University) for Soft Skills

The issue of recognition, validation and certification of skills, especially those developed in non-formal and informal fields, is becoming a current topic for all educative institutions, including University. Soft skills is a psycho-sociological term relating to a cluster of personality traits, social abilities, communication, language, personal attitudes that characterize relationships with other people. Soft skills complement hard skills which are the occupational requirements of a job and many other activities. In Italy the legal framework on skills is leaded by the Legislative Decree n. 13/13. According to the Decree, University should assure the effective implementation of lifelong learning through guidance and counselling services. The University of Macerata (UNIMC) has been involved from a long time in the field of soft skills with many activities, formal as well as informal and non-formal. A system to recognize and validate them has been experienced in the last years. The objective of the paper is to describe the designed procedures aimed to the recognition and validation of soft skills such as observation, active listening, communication in small group and problem solving. Each skill was operationalized through the identification of specific indicators to recognize three level of expertise: basic, intermediate, advanced. Moreover several tasks were tested in order to identify a set of activities useful for the aim of a kind of formal recognition.

Soft Skills Identification for Guidance and Job Placement: Presentation of the Project UNIMC (Macerata University) for Soft Skills

Soft Skills Identification for Guidance and Job Placement: Presentation of the Project UNIMC (Macerata University) for Soft Skills

Universities’ Emerging Missions to Foster Sustainability of Rural Areas: Multiple Case Studies From The Marche Region

Abstract This paper explores a new emerging function for Universities: that of co-creation for sustainability ( Trencher et al., 2013 , Trencher et al., 2014a , Trencher et al., 2014b ). Contribution to sustainability involves an engagement in place-based, multi-stakeholder partnerships able to solve real-world issues. This theory is applied to multiple case studies which involve the University of Macerata, located in a rural area in the Marche region (Italy). Case study methodology is applied in order to understand if conditions expressed by the theory are met or need extension ( Yin, 2009 ). Findings support the new emerging framework and describe the different roles assumed by the University in each of the cases.

Inside School Lives: Historiographical Perspectives and Case Studies. Teachers’ Memories Preserved at the Centre for Documentation and Research on the History of Schoolbooks and Children’s Literature

This work focuses on teachers’ memories and intend to dwell on the heuristic potential of this source category, comparing it with the traditional sources of theoretical-regulatory and educational type. After a presentation on the state of art of historical and historical-educational studies on teachers’ memories, it will offer an overview of the different kinds of memories preserved in the centres of documentation and research of historical and educational interest, examining the books and documentary heritage of the Centre for documentation and research on the history of schoolbooks and children’s literature of Macerata University . Finally, through the analysis of a case study, the Memorie (Memoirs) of the teacher and pedagogist Lorenzo Bettini (1855-1917), we will offer an exemplification of a possible integrated use of sources, for a plural reconstruction of teachers’ history. How to reference this article Ascenzi, A., & Patrizi, E. (2016). Inside School Lives: Historiographical Perspectives and Case Studies. Teachers’ Memories Preserved at the Centre for Documentation and Research on the History of Schoolbooks and Children’s Literature. Espacio, Tiempo y Educacion , 3(1), 343-362. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14516/ete.2016.003.001.16

La Reforma Gentile de 1923 y las estrategias académicas de la Universidad de Macerata entre la ciencia nacional y el desarrollo de la economía local

This paper aims to examine the peculiar and significant innovations introduced by the University of Macerata in the aftermath of the Gentile reform on the educational syllabus and, in particular, in relation to the rise of a specific line of applied research having as its object the improvement of the agricultural economy and the formation of specialists in this field. In this regard, on the basis of the need to «promote any form of involvement and financial contribution» of the local authorities, resulting from its being among the universities of B type, i.e. those only partially supported by the State, the University Macerata was engaged in a work of rethinking of its role in the local and regional level. In 1925, for example, the University inaugurated a School of Accounting and Foreign Languages, which would have to become a real center of higher education for the new financial and accounting professions related to the development and modernization of the agricultural and manufacturing enterprises, as well as of the trade and credit activities in the region. The initiative promoted by the University Macerata two years later, in 1927, was even more articulate and ambitious with the establishment of the Graduate School in Agricultural Law and Agricultural Economics and Statistics. In the intentions of the leadership of the university, these two institutions had to go beyond the expansion and diversification of the educational syllabus, to represent the fundamental elements of a more comprehensive project. According to this, the University of Macerata was intended to be a real source of «highlevel professionals», and, at the same time, the laboratory for the formation of a new local ruling class, capable of leading not only the cultural, but also the «industrial, agricultural and commercial» growth of the entire region.

The use of video recorded classes to develop teacher professionalism: the experimentation of a curriculum

The paper presents an investigation aimed at validating the hypothesis that the teaching workshops in teacher training degree courses, in which videos are used as a supporting strategy, can foster the development of students’ professional vision. Since several studies highlighting the advantages of the use of videos exist, yet there is less literature that describe the educational procedures to be used, the aim of the research is to present a tried-and-tested curriculum for teacher professionalization that involves, over the time span of 5 years of initial training, the alternation of theoretical lectures, internships, and workshops in which the use of videos has specific goals each year. The research is framed within a qualitative approach using a control group, post-test only quasi-experimental method to address the effectiveness and the impact of the use of video recordings during a prospective teacher training program. The research involved students from the University of Macerata as the experimental group and students from different Italian universities as the control group.

Hair analysis in order to evaluate drug abuse in driver's license regranting procedures

In Italy, driving under the influence of drugs determines the suspension of the offender's driver's license. To regain the license the person must be drug free during an observation period. People whose license has been revoked or suspended can obtain, or re-obtain their driver's license subject to the judgment of a medical commission. The exclusion of illicit drug use is determined by means of toxicological analysis, mainly on urine or hair matrices. We reported the results of several years of experience of the forensic toxicology laboratory of the University of Macerata in the use of hair analysis for the assessment of past exposure to drugs in people suspected of driving under the influence of drugs. From 2004 to 2013, 8612 hair samples, were analyzed for opiates, cocaine and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method. We used a cutoff (SoHT or national guidelines) to determine the positive data, regardless of the hair sample concentrations. 1213 samples resulted positive, 71.7% were positive for cocaine and metabolites, 19.8% for morphine and metabolites, 8.5% for Δ9-THC. We also studied the timeframe of the abuse, as well as gender and age distribution of positive subjects. Moreover, we analyzed the possible deterrent effect of the hair analysis on driving under the influence of psychoactive substances.