The Future of Education

In recent years the international literature has increasingly highlighted the importance of Executive Functions, Stuss, D. T., & Alexander, M. P. [200]1, in cognitive development and, consequently, in school curricular learning, deeming them even as better predictors of school success than the classic

IQ parameter , Blair, [2002]²; Blair C.& Razza R.A, [2007]³; Espy et al., [2004]⁴; Sun et al., [2011]⁵;

Reiter et al, [2005]⁶; Anderson et al., [2010]⁷. In the intervention protocol of the model of ‘Integrated Learning’ the activities for the organization of reading, calculation, writing skills are synergistically integrated in the curricular activity for the entire school year. Our activities were aimed to stimulate and strengthen the processes (working memory, starting, attentional support flexibility) that support theseskills. ‘Integrated Learning’ has shown to be a teaching method able both to promote and strengthen

the learning of basic skills and to implement an active inclusive educational teaching and learning activity, which responds to the needs of all pupils in an effective and flexible way. Groups were evaluated (68 subjects attending the first grade of primary school divided into: 2 sample classes: 18 females, 15 males; 2 experimental classes: 17 females, 18 males) in learning basic skills and in some

attentive-executive functions before and after the curricular activities we proposed (Integrated Learning). We found statistically significant results in writing and reading abilities, mental arithmetic and figural fluency (this last one has been useful to demonstrate an improved development of

attentive-executive functions).