**6. INF@NZIA DIGI.tales 3.6 project**

The BM project proposes a hybrid version that allows an enhancement of traditional logic blocks, equipping them with RFID tags. This configuration permits to a PC or a table, with BM software installed on, to connect with BM Magic Table, another relevant BM material. The Magic Table has a hidden antenna that recognises each block, sends a signal to the PC/tablets

Each augmented magic block had an integrated/attached passive RFID sensor for wireless identification of each single block. A specially designed wireless RFID reader device, an active board, is used which could read the RFID of a block and transmit the result to the BM software.

The BM system aimed to stimulate and teach different skills such as logic, mathematics, languages, etc.; therefore, the described BM-enriched blocks together with the Magic Table are complemented with a software that includes a series of exercises that researchers involved in BM project built on the teachers' feedback and on their previous experience in pedagogy.

The BM software is mainly formed by two parts: the first one is devoted to receiving input from the active board and generating an 'action' (aural and visual). These actions implement the direct feedbacks the user can receive interacting with the system. These feedbacks are regulated by an adaptive tutor system embedded that ensures autonomous interaction between the user and the system, receiving active support, corrective indications, feedback and positive reinforcement from the digital assistant on the outcome of the actions performed.

The second software component is devoted to customisation too, but it is dedicated to teachers, educators, etc., allowing them to choose the exercises to be proposed to the child, focusing the attention on the skills the child needs to train more. The BM software moreover can collect

Preliminary trials with Block Magic prototype were run in various schools in Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain, involving children aged 3 to 7. Observations were run on children and the teachers were involved in after-session focus groups Results confirmed Block Magic educa‐ tional platform effectiveness in educational context. In particular BM attractiveness emerged strongly: the tool is very attractive for children for many reasons. They especially like to use the tablet and the computer and are attracted by visual and aural stimulation as well as the mascot 'Blocki'. It is motivating for the students to use a computer-based system that the manipulation of real objects makes it even more fun. Teachers think that children found both visual and aural presentation of the tool attractive, and the use of text, graphics, sound and pictures is perceived as balanced so the children did not get bored. They stayed happily until

Teachers also notice that children like to hear their names from the computer and feel like participating in a real game. Also receiving an appropriate feedback is crucial to keep a high

The researchers investigated BM use in relation with specific skills: in teachers' opinion, it contributes to develop specific cognitive skills; in particular it is fit to improve mathematical and logical skills. All teachers accepted that the tool offers a variety of activities that encourage children to develop mathematical skills. Also imagination is stimulated by BM. In detail, the

and produces a feedback coherently with pupils' learning path.

74 E-Learning - Instructional Design, Organizational Strategy and Management

the end of each session and even wanted to continue playing.

motivation level. Children with special needs find the tool attractive too.

data about the exercises.

The second project we are going to describe in this chapter is INF@NZIA DIGI.tales 3.6. It is an Italian project aimed to promote the use of ICT technologies and the latest paradigms of human–computer interaction (augmented reality, RFID/NFC sensors, handwriting and speech recognition, motion detection, etc.) in order to define psycho-educational practices, which are able to enhance curricular activities and facilitate acquisition processes for skills and knowl‐ edge for pupils.

According to the literature described in the first part of this chapter and basing on evidences from Block Magic, the INF@NZIA DIGI.tales 3.6 project addresses a specific topic related to the link between cognitive development in childhood and technology use in both formal and informal teaching/learning contexts. Developmental psychology highlighted that multiple levels of organisation contribute to child growth: biological, psychological and environmental conditions influence each other in a dynamical way. This interaction is easily observable during school time (kindergarten and primary school), a period in which the complexity of systems and environments that begin to interact with each other is amplified. It is precisely the interaction between different factors (cognitive and socio-relational) and different settings to highlight gaps. One of these gaps, particularly relevant in our opinion, is that many children today are living with a serious technological gap between the various educational contexts in their lives: on one hand, they attend schools that are still technologically stagnant; on the other hand, they can use much technology at home, made up by platforms for game consoles, smartphones, Internet, etc. This technological imbalance has increased recently, due to the introduction of touch-screen tablets and their numerous 'educational' applications, which are particularly suitable for very small children (2–6 age group). Indeed, the domestic environment is experiencing an ever-increasing use of technology: it is foreseen that tablet use in Italy, for example, will increase from 15 % to 28 % by 2016 (source: eMarketer), while greater increases have been projected for other European nations, such as the UK, Germany, France and Spain. Projections issued by the International Data Corporation (IDC), updated in March 2013, predict that the global tablet market reaches 190.9 million units this year, an increase of 11 % between 2013 and 2016 that will reach 350 million by the end of 2017.

Tablet technology for children aged 2 or more precisely has a strong educational potential as confirmed by large-scale distribution and commercial success of educational Apps both for iOS and for Android (to mention the most popular operating systems) implemented by compatible software house. These new technologies and their content cognitively stimulate children, but the downside is that they often engage children alone and without the interven‐ tion and supervision of a responsible adult.

Specifically in Italian context, the Digital School curriculum of the Ministry for Education has ensured that Italian schools are gradually making use of the well-known interactive digital whiteboards, but distribution is still marginal and the technology, in the meantime, has been rendered obsolete by more modern touch-screen technologies. Most of the instruments used in preprimary and primary schools are not based on ICT technology: preprimary institutions mainly use materials which involve handling, as is the case for the first years of the primary cycle where initial fundamental learning is based on the acquisition of cognitive skills by way of developing natural motor and sensory abilities.

