1. EDUCATION

  • 1992. Degree in Pedagogy, at the University of Turin, 3/7/1992 (First Class Honours).
  • 1997. Research Doctoratein Pedagogy at Catholic University of the Sacred Heartof Milan.

2. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY

  • 1990 - 2001:Primary school teacher.
  • 2001 – 2006: Researcher (M-PED/03) with the Faculty of Education Sciences at the University of Turin.
  • 2006 to date: Associate Professor of General Didactics (M-PED/03) with the Faculty of Education Sciences at the University of Turin.

3. didaCTIC ACTIVITy

Titular Teaching

  • 2002/2003 to date: Course ofExtra-scholastic didactics– Faculty of Education Sciences at the University of Studies of Turin, Degree Course in Education Sciences.
  • 2002/2003 to date: Course in Education intervention methods and practices– Faculty of Education Sciences at the University of Studies of Turin, Professional EducatorInterfacultyDegree Course.
  • 2008/09 to date: Course inGeneral didactics - Faculty of Education Sciences at the University of Studies of Turin, Primary Education SciencesDegree Course.

Other Teaching

  • 2002/03 – 2007/2008. Scholastic evaluation methods and techniques–Interuniversity Specialisation School for the education of teachers in secondary schools in Turin.
  • 2010/11. General Didactics Course - SUISM (Motor Sciences Interfaculty University School) ofTurin.
  • 2010/11. Plan for competencesdidactic module– Degree Course in Nursing Sciences at the S. Luigi Gonzaga Faculty of Medicine and Surgery ofTurin.

Lecturer in University Master Courses

  • 2006/2007. Didactics Workshop for competences and problem solving - Interfaculty University Master, level II, in Didactics of Sciences; Faculty of Sciences M.F.N. and Faculty of Education Sciences in the University of Turin.
  • 2009/2010. Evaluation of student competences-University Master, II level, in Management of scholastic and education institutions; Faculty of Education Sciences in the University of Turin, Polytechnic of Milan, Noveris e Borgo della Conoscenza Education Agencies.
  • 2009/2010. Pedagogical coordination and planning of education services and interventions focusing on early infancy- University Master, I Level, for Pedagogical coordinator in services for early infancy; Faculty of Education Sciences in University of Turin and Ciofs-Fap Piemonte Maria Mazzarello.
  • 2009/2010; 20010/2011. Researchand evaluation of educational interventions with adolescents and education methods and interventions for learning difficulties–University Master,I Level, forExpert in education processes in adolescence; Faculty of Education Sciences and SAF Rebaudengo.

4. SCIENTIFIC activity: rESEARCH AREAS

1. Didactic-educational action and learning conditions.

The first general line of enquiry concerns the study of teaching processes that are more appropriate for encouraging learning and the personal growth of students, from state school level to that of higher and university education, with particular attention focused on the methodological and strategic aspect of classroom didactics and the contribution which the most recent and innovative didactic models can offer relative to the range of professional instruments available to teachers. Two research areas have been developed.

The first area of research concentrated on contributions to didactics made by learning theories, with particular reference to those that are cognitive in character. Various themes have been tackled (cognitive education and critical education; university didactics and development of study abilities; prospects and problems related to the use of knowledge representation instrumentsin teaching; cognitive and meta-cognitive processes and evaluation; didactics and cognitive empowerment programmes, includingmultimedia modalities). Scientific production includes critical summaries and essays, research work of an empirical character, refinement (in collaboration with Paola Ricchiardi) of validated education materials aimed at students (experimented and used in an academic environment at the University of Turin and in other Italian universities) and teachers. In the latter case this has been in online modality (on-line education modules, Fondazione per la Scuola della Compagnia di S. Paolo and ANSAS, currently being implemented).

A further, more recent, line of work, which has generated two volumes (one of which is currently being printed) andvarious articles and essays, has concerned the ‘by competences’didactic approach: the analysis concentrated in particular on basics and on the practicability of teaching that focuses on competence within the context of the state school system, with the aim of identifying elements for the definition of a didactic model in support of operational decisions made by teachers. Within the context of the PRIN 2008-2010,on the subject of Intercultural competences: theoretic models and educational methodologies (national coordination byProf.ssa Milena Santerini), as part of the activity of the unit in the University of Turin (local coordination by Prof. Mario Castoldi), Daniela Maccario focused on studying the impact on didactic practices of a planning approach centred on the construct of competence in the basic school (research currently being published). At the request of SIPem (Italian Medical Pedagogy Society), the subject of planning by competences has been thefocus of analysis, including with reference to education in the medical area (university didactics and professional training).

2. Didactics contexts

A second area of enquiry, organised in three directions, seeks to explore the nature and structure of didactic-educational action relative to the differentiation of contexts in which the same is realised.

