BASSO GROUP

Keywords: Cognition, Neuroscience, Education, Memory, Executive Functions, Numerical Cognition, Life-Skills, Well-Being, E-learning, Media, Communication.

Aim:

In recent years, the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education has emerged as one of the pillars for the creation of an informed citizenship. Accordingly, much attention has been devoted to teach STEM subjects to students while proposing several trainings. Many of these trainings have however not obtained the expected results. An evaluation of the efficacy of these trainings needs to be accomplished by considering the cognitive skills among the critical factors. In the current project, the focus will be on arithmetic competence by evaluating several learning strategies in children attending the last year of the primary school. This moment in the academic career is a crucial milestone because it prepares students to enter into the secondary school, where their learning strategies will be tested and expanded. Results will provide us with precious information about different learning approaches. Teachers and educators in the domain of mathematics will also profit from the project’s findings, as they will get further information into which approaches would fit better to a specific situation / subject.

Approach:

The research will be carried out in two steps: In the first part, a sample of 100 children in the last year of primary school will be recruited and tested. A series of psychological tests assessing memory, attention, executive functions, and numerical competence will be administered, both before and after training (congruently with the other IPN partners). Children will train five days on arithmetic problems by using two different learning methods. On two days out of five, an eye-tracker will collect implicit data about children’s performance to detect changes in the adoption of calculation strategies. In the second part, further children will be tested using the same psychological tests. They will be then divided into four groups. The four groups will work on the same didactic goal but with four different methods. These methods will be tested against each other to evaluate their proficiency.

Current research:

The Cognitive and Educational Sciences Laboratory at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano is aimed at bringing together research on cognitive processes and education/didactics, in order to establish a link between the two disciplines. One research line is devoted to the study of development of cognitive skills (visuo-spatial, numerical, motor), considered key aspects for an individual’s self-actualization. Projects related to STEM and numerical skills are expected to obtain remarkable effects and to be implemented in different school orders. On the same track, a second research line deals with the development of well-being in children and adolescents. The intervention in regions with deprived economic conditions and low family socioeconomic status has the aim of improving children’s socioemotional skills to face interpersonal issues and to improve their socioemotional skills. A third research line entails the establishment of a framework to support students’ strengths, talents, and interests. The laboratory employs several methods (behavioral and computerized testing, questionnaires and interviews, eye-tracking inspection) in order to provide a common background to scientific and applicative perspectives.

Lab Members:

NeuroTrain Group Leader:

Demis Basso

Research fellows:

Silvia Lo Monaco

Doctoral candidates:

Giulia Prestera

Master candidates:

Tba

External collaborators:

Laura Zamarian (Medical University of Innsbruck; IPN Partner)

Manuela Piazza (University of Trento, Italy; IPN Partner)

George Richard Paul Santi (University of Macerata, Italy)

Address:

Free University of Bozen-Bolzano

Faculty of Education

Cognitive and Educational Sciences Laboratory (CESLab)

viale Ratisbona, 16

I-39042 Brixen-Bressanone (BZ)

10 Selected publications:

Moschella, M., & Basso, D. (2020). Computational Thinking, spatial and logical skills.  An investigation at primary school. Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica, 15(2), 69-89. DOI: 10.6092/issn.1970-2221/11583

Tovazzi, A., Basso, D., Caprara, B., & Colombi, A.E. (2021). Pequeños bloques para grandes avances: Un enfoque didáctico basado en la neurociencia. In: A. R. Bodoque-Osma & S. Gonzáles-Víllora (Eds.), Neuroeducación: Desde la Psicología a la Motricidad. Editorial Morata, Madrid (pp. 215-232). ISBN: 9788418381591.

Borgianni, Y., Maccioni, L., & Basso, D. (2019). Exploratory study on the perception of additively manufactured end-use products with specific questionnaires and eye-tracking. International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing, 13, 743–759. DOI: 10.1007/s12008-019-00563-w

Tovazzi, A., Basso, D., & Saracini, C. (2019). Learning tools against developmental dyscalculia in primary school: A case study. In: L.G. Chova, A.L. Martinez, I.C., Torres (Eds.), 13th International Technology, Education And Development Conference (INTED 2019). Valencia: INTED Proceedings (p. 6755-6762). DOI:10.21125/inted.2019.1643

Maccioni, L., Borgianni, Y., & Basso, D. (2019). Value perception of green products: an exploratory study combining conscious answers and unconscious behavioral aspects. Sustainability, 11(5), 1226. DOI: 10.3390/su11051226

Cottini, M., Basso, D., & Palladino, P. (2018). The role of declarative and procedural metamemory on event-based prospective memory in school-aged children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 166, 17-33. DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.08.002

Ronconi, L., Basso, D., Gori, S., & Facoetti, A. (2014). TMS on right frontal eye fields induces an inflexible focus of attention. Cerebral Cortex, 24(2), 396-402. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhs319

Salillas, E., Semenza, C., Basso, D., Vecchi, T., & Siegal, M. (2012). Single pulse TMS induced disruption to right and left parietal cortex on addition and multiplication. NeuroImage, 59(4), 3159-3165.

Basso, D., Ferrari, M., & Palladino, P. (2010). Prospective memory and working memory: Asymmetrical effects during frontal lobe TMS stimulation. Neuropsychologia, 48(11), 3282-3290.

Salillas, E., Basso, D., Baldi, M., Semenza, C., & Vecchi, T. (2009). Motion on numbers: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on the ventral Intraparietal Sulcus alters both numerical and motion processes. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(11), 2129-2138.

 

Full publication list: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4595-3513

Funding list:

2022-ongoing          EUREGIO/FWF IPN 135                                                          

2019-2022                2019-1-HU01-KA201-061275                                                               

2019-2023                SNSF-4684-StemUP!

2016-2019                unibz-CRC16-MiWaCogEdu