1. EDUCATION
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1992. Degree in Pedagogy, at the University of Turin, 3/7/1992 (First Class Honours).
1997. Research Doctorate in Pedagogy at Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of 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
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2002/2003 to date: Course of Extra-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 Educator Interfaculty
Degree Course.
2008/09 to date: Course in General didactics - Faculty of Education Sciences at the
University of Studies of Turin, Primary Education Sciences Degree Course.
Other Teaching
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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) of Turin.
2010/11. Plan for competences didactic module – Degree Course in Nursing Sciences at the
S. Luigi Gonzaga Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of Turin.
Lecturer in University Master Courses
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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.
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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 CiofsFap Piemonte Maria Mazzarello.
2009/2010; 20010/2011. Research and evaluation of educational interventions with
adolescents and education methods and interventions for learning difficulties – University
Master, I Level, for Expert 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
instruments in teaching; cognitive and meta-cognitive processes and evaluation; didactics and
cognitive empowerment programmes, including multimedia 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) and various 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 by Prof.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 the focus 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 Extrascholastic 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 of Turin
(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 Teleintendo project (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 the Turin unit relative to PRIN 2002-2004 on the subject of The
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 survey
which 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 of Studies Supervisor – still ongoing –
promoted by the same (coordination by Prof. 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 research approaches 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, REF X congress (Reseau francophone de recherche en
éducation et formation), Sherbrooke (Canada), 9-10 October 2007): L’évaluation de
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.
2. FIDAE National convention, Rome, 10-11 April 2008. The competence paradigm is
changing schools.
3. A.I.V. National convention (Italian Evaluation Association), Naples, 28-30 April 2008.
Research methods for the evaluation of university didactics.
4. DI.FI.MA. National convention (Didactics of physics and mathematics), the workshop in
physics and mathematics, Turin 7-9 November 2009. Teaching competences with
workshops.
5.
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.
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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.
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SIPeM XV Congress (Italian Medical Pedagogy Society). Innovating treatment education.
Strategies, instruments, prospects, Turin, 26-29 may. Plan for competences.
8.
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 culture section (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.