Riassunto esame Lingua e traduzione inglese, Prof. Carassiti Fabio, libro consigliato English for educators, Roberta Facchinetti e Anna Belladelli

distinct STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT,

and each stage involves the acquisition of new

skills and depends on the completion of the previous

stage. 1. SENSORIMOTOR > In the first 2 years,

cognitive development is predominantly

non-verbal and consists into the creation

and organization of action patterns to

assimilate the external reality, so newborns

will learn how to coordinate the information

coming from the senses with their own

movements.

2. PRE-OPERATIONAL > the child acquires

new skills such as the ability to imitate, start

to use verbal language to refer to objects

and people, and to play symbolic games.

◆ egocentrism > the vast can’t understand other people's points of view, that’s why they

seems selfish and uncooperative.

3. CONCRATE OPERATIONAL > babies are able to do mental operations and explain reality through

reason. Thought is logical and reversible, so be able to understand the conservation of quantity,

◆ Thanks to that, children stop believing in Santa Claus because they realize that the bag

can’t contain all toys for the all world

4. FORMAL OPERATIONAL > kids are able to reflect more on their thoughts and become less

egocentric and intellectual abilities are fully reached.

According to Piaget, the first 3 stages of development are universal but not all adults reach the last stage,

which depends in part on the schooling process, because adults with a limited level of education tend to

continue to create bonds in more concrete terms and to retain large traces of egocentrism.

The child's mental development should be at the appropriate stage to assimilate these concepts, so the

teacher becomes a guide to the child's discovery of the world, and not just a transmitter of knowledge.

The technique that allows us to identify children's ideas about dreams consists of an investigation of 4 points.

The first concerns the origin of dreams > "Do you know what a dream is?" "Do you dream sometimes at

night?" "Where do dreams come from?" (= questions that are used to get the child to talk about his dreams,

especially when he believes in future dreams "from his head).

The answers can be classified as belonging to 3 distinct phases:

1. In the early years (5 - 6 years) the child believes that the dream comes from outside and takes

place inside the room and therefore dreams with his eyes.

2. In the second phase (7-8 years) the child assumes that the dream is in the head, in the thought,

in the voice, but that it is in the room, in front of him

3. During the third phase (9 - 10 years) the dream is the product of thought, it happens inside the

head or with the eyes, used internally.

➢ Unit 13 – J. DEWEY

○ He was a American’s leading philosopher, responsible for the development of

PHILOSOPHICAL PRAGMATISM.

His work exemplifies the North American approach to problem-solving and has been influential in theories and

education. Dewey stressed the importance of connecting theories to active participation in the world, and to

practical problem solving.

● Dewey's work in philosophy and psychology focused on EDUCATION REFORM > in

formulating educational criteria and aims, he drew heavily on the insights into learning offered

by contemporary psychology as applied to children.

He viewed thinking and learning as a process of INQUIRY from doubt or uncertainty, which is driven by the

desire to solve problems or relieve tension.

Besides education must take place through experience, which aim is the growth and the achievement of

maturity.

The principles were that the educational process must begin with and be based on the interests of the child.

● It must provide opportunities for the interaction between thought and action in the school

experience, that the teacher should be a guide and collaborator, and that the school's objective

is the growth of the child.

At the end of the 19th century his early idealisms gave way to the base of the theory of knowledge, as well as

helping to develop the American school of thought known as PRAGMATISM > pragmatists believe that reality

must be experienced; students must interact with their environment allowing them to adapt and learn.

While studying education he didn't like the teaching’s way, so he created the progressive education theory:

● learning by doing = this would help develop practical life skills which would be crucial to

children's education

● teachers and students must work together to create a better learning environment

● both students and teachers were considered equal (his view of the classroom was that of equal

voices, a "democratic" vision)

● teachers shouldn't be seen as educators but as facilitators that helps the students by giving

them the opportunity to discover themselves and to develop as independent learner.

● school should be a place that reflects the society that the child lives in, therefore creating a

child-centered learning that essentially surrounds the interests and need of the child.

● “EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION”

In ‘Experience and Education’ the author attempted to explain what constitutes progressive education,

Dewey wrote this book in response to the educators and the advocates of traditional education who attacked

progressive education which imposes adult standards and methods on those who are only growing into

maturity.

