Experiences in education innovation: developing tools in support of active learning

The paper focuses on educational projects developed in the ETSII (Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales) of the Polytechnic University of Madrid during the past few years. These projects were developed as new tools for enhancing the active role of students, for improving practical teaching, especially by means of virtual laboratories and different sets of problems and exercises, and for promoting self-learning. The paper analyses the use of ICT in teaching, with the case of a developed e-learning platform as a tracking system for subjects. The paper concludes by discussing the new educational trends in the Centre, devoted to develop an active role of students by activities such as peer mentoring and laboratory monitors programs, and competitions for achieving multidisciplinary engineering challenges.     

Students’ Emotions in the High School Mathematical Class: Appraisals in Terms of a Structure of Goals

Little research in the field of Mathematics Education is directed towards emotions of students beyond their emotions in problem-solving. In particular, the daily emotions of students in a mathematics class have been sparsely studied in the field of mathematics education. In order to fill this gap, this qualitative research aims to identify high school students’ emotional experiences in the mathematics classroom and identify the appraisal structures that support such emotional experiences. Focus group interviews were carried out until theoretical saturation of the data was achieved (N = 53 in nine focus groups interviews). Data analysis is based on the theory of cognitive structure of emotions, which specifies eliciting situations for each emotion and the variables that affect intensity. The emotional experiences in this structure are as follows: satisfaction, disappointment, hope, fear, joy, distress, boredom, interest, pride, reproach, self-reproach, like and dislike. These results show that the emotional experiences of students are based on their appraisals of events, objects and agents in terms of a structure of goals.     

Psychometry of the Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale in Spanish Teachers' Education

Our objective was to test the factorial validity of the different versions (TSES-24, TSES-12, and TSES-11) of the Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale in Spanish preservice teachers'. The participants were 358 preservice teachers. The confirmatory factor analysis showed inadequate fit indexes for both TSES-24 and TSES-12 but adequate fit indexes for TSES-11, which was invariant across gender. The reliability analysis showed appropriate values. The global factor for teachers' sense of efficacy and the three factors that constitute it positively predicted intrinsic motivation and life satisfaction. The global factor for sense of efficacy and the classroom management and student engagement factor negatively predicted amotivation. The results support the use of the TSES-11 three-factor model, rather than TSES-24 or TSES-12, for Spanish preservice teachers.     

Les représentations graphiques dans la résolution de problèmes: Une expérience d'entraînement d'étudiants dans un club mathématique

Resumé Cet article voudrait aborder un thème précis: l'emploi des représentations graphiques dans les comportements de recherche de problèmes de type Olympiades. Pour ce faire, nous utiliserons deux voies complémentaires: l'étude des copies des participants aux Olympiades Mathématiques Espagnoles (OME) et l'observation des membres d'un Club mathématique constitué dans le but de développer notre recherche. L'analyse des copies des OME a montré l'importance du choix et de l'interprétation de la première repésentation graphique dessinée, pour la réussite ou l'échec de la résolution d'un problème posé, c'est pourquoi nous avons essayé d'apprendre aux participants du Club mathématique à réfléchir aux stratégies de résolution et à réagir de manière critique contre les réflexes dûs aux conditionnements scolaires.

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Graphic representations in problem solving: a training program for students on a Mathematical Club

The article looks at the use of graphic representation in problem-solving tasks of the type set in the Olympiads from two different points of view. Firstly, an analysis of the answer sheets of participants in the Spanish Mathematical Olympiads (OME), and secondly the observation of the members of a Mathematics Club brought together to help with the investigation. The analysis of a sample of answer sheets shows that the choice and interpretation of the first graphic representation drawn in the problem-solving process plays a decisive role in the discovery of the solution. As a result, a training programme has been established for the members of the Mathematics Club to help them consider the strategies used in problem-solving tasks and to help them approach these tasks in a more critical manner than is expected in a normal school environment.

