Estrategias de intervención para la reeducación de niños con dificultades en el aprendizaje de la lectura y de la escritura

Son innumerables los textos producidos en nuestro país o traducidos a otros idiomas sobre la etiología y las manifestaciones de los denominados trastornos en el aprendizaje de la lectoescritura en sus diversas variantes. Pero pocas veces se aúnan los esfuerzos de investigadores y clínicos para ofrecer herramientas de tratamiento de estos problemas. Los autores de este artículo han conjugado ambos esfuerzos y ofrecen al lector interesado un diseño para tratar educativamente los problemas lectoescritos.     

Computer skills of initial teacher education students

Abstract

A constant challenge for teacher education lies in keeping courses up to date. This article provides a view of the current skills, attitudes, and perceptions regarding computer technology in the classroom from a preservice candidate perspective. The intent of this research is to help foster discussion about how to further develop pre-service educational technology courses that best meet the needs of a continuously evolving and changing student-teacher population in terms of computer technology skills. The primary instrument was a self-assessment survey of the skills, attitudes, and perceptions about utilizing computer technology in the classroom among firsttime students enrolled in introductory education courses at a large midwestern university in the USA in the fall semester of 1999. Surveys were administered to a total of 205 students. Questionnaires were given to preservice teachers during their initial courses rather than mailed to their homes, in an attempt to increase participation rates. Participants were categorized as being either a ‘Beginner’ or ‘Experienced User’ of computer technology, based on their responses to the skill section of the survey. The article includes an overview of the results and segments them as they pertain to three general issues: general attitudes with regards to teaching with computer technology, intended use of computers when beginning to teach, and perceived problems to be expected with computer technology when beginning to teach. Finally, an informal discussion regarding student expectations of future teacher training programs and the corresponding implications for school districts are presented from the free-response section of the questionnaire.     

The role of morphological awareness in explaining reading-writing difficulties / El papel de la conciencia morfológica en la explicación de las dificultades de aprendizaje de la lectoescritura

Abstract

This paper examines the role played by morphological awareness in explaining difficulties in reading and writing words with arbitrary spelling in a group of students who have reading-writing difficulties. Specifically, the relationship between morphological, morphosyntactic and phonological awareness and reading errors and success in arbitrary spelling is studied. This paper also describes to what extent the morphological and morphosyntactic awareness of students with reading difficulties explains errors in reading and in the correct spelling of words with arbitrary spelling. The results indicate that morphological, morphosyntactic and phonological awareness are related to learning reading and arbitrary spelling in Spanish. However, morphosyntactic awareness is more important in explaining serious reading errors and success in writing with arbitrary spelling among students with reading-writing difficulties.     

Specific Reading Comprehension Disability: Major Problem,Myth, or Misnomer?

The goal of the present study was to test three competing hypotheses about the nature of comprehension problems of students who are poor in reading comprehension. Participants in the study were first, second, and third graders, totaling nine cohorts and over 425,000 participants in all. The pattern of results was consistent across all cohorts: Less than 1 percent of first‐ through third‐grade students who scored as poor in reading comprehension were adequate in both decoding and vocabulary. Although poor reading comprehension certainly qualifies as a major problem rather than a myth, the term specific reading comprehension disability is a misnomer: Individuals with problems in reading comprehension that are not attributable to poor word recognition have comprehension problems that are general to language comprehension rather than specific to reading. Implications for assessment and intervention are discussed.     

Effects of performance management systems–strategy alignment on lecturers' engagement with knowledge transfer: A perspective from Spain

Growing competition among higher education institutions (HEIs) explains their increasing interest in reinforcing strategies by incorporating knowledge transfer (KT) objectives into their strategic plans. However, this strategic formulation must be aligned with the implementation of performance management systems (PMSs) to properly achieve KT objectives. Thus, the aim of this paper is to examine whether aligning PMSs with KT strategic objectives improves KT performance while misalignment worsens it. To that end, PMSs are measured with respect to planning; cybernetic control; policies and procedures and reward and compensation elements. KT is specified as R&D contracts, extended patents, patents and licences. With a sample of 3812 Spanish university lecturers, we test the theoretical positive and negative effects of PMS–KT strategy alignment and misalignment on KT performance respectively. The results show not only that this alignment is effective for KT strategy implementation but also that misalignment has unintended effects on the achievement of long-term KT objectives. Therefore, lecturers' behaviour is influenced by how closely KT strategy and PMSs are aligned. The findings are useful for managers and academics to develop PMSs that effectively contribute to the achievement of universities' strategic goals.     

Accuracy and Precision in Measurements: Two Complementary Approaches

This article presents two different approaches to studying the accuracy and precision of a measurement.     

Learning Through Reflection in Mathematics Teacher Education

This article is written from our perspective as both researchers and mathematics teacher educators, and describes how our knowledge has grown as we engage concurrently in both teaching and research. Reflection-on-action is a means for us of approaching the relationship between theory and practice that comes out of the development of our work as researchers and mathematics teacher educators. The article presents the different steps we have identified in the relationship between theory and practice during our professional development. In the discussion, we examine the whole sequence of steps showing what we have learnt. Afterwards, we use the sequence of activity of the reflective process as a framework in which we can operate and reflect about our own development.     

A sense of place in the science classroom

Place‐based science education engages with the laboratories of complex reality where natural processes combine with social practice, going beyond the physical world, to encompass the meanings and sense of attachment local residents feel for places. This brief report describes how a university science methods class in a primary teacher training programme situated scientific understandings in the rich cultural context of the historically rural and socio‐economically disadvantaged area of Galicia in north‐western Spain, where agrarian traditions continue to influence local culture. Focusing on student responses to two assignments, this brief report explores how the preparation of lesson plans related to food and environmental investigation projects served to integrate aspects of the natural, social and cultural environment to foster a critical pedagogy of place.     

We can,we know how. But do we want to? Teaching attitudes towards ICT based on the level of technology integration in schools

Teachers’ attitudes towards technology are crucial to foster its use in schools and to improve its educational affordances and this is still a topic for research. This article relates the attitudes school teachers have towards information and communication technologies (ICT) with the different levels of technology integration in schools. A multiple case-study research methodology was applied, and in which the school was the unit of sampling used. Thirty-five schools from eight Spanish regions were selected, and 1222 questionnaires were collected, representing 78.9% of the sample. Three combined variables were utilised to classify schools in four different levels of technology integration. Results suggest level 4 school teachers exhibit better attitudes towards ICT, which results in creating a positive circle which improves the learning process. This becomes relevant for teacher education and professional development, as effective ICT integration in the classroom can perform as a catalyst for educational innovation.