Research has shown that educational robotics can be an effective tool to increase students’ acquisition of knowledge in the subjects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and promote, at the same time, a progression in the development of computational thinking (CT) skills in K–12 (kindergarten to 12th grade) education. Within this research field, the present study first sought to assess the effect of a robotics laboratory on the acquisition of CT-related skills in primary school children. The study also aimed to compare the magnitude of the effect of the laboratory across third- and fourth-grade students. For the purpose of the study, a quasi-experimental post-test-only design was adopted, and a group of 51 students, from third- and fourth-grade classrooms, participating in the robotics laboratories, were compared to a control group of 32 students from classrooms of the same grades. A set of Bebras tasks was selected as an overall measure of CT skills and was administered to children in both the intervention and control groups. Overall, the results showed that programming robotics artefacts may exert a positive impact on students’ learning of computational thinking skills. Moreover, the effect of the intervention was found to be greater among third-grade children.

This study investigates the effectiveness of a 6-month parent-mediated early intervention telehealth program for children with an autism spectrum disorder. The participants comprised a total of 27 parents. The findings showed that participation in the program promotes parents’ empowerment and reduce parental stress and a general improvement in the parents’ ability to stimulate children’s learning. Moreover, the study reveals an effect of parents’ age in mediating the relationship among the parents’ ability, stress, and empowerment levels. These results suggest that an early intervention telehealth program may help parents become aware of how to benefit from interactions with their children, promote their empowerment, and reduce parenting stress.

This paper focuses on the use of mobile technologies in relation to the aims of the European Union's Lifelong Learning programme. First, we explain the background to the notion of mobile lifelong learning. We then present a methodological framework to analyse and identify good practices in mobile lifelong learning, based on the outcomes of the MOTILL project (‘Mobile Technologies in Lifelong Learning: Best Practices’). In particular, we give an account of the methodology adopted to carry out meta‐analyses of published literature and accounts of mobile learning experiences. Furthermore, we present the results of an implementation of our Evaluation Grid and the implications arising from it in terms of management, pedagogy, policies and ethical issues. Finally, we discuss lessons learnt and future work.

Oil spill models are used to simulate the evolution of an oil slick that occurs after an accidental ship collision, malfunctioning of oil extraction platforms, or illegal discharges intentionally released by ships into the marine environment. We present an integrated operational oil spill prediction system that improves capacities in preventing and mitigating maritime risks from oil spills. The objective is to provide forecast information about the transport and the fate of a hypothetical oil spill under Nearly-Real Time hydrodynamic conditions in the western and central Mediterranean Sea. This complex forecast system is developed in the framework of the project SOS-Piattaforme & Impatti Off-Shore to the needs of Italian Coast Guard and other institutions, such as the Ministry of the Environment. This service has been operational since July 2020. The innovative aspect of this work is a graphical user interface (the GUI), which allows to select properties, time, and location of a potential oil spill and show the evolution of oil slick concentration and oil fate parameters. This platform represents the first component of a future Decision Support System aimed to identify the risk assessment of oil spills in order to better manage emergencies and minimize economic damages.

Mobile technologies are becoming ubiquitous in education, yet the wider implications of this phenomenon are not well understood. The paper discusses how mobile lifelong learning (mLLL) may be defined, and the challenges of forging a suitable definition in an ever-shifting technological and socio-economic landscape. mLLL appears as a ubiquitous concept that puts together mobile learning, essentially an ensemble of didactic practices based on the use of mobile technologies, and lifelong learning, a general vision of education in the knowledge society. Starting from the results of an EU-funded project, MOTILL, the paper situates mLLL within the more complex framework of the network society. This illuminates the difficulties in formulating a comprehensive definition, but also the relevance of this concept in the future of learning. We conclude that the future of mLLL can be understood only as a 360 degree vision that is able to take into account a range of pedagogical, managerial, political and ethical issues.

In recent years, educational researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in new technologies for teaching and learning, including augmented reality (AR). The literature has already highlighted the benefit of AR in enhancing learners’ outcomes in natural sciences, with a limited number of studies exploring the support of AR in social sciences. Specifically, there have been a number of systematic and scoping reviews in the AR field, but no peer-reviewed review studies on the contribution of AR within interventions aimed at teaching or training behavioral skills have been published to date. In addition, most AR research focuses on technological or development issues. However, limited studies have explored how technology affects social experiences and, in particular, the impact of using AR on social behavior. To address these research gaps, a scoping review was conducted to identify and analyze studies on the use of AR within interventions to teach behavioral skills. These studies were conducted across several intervention settings. In addition to this research question, the review reports an investigation of the literature regarding the impact of AR technology on social behavior. The state of the art of AR solutions designed for interventions in behavioral teaching and learning is presented, with an emphasis on educational and clinical settings. Moreover, some relevant dimensions of the impact of AR on social behavior are discussed in more detail. Limitations of the reviewed AR solutions and implications for future research and development efforts are finally discussed.