Comprensión de conceptos históricos durante la adolescencia

Resumen

En este articulo se plantea una discusión acerca de la teoria e investigaciones más relevantes sobre el desarrollo de la comprensión de la historia en el niño. Desde una perspectiva piagetiana se estudian los procesos cognitivos involucrados en la realización de tareas históricas. Se exponen los resultados de una investigación sobre 175 niños acerca de la comprensión de conceptos utilizados comúnmente en la enseñanza de la Historia y una segunda investigación sobre 695 niños acerca de la comprensión y uso de la noción de tiempo cronológico. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto la gran dificultad de este tipo de tareas y su evolución con la edad.     

Long-term effects of a mediated reading programme on the development of emotional competencies / Efectos a largo plazo de un programa de lectura mediada para el desarrollo de competencias emocionales

Emotional competencies are considered protective factors against behaviour problems and have been associated with adequate social and academic development. Early intervention means a greater chance of stability and development of these skills; however, few programmes address these aspects and evaluate their effectiveness in the short, middle or long term. Our research goal was to implement an early intervention programme for the development of emotional competencies based on the mediated reading of children’s literature and to evaluate its long-term effectiveness. Participants were 115 children between the ages of five and eight who were divided into two groups. To assess the impact of the programme, a factorial design was implemented with four independent variables. The ‘Mediated reading’ and ‘Traditional reading’ groups were compared on measures of facial emotion recognition, empathy and emotional regulation. Results indicate that the mediated reading group showed the best performance on all the dimensions evaluated, with significant differences from the traditional reading group. The study concludes by analysing the outcomes and limitations of the programme implemented.     

On the Road to Graphicacy: The learning of graphical representation systems

This article examines the learning of different types of graphic information by subjects with different levels of education and knowledge of the content represented. Three levels of graphic information learning were distinguished (explicit, implicit, and conceptual information processing) and two experiments were conducted, looking at graph and geographical map learning. The graph study (Experiment 1) examined the influence of the variables' numerical relationship structure on adolescent students with different levels of education and knowledge of social sciences and also assessed their proportional reasoning skills. The map study (Experiment 2) looked at the learning of a geographical map studied spontaneously by secondary school and university students with different geographical knowledge (experts and novices) and also assessed their spatial skills. The results of both studies show that graph and map learning performance improves with the subjects' educational level. The groups' differential performance varied according to the type of information involved (explicit, implicit, or conceptual). The subjects' knowledge of the domain in question determined the level at which they processed the information. Verbal and superficial processing of graphic information were also found to predominate. This has important educational implications, suggesting the need for differential treatment in teaching different types of information. The results of the study also raise interesting issues regarding the type of expertise involved in learning graphic information: expertise related to the content represented, to knowledge of the syntax (graphicacy), and/or the system of knowledge graphically represented – spatial in the case of maps, numerical in the case of graphs.     

Action research through lesson study for the reconstruction of teachers’ practical knowledge. A review of research at Málaga University (Spain)

ABSTRACT

This article aims to set out our discussions, reflections and research at Málaga University (Spain) in relation to Lesson Study (LS), as a cooperative action research process. The paper aims to summarise the main findings of ten years of research, addressing the concepts and dilemmas found both in forming teachers’ practical thinking and in the complex processes of reconstruction through LS. The results of our research provide evidence that it is a useful way to deal with the reconstruction of teachers’ practical knowledge in teacher training. Teachers’ practical knowledge should be more broadly seen as an active combination of theoretical knowledge, procedural knowledge and skills, attitudes, emotions, believes, and values: i.e. teachers’ practical thinking. Most of these personal and professional resources are unconscious, or rather sub-conscious. Changes in teachers’ practical thinking require more practical experience and reflexion: a dialectical process based around two key components: theorisation of practice and experimentation of reconstructed theory. The results of our research show that these dialectical process could be developed with LS as a particular way of developing AR, adding a complex, systematic, flexible and cooperative way of dealing with specific and contextual curricular innovation projects. We therefore conclude that LS could be a very useful path to follow in reconstructing teachers’ practical thinking from within, strengthening the professional teaching community.