Genesi e sviluppo della ricerca empirico-sperimentale in educazione

[Autom. eng. transl.] The chapter reconstructs the genesis and development of empirical-experimental research in education, framing it in the light of the intertwining of cultural and scientific, but also socio-economic and political factors, which explain its origins and evolutionary dynamics, at an international level and in different Villages. The first point briefly describes the contribution of some scholars, movements, orientations prior to the end of the nineteenth century which can be considered, for inspiration and pedagogical-educational intuitions, precursors of this research direction even if not properly corresponding to it. The second point summarizes the main factors that between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century contributed to the emergence of the empirical-experimental approach in educational research in the various countries, for each of which it indicates the most relevant specificities and the most authoritative contributions. . The third point focuses on the development over the decades of the research in question, proposing a periodization in phases each characterized by the convergence and prevalence of cultural, scientific, socio-economic and political aspects which from time to time influence the thought and practice of the research itself. . The fourth point proposes some critical-perspective reflections also in the light of the main current problematic issues of empirical-experimental research in education.