Hard Skills, Physical Activities and Spaced Learning

International documents and regulations highlight the fundamental right of persons with disabilities to participate in quality, adapted, safe, and inclusive physical education and sports activities; to lead healthy lifestyles, and to develop authentic and participatory rela- tionships. Scientific literature (Gomez Paloma et al., 2017; Palumbo, Valentini & Marinelli, 2021) underlines how sports practice builds the positive concept of corporeality, especially in people with disabilities, since through movement and its free expression, the student finds himself, stimulates creativity and overcomes psychophysical blocks. Research (Kudlacek, 2013; Magnanini, 2021) underlines how the importance of physical and sporting activity, carried out regularly and constantly, is a very important tool in maintaining a state of well- being and psychophysical health for all students (Poitrait et al., 2016), especially for children and adolescents with disabilities (Battaglia et al., 2019). Recent international surveys show that the proportion of students with low skills in reading comprehension, mathematics, and science is increasing in Italy (OECD /PISA, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development / Programme for International Student Assessment, 2018, 2022; IEA / TIMSS, International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement / Trends in Interna- tional Mathematics and Science Study, 2019, 2023). The studies also analyzed the measures taken by the educational authorities of European countries to strengthen the motivation of students and raise the level of their achievements, with a focus on support measures aimed at those with poor results, through the analysis of the organization of teaching, of the eva- luation and the general context of education. The conclusions highlight the importance of allocating sufficient teaching time and innovative and/or alternative strategies, providing timely teaching support, ensuring the training of specialized teachers, and systematically monitoring students’ achievements. The relevance of adequate development and mastery in students of linguistic, mathematical, and scientific skills, was affirmed in the Recom- mendation of the Council of the European Union (2006, 2018). The results showed that the problem of attributing meanings and meaning to the texts read becomes more relevant with the increase of their complexity, with the diversification of metacognitive strategies, and with the unfolding of motivational factors (engagement). The AMIS project (Apprendimenti in Movimento per l’Inclusione a Scuola, therefore Learning in Motion for Inclusion at School, LMIS) aims to verify the implications of research results on Spaced Learning in the linguistic, mathematical, and scientific areas, implemen- ting and optimizing the teaching methodology even with students in difficulty and/or with disabilities. Spaced learning is a teaching methodology whose peculiarity is the articulation of lesson time, which maximizes students’ concentration and memorization. Kelley & Watson (2013) developed this technique to test whether it was possible to encode complex information in long-term memory (LTM) in students, using repeated stimuli in a very short time scale. Spaced learning conceives the lesson as an alternative situation that makes the student participate and aware. The teacher can use Spaced Learning to introduce a new topic, for reinforcement activities in anticipation of the tests, to lighten a lesson that is too long or difficult, and to facilitate the acquisition of content in students with difficulty. Throughout the lesson, stimuli (inputs) are highly concentrated periods of instruction while space is created through 10-minute distraction activities (intervals). Research results show that learning in an hour of instruction/lesson is significantly higher for interval learning groups. Motor activity favors spaced learning because it stimulates consolidating knowledge and information in students, through meaningful interactions between mind and body. Against this background, the research intends to study the relationship between reading literacy, mathematical literacy, science literacy (hard skills), and the development of motor skills (physical literacy), with a focus on learning processes interspersed with motor exer- cises as provided by the Spaced Learning model. It was decided to use a two-year program of activities focused on Spaced Learning and a periodic verification tool; both will be inten- tionally prepared by the research team. The training program will be developed through an action-research, observing a continuous cycle of diagnosis, planning, action-execution, investigation, and evaluation (re-application, review, balance). The validation of the training course will be carried out with two experimental designs: a) with two groups (experimen- tal and control); b) with a single recurring group with an interrupted time series (almost experimental plan). Games and motor exercises, and physical activity in general, serve to distract the student while learning by reducing his mnemonic and conceptual effort and his concentration, allowing him to learn in a serene, relaxed, and effective way. We predicted that at the end of the experimental action, the positive performance in the sample group would significantly increase in text comprehension, grammar, calculation, and numbering, units of measurement, geometry, concepts, and scientific experiments. Reading and com- prehension activities of the text, grammar, solving mathematical problems, and scientific conceptualizations interspersed with motor exercises will be prepared. Physical settings of 10 minutes will be set up during which students will intersperse the lesson with motor activities and interactive games. The training program will be realized over two years and will be divided into seven steps: awareness of the problem and teacher training; definition of assessment criteria and construction of observation instruments; activity planning; base- line detection; experimentation on the sample of activities; final trend analysis; reflective sharing and dissemination of the results. The sample will be composed of 70 primary school classes, 1,400 pupils aged between 8 and 11 years. The actions that will be implemented are a prerequisite for improving the quality and inclusiveness of education and training systems, improving education outcomes, achieving the goals and targets of the European Education Area, as well as driving sustainable growth, improving well-being and building a more inclusive society.