Meet the editor

Filippo Gomez Paloma is a Full Professor of Didactics and Special Pedagogy in the Department of Education, University of Macerata, Italy. He holds a master's degree in psychology, two degrees (Italian and French) in Motor and Sports Sciences, three specializations in special education, a master's on International Qualification of "High Education Level," and a Ph.D. in Pedagogy. He is a member of many international scientific societies

and a member of the board of directors of the Società Italiana di Ricerca Didattica (SIRD), whose research is on training and education in schools. He was previously the director of the Special Education School European University of Rome, Italy, and a senior expert pedagogical consultant for the National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education and Training System (INVALSI), Italy.

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Preface

In recent years, research on teacher training and teaching practices has been increasingly enriched by scientific contributions from disciplines other than pedagogy. If we think about the didactic conduct that teachers must put into practice, we realize that interdisciplinary studies in areas ranging from psychology to philosophy, from neuroscience to anthropology, and from sociology to linguistics are necessary to understand and refine teachers' efficiency and effectiveness. This interconnected scientific network reflects the complexity of our society and invites researchers to reflect on a very delicate question: How is it possible to respect the methodological rigor of investigation and/or experimentation procedures while at the same time being open to interdisciplinary innovations characterized by a plurality of approaches to research? This question was, for me, the interpretative key with which I tried to examine the valuable contributions proposed by the authors of this volume, aware that in order to understand the fertile heuristic potential of the world of education and of teaching

practices, it is necessary for scholars to "dare with awareness."

(Gomez Paloma, 2017).

failing.

and learning process.

In recognizing the scientific value and the future implementation of the research within this volume, I would like to present this preface as a connecting thread that intersects the contributions through the Embodied Cognitive Science (ECS) paradigm

At the basis of the ECS paradigm, there are a series of scientific constructs that span several disciplines but that univocally respond to the value of the Body–mind– environment relationship, according to a holistic and interconnected vision of the three entities. All the chapters, while having as their object a specific research model, investigate their field of study recognizing, albeit indirectly, the anthropological framing of the person as a complex unit. It is therefore evident that the authors' vision is to frame teaching and teacher practices by enhancing didactic interaction and aware of the interdependent variables that come into play in training processes.

In my, "Introductory Chapter: Teacher Education between Science and Consciousness", I emphasize this dialogue between disciplines, without which teacher training risks

Chapter 2, "A Comparative Study of Groups of Teachers on the Perceived Nature of Effective Teaching and Learning Science" by Kenneth Adu-Gyamfi, Isaiah Atewini Asaki, and Benjamin Anim-Eduful, clearly illustrates how teaching cannot fail to consider the complex plurality of the capabilities to be developed in students, valuing the principles of active participation and qualitative circularity between the teaching

Chapter 3, "Assessment of Students' Reading Comprehension Skills in Teaching English" by Farida Huseynova, confirms the need for an interactive role of the
