Effect of the parental involvement style perceived by elementary school students at home on Language and Mathematics performance in chilean schools

The present study intends to measure the effect of the parental involvement style perceived by fourth-grade students on their Language and Mathematics performance. It uses data taken from a sample of 55,401 students evaluated by the National Education Quality Measurement System [Sistema Nacional de Medición de la Calidad de la Educación, SIMCE]. The results show that the nourishing parental involvement style, and not only household income and the parents’ years of schooling, are associated with and significantly predict higher scores on the Language and Mathematics tests. This finding is relevant inasmuch as it provides operational information regarding parental involvement styles, which opens up more possibilities for psychoeducational intervention by the school.     

Interdisciplinary Research: A Promising Approach to Investigate Elite Performance in Sports

While the call for interdisciplinary studies has been loud and clear over the last decade or so, the number of interdisciplinary publications in sport sciences is rather limited. One of the reasons for this scarcity is the complexity of the research process itself. Still, the combination and integration of information from different scientific disciplines seems to be important to better explain how elite performance comes about. In this article, we focus on this issue and discuss the advantages of interdisciplinary research for understanding how elite athletes are able to achieve such high-proficiency levels. The first section provides an overview of the studies that investigated elite performance in sports. In the second section, we focus on the issue of interdisciplinarity and illustrate how the ecological–dynamical approach and the concept of dimensional reduction can be used to explain how elite performers cope with the complex nature of sport skills. In the last section, we present a research outline and some practical considerations that can be helpful for researchers who aim to study sport skills from an interdisciplinary perspective.     

Negative priming and occasion setting in an appetitive Pavlovian procedure

Rats received training in which two auditory target stimuli, X and Y, were signaled by two visual stimuli, A and B, and followed by food (i.e., A-->X+, B-->Y+). The test consisted of presentations of X and Y preceded either by the same signal as during training (same trials: A-->X, B-->Y) or by the alternative signal (different trials: A-->Y, B-->X). After 8 training sessions, the animals responded less on same trials than on different trials; this effect was significantly reduced after 24 training sessions. In two additional experiments, animals that had also experienced presentations of A and B alone, either before or during training, showed the opposite pattern of results, responding more on same trials than on different trials. These results are interpreted as being due to the interaction between the effects of occasion setting and negative priming (see Wagner, 1981).     

Mathematics Learning Development: the Role of Long-Term Retrieval

This study assessed the relation between long-term memory retrieval and mathematics calculation and mathematics problem solving achievement among elementary, middle, and high school students in nationally representative sample of US students, when controlling for fluid and crystallized intelligence, short-term memory, and processing speed. As hypothesized, structural equation modeling comparing elementary school students and middle and high school students revealed that long-term retrieval skills became a better predictor of both mathematics calculation and mathematics problem solving as age and grade increased. Future research should focus on the effectiveness of interventions to improve long-term retrieval skills in general, and arithmetic facts retrieval and problem solving procedures in particular, at all grades, including high school.     

Construction and validation of a questionnaire to study future teachers' beliefs about cultural diversity

The article presents the construction and validation process of a questionnaire designed to study student teachers' beliefs about cultural diversity. The study, beyond highlighting the complexity involved in the study of beliefs, emphasises their relevance in implementing inclusive educational processes that guarantee the right to a good education for all. The questionnaire was administered to 1464 students from the different Teacher Education specialties. The results show that the instrument has a satisfactory internal consistency and is structured in seven components that largely correspond to the theoretical proposals used as the basis for constructing the questionnaire. The actions and analyses performed in the process of elaborating this inventory represent an advance compared to other similar studies in this line of research. From a methodological point of view, they provide detailed information about the questionnaire's psychometric characteristics, reliability and validity, with particular emphasis on the empirical data stemming from its application. From a conceptual point of view, the study incorporates beliefs related to different theoretical models of attention to cultural diversity, as well as their possible practical derivations at different levels of specificity.     

Teaching for democracy in Spain

As part of the process of re-establishing democracy, Spain is reforming its educational system to promote democratic values. This article describes an experiment in education for democracy that was carried out among 86 pupils, between 12 and 14 years old, in the Spanish region of Murcia. A teaching programme was developed, in which students were encouraged to study how power is exercised in the home, the school, the community, the nation and the world. Results have been generally positive in arousing pupils' interest in democracy and helping them to understand democratic processes.

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Zusammenfassung Als Teil seiner Maßnahmen zur Wiedereinführung der Demokratie reformiert Spanien sein Bildungssystem, um demokratische Werte zu fördern. In diesem Artikel wird ein mit 86 Schülern zwischen 12 und 14 Jahren in der spanischen Region Murcia durchgeführtes Experiment zum Thema Erziehung zurDemokratie beschrieben. Hierzu wurde ein Lehrprogramm entwickelt, in dem Studenten herausfinden sollten, wie Machtstrukturen in der Familie, der Schule, der Gemeinschaft, der Nation und der Welt funktionieren. Mit einem deutlich gesteigerten Interesse und Verständnis der Schüler für die Demokratie wurden die Resultate allgmein als positiv beurteilt.

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Résumé La réforme du système éducatif espagnol visant à la promotion des valeurs démocratiques s'inscrit dans le processus de rétablissement de la démocratie. Cet article décrit une expérience d'apprentissage de la démocratie réalisée avec 86 élèves de 12 à 14 ans, en Espagne, dans la région de Murcia. Il s'agit d'un programme éducatif incitant les élèves à prendre conscience de l'exercice du pouvoir au foyer, à l'école, dans la communauté, la nation et dans le monde. Les résultats se sont révélés globalement positifs dans la mesure où cette expérience a éveillé l'intérêt des élèves pour la démocratie et les a aidés à comprendre les processus démocratiques.

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Sumario Un aspecto del proceso de restablecimiento de la democracia en España es la reforma del sistema educativo con miras a promover los val ores democráticos. Este artículo describe un experimento de educación para la democracia que se realizó con 86 escolares, de 12 a 14 años de edad, en la provincia española de Murcia. Se elaboró un programa para motivar a los escolares a analizar cómo se ejerce el poder en el hogar, la escuela, la comunidad, la nación y el mundo. Sus resultados han sido generalmente positivos, despertando el interés de los escolares por la democracia y ayudándolos a entender los procesos democráticos.