The Clientelistic Nature of Television Policies in Democratic Spain

This article uses a case study to contribute to the debate on media-political clientelism and its relation to the theory of media systems. It proposes a cross-disciplinary approach between the fields of communication and political sciences and thus analyzes four dimensions to observe the evolution of these practices in the area of television policies during Spanish democracy: license granting, television ownership regulation, politicization of the public service, and partisan news coverage. The period analyzed includes conservative and social democrat governments, trying to find differences in clientelistic practices among the different political parties. The analysis demonstrates how partisan relationships have evolved and what mechanisms have been put in place to maintain clientelistic ties.     

A survey of video game players in a public,urban research university

A survey was conducted in a public, research university located in a large and diverse metropolitan area in the southeastern part of the USA. The purpose of the survey was to determine both the positive and negative personal, educational, social, and work related consequences of playing video games. Nearly two‐thirds of the 203 participants in this study were of Hispanic heritage. A majority of the sample of participants was derived using a school intercept, as opposed to mall intercept, strategy. The remaining participants were obtained using snowball, and convenience sampling techniques. Statistically significant differences between males and females were found in the areas of communication, decision making in daily lives, leadership skills, collaborating, functioning in a team, and giving directions to others. These differences were favorable to males.     

Foundations of Laic Moral Education in Spain

This article studies the foundations of laic moral education in Spain. Some aspects of laic moral education can also be found in other nations, including the emergence of the laic man or the need for an educating State; other aspects of laic moral education, however, are peculiar to the Spanish case, such as the influence of Krausoinstitutionism and the programmes of 1931 Republicanism. This analysis of laic moral education centres on the bipolarity of traditionalism/liberalism. The article takes 1857 as its starting point, a date that is significant for the birth of laic morality and the Spanish education system. The article’s end point is 1936, on the threshold of the Civil War. This bipolarity of traditional/liberal is in combination, on the one hand, with the demands of Krausoinstitutionism for an independent morality and neutrality in instruction as tools for the attainment of a moral ideal of preparing men and, on the other hand, the Republican vindication of an autonomous morality and school laicism as key to the preparation of citizens, as well as with the demand for a civil morality fostered by an educating State.     

¿Han sido seleccionados o se han acostumbrado? Ideas de estudiantes de biología sobre la selección natural y consistencia entre ellas

Resumen

Estudiantes universitarios de Biología, ante problemas de respuesta abierta sobre la selección natural, utilizan, en porcentajes alarmantes, interpretaciones que consideran la adaptación como cambios heredables en los individuos. Se encontró un cierto grado de consistencia entre las respuestas de cada sujeto a los problemas en diferentes contextos; pero hay también casos en que una persona empleó esquemas conceptuales diferentes. Se sugiere que una de las condiciones para promover el cambio conceptual es que los profesores tengan en cuenta las ideas de los estudiantes.     

La expresión facial en los ciegos congénitos

Resumen

El presente informe analiza la expresión emocional de los ciegos congénitos mediante una codificación muscular de los movimientos faciales. Esta expresión, de carácter más involuntario, es semejante a la de los videntes. En cambio, los sujetos invidentes tienen una expresividad menor y menos diferenciada en las poses voluntarias. Los resultados, que confirman los hallazgos de autores anteriores, apoyan la existencia de dos fuentes de información en el desarrollo emocional: una de naturaleza genética, que explicaría las semejanzas en la expresión emocional o involuntaria, y otra ambiental, que daría cuenta de las diferencias en la expresión voluntaria. Por último, se plantean las consecuencias de este trabajo para las distintas disciplinas psicológicas.     

Habla reguladora y control de la memoria: Un esquema teórico de integración de las acciones y operaciones de memorización

Resumen

Se propone la integración de varias líneas de investigación de origen diferente: los estudios dentro del marco teórico de niveles de procesamiento, las investigaciones soviéticas sobre memoria y actividad, los trabajos sobre el desarrollo de las estrategias de memoria y los estudios sobre meta-memoria y control de la memoria. Para ello se distingue entre tres tipos de procesos: operaciones de codificación y recuperación, acciones simples, ligadas a sus condiciones de aplicación, y acciones generales (planes) que exigen el dominio de otras acciones más simples. Estos tres tipos de procesos se integran de modo jerárquico en un marco teórico general de la memoria. En este marco teórico, el lenguaje (el habla reguladora, más exactamente) juega un papel fundamental como instrumento básico de la génesis y control de las acciones de memoria.     

Developmental changes (14–21 years old) in binge drinking patterns and their explanatory factors / Cambios evolutivos (14–21 años) en los patrones de ingesta puntual de alcohol en exceso y en sus factores explicativos

Abstract

In order to design prevention programs, it is important to understand the evolution of drinking behaviour patterns among adolescents and young people. The aim of this paper is to analyse the changes in these patterns based on age and their role in explaining this behaviour in the Theory of Planned Behaviour framework. We used 273 participants divided into three sub-samples (3^rd and 4^th ESO [Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, ‘Compulsory Secondary Education’] students and university students). For older ages, the frequency of binge drinking is higher and the attitudes were also more positive towards alcohol consumption. Structural equation analyses show that drinking behaviour is explained by a different model in each age-group: in older groups, the role played by positive attitude and perceived control is more important than in the younger; by contrast, the influence of reference groups decreases with age. Results show significant differences between age groups regarding the reasons that young people report for engaging or not engaging in this behaviour.     

Andalusian teacher centres: in the political crossfire

This article analyses the background of teacher centres (CEPs) in Spain and presents the synthesis of conclusions drawn from the evaluation of such centres and continuous education in Andalusia (Spain), carried out according to the model of democratic evaluation defended by Barry McDonald. Three issues are dealt with: (a) the change of government policies concerning the running of teacher centres, from autonomy to control; (b) the changes in the way teachers' continuous education and advice strategies are understood; and (c) how teacher commitment to innovation and education reform evolved with time. All this takes place within the framework of political confrontations between the two main parties in Spain: the Socialists (PSOE) - who institutionalized the CEPs and created education reform, and who continue to govern in Andalusia - and the Conservatives (PP) - who are currently in power in central government and who neither supported educational reform nor the teacher centres. In this context, the analysis of the use of the CEPs as a political weapon in their confrontation is one of the main objectives of the evaluation.     

Cognitive Processes,ICT, and Education: A Critical Analysis

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have brought about renewed spaces for the societies of today, full of possibility and transformation. Bordering on the infinite, these spaces have generated new activities and behaviors. This technological scenario is now commonplace, an everyday reality that has taken root in our lives with remarkable speed. Now would therefore be an appropriate time to open up a line of inquiry into how this is shaping educational practice and how it is affecting our cognitive structures. We have chosen to conduct a review of relevant literature that will enable us to adopt a critical analysis to our subject: education and, above all, the learner, seen from the perspective of neuroscience and social analysis. However, the principal aim of this paper is to lay bare the disparities between research findings and current educational practices that use ICT.