Spatial microsimulation encompasses a range of alternative methodological approaches for the small area estimation (SAE) of target population parameters from sample survey data down to target small areas in contexts where such data are desired but not otherwise available. Although widely used, an enduring limitation of spatial microsimulation SAE…

Small area estimation (SAE) plays a crucial role in the social sciences due to the growing need for reliable and accurate estimates for small domains. In the study of well-being, for example, policy makers need detailed information about the geographical distribution of a range of social indicators. We investigate data dimensionality reduction…

This paper describes an educational experience realized in the form of extracurricular workshops involving music technology students of the "V. Gambara" music high school in Brescia (Italy). By means of a participatory prototyping experience, the project aimed at fostering the students awareness and understanding of technological means…

Computational thinking (CT) is seen as a key competence of the 21st century and different countries have started to integrate it into their compulsory school curricula. However, few indications exist on how to assess CT in compulsory school. This review analyses what tools are used to assess CT in European schools and which dimensions are…

Humans and other animals are able to make rough estimations of quantities using what has been termed the "approximate number system" (ANS). Much evidence suggests that sensitivity to numerosity correlates with symbolic math capacity, leading to the suggestion that the ANS may serve as a start-up tool to develop symbolic math. Many…

The Bebras challenge offers pupils and teachers an engaging opportunity to discover informatics, by solving small tasks that aim at promoting computational thinking. Explanations and comments that reveal the computing concepts underlying the tasks are published after the contest, and teachers are encouraged to use this material in their school…

This article presents a computational approach to examining immigrant incorporation through shifts in the social "mainstream." Analyzing a historical corpus of American etiquette books, texts from 1922-2017 describing social norms, we identify mainstream shifts related to long-standing groups which once were and may currently still be…

When a person with intellectual disabilities has communication and fine motor impairments, multiple choice tests (MCTs) are useful if they are designed to allow some corrections and to measure the reliability of the answers. Here that evaluation method was applied to a home-based mathematical program, developed with a nonverbal adult with Autism…

Numerous studies have investigated economies of scale and scope in higher education as a means of providing public and private providers of college and university teaching, research and other services and their stakeholders with knowledge of the cost structures that underpin provision in this economically and socially important sector. However,…

Difficulties in mathematics have been described in very preterm children, but their origins are not well understood and may differ from other populations with specific learning disability. Very preterm children, children with learning disability, and typically developing children were compared in mathematics skills, using standardized tools,…

IEA's International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) 2018 is designed to assess how well students are prepared for study, work, and life in a digital world. The study measures international differences in students' computer and information literacy (CIL): their ability to use computers to investigate, create, participate, and…

We are concerned with the unbiased estimation of a treatment effect in the context of non-experimental studies with grouped or multilevel data. When analyzing such data with this goal, practitioners typically include as many predictors (controls) as possible, in an attempt to satisfy ignorability of the treatment assignment. In the multilevel…

Many poverty measures are estimated by using sample data collected from social surveys. Two examples are the poverty gap and the poverty severity indices. A novel method for the estimation of these poverty indicators is described. Social surveys usually contain different variables, some of which can be used to improve the estimation of poverty…

The Computational Thinking recently has been recognised as one of the basic knowledge to be developed since childhood. Coding and computers are not just programming, but tools that help students to develop problem solving skills and more deep understand of the way things work. For these reasons, great attention has been focused on this topic both…

Although there is no universal agreement that students should learn programming, many countries have reached a consensus on the need to expose K-12 students to Computational Thinking (CT). When, what and how to teach CT in schools are open questions and we attempt to address them by examining how well students around the world solved problems in…