The Two Points Of Research: The Listening and The Laboratory

1. 6th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies Barcelona - 7th - 9th of July 2014 “EDUCATION TO LISTENING” LABORATORIES: EXPERIENCES OF REFLECTIVE LABORATORIES IN UNIVERSITY CURRICULA Romano Alessandra, Strollo Maria Rosaria, GalanteBruno University of Naples "Federico II" (ITALY)

2. The Two Points Of Research: The Listening and The Laboratory • This paper presents an action-research which has been carried out within the framework of the University Laboratory of Education to listening, founded some years ago by the research group of the Laboratory of Epistemologies and Educational Practices of the Department of Humanities at University of Naples “Federico II”. • The Laboratory of Education to listening involves undergraduate students in structured pathways: they are future psychologists who attend the academic course of Social Pedagogy.

3. PedagogicalInnovations • Within formal educational settings, in university classroom, undergraduate students had the possibility to experience the connections between music, body, attention to the others, empathy, silence and sounds. • They could develop skills to meaningful listening, creativeness and critical thinking, and could gain awareness of themselves and of their perspectives of meaning. • The whole experience could be an experience of transformative learning

4. The methodologies are exercises of attention to themselves and the others, exercises of imagination and of mindfulness, exercises for hand writing mechanism, sound dramatization, musical autobiography, hypertexts, methodologies of the Theatre of the Oppressed

5. The proposed laboratory was marked on concrete actions that activate ways of thinking, vision of things, real habits. • In this experience, laboratory is a "space" in which, through the use of sound, voice and music, reflective situations are provoked and generated. • Everyone works in the dimension of "here and now", generated by possible new meaning horizons, and possible changes and enrichment of their ways of acting and thinking lie ahead.

6. The workshop was organized on a weekly meeting for the two groups of participants. The role of the conductors was to propose a series of concrete actions and to leave that "to collaborate " jointly defined the learning situation through the plurality of voices of individual participants and the enhancement and the appreciation of sounds.

7. Numerous exercises were proposed for students during the workshops. They are inspired by musical improvisation, music creation, and re-creation and listening.Exercises were calibrated from time to time to enhance and to emphasize what emerged during the previous meetings. Laboratory purpose was listening, and so it was essential to provide that each exercise require the bringing into play of an attitude and of a willingness in which specific cognitive skills were joint to ability of negotiating.

8. The Laboratory Evaluation and the Test-RetestQuestionnaire

9. The Laboratory Evaluation and the Test-RetestQuestionnaire • This questionnaire was also administered at the end of the Laboratory course, during the last workshop, in order to verify any changes regarding to two essential points of the route: • A) what are the components of a laboratory • B) the definition of listening

10. The Laboratory Evaluation and the Test-RetestQuestionnaire • The reading of the questionnaires was made on the basis of the following aspects, which derived from the new National Guidance Guidelines (November, 2013) : • 1. KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT • 2. SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT • 3. CRITICAL ABILITY • 4. RELATIONSHIPS DEVELOPMENT • 5. SATISFACTION INDEX

11. We administered 40 pre-test questionnaires and 40 post-test questionnaires.

16. Researchresults • Students’ motivation to take part into Laboratory experience were originally “Interests and curiosity”, what they had heard from their colleagues of the previous Laboratory, and the desire to experiment alternative didactics and to do something which could be useful for their future profession. • At the end of the Laboratory course, the majority of participants answer that the level of satisfaction for the Laboratory is very relevant. No one believes that Laboratory of Education to Listening was not relevant or important for him/her.

17. Researchresults • At the beginning of the Laboratory, students’ expectations were to learn at first, to know new educational instrument, to experiment music-therapy activities, and to learn education to listening. All of these expectations are realized according to the answers of the post-test questionnaire. • Another important expectation people had and still have was to be part of a group and to work practically and in group: the group setting was preserved from the beginning to the end of the Laboratory, and created a space to share emotions, to develop a net of relationships, to get involved and to be aware of the occurring processes, beyond students’ initial expectations.

18. Researchresults • People still believe that these are Laboratory components at the end of the “journey”, but they also add the characteristics of the connections between body and mind, of metacognition and of being part of a net of relationships, where it’s possible to develop collaboration and ability to compare each other. • Regarding the definition of Listening, students said that Listening was ability to go beyond simple “hearing”, and listening to themselves, listening to the others, without any pre-conception, creating a space for the others. • .

19. Researchresults • .

20. Space and time are invested in a less hurried way and filled with not yet explored meanings. Smells, sounds constituent elements of the environment, images, all are organized in a variety of codes that exceed what is the "mainstream" and coded social explanations. • Writing is an expression of spontaneous movement. All this obviously requires energy. The laboratory shows that “it exists something as a value-oriented thinking (caring) and that it is the third prerequisite of a higher-order thinking”

21. Teachers and students have the possibility to manage the opportunities for communication and interaction of the laboratory. That means: - it’s necessary an attention to listen to themselves - it’s necessary an attention to listen to others

23. The Exercises Contribution: • Through laboratory exercises, students acquire a practice that gradually leads to an experienced firsthand awareness of listening. From the psychogenic point of view, exercises stimulated and increased levels of awareness.

24. Thanks for yourattention!!!!! For anyquestion, youmaywrite to : strollo@unina.it alessandra.romano2@unina.it galante.galante21@gmail.com