The MIUR* official experimentation of Knowledge Master in schools

The effects of using a concept maps based vanguard technology at school: empowering learning even with disabilities

Online course: Educational innovation for the different learning styles (dyslexia, ADD, autism, etc.)
The MIUR (Ministry of Education and Research) to verify in practice the results of using Knowledge Master software in learning, the last school year promoted and patronized its experimentation in some schools in Rome, with students of different ages.

Besides the 143rd Educational Circle of Rome, a class of the “Leonardo Da Vinci” High School also participated in this experimentation with students with learning disabilities, to audit/proof/check the impact of this technology in education on several subjects and also with students "with limitations". This experimentation, that lasted seven months, was made in "extreme" circumstances, for the selected classes were, from the primary school, a 1st, a 3rd and a 5th grades, and some high school disabled students (in this specific case with mild mental retardation). To facilitate experimentation and to offer a qualitative comparison term, contextually with the Knowledge Master software installations, a set of about 350 conceptual knowledge bases produced by Knowledge Master Corp (a cognitive publishing and distance training for teachers company) was also installed; this covers most of the contents of main subjects of the primary school (history, geography, science, Italian language and partly math).   In all cases the results were excellent even though in the 1st. year class experimentation it was very important to have the active presence of the teacher that in her final report has indicated as decisive the cognitive use of multimodal resources (the cognitive use of voice, the completeness of the maps supplied (“... that enable an immediate exploration of the subject"), the role of semantic paths and the interaction with the map in general.

The resources of this technology, that all teachers have appreciated during experimentation, are: semantic paths; automatic assessment questions; multimodal support (the voice as a support to interaction with the represented knowledge); the completeness of contents (including the presence of images and animations) of the maps supplied by Knowledge Master Corp; the possibility of constructing their own maps; the possibility of comparing the students maps with the supplied maps, ready made; the cognitive value semantic structures construction by students.

Regarding the disabled students, in the more complex case (because of his specific lack of autonomy) the assistance of the professor has been decisive, even though - in both cases - using this technology has enabled the professor "to follow the students' mental processes and to identify their strength and weakness points..." enabling the professor to intervene with eventual explanations and corrections.  “For the students, using Knowledge Master... has revealed itself to be much more stimulating and motivating than the usual resources (paper and pencil), enabling its use for longer time, without suffering the frustration of failure"... "Specially appreciated: the active voice". An interesting conclusion, to which all involved teachers arrived unanimously, was recommending to "start using this technology at the earliest possible age".

It is fair to emphasize that the Knowledge Master research and development group is the only one in the world that carries out applied research in this sector, translating the theoretical results of cognitive psychology into tangible, enjoyable and useful computer applications: knowledge management applied to learning. The result of this experimentation is not only a success for a research team, for a company or for the Italian Ministry of Education, but for the Italian and European learning technologies as well, that in this case reveal themselves as the most useful and effective. We want to signal/distinguish the personal concern and dedication of the group of teachers involved in this experimentation (Paola Bodo, Antonella Di Giuseppe, Adriana Pirrò e Fabrizia Liberati) that committed to enhance their professional background and for using at best this opportunity to open up to the use of cutting edge technology, an attitude that enabled a particularly prolific experimentation. Indeed, this service and dedication spirit has lead to an original use of technology, specifically with the students with intellective deficit, (beside its use with dyslexics and ADDs) achieving encouraging results. We'd like to specially thank and recognize the Dr. Letizia Melina and Prof. Francesca Burgos of the MIUR Informative Systems General Direction 5th Department, for their readiness and demonstrated professionalism in helping us in the definition and organization of our collaboration with schools. The attained results, in our opinion, evidence the positive role that Knowledge Master can have, be its as special needs educational resource, be it as a knowledge / multimedia technology to facilitate learning even from the first grades of the primary school, attaining a qualitative effective improvement since the primary school. *MIUR: Ministry of Education, Universities and Research

:: Learning disabilities :: Introduction: Learning disabilities Dyslexia Attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADD-H) :: Insight :: Learning and dyslexia