Addizionario: in between Cognition and Metacognition, in G. Turrini and F.Bianchi (eds), Hypermedia for education and Research

Metacognitive theory considers learning as the result of the
activation of several conscious processes. Our project aimed to support
reading comprehension and meaningful learning by the use of conceptual
maps and to investigate the processes involved in motivated learning
when the pupil’s attention is turned to learning objectives and suitable
strategies are made explicit and shared.
The project saw a group of children attending year four in an Italian
primary school tackle a scientific subject matter from a multidisciplinary
perspective. Each pupil created an initial conceptual map in pen-andpaper
format and then a final one with Addizionario. Qualitative and
quantitative comparison between the two outputs showed development in
the learning processes, awareness of the logical reasoning used in
creating the map, and ability to self-monitor the progressive mastering of
knowledge. Active re-elaboration of the material helped the children
understand the learning objectives, and find suitable strategies.