Overview

The Interdisciplinary Laboratory for the Quality and Innovation of Didactics is an inter-departmental community of practice. It is based on the idea that teachers and learners should be equally involved, as individuals and as a group, in the process of production and acquisition of knowledge and of competences, which are in turn multifaceted, that is, specialised, scientific, professional, and also metacognitive, social, relational, and communicative, with medium- and long-term effects.

The Laboratory aims at creating an interdisciplinary and inter-departmental network for the research on quality and innovation of academic didactics; at analysing the state of the art and best didactic practices; at experimenting innovative and multidisciplinary actions for enhancing transversal competences and for promoting the respect for diversity; at reflecting on teaching in a second language; and at fostering flexible and inclusive teaching practices.

The Laboratory tasks involve teachers of the University of Trento.

Research directions

Quality and Innovation of Academic Didactics

The main objective of this research line (coordinator: Patrizia Maria Margherita Ghislandi) is to define the most relevant methodological approaches and theoretical issues of higher education.

Academic Critical Thinking

This research line (coordinators: Sara Dellantonio and Remo Job) aims at devising, submitting and analysing a critical thinking test, in order to evaluate UNITN undergraduate students’ development of transversal competences as far as reasoning is concerned.

Inclusive Didactics

This research line’s objective (coordinator: Maria Micaela Coppola) is to devise, analyse, and put into practice inclusive didactic strategies, i.e., aimed at promoting inclusion and respect for (gender, cultural, linguistic, learning, etc.) differences.

Internal collaborations

Luisa Canal, Maria Micaela Coppola, Roberto Cubelli, Sara Dellantonio, Silvia Fargion, Patrizia Maria Margherita Ghislandi, Remo Job, Carla Locatelli, Luigi Lombardi, Antonio Mattei, Lucia Rodler, Paola Venuti.

Awards

Progetto finanziato nell’ambito del Piano Strategico d’Ateneo 2017-21, Università degli Studi di Trento.

External collaborations

  • Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia (DLF): Andrea Binelli, Antonella Degl’Innocenti, Francesca Di Blasio, Sabrina Francesconi, Carla Gubert.
  • Dipartimento di Matematica (DM): Anneliese Defranceschi.
  • Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale (DSRS): Marco Brunazzo, Vincenzo Della Sala, Mario Diani. 
  • Strutture d’Ateneo: Daniela Paolino (Didattica Online – DOL e Centro Linguistico d’Ateneo – CLA), Claudia Cattani (Formazione Insegnanti e Rapporti con la Scuola – FIRS).

Selected publications

Scientific papers:

  • Pastore, L., Dellantonio, S. (2016). “Modelling Scientific Un/Certainty: Why Argumentation Strategies Trump Linguistic Markers Use”. In Magnani, L., Casadio, C. (eds.) Model-Based Reasoning in Science and Technology: Logical, Epistemological, and Cognitive Issues. Heidelberg: Springer pp. 137-164. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-38983-7_8
  • Yang, N., Ghislandi, P., Dellantonio, S. (accepted). “Quality Teaching for Learning Effectiveness in Large Classes: Designing Online Collaboration Among Learners for Deep Understanding”. Educational Technology Research and Development.
  • Coppola, Maria Micaela. “Open the Book and Visit the U.K.: a Sketch of ‘English’ Language and Culture in EFL Books”. In Oriana Palusci e Sabrina Francesconi (a cura di), Translating Tourism. Linguistic and Cultural Representations. Trento: Editrice Università degli Studi di Trento, 2006, pp. 171-182. ISBN 1088-844-127-1.
  • Coppola, Maria Micaela. “Teaching Literature as a Foreign Language in Feminist and Multicultural Pedagogies”. Textus. English Studies in Italy, “Teaching Literature”, edited by Angela Locatelli and Coppélia Kahn, XVI (2003), n. 1, Tilgher, Genova, pp. 95-110. ISSN 1824-3967.