     

The (Mis) Preparation of Teachers in the Proposition 227 Era: Humanizing Teacher Roles and Their Practice

Basic to the struggle for educational equity and academic achievement is the role of the teacher. Central to how a teacher's role is enacted is the preparation a teacher receives, largely defined by teacher certification standards and impacted by legislation such as Proposition 227. In California, where one of four students enrolling in school is an English language learner, and 90% of the teachers are monolingual English speakers, the preparation prospective teachers receive becomes glaringly critical. This article examines how the anti-immigrant legislation affects teacher (mis)preparation by forcing teachers to regress to passive roles emphasizing standards-driven, technical, one-size-fits-all approaches in addressing the complex educational needs of English language learners. A bilingual teacher educator shares her attempts to humanize the teacher's role by engaging her students in critical examinations of schooling and their role as teachers.     

Spanish Bilateral Initiatives for Education in Latin America

The research presented in this article concerns la Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional (Spanish Agency for International Cooperation—AECI) and its growing presence in Latin America since the late 1990s. The aim is to evaluate the transformative potential that bilateral funding can have on educational reform in the region. The article starts with a brief history of Spain’s past and present strategies for educational initiatives in Latin America, and then it focuses on three of AECI’s successful projects: basic and adult literacy; gender mainstreaming in development projects; and multicultural and bilingual education. The article explains the effectiveness of Spanish-sponsored projects in Latin America and compares their strategies with those of other bilateral and multilateral donors, such as PREAL. The article concludes by analysing multi-sectoral development efforts that are the foundation of educational strategies sponsored with Spanish funds, based on the grounds that elimination of poverty will not result from projects that focus exclusively on the individual or the family, but rather from those at the community level. AECI’s efforts are directed at cultivating internal capacities already present in the communities through training human resources and deploying financial resources.     

Towards learning analytics adoption: A mixed methods study of data-related practices and policies in Latin American universities

In Latin American universities, Learning Analytics (LA) has been perceived as a promising opportunity to leverage data to meet the needs of a diverse student cohort. Although universities have been collecting educational data for years, the adoption of LA in this region is still limited due to the lack of expertise and policies for processing and using educational data. In order to get a better picture of how existing data-related practices and policies might affect the incorporation of LA in Latin American institutions, we conducted a mixed methods study in four Latin American universities (two Chilean and two Ecuadorian). In this paper, the qualitative data were based on 37 interviews with managers and 16 focus groups with 51 teaching staff and 45 students; the quantitative data were collected through two surveys answered by 1884 students and 368 teachers, respectively. The findings reveal opportunities to incorporate LA services into existing data practices in the four case studies. However, the lack of reliable information systems and policies to regulate the use of data imposes challenges that need to be overcome for future LA adoption.     

Spelling difficulties in Spanish-speaking children with dyslexia / Dificultades de escritura en niños españoles con dislexia

In addition to reading difficulties, a significant proportion of developmental dyslexics have spelling problems, which persist into adulthood. Studies carried out in languages with opaque orthographies have found that dyslexics frequently make phonological substitutions when spelling and have difficulties in developing orthographic representations of irregular words. Those errors seem to derive from an excessive use of phonological codes when writing. Minimal research in Spanish (relatively transparent orthography) about the relationship between dyslexia and spelling difficulties has been carried out to date. In this study, 19 Spanish-speaking developmental dyslexics (from 7 to 11 years old) and 28 controls (from 6 to 11 years old, distributed in two groups, one matched for age and the other for reading level with the dyslexics) performed a dictation task of 80 stimuli with different levels of orthographic consistency, in order to discover the codes they use in the writing process. Results showed that Spanish children with dyslexia made significantly more spelling errors, especially among the ruled and irregular words. These findings are consistent with the idea that these children have difficulties in developing orthographic representations and use phonological codes more frequently than non-dyslexics, resulting in phonologically plausible errors when writing irregular words. These results have important implications for the treatment of spelling difficulties in children with dyslexia, highlighting the need to focus on the correct acquisition of grapheme-phoneme conversion rules as well as the development of appropriate orthographic representations.