Effects of a memory training program in older people with severe memory loss

ABSTRACT

Strategies based memory training programs are widely used to enhance the cognitive abilities of the elderly. Participants in these training programs are usually people whose mental abilities remain intact. Occasionally, people with cognitive impairment also participate. The aim of this study was to test if memory training designed specifically for healthy people is effective in people with severe memory impairment. We carried out a 10-year retrospective case-control study with Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (RBMT) and memory complaint measures obtained pre-post training. The case group consisted of 73 people with memory impairment (IM group). The control group (n = 72) was made of individuals with preserved memory and sociodemographic characteristics similar to the case group (PM group). Both groups improved their performance on everyday memory tasks (measured using the RBMT). The IM group improved more than the PM group in everyday memory tasks, especially in prospective memory tasks. Both groups also reduced their level of subjective complaints as a result of training. In conclusion, our results are encouraging with respect to the efficacy of comprehensive memory training programs for older people with severe memory impairment.     

The worldwide spread of peace education: discursive patterns in publications and international organisations

ABSTRACT

To investigate the spread of peace education (PE), we examined 685 documents in SCOPUS between 1970 and 2018 in 70 countries and triangulated the information with 11369 news articles and 22 international organisation? founding dates. PE emerged in scientific databases in the 1970s, lost momentum in 1990 and then globalised after 2003. PE’s institutionalisation was furthered by: (a) the increasing search for discourses that highlighted individual agency of self-declared ‘peace educators’; (b) educational expansion that generated a greater demand for so-called best practices; and (c) the active role of professionals working on organisations such as UNESCO, UNICEF and the identified international organisations. We recognised five loosely coupled narratives: PE’s (a) philosophical foundations and relationship to critical pedagogy; (b) application to improve international relationships; c) solution to internal conflicts; (d) measurements of interventions; (e) linkages to religion. We reflect on the implications of PE as an educational discourse in curricular reforms.     

Talking about teaching: a study of the professional uses of email by secondary school teachers in Uruguay

Abstract

Teacher collegiality has been highlighted as a crucial factor in educational change and professional development. Secondary school teachers have been consistently found to feel isolated from their colleagues, with few opportunities and mechanisms for collegial support and exchange. Research suggests that computer-mediated communication, and electronic mail in particular, may help overcome the logistical and cultural barriers that hinder teacher communication and collaboration. This article reports on some of the findings of a research study into the use of email by secondary school teachers in Uruguay. The aim of the study was to further understand the potential of email to support teacher collegiality. Content analysis was used to identify the purpose and usage patterns of 1356 electronic mail messages exchanged between 20 secondary school teachers in Montevideo, Uruguay, over a period of 37 weeks. The evidence suggests that a majority of the exchanges between teachers were related to teaching practice. However, communication in this study largely excluded discussions on teachers' theoretical stances and pedagogical beliefs. This may diminish the potential of email to challenge teachers' professional views and hence limit professional development opportunities to an ‘instrumental’ level.     

Corporal Punishment and Elevated Neural Response to Threat in Children

Spanking remains common around the world, despite evidence linking corporal punishment to detrimental child outcomes. This study tested whether children (M_age = 11.60) who were spanked (N = 40) exhibited altered neural function in response to stimuli that suggest the presence of an environmental threat compared to children who were not spanked (N = 107). Children who were spanked exhibited greater activation in multiple regions of the medial and lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), including dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, dorsomedial PFC, bilateral frontal pole, and left middle frontal gyrus in response to fearful relative to neutral faces compared to children who were not spanked. These findings suggest that spanking may alter neural responses to environmental threats in a manner similar to more severe forms of maltreatment.     

