Microsoft Word 1-Experimental Analysis on the Development of Cognitive Processes in Childhood through Body Experience

Research Methodology 
Research Goal and Assumption 
In consideration of the scientific evidence described above, as regards the importance assumed by 
experiential and meaningful activities (which presuppose a complete involvement of corporeity) in the learning 
and strengthening of the mnemonic and linguistic faculties, the goal of this contribution is to trace a 

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COGNITIVE PROCESSES IN CHILDHOOD THROUGH BODY EXPERIENCE 
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deconstructing scientifically based didactic approach, taking into account the developmental stages of the 
memory and linguistic process, as well as the neural mechanisms involved in it. In these terms, and with the 
aim of achieving scientific support for the benefit produced by the unstructured approach, the assumption 
underlying this research was developed, assuming that such educational plans can favor the development and 
strengthening of cognitive skills, to a greater extent than the effect deriving from classic (formal) or Montessori 
didactics, with reference to memory and language in pre-school children. 
Experimenting Conditions 
As an experimental condition of unstructured didactics, this research has employed museum didactics for 
its informal learning characteristics of topics related to notions of science, technology, art, botany, nutrition, and 
sustainability, experimented through playful activities. In a document, promoted by the National Science 
Council, the US Scientific Academies propose strands of science learning, i.e., six aspects of learning related to 
what learners, especially those still at school, can acquire or develop from the point of view of cognitive, social, 
and emotional development in museum settings. In particular, they can: 
(1) Experience excitement, interest, and motivation to learn about phenomena in the natural and physical 
world;
(2) Come to generate, understand, remember, and use concepts, explanations, arguments, models, and facts 
related to science;
(3) Manipulate, test, explore, predict, question, observe, and make sense of the natural and physical world;
(4) Reflect on science as a way of knowing; on processes, concepts, and institutions of science; and on 
their own process of learning about phenomena;
(5) Participate in scientific activities and learning practices with others, using scientific language and 
tools; 
(6) Think about themselves as science learners and develop an identity as someone who knows about, uses, 
and sometimes contributes to science. 
Pellerey (2006), starting from activist theories, prefigures a didactics carried out outside of the classrooms, 
but connected as a practical-behavioral application of the relational and mental skill already shaped in the child, 
subdivided into many special skills that range from an intellectual comprehension of the facts (of a work, of an 
object or of a machine, as of an experimental phenomenon), to
the ability to know how to practice the same things that are shown and learned in a museum (...). This provision is the 
ability to acquire skills that are themselves specialized behaviors, in a very broad sense of the term. (Pellerey, 2006, p. 14)
Braund and Reiss (2006) argue that initiatives and activities carried out by schools in informal contexts, 
following museum or laboratory experiences, can complete the formal technical-scientific teaching activity and 
face the vocational crisis spreading in the sector, with appropriate teaching strategies, and a more motivating 
and engaging curriculum choice. An interpretative key to their assumption is the authenticity. The structure 
identified ad hoc for this phase was Explora, the Children’s Museum of Rome; in particular, for the purposes of 
the research, six laboratory paths were selected, referring to the theme of colors, digital, science, senses, 
environment, and nutrition: