Learning strategies and self-regulation in context: how higher education students approach different courses,assessments, and challenges

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study’s aim was to analyse the decisions higher education students make about learning strategies. We focus on research questions related to...     

Psycho-physiological response in an automatic parachute jump

Parachute jump is an extreme activity that elicits an intense stress response that affects jumpers’ body systems being able to put them at risk. The present research analysed modifications in blood oxygen saturation (BOS), heart rate (HR), cortisol, glucose, lactate, creatine kinase (CK), muscles strength, cortical arousal, autonomic modulation, pistol magazine reload time (PMRT) and state anxiety before and after an automatic open parachute jump in 38 male Spanish soldiers (25.6 ± 5.9 years). A MANOVA with samples as a fixed factor and Effect Size (ES) were conducted. MANOVA showed (Wilks lambda = .225; F = 5.980; P = .000) a significantly increase in cortisol (6.2 ± 3.2 vs. 8.2 ± 4.3 nmol/l; P = .025; ES = .47), HR (75.0 ± 14.6 vs. 87.4 ± 17.3 bpm; P = .004; ES = .72), lactate (1.8 ± 1.2 vs. 4.4 ± 2.2 mmol · l^?1; P = .002; ES = 1.18), sympathetic nervous system and leg strength manifestation after the parachute jump. By contrary BOS, PMRT (55.6 ± 27.6 vs. 48.0 ± 16.7 s; P = .021; ES = .46) and somatic anxiety (SA), evaluated by CSAI2R questionnaire, decreased. An automatic parachute jump increased physiological and cortical response and decreased SA of participants. This stress response can affect the jumpers’ abilities and allow us to have a better understanding of the organism stress response and to improve training for both military and sport parachute jumps.     

Medieval Córdoba: From Umayyad Recreations to Competitive Christian Sport

Abstract

In this article, we study the evolution of competitive sport and sporting recreations in medieval Córdoba, from the Umayyad Muslims (756–1236) to the Christians (since 1236). In this diachronic study, firstly we compare the competitive sport and sporting recreations of the Muslim East (especially those of the Abbasid period) with those of Muslim Córdoba, in order to know the level of Arabization of those practices in Córdoba, and if competitive sport is more predominant than recreations or vice versa. Secondly, we study if competitive sport and sporting recreations had the same presence in Muslim Córdoba and Christian Córdoba (or if one predominated over the other), and the possible reasons for it. We conclude: (1) that in Muslim Córdoba, sporting recreations were more important than competitive sport, unlike what happened in the great Muslim cities of the East; (2) Arabization is almost total regarding the types of sport and recreations implanted in Córdoba but low regarding horse sports and the importance of competitive sport; and (3) that Christian Córdoba shows a very different character, since competitive sport is very important (largely because by that time Córdoba had become a frontier city).     

The Effect of Cooperative Learning Approach Based on Conceptual Change Condition on Students' Understanding of Chemical Equilibrium Concepts

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the cooperative learning approach based on conceptual change conditions over traditional instruction on 10th grade students' conceptual understanding and achievement of computational problems related to chemical equilibrium concepts. The subjects of this study consisted of 87 tenth grade students from two intact classes of a Chemistry Course instructed by the same teacher. One of the classes was randomly assigned as the experimental group, which was instructed with cooperative learning approach based on conceptual change conditions and the other class was assigned as the control group, which was instructed with traditional instruction. Chemical Equilibrium Concept Test (CECT) was administered to the experimental and the control groups as pre- and post-tests to measure the students' conceptual understanding, and Chemical Equilibrium Achievement Test (CEAT) was administered to the experimental and the control groups as a post-test to measure the students' achievements related to computational problems. Science Process Skills Test was used at the beginning of the study to determine the students' science process skills. Multivariate Analysis of Covariate (MANCOVA) was used to analyze the data. The results showed that students in the experimental group had better conceptual understanding, and achievement of computational problems related to the chemical equilibrium concepts. Furthermore, students' science process skills were accounted for a significant portion of variations in conceptual understanding and achievements related to the computational problems.     

