Pedagogy of play and motor activities for children

Full Professor of General and Social Pedagogy, University of Florence, until 30 October 2016; lecturer at the IUL Telematic University where she teaches Pedagogy of play and motor activities for children; she has lectured at the University of Florence (Faculty of Education, Psychology and Medicine) and is a member of the scientific board of the journal “Studi sulla formazione”. She has directed the TFA (active training courses) for the University of Florence, from 2013 to 2016, for the pedagogical, psychological and philosophical departments, and has coordinated numerous master’s degree, postgraduate and continuing education courses.

Her research has developed, from a pedagogical perspective, on the themes of the body and sport, childhood and school in relation to cognitive, emotional and communicative learning, as well as studies on training in adulthood and adolescence. On the teaching side, she has developed research on curricular scheduling, evaluation and design. She has investigated issues relating to artistic and aesthetic, environmental and social education. Among the social pedagogy investigations, she has tackled issues relating to parenting education, music, and ongoing teachers training.

Description of contents

The course addresses two central themes in childhood education from a pedagogical perspective: play and motor activities.

In the first part of the course, attention will be paid to national and European legislation on the organisational structures of nurseries and pre-schools, with a special focus on play and physical education.

As far as play is concerned, the main educational theories and their practical applications will be highlighted, and how these are necessarily linked to children’s motor activities and bodily expressions. Critical reflection will be given to the cognitive, emotional and relational instances triggered by these teachings and the training measures that educators and/or teachers will have to put in place for a balanced and correct development of childhood.

Module 1- Reference legislation

• EURYDICE; Legislative Decree 812/2008
• European Council 2011
• 2012 Curriculum Directions
• Quality Framework 2014
• Law 107/2015; Legislative Decree 65/2017; dec.378/2018

 Module 2 – Play: theories and practices

• Play in modernity
• The playful dimension in contemporary society
• Play and training
• Playful practices in childhood

Module 3 – Educating for the body and motor activities

• Body and Movement: historical and philosophical outlines
• Motor learning for child development
• Perceptual knowledge and the education of the one’s self
• The main educational issues in motility

Module 4 – Cognitive, emotional, social and communicative aspects of play/motor activities

• What cognitive activities does play develop?
• How can communicative exchanges between children be encouraged?
• Ways, times and representations of play-motor expressions to foster affective and emotional needs in early childhood.

The course addresses two central themes in childhood education from a pedagogical perspective: play and motor activities.

In the first part of the course, attention will be paid to national and European legislation on the organisational structures of nurseries and pre-schools, with a special focus on play and physical education.

As far as play is concerned, the main educational theories and their practical applications will be highlighted, and how these are necessarily linked to children’s motor activities and bodily expressions. Critical reflection will be given to the cognitive, emotional and relational instances triggered by these teachings and the training measures that educators and/or teachers will have to put in place for a balanced and correct development of childhood.

• To acquire skills and knowledge to work as an educator in services for children (nursery schools, children’s communities, parenting support centres, play centres, etc.), adolescents and adults, including the third age.

• To offer a theoretical and practical-methodological study path according to the pedagogical perspective on play and motor activities.

• To develop not only a pedagogical but also a psychological, historical and philosophical knowledge of the child’s condition and in particular of play and bodily expressions.

• Promoting the learning of organisational and managerial skills for planning and evaluating continuous training processes, also through the use of multimedia technologies and distance learning systems.

• Facilitating the learning of cultural, creative, computer and communicative-relational knowledge to work in teams in public and private early childhood social services.

• Fostering education in creativity, reflection and critical understanding of children’s and parents’ needs, through environmental, intercultural and self-educational interaction.

A. Knowledge and understanding of the world of childhood and its play, creativity and motor needs.

B. Knowledge and understanding applied to educational services with particular reference to early childhood services.

C. Autonomy of judgement.

D. Communication and relational skills both with children, parents and colleagues.

E. Ability to learn and reflect critically on the work done, on the planning activities and the experiences had.

A. Use of advanced textbooks, knowledge of some cutting-edge topics in pedagogy.
Students will be trained to use not only traditional bibliographic resources (paper) but – through a critical analysis of online resources – also digital ones.

B. Professional approach to their work and possession of appropriate skills to devise arguments, support them and solve problems within the subject studied. Ability to collect and interpret data useful for making independent judgements.
Through the analysis of “case studies” and practical examples taken from everyday life, the socio-psycho-pedagogical mechanisms at the basis of our critical thinking, which underlie the ways in which we formulate judgements and opinions, will be highlighted. As well as tools for finding and evaluating data, some of the main “good practices” for the correct interpretation of the data acquired will be provided.

C. Ability to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialists and non-specialists.
Students will be provided with useful indications and methodologies to prepare a multimedia presentation and to know how to present it using vocabulary and communication methods appropriate to the target audience.

D. Ability to undertake further study with a high degree of autonomy.
Students will be helped to organise their study in a fruitful way by means of tools and methods conducive to the ‘learning to learn’.

DIDACTICS PROVISION

⮚ 8 hours of recorded video lessons available on the platform.
⮚ 4 synchronous meetings on the platform for in-depth analysis and discussion.
⮚ Podcasts of all the above-mentioned video lessons.

INTERACTIVE DIDACTICS

⮚ 1 course orientation forum;
⮚ 4 in-depth thematic forums (1 per module);
⮚ possibility to carry out assignments in groups;
⮚ 4 structured e-activities (as described in the section “in itinere assessment methods”).

SELF-LEARNING

Teaching materials are provided for each module: in-depth thematic studies, articles and slides by the lecturer, open-access readings, online resources, reference bibliography, etc.

• Ceciliani A., Gioco e movimento al nido, Rome, Carocci, 2016
• Bobbio A., Bondioli A. (ed.), Gioco e infanzia, Rome, Carocci, 2019

Online texts and materials

• Farné R., Sport e infanzia, Milan, Angeli, 2010
• Cambi F., Staccioli G. (eds.), Il gioco in Occidente. Storia, teorie, pratiche, Rome, Armando, 2007.
• Mariani A. (ed.), La relazione educativa. Prospettive contemporanee, Rome, Carocci, 2021.
• Giochi motori per bambini nella scuola dell’infanzia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXqhlNVMMxA)
• L’importanza del gioco nell’educazione motoria (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsVLdztVgSM)

Access to the final examination is subject to the following 4 e-activities:

• N. 2 reports (max. 8000 characters each, including spaces and punctuation) on the topics covered in the course,
• 2 webquests, on one of the following links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1CFyoYNSl8 (motor activity in nursery schools)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRat6es7Oyk (first cuddles at the nursery)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0BfLHF5oqc (children’s swimming from 0 to 6 years)

The assessment of learning will take place through an oral interview on the course contents and on the paper(s) presented. The grade (min 18, max 30 with possible honours) is determined by the level of performance for each of the following dimensions of the oral interview: mastery of contents, appropriateness of definitions and theoretical references, clarity of argument, command of specialist language.

Italian