It was his hope to develop a principle of education which might focus on students and to define the roles of the

educator in progressive education.

According to Dewey, traditional education would just transmit the knowledge accumulated through history

without connecting the past to the reality of the student.

Acquiring knowledge became the end goal of the education process: Dewey expressed the view that the

present should always remain the center of the focus.

➢ Unit 14 – MARIA MONTESSORI

○ major work: The discovery of the child, La mente assorbente

○ She was an Italian educator and the creator of the Montessori’s educational system.

The MONTESSORI SYSTEM is based on belief in the child's creative potential, his drive to learn, and his right

to be treated as an individual.

It became known more all over the world than in Italy, because during the spread of her ideal in Italy there was

Mussolini with contrast ideals.

After graduating in Medicine from the University of Rome in 1894 – the first woman in Italy to do so –

Montessori became an assistant doctor at the psychiatric clinic to the University of Rome, where she was in

contact with the educational problems of mentally retarded children.

PERCEPTION is one of the most studied human processes in psychology and philosophy.

It’s the process of becoming aware of and understanding sensory information, and perception may be

influenced by outer factors, such as society, culture, past experiences, and so forth.

● CHILDREN’S HOUSE > pre-school founded by Montessori was for children between 3 and 6.

In 1970 she opened her first Casa dei Bambini, a school for children from the San Lorenzo slum and her

success led to the opening of other Montessori schools, and for the next 40 years she traveled throughout

Europe, India, and the United States lecturing, writing, and establishing teacher-training programs.

She hated conventional classrooms and she preferred to teach children by supplying concrete materials

because she discovered that certain simple materials make the children interested and attentive.

She was focused on teaching the students ways to develop their own skills according to their natural

inclinations, which was a principle that Montessori called 'spontaneous self development', and her method

showed that learning to read and write much more quickly and earlier than other methods.

● “the discovery of the child”

Montessori put emphasis on the value of the training of the senses which give a solid and richer basis to the

development of intelligence.

In the Montessori system biological and mental growth are linked. It is through the exploration of the

environment that the intelligence builds up its operational ideas.

The 2 or 3 years old kid, who comes to Children’s houses, has absorbed lots of impressions during the

previous active and mentally alert years, and this goal was made without any outside help from no one.

● MONTESSORI SCHOOL EDUCATION (video)

Montessori education is based on the principles developed by Maria Montessori.

Her school, called House for Children, was furnished with a teachers table, a stove, a blackboard, some

chairs, group tables for the children and a cabinet with materials.

She created the school materials after she realized that students seem to understand complex concepts better

when they use all their senses.

Montessori did not teach herself, but instead oversaw the classroom work of her teachers, and observed that

children showed episodes of deep concentration and multiple repetitions of the same activity.

She began to see the role of the teacher as a helper of young human beings.

Montessori concluded that with independent work children seemed to reach new levels of autonomy and

become self-motivated learners. With free choice kids showed more interest in practical activities and the

materials, than normal toys.

The goal: to grow children to become independent and responsible adults who share a love for learning.

Soon after, Montessori herself and her ideas started traveling the world to inspire progressive thinkers and

educators from all over the world, and Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison became early advocates.

All educators borrow Montessori’s insight and materials to organize kindergartens, elementary schools, special

needs programs or even full 12 years of curriculums, and also used by parents for home-schooling.

These characteristics are shared among most programs:

➢ Students are free to choose what to learn,

➢ Open classroom that allows free movement and the use of specialized Montessori materials,

➢ Mixed age classroom (0-3, 3-6 or 6-12), so children can learn from each other,

➢ Uninterrupted blocks of study time, usually 3 hours,

➢ No grading or homework.

➢ Unit 15 – P. FREIRE

○ He was a Brazilian educator and the theorist of Critical Pedagogy

○ “Pedagogy of the oppressed”

○ He wrote in his later works that education is like an act of love.

Freire was born to a middle class family who became extremely poor during the great depression, but he was

able to graduate from Law school but despite became a secondary school teacher of Portuguese, and this

occupation changed his whole thinking and his social engagement, because he became more aware of the

unjust reality of the Brazilian laws which required that voters can read and write, but at the same time many

rural areas were left behind by the Brazilian scholar system.

He was nominated director of the Department of Cultural Extension of Recife University and started a

successful project to educate wor