- physical activity & sport as social phenomena;
- socio-pedagogical determinants in health- and wellness-enhancing pa;
- social impact of physical activity programs in emergency and special conditions;
- the power of sport to promote development and peace:
- implementing physical activity projects in disadvantaged communities;
- enhancing physical activity: towards a social-ecological approach;
- effects of physical activity and exercise on mental health and cognitive processes;
- introduction to psychology and physical activity;
- models of health behaviour change;
- psychosocial determinants of physical activity;
- health psychology and physical activity in elderly populations;
- physical activity and optimal brain functioning;
- social cognitive models of behavioral change;
- biology of growth and development;
- motor behaviour;
- motor development and cognition;
- effective intervention to enhance physical activity in young children and adolescents;
- exercise training in children;
- settings-based promotion of physical activity among children and youth – from evidence to practice;
- physical activity, fitness, and children’s health;
- physical activity, fitness and children’s health: practical applications.
Additional tools: practice in statistics; english academic writing (blended); italian for foreign students (blended).
Teaching and learning methodology
The course, entirely in english, is designed to foster the development of autonomous learning skills, a central objective of the program. It is structured as an intensive course with a condensed blended, in-campus teaching period of 3 weeks, which includes lectures, seminars, practical sessions, and student-led presentations, and condensed e-learning, distance tutoring, and individual study of 4 weeks, including examination.
Traditional face-to-face instruction is supported by online resources available through the foro italico university e-learning platform. These materials—such as selected readings, educational videos, and external references—are not intended to replace classroom teaching, but rather to serve as essential components of the learning process.
They are used to:
- Prepare students for active and engaged participation in face-to-face sessions
- Offer opportunities for further independent study and deeper exploration of key topics
In addition, formative assessment is embedded throughout the course. Activities such as in-class discussions, low-stakes group work, and interactive tools (e.g., clicker questions) are employed to provide ongoing feedback, support understanding, and promote the progressive development of subject-specific skills.
The study program allows the responsible use of artificial intelligence tools: their use for language editing is permitted, while generative use is prohibited. The university’s code of conduct and academic integrity regulations apply.
Learning assessment method
The assessment occurs at the end of the curricular unit (7 weeks), and it is meant to reflect the student’s mastery of the unit content and her/his capability to integrate and apply various knowledge.
The assessment method includes:
– test: up to 10 multiple choice and /or open questions on the entire module program
– individually written short essay on a topic assigned randomly to the student.
The test verifies the knowledge acquired by the student with respect the whole module content throughout the lecture’s attendance and the individual study.
The essay refers to an in-class or a 3-5 pages (1.000 – 1.800 words) manuscript. It must represent in an individual and original way the critical thinking of the student with respect to the chosen topic, demonstrating also the student’s capability to integrate and apply various knowledge. Essay general guidelines are available in the moodle learning platform. Available time: 4 hrs or 24 hrs. (oral defence?)
For both test and essay, the program makes use of the online instruments available in the “foro italico” moodle learning platform.
18 out of 30 points is the minimum threshold for both test and essay. The final mark will result from the following formula:
[(essay’s points x 2.2) + test’s points]/3
Study material
Study material (mainly pdf files of the literature and monography) and virtual rooms for discussions between students and students and staff, is made available on the e-learn platform of foro italico university.
Credits
the programme adopts the european credit transfer system (ects) for the teaching units, with 1 ects = 25 hr student workload. As a rule, 1 contact hr will be held to correspond to ~3 hr of student’s individual work, accounting for intensity of teaching, amount of study materials, essays to write, exams, etc. For the evaluation of academic progress, the ects grading scale will be adopted within the consortium.
Student’s work loads (total 375 hours)
lectures and seminars: 83
practical teaching and online learning: 37
individual study: 229-250
exam: 5-26
Multidisciplinary components
general sociology (sps/07, 4 ects)
Urban and environmental sociology (sps/10, 1 ects)
Developmental and educational psychology (m-psi/04, ects 4)
psychobiology and physiological psychology (m-psi/02, ects1)
Methods and didactics of movement sciences (m-edf/01, ects 5)
foreign language (l-lin/02, ects 0)
