DUDA: a digital didactic learning unit based on educational escape rooms and multisensory learning activities for primary school children during COVID-19 lockdown Walter Setti, Rebecca Tarello, Erica Volta, Lucia Ferlino, Monica Gori, et al. Educational Technology Research and Development, 2025 The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digitization, access to IT resources, and digital inclusion in the Italian school system. This paper presents D-UDA (i.e., “unità didattica di apprendimento digitale”, in Italian), a digital didactic unit for learning mathematics concepts. The presented approach combines teaching methodologies and game-based activities (e.g., the escape room) with a multisensory approach to designing and developing digital and multimodal technologies. D-UDA is divided into two parts: the first part consists of logic puzzles that adhere to the guidelines set by INVALSI (the Italian Istituto Nazionale per la Valutazione del Sistema educativo di Istruzione e di formazione) for mathematics learning, while the second part involves a series of multisensory games designed to promote the development of transversal competencies, such as cooperation and engagement. Moreover, D-UDA encourages children to create their own adventure using the same tools employed by the designers to develop the experience. The children who participated in testing D-UDA in June 2020 were asked to complete usability questionnaires after the experience. Preliminary results indicate the effectiveness of the educational intervention presented, which integrates recent pedagogical theories and teaching methodologies with a multisensory perspective and a technological design.
A Digital-Analogical Intervention Program Following a Play-Based Approach for Preschoolers: The Effects on Executive Functions and ADHD Symptoms in a Pilot Study Sabrina Panesi, Lucia Ferlino International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 2023 Today, the effective use of technological tools is a fundamental aspect of learning. Nevertheless, in Italy’s education system the integration of digital technologies in a pedagogically meaningful way is still not very widespread, especially in non-compulsory levels, such as preschool. Integration of digital technologies as early as preschool could be useful to support child development, especially for fostering executive functions (EFs). These play an important role in the daily life of all children, whether or not they have special education needs (SEN), such as coping with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. This paper reports a pilot study in which a play-based intervention is adopted that combines interaction with both educational apps and analogical materials. The main aim of the study is to investigate whether application of this intervention promotes the development of EFs and a decrease in ADHD symptoms (inattention and impulsivity/hyperactivity), as perceived by teachers and parents. The results show significant improvements in various EFs components and, in the experimental group, ADHD symptoms seem to decrease, especially in those children considered at risk by their teachers and parents. This suggests that the digital-analogical intervention can be implemented in preschool as an innovative way to improve cognitive abilities and as an early strategy for children with ADHD symptoms.
Case Report: A playful digital-analogical rehabilitative intervention to enhance working memory capacity and executive functions in a pre-school child with autism Sabrina Panesi, Marina Dotti, Lucia Ferlino Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2023 BackgroundAutism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is often associated with deficits in Working Memory Capacity (WMC) and Executive Functions (EFs), as early as the first years of life. Research has shown that, even young children with ASD, WMC and EF deficits can be effectively addressed through interventions employing digital and/or analogical tools. Early intervention is important because executive dysfunction can negatively impact on the quality of life, both of children and their families. However, very few studies have been carried out involving intervention with pre-schoolers with ASD. To fill this gap, we developed an intervention that promotes pre-schoolers’ WMC and EFs by employing both digital apps and analogical playful activities. This study reports on the feasibility of this intervention, which was carried out in a rehabilitative context.MethodsA male pre-schooler diagnosed with ASD was engaged in a total of 17 intervention sessions, all held in a clinical context, over a nine-week period. Outcomes were measured using a battery of pre- and post-treatment tasks focusing on WMC, EFs and receptive language. The clinician who administered the intervention made written observations and noted any improvements in the child’s performance emerging from the digital and analogical activities.ResultsThe pre- and post-test scores for the cognitive tasks revealed qualitative improvements in the following cognitive domains: (a) WMC in the language receptive domain; (b) updating in WMC; (c) inhibition, specifically concerning control of motor response; (d) receptive vocabulary. Furthermore, when monitoring the child’s performance, the clinician noted improvement in almost all the playful activities. Particularly notable improvements were observed in interaction with the apps, which the child appeared to find very motivating.ConclusionThis study supports feasibility of a playful digital-analogical intervention conducted by a clinician in a rehabilitation context to promote cognitive abilities in pre-schoolers with ASD. Further studies are needed to establish whether the intervention’s effectiveness can be generalized to a broad sample of children with ASD.
Apps for intervention in executive functions in young children: A pilot study Sabrina Panesi, Laura Freina, Lucia Ferlino Handbook of Research on Neurocognitive Development of Executive Functions and Implications for Intervention, 2022 Recently, researchers have increasingly shown interest in studying executive functions (EFs) starting from a young age, in particular focusing on interventions in both educational and clinical contexts. Today's children's interest in digital tools is very high allowing for the introduction of new methods of assessment and training. However, there are only a few studies focused on technology-based interventions promoting or assessing EFs in young children. For this reason, a kit of four games for the assessment and training of working memory, inhibition, shifting, and updating in pre-schoolers was developed in the form of apps. The developed prototypes underwent a first test involving some teachers and clinicians who filled an online questionnaire. Data analysis showed that both teachers and clinicians gave a positive and homogeneous evaluation, showing that the apps can be considered useful for the assessment and training of EFs in both educational and clinical contexts.
Distance Learning During the First Lockdown: Impact on the Family and Its Effect on Students' Engagement Antonella Chifari, Mario Allegra, Vincenza Benigno, Giovanni Caruso, Giovanni Fulantelli, et al. Frontiers in Psychology, 2021 This contribute investigates how Emergency Remote Education (ERE) impacted families during the spring 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, and in particular, the extent to which the impact of ERE on families, measured in terms of space and equipment sharing, moderates the effect of student and family characteristics on students' engagement. The study derived from the administration of an online survey to 19,527 families with children attending schools, from nursery to upper secondary grade. The total number of student records collected amounted to 31,805, since parents had to provide data for each school-age child in the family. The survey contains 58 questions, divided into three sections, with the first two sections designed to get a reading at family level and the third section to gather data for each school-age child in the family. After verifying the validity of the engagement construct through confirmatory factor analysis, two structural equation models were used to analyze the students' engagement. The main findings reveal how the impact of the ERE on the families has had a significant role in predicting students' level of engagement observed by parents with respect to different predictor variables. Finally, we argue that it is necessary to follow a holistic approach to observe the challenges imposed by the switch of the process of deferring teaching from presence to distance, imposed by the pandemic emergency on families. In fact, a holistic approach can promote student engagement and prevent the onset of cognitive-behavioral and affective problems linked to disengagement in ERE.
ENHANCING EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS IN PRESCHOOLERS: TECHNOLOGIES YES OR NOT? 18th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age Celda 2021, 2021
The App Magic House: Assessing Updating in Young Children Sabrina Panesi, Laura Freina, Lucia Ferlino Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics, 2021
A kit of apps to improve and assess executive functions andworking memory capacity in preschoolers 17th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age Celda 2020, 2020
Essediquadro, the online service for the documentation and orientation on the educational software and other digital learning resources Mondo Digitale, 2015
The sustainable lightness of low cost technologies Mondo Digitale, 2015
