Changes in involvement in homework throughout compulsory secondary education / Cambios en la implicación en los deberes escolares a lo largo de la Educación Secundaria Obligatoria

This paper analyses the changes found in students’ involvement in homework throughout the four grade levels of compulsory secondary education in Spain (ages 12–15). It also analyses the relationship between the changes in students’ involvement in homework throughout schooling and motivational and emotional variables related to homework. Findings indicated that: (a) the amount of homework completed and homework time management diminished slightly throughout the grade levels researched; however, this result is clearer in terms of the amount of homework completed; (b) prior academic achievement is significantly related to the variables associated with students’ involvement in homework; (c) the motivational and affective variables researched explained statistically significant variance related to two of the three dependent variables associated with involvement in homework; and (d) the association between the motivational and affective variables and involvement in homework is lower.     

Students’ understanding of the number line / Estudiantes pensando en la recta numérica

We studied the conceptions of students coming from secondary education and university regarding the number line as a representation of real numbers. In the context of a wider questionnaire, 307 students were presented with a task consisting of two verbal items and one graphic item related to the number line. The students were all at different levels in their study of mathematics (in the third, fourth or fifth year of secondary education, or at the beginning or advanced stage of a university degree in mathematics, biology or physical education). A gradient in the depth of the students’ conceptions, associated with the level of their studies in mathematics, was found. This gradient extends from the estrangement of facing the problem or a conception of a drawn or physical matter line, which was associated with students with a lower level of mathematical studies, passing through a vision centred around potential numeric density or a line containing points (discrete), up to an instrumental conception of the line as supportive of magnitudes in advanced students of biology and focusing on continuity sustained by advanced students of mathematics.     

Teaching practices in Grade 5 mathematics classrooms with high-achieving English learner students

Teachers need more clarity about effective teaching practices as they strive to help their low-achieving students understand mathematics. Our study describes the instructional practices used by two teachers who, by value-added metrics, would be considered “highly effective teachers” in classrooms with a majority of students who were English learners. We used quantitative data to select two fifth-grade classrooms where students, on average, made large gains on a mathematics achievement test, and then examined teaching practices and contextual factors present in each classroom. Participants included two teachers from a mid-Atlantic district and their students who were 67% English learners and 68% economically disadvantaged. We found that the use of multiple representations of mathematics concepts, attention to vocabulary building, individual and group checks for understanding and error analysis were prevalent practices in both high gains classrooms. Also, class sizes ranged from 12–19 students. Discussion focuses on whether observed practices are aligned with recommended teaching practices for English learner students.     

The Development of Spatial Skills in Elementary School Students

Through five waves of data collection, this longitudinal study investigated the development of spatial skills in 304 elementary school children (M_age = 7.64 years) as they progressed from the second to fourth grade. The study focused on whether multiple latent classes with different developmental profiles best explain development. Spatial skills were measured by tests featuring two‐dimensional figures. Mathematics achievement was measured by the statewide end‐of‐year test and was included as a distal outcome variable. The role of covariates, including socioeconomic status, verbal working memory, and gender, was also explored. The results indicate a need to view two‐dimensional spatial skills development as multidimensional with two developmental profiles predicted by socioeconomic status, verbal working memory, and gender. The developmental profiles predicted differences in mathematics achievement.     

Finnish and Russian teachers supporting the development of social skills

We argue that a key aspect of inclusive pedagogy is the interaction between the learners, their teachers and the environment. For effective interaction, learners need to develop social competence. This study explores how teachers support the development of the key social skills in schools in Finland and in Russia. The data were collected by questionnaires and observations, and analysed by theory-guided content analysis. While all teachers supported the development of social skills, their pedagogical choices reflected their personal interaction style. The teachers who favoured informal interactions engaged in real-life situations with learners, whereas those favouring formal interactions chose separate activities for practising social skills. The study highlights aspects that deserve more attention in developing teacher education programmes for inclusion.     

Infrastructuring Distributed Studio Networks: A Case Study and Design Principles

Design educators have long used studio-based learning environments to create communities of learners to support authentic learning in design. Online social media platforms have enabled the creation of distributed studio networks (DSNs) that link studio-based learning environments into expanded communities of practice and potential networked improvement communities. As learning scientists, we do not adequately understand how to infrastructure learning and resource sharing across distributed studios. In this ethnography of the infrastructure of Design for America, a DSN, we analyzed data from interviews, online communication, and field observations as the organization grew its network of university design studios. We found that Design for America managers faced challenges of providing support and resources to address wide variation in needs across studios. Lacking an existing comprehensive network collaboration platform, managers created a proto-infrastructure to distribute support across studios. By studying their iterative adoption of communication and collaboration tools and organizational routines, we define a unique set of design principles to infrastructure DSNs: (a) surfacing local progress and problems, (b) affective crowding, (c) solution mapping, and (d) help routing. Assembling constellations of tools and designing platforms based on these principles could support learning in and the improvement of DSNs across domains.     

Yoga for the prevention of depression,anxiety, and aggression and the promotion of socio-emotional competencies in school-aged children

Children and youth coming from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are at risk of developing behavioural problems. This study examined the efficacy of a Yoga programme implemented in a low-socioeconomic status school, for the prevention of depression, anxiety, and aggression. After-school workshops were delivered twice a week during 12 weeks to 125 students in 5th, 8th, and 9th grades, enrolled in a school in Bogotá, Colombia. Participants were randomly assigned to an intervention and to a control group. Children's anxiety, depression, aggression, and some socioemotional competencies (specifically empathy, anger management, and prosociality) were quantitatively assessed before and after the intervention, by means of self- and peer-reported questionnaires. Qualitative data were also collected to assess children's perceived benefits from the workshops. Results suggested a potential of the programme to reduce children's anxiety problems, in particular. Results are discussed in terms of recommended improvements to the programme and its future evaluation.     

Los estilos cognitivos. Introducción al problema de las diferencias cognitivas individuales

RESUMEN

Además de la búsqueda de unos principios generales, una de las preocupaciones de la Psicología Cognitiva ha sido la forma en que esas leyes se encarnan en el funcionamiento de los individuos concretos. Estas diferencias individuales en la cognición son conocidas como “estilos cognitivos”. Muchos autores desde distintas perspectivas se han preocupado por el estudio de este tema, aunque el enfoque predominante hoy en día es el estudio de las diferencias individuales en lo relativo a las estrategias en la resolución de problemas. Se han propuesto varios tipos de estilos cognitivos, pero los dos estilos conocidos como “reflexibilidad-impulsividad” y la “dependencia-independencia de campo” son los más investigados y los que poseen más implicaciones educativas.     

Henri Wallon y la educación infantil

RESUMEN

La educación es un proceso social que sólo puede ser plenamente entendido y modificado si se enfoca como tal. Lejos de limitarse a dar «la visión del psicólogo sobre la educación», Wallon enfoca el problema desde una perspectiva amplia en la que los aspectos pedagógicos, psicológicos y sociales aparecen íntimamente imbricados los unos en los otros, lo que permite una visión del problema educativo imposible de lograr desde perspectivas oposicionistas. En el artículo se analizan esquemáticamente algunos de los puntos fundamentales de la visión walloniana sobre el desarrollo evolutivo y algunas de las más señaladas aportaciones del Plan de reforma de la enseñanza (Plan Langevin-Wallon) en cuya elaboración Wallon tomó parte muy activa. Se pone de manifiesto la perspectiva dialéctica de Wallon tanto en Psicología como en Pedagogía y se enfatiza la necesaria complementariedad de ambas como disciplinas científicas y como actividades profesionales.