Integration of an XML electronic dictionary with linguistic tools for natural language processing

This study proposes the codification of lexical information in electronic dictionaries, in accordance with a generic and extendable XML scheme model, and its conjunction with linguistic tools for the processing of natural language. Our approach is different from other similar studies in that we propose XML coding of those items from a dictionary of meanings that are less related to the lexical units. Linguistic information, such as morphology, syllables, phonology, etc., will be included by means of specific linguistic tools. The use of XML as a container for the information allows the use of other XML tools for carrying out searches or for enabling presentation of the information in different resources. This model is particularly important as it combines two parallel paradigms—extendable labelling of documents and computational linguistics—and it is also applicable to other languages. We have included a comparison with the labelling proposal of printed dictionaries carried out by the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). The proposed design has been validated with a dictionary of more than 145 000 accepted meanings.     

Ask Dr. Discovery: the impact of a casual mobile game on visitor engagement with science museum content

Educational technology research and development - This study examines the impact of a mobile game app on science museum visitors’ level of engagement with exhibit content, compared to a non...     

Cambio sociocognitivo y organización de las acciones: una aproximación sociocultural a la educación de adultos

Resumen

Se estudia la educación formal y «Literacy» con objeto de analizar diferentes aspectos del desarrollo cultural, así como la influencia de factores socioculturales en el desarrollo cognitivo de los adultos. Son escasos los trabajos realizados en este campo. Se seleccionó un grupo de mujeres pertenecientes al programa de Educación de Adultos de la Junta de Andalucía cuyas edades oscilaban entre 35 y 55 años. Los sujetos estudiados pertenecían a tres niveles educativos: alfabetización, pregraduados y graduados. La acción dirigida a meta es la unidad de análisis escogida y la metodología desarrollada tiene su base en la perspectiva sociocultural iniciada por Vygostsky y desarrollada por algunos psicólogos occidentales. La situación experimental se diseñó con objeto de analizar los componentes de las acciones de memoria que los sujetos podían utilizar para recordar un grupo de estímulos. Estos se podían incluir en diferentes categorías (animales, plantas y objetos). Componentes básicos de este tipo de acciones son: estrategias cognitivas, procedimientos de mediación semiótica y actitud social de los sujetos. A lo largo de las diferentes fases de la investigación fue posible observar transiciones microgenéticas de estos componentes así como cambios en las interacciones entre los mismos, (especialmente entre procesos cognitivos y procedimientos semióticos).     

Supporting online collaborative design for teacher professional development

ABSTRACT

This article describes a study of online collaborative design in the context of teacher professional development. Twenty-five teachers from different Spanish universities participated in the online course. The aim was to understand how to support teachers in interuniversity teams to collaborate fully online throughout the learning design process of a scenario based on their discipline integrating information and communications technology (ICT), an issue scarcely tackled in the literature. The described interpretive study, using mixed methods, explores the support of online co-design provided by a novel ICT community platform named ILDE (Integrated Learning Design Environment). Lessons drawn from the results can contribute to the improvement of online collaborative design processes in the context of teacher professional development.     

Emotional intelligence profiles and learning strategies in secondary school students

The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship among emotional intelligence (EI) and learning strategies, identifying different emotional intelligence profiles and determining possible statistically significant differences in learning strategies through the identified profiles. Thousand and seventy one Spaniards secondary school students aged 14–17 participated in the study, completing the Trait Meta-Mood Scale-24 (TMMS-24) and the Cuestionario de Estrategias de Aprendizaje [Learning Strategies Questionnaire] (LSQ). Cluster analysis identified four differentiated EI profiles: a group of adolescents with a low EI profile, a group with high scores in attention and low scores in repair, a high EI profile group, and a group of adolescents with predominance of low attention and high repair. The results also revealed statistically significant differences among the profiles in most of the learning strategies, in which students with high general EI and those with predominance of low attention and high repair use more learning strategies than the other groups, suggesting the importance of developing programmes of emotional skills to study in greater depth EI and its influence on students’ learning strategies.