A first line of exploration, closely connected with her commitment as teacher of Extra-scholastic Didactics in the Degree Course in Education Sciences, concerns Didactics as pedagogical knowledge in support of the professionalism of educators who work in social services. Starting with an initial recognition of a general character, the results have been published in a manual type volume; the analysis has gradually concentrated on elements that distinguish and define the specificity of the intervention of professional educators. In this regard, Daniela Maccario has organised and prepared a collection of essays and coordinated research in the field whose first results have been published in a volume of collected items.

Analysis of education for/with the media, with specific reference to schools, began with participation in the monitoring project, concerning the impact of the television programme produced by Rai 3,Melevisione, run by the department of Education Sciences ofTurin (coordination by Prof. Coggi). The results of three research works focusing on studying the education potential of the programme on knowledge processes in children of primary school age were published in the volumes that contain the overall results of the project. Interest in research initially developed as a result of involvement in the Teleintendoproject (as part of the convention between the Piedmont network of schools of the same name and Rai) within the context of which Daniela Maccario carried out research on education via television images in state schools, published in a collected volume; and more recently, with participation in the exploration of the curriculum First steps in media education,coordinated by MED-Media Education (Italian association for media education).

University didactics has represented a field of specific exploration within the context of research carried out by theTurin unit relative to PRIN 2002-2004 on the subject ofThe evaluation of university didactics(local coordination by Prof. Cristina Coggi; national coordination by Prof. Raffaella Semeraro) and as part of the international symposium forming part of REF 2007 (Réseau d'Éducation Francophone). Daniela Maccario carried out a surveywhich involved teachers of various degree courses in the faculty of Education Sciences in Turin. The results of the same were presented and discussed in various contributions and articles. They were also published in foreign language versions by national and international editors.

3. Research approaches and strategies in the didactic field.

With the adhesion of APRED, the national study group dedicated to the analysis of educational practices (operating inside SIPED-Italian society for pedagogic research) and participation in national research regarding the role ofStudies Supervisor – still ongoing – promoted by the same (coordination byProf. Elio Damiano-University of Parma and Prof. Cosimo Laneve – University of Bari), Daniela Maccario undertook the study, in theoretic and application terms, regarding the potentiality of researchapproaches and strategies that primarily focus on didactic-educational action. She explored, in an article relative to the same, the subject of participatory research and intervened, within the context of research conventions in the education field, relative to the contributions that approaches based on the analysis of practices can offer research-development in the didactic field.

5. MAIN CONTRIBUTIONS IN CONVENTIONS AND SEMINARS

  1. International symposium,REFX congress(Reseau francophone derecherche en éducation et formation), Sherbrooke (Canada), 9-10 October 2007):L’évaluationde l’enseignement par les étudiants dans le supérieur: approches critiques et pratiques innovantes. Contribution des étudiants à l’évaluation de la didactique universitaire: une réduction a de plus justes proportions.
  1. FIDAENational convention, Rome, 10-11 April 2008. The competence paradigm is changing schools.
  1. A.I.V. National convention (Italian Evaluation Association), Naples, 28-30 April 2008. Research methods for the evaluation of university didactics.
  1. DI.FI.MA. National convention (Didactics of physics and mathematics), the workshop in physics and mathematics, Turin 7-9November 2009. Teaching competences with workshops.
  1. APRED-SIPED International convention (Analysis of Education Practices – Italian Pedagogy Society). Analysis of education practices. Comparative research models, Bari, University of Studies, 29-30 April 2010. Analysis of teaching practices and construction of didactic models. Validation of Teleintendo model.
  1. SIRD Convention (Italian Didactics Research Society). Ten years of education research in Italy. Historic analysis, didactics innovation, institutional comparisons, Rome, 24-25 February 2010. What does the educator do when he educates? Contexts and forms of education action within an extra-scholastic context.
  1. SIPeM XV Congress (Italian Medical Pedagogy Society). Innovating treatment education.

Strategies, instruments, prospects, Turin, 26-29 may. Plan for competences.

  1. Intervention in the international convention: The future of pedagogic research and its evaluation: Journals promoted by the University of Studies of Macerata, Faculty of Education Sciences, Macerata, 23-25 March. Title: Elaboration of didactic-educational models and prototypes as the task of pedagogical research; operational problems and prospects.

9. Seminar MIUR-Ministry of University and Scientific Research, by the European Community - Education and culturesection(Erasmus permanent learning programme), CRUI - Conference of Italian University Rectors, University of Pisa, ‘A learner-centred approach’: putting learning at the centre of the system, Pisa 13 May 2011. The role of didactics. Coordination of group work:Didactics applications.

10. APRED-SIPED national studies convention (Analysis of Education Practices – Italian Pedagogy Society). The analysis of didactic practices in Italy. Palermo, University of Studies, 4-5 November 2011. Title: The analysis of education practices in social services.