Acerca de las razones o sinrazones de conjugar el verbo communicate en una Europa in linguis multis

Un supuesto muy extendido entre las razones que, en la actualidad, se barajan a la hora de defender los problemas de intercomunicación en la Comunidad Europea, es el de recurrir a la lengua de mayor implantación funcional en el mundo—el «English»—por ser ésta la forma más económica y rápida de que todos podamos conjugar en Europa el verbo «communicate». Claro que ni lo más barato tiene que ver con lo que es mejor ni lo más rápido es siempre lo más conveniente y seguro.     

Othering Processes and STS Curricula: From Nineteenth Century Scientific Discourse on Interracial Competition and Racial Extinction to Othering in Biomedical Technosciences

This paper analyzes the debates on “interracial competition” and “racial extinction” in the biological discourse on human evolution during the second half of the nineteenth century. Our intention is to discuss the ideological function of these biological concepts as tools for the naturalization and scientific legitimation of racial hierarchies during that period. We argue that the examination of these scientific discussions about race from a historical perspective can play the role of a critical platform for students and teachers to think about the role of science in current othering processes, such as those related to biomedical technosciences. If they learn how biological ideas played an ideological function concerning interracial relationships in the past, they can be compelled to ask which ideological functions the biological knowledge they are teaching and learning might play now. If this is properly balanced, they can eventually both value scientific knowledge for its contributions and have a critical appraisal of some of its implications. We propose, here, a number of initial design principles for the construction of teaching sequences about scientific racism and science-technology-society relationships, yet to be empirically tested by iterative cycles of implementation in basic education and teacher education classrooms.     

Cultura y procesos cognitivos: hacia una psicología cultural

Resumen

Se hace una revisión de las investigaciones cognitivas transculturales de las últimas décadas. De estos estudios se deriva una serie de problemas metodológicos que cuestionan la validez de sus resultados. En el plano teórico, por otra parte, ha prevalecido un enfoque de caja negra que no ha permitido desvelar los mecanismos de influencia de lo cultural sobre lo cognitivo. Se defiende un planteamiento nuevo, que se sitúa en la línea del enfoque sociocultural de la psicología soviética, que centra los análisis en los contextos culturales y que toma las nociones de actividad y zona de desarrollo próximo como herramientas conceptuales para el estudio de la relación entre cultura y procesos cognitivos.     

Collaborative chain writing: effects on the narrative competence of primary school students / Escritura colaborativa encadenada: efectos en la competencia narrativa de estudiantes de Educación Primaria

Abstract

This study compared the effect of different classroom writing practices on narrative competence. The participants were 91 primary school students, who were assigned two writing practice conditions (individual and collaborative) and one control condition. Within each condition, the students drew from different support resources to plan and revise their texts. The results show the advantages of collaborative writing when certain kinds of support are provided (particularly when the students planned their stories using a question guide and co-evaluated them using a rubric). The analysis of the verbal interaction during the collaborative writing activities also confirms that the pairs who used a rubric showed a higher number of verbal co-evaluation messages focused primarily on the overall coherence of the text (more than on semantic, grammatical or orthographic issues). Finally, the educational implications of these conclusions in terms of teaching writing in primary school are discussed.     

Impact of a physical education-based behavioural skill training program on cognitive antecedents and exercise and sport behaviour among adolescents: a cluster-randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT

Background: School-based physical education has been associated with a multitude of potential learning outcomes. Representatives of a public health perspective suggest that promoting physical activity in and outside the context of school is an important endeavour. While the importance of behavioural skill training to improve (motor) learning is well documented in both general and physical education, the promotion of behavioural skills to foster physically active lifestyles constitutes a rather neglected area in physical education research.

Purpose: To examine whether a standardized physical education-based behavioural skill training program has the potential to positively impact on adolescents’ self-reported exercise and sport participation, as well as cognitive antecedents involved in the regulation of exercise and sport behaviour.

Research design: Cluster-randomized controlled trial.

Methods: A sample of 143 secondary school students (50% girls, aged 14–18 years) attending academic high schools in German-speaking Switzerland were assigned class-wise to the intervention (behavioural skill training) and control condition (conventional physical education lessons). Data were assessed prior and after completion of the 7-week intervention program, which was composed of four 20-min lessons and two reflection phases. Exercise and sport behaviour and cognitive antecedents (exercise/sport intention, motivation, implementation intentions, coping planning, self-efficacy) were assessed via self-reports. A multilevel mixed effects linear regression procedure was used to test the main hypotheses. The regression analyses were adjusted for clustering of school classes, and controlled for baseline levels of the outcome measure and potential confounders.

Results: Compared to a control condition, the intervention program resulted in significant improvements with regard to introjected motivation (p?<?.05), coping planning (p?<?.001) and self-efficacy (p?<?.01). The intervention also had a positive impact on adolescents’ self-reported sport/exercise behaviour (p?<?.001). Improvements in exercise/sport intention (p?<?.05), coping planning (p?<?.01), and self-efficacy (p?<?.01) were associated with increased levels of self-reported exercise/sport participation.

Conclusion: Behavioural skill training as part of compulsory physical education has the potential to improve cognitive antecedents of exercise and sport behaviour and to foster adolescents’ exercise and sport participation. Enhancing behavioural skills might be one way in which school physical education can contribute to the creation of more physically active lifestyles among adolescents.     

La interpretación de los mensajes televisivos por la infancia

Frente al gran volumen de investigación dedicada al proceso de comprensión de lo escrito, es mucho menor y muy escasa (además en nuestro país), la referente a la comprensión e interpretación por el niño de la representación audiovisual. Se expone aquí una revisión que puede ayudar a enfocar tanto la formación crítica del niño ante la televisión como la producción de didácticas audiovisuales.