In order to achieve this gap overcoming, the INF@NZIA DIGI.tales 3.6 project is defining psycho-educational practices able to foster curricular activities and facilitate the acquisition processes of skills and knowledge in pupils and to implement an innovative model for the digital educational publishing for the primary school. Thus, this model will support the curricular school activities through the digital and technological empowering of the materials (e.g. schoolbooks) of the institutional and regulatory educational framework (see European Digital Agenda 2012). The sphere of action chosen for the project is constituted by preprimary and primary school system, which has been charged by the Italian Ministry for Education to promote the development, identity and abilities of our youngest citizens and introducing them to their civic duties, in accordance with the right to education and care, in coherence with principles of cultural pluralism as stated in our constitution, the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and in various other reference documents of the European Union. More specifically, the INF@NZIA DIGI.tales 3.6 project is aimed at children aged 3 to 6, thus including the first year of primary school, with the goal of renewing teaching and learning models in an educational context in this teaching segment. The INF@NZIA DIGI.tales 3.6 project also involves the 'significant others', actors of teaching/learning process in both formal and informal contexts: teachers, parents and families.

In brief, the model consists of interactions between different components and steps. The first of these steps consists of transforming curricular activities in digital micro-games that could be selected by teachers or tutoring systems. The child answers (in other words, the successful/ not successful conclusion of micro-games) impact on the proposal of subsequent micro-games in a manner akin to the personalisation of school curriculum. A broader tutoring system could retrieve and analyse the data/answers to micro-games and socialise the results to the other actors of the teaching/learning process.

Theoretical Perspectives of Hands-On Educational Practices — From a Review of Psychological Theories to… http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/60922 77

**Figure 8.** The INF@NZIA DIGI.tales 3.6 functional model

Projections issued by the International Data Corporation (IDC), updated in March 2013, predict that the global tablet market reaches 190.9 million units this year, an increase of 11 % between

Tablet technology for children aged 2 or more precisely has a strong educational potential as confirmed by large-scale distribution and commercial success of educational Apps both for iOS and for Android (to mention the most popular operating systems) implemented by compatible software house. These new technologies and their content cognitively stimulate children, but the downside is that they often engage children alone and without the interven‐

Specifically in Italian context, the Digital School curriculum of the Ministry for Education has ensured that Italian schools are gradually making use of the well-known interactive digital whiteboards, but distribution is still marginal and the technology, in the meantime, has been rendered obsolete by more modern touch-screen technologies. Most of the instruments used in preprimary and primary schools are not based on ICT technology: preprimary institutions mainly use materials which involve handling, as is the case for the first years of the primary cycle where initial fundamental learning is based on the acquisition of cognitive skills by way

In order to achieve this gap overcoming, the INF@NZIA DIGI.tales 3.6 project is defining psycho-educational practices able to foster curricular activities and facilitate the acquisition processes of skills and knowledge in pupils and to implement an innovative model for the digital educational publishing for the primary school. Thus, this model will support the curricular school activities through the digital and technological empowering of the materials (e.g. schoolbooks) of the institutional and regulatory educational framework (see European Digital Agenda 2012). The sphere of action chosen for the project is constituted by preprimary and primary school system, which has been charged by the Italian Ministry for Education to promote the development, identity and abilities of our youngest citizens and introducing them to their civic duties, in accordance with the right to education and care, in coherence with principles of cultural pluralism as stated in our constitution, the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and in various other reference documents of the European Union. More specifically, the INF@NZIA DIGI.tales 3.6 project is aimed at children aged 3 to 6, thus including the first year of primary school, with the goal of renewing teaching and learning models in an educational context in this teaching segment. The INF@NZIA DIGI.tales 3.6 project also involves the 'significant others', actors of teaching/learning process in both formal

In brief, the model consists of interactions between different components and steps. The first of these steps consists of transforming curricular activities in digital micro-games that could be selected by teachers or tutoring systems. The child answers (in other words, the successful/ not successful conclusion of micro-games) impact on the proposal of subsequent micro-games in a manner akin to the personalisation of school curriculum. A broader tutoring system could retrieve and analyse the data/answers to micro-games and socialise the results to the other

2013 and 2016 that will reach 350 million by the end of 2017.

76 E-Learning - Instructional Design, Organizational Strategy and Management

tion and supervision of a responsible adult.

of developing natural motor and sensory abilities.

and informal contexts: teachers, parents and families.

actors of the teaching/learning process.

More in detail, on the basis of the state of art in the field of developmental psychology, school activities and new technologies, the INF@NZIA DIGI.tales 3.6 project individuates the following key elements as central for the empowering of the current curricular learning materials:


In our opinion, these key elements could be essential for modernised learning, teaching and assessment practices through digital technologies, namely, through the following actions:


A secondary effect of the use of INF@NZIA DIGI.tales model addresses the social identity formation process that is one of the most important developmental tasks for the child, and it is strictly linked to learning. According to this view, the building of knowledge emerges concurrently and is facilitated by the formation of a social identity, which is shared with the community, by means of carrying out common activities. INF@NZIA DIGI.tales allows to achieve both learning and social identity through 1) conceiving designing and creating Smart Learning & Teaching Environments, which can be integrated into the school curriculum cycle; 2) creating favourable conditions for learning, maturity and teaching, in accordance with the principles of continuity and the wholesome and harmonious youngest members of society growth; and 3) building areas for free expression and multisensory experience which permit symbolic play, the greater and more incisive participation of different people involved in education process. With regard to the child, the INF@NZIA DIGI.tales model addresses socialisation and cooperation with classmates during school hours: interaction with peers, friends and parents outside school hours, communication dynamics, using cultural stimuli, which may be rooted in the local area.