A reaction to “mathematics education: A vision of its evolutio” by Ricardo Cantoral and Rosa M. Farfán

The present article compares Cantoral and Farfan's socio-epistemological approach to mathematics education research (MER) with approaches of other current constructivist schools (such as emergent and sociocultural constructivism), in which interactionist and realistic approaches blend together. The theoretical problems of all these perspectives seem to center on the role that cultural tools are to play in future discourse of the different approaches to MER and identifying a set of problems with common ground in order to make comparisons possible. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Modelling the relationship between biomechanics and performance of young sprinting swimmers

The aim of this study was to compute a swimming performance confirmatory model based on biomechanical parameters. The sample included 100 young swimmers (overall: 12.3?±?0.74 years; 49 boys: 12.5?±?0.76 years; 51 girls: 12.2?±?0.71 years; both genders in Tanner stages 1–2 by self-report) participating on a regular basis in regional and national-level events. The 100?m freestyle event was chosen as the performance indicator. Anthropometric (arm span), strength (throwing velocity), power output (power to overcome drag), kinematic (swimming velocity) and efficiency (propelling efficiency) parameters were measured and included in the model. The path-flow analysis procedure was used to design and compute the model. The anthropometric parameter (arm span) was excluded in the final model, increasing its goodness-of-fit. The final model included the throw velocity, power output, swimming velocity and propelling efficiency. All links were significant between the parameters included, but the throw velocity–power output. The final model was explained by 69% presenting a reasonable adjustment (model's goodness-of-fit; x²/df?=?3.89). This model shows that strength and power output parameters do play a mediator and meaningful role in the young swimmers’ performance.     

Planning and Doing in Professional Teaching Practice. A Study with Early Childhood Education Teachers Working with ICT (3–6 years)

Planning is one of the professional tasks teachers have to carry out before their direct action in the classrooms. This planning is closely interrelated to the way teachers teach. The question about how and why teachers reach their decisions in their pre-class planning is a classical one in the research into curricular design and development. The aim of this paper will therefore be to establish whether there is a relationship between curricular planning and curricular practices, studying how nine early childhood education teachers using an ICT resource plan their actions and execute them. For the research, we obtained video recordings of classroom practices and interviewed the teachers just before they went into class. By applying qualitative data analysis, we have been able to identify the elements taken into consideration when the teachers make decisions in lesson, their conceptions about ICT, and the types of activity that are held in all the classes. The results confirm the conclusions reached by previous studies on the relationships between planning and doing, in the sense that the activities, understood to be teaching strategies, are the ones that link the design of what is to be done and direct action. Likewise, the results ratify prior research on the role of materials and resources as aspects that teachers can rely on for support in the management and presentation of classroom tasks and content. The introduction of ICT does not modify the teachers’ curricular planning and development.     

Higher Education and Continuing Education in Portugal

The Portuguese higher education system has been called upon to play an important role in the regional development of the country through the initial training of technical and managerial cadres and through continuing education. With this role in mind, the State gave its support to the founding of a number of higher education institutions, both public and private, at university and at polytechnic level. Thus the disparities with regard to the availability of higher education throughout Portugal are being reduced. As a result of these measures, all the regions of the country have registered considerable increases in the numbers of students enrolled in higher education institutions, even if these figures are very small compared to those with regard to higher education enrollment in the other countries of Europe. The Portuguese case is an excellent illustration of the future of higher education, not only with regard to the initial training of cadres, but also with regard to the continuing education of teaching staff members and technicians. Research will play a decisive role, not only in production, but also as a means of assuring the continuing education of managerial staffs who are in particular need of it.     

Double gamers: academics between fields

The field of academia is frequently associated with traditional norms that aim to regulate scholarly activity, especially research. The social web, as another field, is often viewed as challenging long-established conventions with novel knowledge production practices. Hence, the two fields seem to oppose rather than complement each other. Using a Bourdieuian lens, this research examines research participants’ accounts of their approaches to practice on the social web in relation to academia. The paper reports on the habitus dissonance between the two fields, before discussing the effects of the two fields’ competing doxas on individuals’ habitus.     

The impact of polytechnic institutes on the local economy

Tertiary Education and Management - Higher education institutions and, particularly, polytechnic institutes in Portugal are, generally speaking, recognized as the key stakeholders in regional...