Proyecto ELLE: Experiencia Europea de Innovacio´n Pedago´gica Basada en la Escritura de un Libro

This article examines the results of a European project that is based on writing a book, from an educational perspective. 18 schools from 13 different European countries have taken part in the project. The study itself has its origins in a Comenius 3.1 project that was co-ordinated by the 'Collegi de Doctors i Llicenciats de Catalunya'. It established that university teams would visit the 'book writing' schools, providing support to teachers and analysing, describing and publishing their experience. The article is divided into two parts. On the one hand, we intend to describe the activities carried out in the Vedruna Àngels School in Barcelona, and on the other, we will be providing an analysis of the information supplied in a questionnaire that has been completed by the teachers at the schools that have taken part in a Comenius Action 1 project.     

Prevalence of illicit drug use among the Italian athlete population with special attention on drugs of abuse: a 10-year review

The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of illicit drugs use among young adults, in particular elite athletes. This study considers the data obtained from anti-doping analyses performed on nearly 100,000 urine samples from 2000 to 2009 by the World Anti-Doping Agency accredited Italian Anti-Doping Laboratory. The percentage of adverse analytical findings varies on a yearly basis, but it is in the range 1.0-1.8% (not considering atypical findings, such as an altered endogenous steroid profile). Among positive results, there is a high prevalence of stimulants and drugs of abuse. The drug of abuse found most frequently is the tetrahydrocannabinol (cannabis) metabolite, accounting for 0.2-0.4% of the total samples analysed (18% of the positive results). The second most frequently encountered drug is cocaine, as detected from cocaine metabolites, accounting for 0.1% of the total samples analysed (7% of positive results). Other stimulants found included amphetamines, ephedrines, carphedon, modafinil, and anorexic compounds. No amphetamine-like designer drugs were detected. These data are indicative of the widespread prevalence of cocaine and cannabis use among the young adult population. However, due to the particular population studied, it must be considered an underestimation of the phenomenon among elite athletes with respect to the general population.     

Algunas reflexiones sobre la didáctica de la lengua oral

El lenguaje oral es tanto medio prioritario de la comunicación en el aula como contenido de la enseñanza de la lengua. En este artículo se pasan revista desde ambas perspectivas a los objetivos y prácticas educativas de la lengua oral, proporcionando una base de reflexión que destaca aspectos con frecuencia olvidados de la herramienta principal de la educación.     

Topping the Classroom Charts: Teaching Criminological Theory Using Popular Music

Today’s students are entering college having been immersed in media to an extent that has not been seen previously. The media-driven influence on college students has led many educators to use non-traditional mediums to engage their classes in meaningful learning experiences. Many educators advocate for the use of music and/or musical lyrics as a non-traditional teaching tool, specifically to illustrate the basic concepts of criminological theory. While many types of songs and lyrics could be used to teach criminological theory to undergraduate college students, the emphasis of this particular paper is on the use of popular music. Included is a discussion of using non-traditional instruction in the college classroom, student examples of theory application to popular music, and suggestions for implementing popular music in the classroom.     

A Research-Informed Instructional Unit to Teach the Nature of Science to Pre-Service Science Teachers

In this paper we discuss the foundations and process of design of a research-informed instructional unit aimed for pre-service science teacher education. The unit covers some key ideas on the nature of science (around methodology, theory change, scientific inference and explanation, values, gender issues) anchoring them in a well-known episode from the history of science—the ‘discovery’ of radium by the Curies. Such episode is mainly examined as reconstructed in the 1997 French commercial film ‘Les Palmes de Monsieur Schutz’. Pre-service science teachers are required to solve three tasks, individually and in small groups; those tasks are respectively centred around: (1) the distinction between ‘discovering’ and ‘inventing’; (2) scientific modelling via abduction; and (3) the extended hagiographic treatment of the figure of Madame Curie. Plenary debates around the tasks aim at acquainting pre-service science teachers with some powerful concepts of twentieth century philosophy of science.