The use of concept maps as an assessment tool in students' risk education about occupational safety and health.

Given the relevance of students' risk education about occupational safety and health (OSH), the need for reliable assessment tools for learning evaluation is widely advocated. However, multiple-choice tests or inventories show several limitations, including the emphasis on basic definitions instead of organized conceptual systems and passive information transfer. Instead, concept maps may represent a non-traditional evaluation tool to inspect how students actively organize and represent the acquired knowledge in line with the theory of meaningful learning. A concept map specifically developed in the field of risk education and its quantitative scoring protocol are here proposed. Then, a case study with a pre- post-test design is presented, including 611 upper school students who undertook an OSH-related risk educational course. The findings are briefly discussed and help identify the possible information we can get from concept maps in terms of problem-based learning.

Information specialists and researchers working together for health promotion: Benefits from school-work educational programmes at the National Institute of Health in Italy.

In 2015, the Italian Ministry of Education in Italy launched innovative upper school educational programmes envisaging school-work initiatives. In this framework, the National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, ISS) was among the first scientific institutions to develop educational programmes with school. Involving school students in health research activities allowed health literacy improvement, acquisition of scientific communication skills and fostered student interest in science careers. This article focuses on how health literacy and health promotion can be taught to school students through taking part in this programme. It is a multi-disciplinary collaboration among different stakeholders-ISS tutors (researchers, information and communication experts), teachers and students. This collaborative initiative is a good example of 'teaching and learning' in action since all stakeholders could benefit from cross-fertilisation in an informal educational context.

Gender issues on occupational safety and health.

The increasing proportion of women in the workforce raises a range of gender-related questions about the different effects of work-related risks on men and women. Few studies have characterized gender differences across occupations and industries, although at this time, the gender sensitive approach is starting to acquire relevance in the field of human preventive medicine. The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has encouraged a policy of gender equality in all European member states. Italy has adopted European provisions with new specific legislation that integrates the previous laws and introduces the gender differences into the workplace. Despite the fact that gender equal legislation opportunities have been enacted in Italy, their application is delayed by some difficulties. This review examines some of these critical aspects.