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.     

La Zona de Desarrollo Próximo como tarea de construcción

Resumen

Desde una perspectiva vygotskiana, las interacciones adulto-niño son observadas en torno a una tarea de constructión, analizándose las diferencias existentes entre unos adultos y otros en la forma en que definen la situación y la negocian en la interacción con niños de entre 21 y 24 meses de edad. Los análisis efectuados con la muestra total de 133 padres (hombres y mujeres) y sus respectivos hijos, muestran que los índices de estimulación de las madres (no de los padres) y los índices de desarrollo de sus hijos, guardan entre sí una correlación interesante, aunque baja. El sexo de los padres, y no su nivel de estudios, se relaciona con el nivel de estimulación aportada. Los análisis secuenciales realizados sobre una submuestra de madres estimulantes y otra de madres poco estimulantes, evidencian que hay distintas formas de interactuar con el niño en su Zona de Desarrollo Próximo, y que las diferentes relaciones interpersonales conducen a distintos niveles de competencia por parte de los niños.     

A walk on the wild side: ‘Predatory’ journals and information asymmetries in scientific evaluations

In recent years the academic world has witnessed the mushrooming of journals that falsely pretend to be legitimate academic outlets. We study this phenomenon using information from 46,000 researchers seeking promotion in Italian academia. About 5% of them have published in journals included in the blacklist of ‘potential, possible, or probable predatory journals’ elaborated by the scholarly librarian Jeffrey Beall. Data from a survey that we conducted among these researchers confirms that at least one third of these journals do not provide peer review or they engage in some other type of irregular editorial practice. We identify two factors that may have spurred publications in dubious journals. First, some of these journals have managed to be included in citation indexes such as Scopus that many institutions consider as a guarantee of quality. Second, we show that authors who publish in these journals are more likely to receive positive assessments when they are evaluated by (randomly selected) committee members who lack research expertise. Overall, our analysis suggests that the proliferation of ‘predatory’ journals reflects the existence of severe information asymmetries in scientific evaluations.     

Automatic testing and assessment of neuroanatomy using a digital brain atlas: Method and development of computer‐ and mobile‐based applications

Preparation of tests and student's assessment by the instructor are time consuming. We address these two tasks in neuroanatomy education by employing a digital media application with a three‐dimensional (3D), interactive, fully segmented, and labeled brain atlas. The anatomical and vascular models in the atlas are linked to Terminologia Anatomica. Because the cerebral models are fully segmented and labeled, our approach enables automatic and random atlas‐derived generation of questions to test location and naming of cerebral structures. This is done in four steps: test individualization by the instructor, test taking by the students at their convenience, automatic student assessment by the application, and communication of the individual assessment to the instructor. A computer‐based application with an interactive 3D atlas and a preliminary mobile‐based application were developed to realize this approach. The application works in two test modes: instructor and student. In the instructor mode, the instructor customizes the test by setting the scope of testing and student performance criteria, which takes a few seconds. In the student mode, the student is tested and automatically assessed. Self‐testing is also feasible at any time and pace. Our approach is automatic both with respect to test generation and student assessment. It is also objective, rapid, and customizable. We believe that this approach is novel from computer‐based, mobile‐based, and atlas‐assisted standpoints. Anat Sci Educ 2:244–252, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

‘This is my new normal’: teachers’ accounts of evaluation policy at local school board meetings

In this study, we seek to illuminate teachers’ constructions of US teacher evaluation policies through close analysis of the way teachers in one district describe these policies. We conducted a thematic discursive analysis of 60 teachers’ speeches, recorded during local school board meetings in a Tennessee school district. Using discursive psychology as a lens, analysis focuses on the teachers’ constructions of teacher accountability policies and their own positioning within the policies. We also attend to the linguistic resources teachers used in justifying their decision to speak during the meetings. Findings showed that while drawing upon repertoires of human capital and one-size-fits-all education, the teachers’ patterned participation involved the contestation of status quo practices of teacher evaluation and effectiveness by contrasting them with imagined possibilities of what evaluation could be instead. Implications for developing teacher evaluation are discussed.     

From centrally mandated to locally demanded service: the Russian case

This paper first highlights recent changes in the environment of Russian universities and considers how institutions of higher education (HEIs) are responding to the challenges and opportunities of the new environment through drawing on case studies of three relatively successful universities. Secondly, it considers how the recent changes, by pushing universities to seek new and more locally based sources of revenue, have lead to a significant modification of the concept and practice of university service. While the Russian university in the Soviet period was expected by virtue of the collectivist ideology to supply service to the people, these activities tended to come from above as gifts to society. In the new environment, service is both increasing and is becoming more sensitive to local needs. The overall effect may be to energize the Russian university, but there is considerable concern that it may at the same time erode the long-standing tradition of intellectual excellence.     

Exploiting Manual Indexing to Improve Collection Selection and Retrieval Effectiveness

Vocabulary incompatibilities arise when the terms used to index a document collection are largely unknown, or at least not well-known to the users who eventually search the collection. No matter how comprehensive or well-structured the indexing vocabulary, it is of little use if it is not used effectively in query formulation. This paper demonstrates that techniques for mapping user queries into the controlled indexing vocabulary have the potential to radically improve document retrieval performance. We also show how the use of controlled indexing vocabulary can be employed to achieve performance gains for collection selection. Finally, we demonstrate the potential benefit of combining these two techniques in an interactive retrieval environment. Given a user query, our evaluation approach simulates the human user's choice of terms for query augmentation given a list of controlled vocabulary terms suggested by a system. This strategy lets us evaluate interactive strategies without the need for human subjects.     

Concept maps: Experiments on dynamic thinking

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effects of map structure, concept quantification, and focus question on dynamic thinking during a Concept Map (CMap) construction task. The first experiment compared cyclic and hierarchical structures. The second experiment examined the impact of the quantification of the header concept in the map. The third experiment explored the effect of the focus question on the map. For all three experiments, the content of the CMaps was assessed for the number of dynamic propositions and the number of quantified concepts. The results show that the cyclic structure, the quantification of the header concept, and the focus question “How” significantly increased dynamic thinking. The studies, the theoretical background, and the implications of the findings are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 448–465, 2007     

Imagining a future: changing the landscape for third space professionals in Australian higher education institutions

In the last decade there has been a shift in the discourses around professional staff in higher education that has been influenced by neoliberal agenda that focused on driving education reforms. Earlier discussions centring around nomenclature variations have progressed to those about creating and developing borderless professionals operating in the third space – a notional space where professional staff and academic staff with diverse and valuable skills work as equal professional partners on complex and multifaceted projects. This article looks at the evolution of the debates around professional staff. It considers how the notions of professionalism and professionalisation are being reconceptualised in the third space. Discussion progresses towards capability building and developmental opportunities of aspiring third space professional staff in higher education settings. Possible pathways of engaging with and empowering professional staff in designing their future careers and professional identities are considered. Building a community of research practices under the auspices of the Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM) and engaging postgraduate students in the university third space project work are proposed as potential areas for further research in the field of professional staff capability building.