Development of argumentative discourse based on learning demand / Evolución del discurso argumentativo en función de la demanda de aprendizaje

Abstract

This study is part of a larger project focused on the development of argumentative competence and its effect on knowledge construction. It aims to analyse and compare the changes in the evolution of the claims and the quality of the written arguments used by university students in two learning scenarios: a first scenario where students participated in a debate with the aim of convincing; and a second scenario where the debate was aimed at achieving an agreement by consensus. The participants were 77 first-year university students in Education and Speech Therapy. A quasi-experimental design was adopted with repeated measures, in which students from the two groups wrote two argumentative texts (initial and final) for each type of debate. The results indicate that the initial claims evolved towards more moderate positions at the end of the process; and the quality of the arguments that students wrote in their texts varied significantly depending on the type of demand and the time of writing (initial or final).     

Students’ choice of animated pedagogical agents in science learning: A test of the similarity-attraction hypothesis on gender and ethnicity

College students learned about science with a multimedia program. One group (choice or C) chose to learn with or without an animated pedagogical agent (APA) representing a male or female of five different ethnicities. Another group (no-choice or NC) was assigned an APA by the system. All participants in C group chose to learn with APAs and students of color chose significantly more same-ethnicity APAs than White American students. A significant interaction between choice and ethnic similarity factors revealed that group C produced lower retention, transfer, and program ratings when learning with same-ethnicity rather than different-ethnicity APAs. Results support an interference hypothesis for students who choose to learn with same-ethnicity APAs.     

The American Statistics Poster Competition

This article covers the history and organisation of the American Statistics Poster Competition, and gives our view of what a statistical poster is.     

An experimental study of vocational guidance (and decision making) in Spain

This article describes the procedure and methodology for a vocational guidance programme framed within the most recent conceptualised as a systematic process of intervention, that gradually optimise the subjects’ vocational conduct. The programme was applied to a population of 192 subjects located in seven secondary schools in the city of Granada, with proven effectiveness of the interventions. The three objectives of the programmes applied concentrated on the increase in the optimisation of self-awareness and self-concept for the subjects, training in strategies for searching for information, and training in decision-making.     

Extra-curricular participation in sports and socio-demographic factors in Spanish adolescents: the AVENA study

The aims of this study were to identify differences between the sexes in extra-curricular participation in sports and to determine its association with body fat and socio-demographic factors in Spanish adolescents. A total of 2165 adolescents (1124 males and 1041 females) aged 13.0-18.5 years from the AVENA Study participated. Participants filled in an ad hoc questionnaire for extra-curricular participation in sports, which was the dependent variable. Independent variables were: age, percent body fat, and father's and mother's educational level and occupation. Chi-square tests and logistic regression were applied. Bivariate analysis showed for male adolescents that age and father's occupation were related to extra-curricular participation in sports. In addition, body fat and mother's education and occupation (all P?相似文献   

Effect of verbal instructions and image size on visual search strategies in basketball free throw shooting

We assessed the effects on basketball free throw performance of two types of verbal directions with an external attentional focus. Novices (n = 16) were pre-tested on free throw performance and assigned to two groups of similar ability (n = 8 in each). Both groups received verbal instructions with an external focus on either movement dynamics (movement form) or movement effects (e.g. ball trajectory relative to basket). The participants also observed a skilled model performing the task on either a small or large screen monitor, to ascertain the effects of visual presentation mode on task performance. After observation of six videotaped trials, all participants were given a post-test. Visual search patterns were monitored during observation and cross-referenced with performance on the pre- and post-test. Group effects were noted for verbal instructions and image size on visual search strategies and free throw performance. The 'movement effects' group saw a significant improvement in outcome scores between the pre-test and post-test. These results supported evidence that this group spent more viewing time on information outside the body than the 'movement dynamics' group. Image size affected both groups equally with more fixations of shorter duration when viewing the small screen. The results support the benefits of instructions when observing a model with an external focus on movement effects, not dynamics.     

The local curriculum in Mozambique: the Santa Rita Community School in Xinavane

In 1983, Mozambique started reviewing the education system that it had inherited from the Portuguese colonial administration. One of the innovations introduced into basic education is the time allocated to the local curriculum (LC) within the national curriculum (NC). The LC enables the communities, including the poorest and those furthest removed from the school environment, to identify themselves with the importance of schooling and allow children to find meaning in what they learn with respect to their life in their community. The good practice described below has been introduced in a community school, where it has successfully brought together the LC and NC to become an individual and collective asset for the community in which it has been implemented. It is a successful example worth studying in detail.

Swimming and peak bone mineral density: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This meta-analysis aims to determine the effects of regular swimming on bone mineral density (BMD) in young adults (18–30 years). A systematic search was performed in Pubmed, SPORTDiscus and the Cochrane Library from the earliest possible year to March 2016. Swimmers were compared to non-athletic controls (CG) and to high-impact athletes (HIGH). Effect sizes with the Hedges g in random effects models were developed. Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analyses. Swimmers presented similar BMD values to CG in whole-body (g = ?0.20; P = 0.251), femoral neck (g = ?0.05; P = 0.818) and lumbar spine (g = 0.18; P = 0.492); and lower BMD in the whole-body (g = ?1.21; P < 0.001), femoral neck (g = ?1.51; P < 0.001) and lumbar spine (g = ?0.84; P = 0.017) than the HIGH. For the whole-body differences, the higher the latitude the smaller the differences between swimmers and HIGH (B = 0.10; P = 0.001). For the femoral neck differences, age also seemed to reduce the differences between groups (B = 0.19; P = 0.020). Young adult swimmers present similar BMD values than CG and lower values than HIGH.