DISUFF

Digital storytelling has emerged in recent years as a powerful tool for teaching and learning that involves both teachers and students (Robin, 2008). The construction of interactive narratives represents an educational challenge gaining in a considerable importance when they take into account the emotions felt by the users and exploit them to improve themselves (Mangione, Pierri & Iovane, 2012). In this sense, new paradigms of Human Machine Interaction can be a tool for
reclaiming body in digital storytelling, unraveling the complexity of the narration and, as such, a simplex way (Berthoz, 2011) to learning with the awareness that “the degree of physical involvement is the measure of immersion“ in a digital context (Krueger, 1991).
The objective of the research is the reinstatement of the body to digital storytelling, knowing that the gestures made by the weather person are embedded in a narration (Poddar, Sethi, Ozyildiz & Sharma, 1998).Based on a theoretical framework that integrates the concepts of embodied cognition developed in the context of cognitive science, the contribution of phenomenology (Dourish, 2004) and the new forms of HMI developed in the User Interface Design, this project aims the development of a gesture recognition software to allow authors to create effective, interactive gesture-driven stories, using Natural User Interfaces.

The acquisition of spatially encoded concepts related to basic geometric shapes appears as a fundamental element for the development of handwriting skills and represents an important educational issue. The focus of this work rotates around conceptual node formed by the interaction of body, space, motor control, motor equivalence and technologies in the acquisition of fine motor skills functional to handwriting. This project aims to develop software for the assessment of handwriting and spatial coding skills. The software is natively designed for use on touch screens and is intended for use by children in kindergarten (age between the three and six years). By extension, the software also addresses subjects at a later age that present specific learning disabilities in the context of handwriting. The software developed so far adds an interactive layer upon an image, allowing the finger to follow the suggested path.
The software records in xml format the drawing made by the user and the time taken, and verifies what points are adhering to the proposed route and which ones differ significantly.

Este trabajo quiere ofrecer un punto de vista sobre la relación entre el espacio y la didáctica, partiendo de la hipótesis, desarrollada por Alain Berthoz, de que los numerosos problemas planteados por el avance en el espacio han sido utilizados en el curso de la evolución, incluso para las funciones cognitiva superiores.
La investigación en neurociencias, de hecho, identificó las bases neurobiológicas de las intuiciones de Piaget sobre la representación del espacio en el niño y puso de manifiesto los vínculos entre la capacidad de gestión de los sistemas de referencia espacial, la capacidad de rotación mental y la modalidad empática de relación intersubjetiva. El trabajo se desarrolla presentando un marco funcional de la idea de espacio en el pensamiento occidental y de la relación entre la manipulación de los sistemas de referencia espacial y los procesos cognitivos.
Para concluir se analizan las consecuencias , en el ámbito educativo, de la teoría espacial de la empatía, desarrollada en el Collège de France, en la estela de la tradición fenomenológica.

This work represents the evolution for educational purposes of a video game designed for the measurement of perspective taking skills. The prototype of the game from which this study started has been developed by the University of Salerno and is aimed at assessing the age at which students develop perspective-taking and mental rotation skills. The shift from the scope of measurement to that of training required the software to be capable to adaptively suggest effective strategies appropriate to the user's profile. Notwithstanding the theoretical framework and the approach to the representation of spatial reference systems, the specific educational needs have led to a complete re-design of the application and to the introduction of a semantic layer that can adaptively support user. This paper, therefore, in the first part presents the theoretical framework behind the project and briefly describes the prototype of the game aimed at measuring the perspective taking skills, and, in the second part, presents the design of a specific ontology for the educational version.

This work represents the evolution for educational purposes of a video game designed for the measurement of perspective taking skills. The prototype of the game from which this study started has been developed by the University of Salerno and is aimed at assessing the age at which students develop perspective-taking and mental rotation skills. The shift from the scope of measurement to that of training required the software to be capable to adaptively suggest effective strategies appropriate to the user's profile. Not with standing the theoretical framework and the approach to the representation of spatial reference systems, the specific educational needs have led to a complete re-design of the application and to the introduction of a semantic layer that can adaptively support user. This paper, therefore, in the first part presents the theoretical framework behind the project and briefly describes the prototype of the game aimed at measuring the perspective taking skills, and, in the second part, presents the design of a specific ontology for the educational version.

This paper discusses the theoretical framework underlying the design of an educational video game, being developed at the University of Salerno, designed to assess the skills of perspective taking and mental rotation of players. These skills, in the theoretical framework which this paper refers, are essential skills involved in the empathic relationship. The project, in fact, refers to a precise definition of empathy, due to Alain Berthoz and the spatial theory of empathy, and aims to assess the educational implications. We present the spatial theory of empathy, describes the spatial reference
systems provides a quick review of the literature on the representation of space in the child and the representation of space in video games. Finally, the paper describes the
prototype of videogame created, in which the player is faced with three different tasks, two of which are designed to measure the ability of perspective taking, while the third
task is calibrated on the ability of mental rotation.

This work will argue how the cognitive processes involved in the orienteering peculiar activities (reading maps, identifying routes, spatial thinking) are also involved in the management of
intersubjective relationship. In essence, the skills involved in reading maps and in developing strategies for spatial navigation are skills that allow us to see the world from different points of view,
abandoning the egocentric perspective (Berthoz, 2000). To get out from egocentrism means being able to see the reality (not just the spatial reality) from several points of view, however other than our own.
In this perspective, the work develops describing orienteering as a sport, and facing a review of scientific literature on the cognitive processes involved in spatial navigation and management of spatial reference systems, in light of the contribution made to this specific field studies from
neuroscience. The work thus illustrates the spatial theory of empathy and concludes with a proposal for the spread of orienteering as an effective teaching practice in inclusion-oriented education contexts and as a powerful learning resource for Special Educational Needs.

In modern society about 10% of children suffer
from a neuro-developmental disorder called dyslexia, which
implies difficulties in learning to read. According to recent
research, playing action videogames can be a valid teaching
tool to improve the reading skills of dyslexic children
through forms of engagement and interaction. This paper
describes the design, implementation, validation and experimentation of an educational action game oriented to promote phonological and visuo-spatial attention training in
dyslexic subjects aged between 7 and 9.

The ability to play action videogames – not directly related to phonological or orthographic training – seems to be a teaching tool able to intervene specifically on spatial attention and drastically improve the reading skills of dyslexic children. The MADRIGALE project aims at the design and development of an action game, simultaneously involving both phonological and attention training in order to adapt educational game strategies
for special needs. Within the MADRIGALE project, the design of the prototype was presented at the International Conference
on Intelligent Networking and Collaborative Systems, while an experimentation about educational effectiveness of the prototype, conducted using ‘Prove MT2’ as a benchmarking tool for measuring accuracy and speed of reading, was published in the International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET). This paper is an extension of the work presented in SIREM – SIEL 2014 Conference, and presents the results of a Game
Evaluation Sheet administered to 50 primary school teachers with experience of dyslexic students.