The use of role-play games in teaching: The International Climate Negotiation Game

This paper presents a role-play game designed by the authors, which focuses on international climate negotiations. The game has been used at a university with students all drawn from the same course and at summer schools with students from different levels (undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers) and different knowledge areas (economics, law, engineering, architecture, biology and others). We discuss how the game fits into the process of competence-based learning, and what benefits games, and role-play games in particular, have for teaching. In the game, students take on the role of representatives of national institutions and experience at first hand a detailed process of international negotiation concerned with climate change.

Factors Facilitating Successful Educational Innovation with ICT in Schools

[EN]This paper proposes an approach to the concept of ICT-based innovation in schools, from the perspective of the factors that facilitate the innovative use of ICT. To this end, a scale has been developed and validated to identify these factors through the participation of 195 teachers from 16 schools considered by the Basque educational authorities as innovators in ICT. The results obtained attest to the validity and reliability of both the scale and the 5 key factors that influence innovation in technology-based teaching. This factor-based structure enables a holistic view of ICT innovation in schools across 3 key areas: school context, teachers and the education authorities.

Does the Term Spread play a role in the FED's reaction function? An Empirical Investigation

Using US data for the period 1967:5-2002:4, this paper empirically investigates the performance of a Fed’s reaction function (FRF) that (i) allows for the presence of switching regimes, (ii) considers the long-short term spread in addition to the typical variables, (iii) uses an alternative monthly indicator of general economic activity suggested by Stock and Watson (1999), and (iv) considers interest rate smoothing. The estimation results show the existence of three switching regimes, two characterized by low volatility and the remaining regime by high volatility. Moreover, the scale of the responses of the Federal funds rate to movements in the rate of inflation and the economic activity index depends on the regime. The estimation results also show robust empirical evidence that the importance of the term spread in the FRF has increased over the sample period and the FRF has been more stable during the term of office of Chairman Greenspan than in the pre-Greenspan period.

"I'm on it 24/7 at the moment" : A qualitative examination of multi-screen viewing behaviours among UK 10-11 year olds

Background: Screen-viewing has been associated with increased body mass, increased risk of metabolic syndrome and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents. There is a shortage of information about the nature of contemporary screen-viewing amongst children especially given the rapid advances in screen-viewing equipment technology and their widespread availability. Anecdotal evidence suggests that large numbers of children embrace the multi-functionality of current devices to engage in multiple forms of screen-viewing at the same time. In this paper we used qualitative methods to assess the nature and extent of multiple forms of screen-viewing in UK children. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with 10-11 year old children (n = 63) who were recruited from five primary schools in Bristol, UK. Topics included the types of screen-viewing in which the participants engaged; whether the participants ever engaged in more than one form of screen-viewing at any time and if so the nature of this multiple viewing; reasons for engaging in multi-screen-viewing; the room within the house where multi-screen-viewing took place and the reasons for selecting that room. All focus groups were transcribed verbatim, anonymised and thematically analysed. Results: Multi-screen viewing was a common behaviour. Although multi-screen viewing often involved watching TV, TV viewing was often the background behaviour with attention focussed towards a laptop, handheld device or smart-phone. There were three main reasons for engaging in multi-screen viewing: 1) tempering impatience that was associated with a programme loading; 2) multi-screen facilitated filtering out unwanted content such as advertisements; and 3) multi-screen viewing was perceived to be enjoyable. Multi-screen viewing occurred either in the child's bedroom or in the main living area of the home. There was considerable variability in the level and timing of viewing and this appeared to be a function of whether the participants attended after-school clubs. Conclusions: UK children regularly engage in two or more forms of screen-viewing at the same time. There are currently no means of assessing multi-screen viewing nor any interventions that specifically focus on reducing multi-screen viewing. To reduce children's overall screen-viewing we need to understand and then develop approaches to reduce multi-screen viewing among children.

Income Taxation and Growth in an OLG Economy: Does Aggregate Uncertainty Play any Role?

We analyze the effects of capital income taxation on long-run growth in a stochastic, two-period overlapping generations economy. Endogenous growth is driven by a positive externality of physical capital in the production sector that makes firms exhibit an aggregate technology in equilibrium. We distinguish between capital income and labor income, and between attitudes towards risk and intertemporal substitution of consumption. We show necessary and sufficient conditions such that i) increments in the capital income taxation lead to higher equilibrium growth rates, and ii) the effect of changes in the capital income tax rate on the equilibrium growth may be of opposite signs in stochastic and in deterministic economies. Such a sign reversal is shown to be more likely depending on i) how the intertemporal elasticity of substitution compares to one, and ii) the size of second- period labor supply. Numerical simulations show that for reasonable values of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution, a sign reversal shows up only for implausibly high values of the second- period’s labor supply. The conclusion is that deterministic OLG economies are a good approximation of the effect of taxes on the equilibrium growth rate as in Smith (1996).

La mediación como recurso pedagógico por y para la convivencia pacífica en los centros educativos

Resumen: Los centros educativos son un lugar de convivencia y, como en otros ámbitos de la sociedad, se producen conflictos. Si no se gestionan de manera positiva, éstos pueden afectar a dicha convivencia y para ello, se deben fomentar habilidades sociales específicas como lo es la mediación. Como estructura sistémica, la mediación es una herramienta de trabajo por y para la convivencia pacífica en los centros, en la que los alumnos adquieren un papel protagonista en su propia educación. Así, a través del diálogo los alumnos afrontan los problemas que surgen diariamente, adquiriendo compromisos y responsabilidades, tanto consigo mismo como con los demás; lo que mejora sensiblemente el clima escolar.

Sormena bost urtko gelan. Musika, mugimendua eta jolasa.

Ez da arraroa, egungo eskolan, nolabaiteko aukera eza aurkitzea Haur Hezkuntzako haurraren sormena garatzeko. Aukera eza honi erantzuna emateko asmoz sortu da proiektu hau. Hiru bitarteko nagusi uztartzea proposatzen da: alde batetik, musika, sormenaren garapenerako aukera anitz eskaintzen dituelako; bestetik, mugimendua, haurraren garapenen fisiko eta kognitiboan berebiziko garrantzia duen funtzioa; eta, azkenik, jolasa elementu integratzaile bezala, gizakiok haurtzaroan dugun oinarrizko jarduera. Ondoren proposatzen diren jolasak zehazki sortuak, aukeratuak eta moldatuak izan dira sormena era ludikoan garatzeko. Barakaldoko Alkartu Ikastola Publikoan praktikan jarri eta gero, esan dezakegu haurrek ia mugarik gabeko sormena garatu dezaketela, irakasleak bitarteko egokiak eskura jartzen badizkie.

Euskal musika-tresnen ikas-irakaskuntza prozesuak ikertzen

[eus] Lan honen xedea euskal musika-tresnen irakaskuntzan, batez ere musika eskoletan lantzen diren metodoak aztertzea izan da, gero eremu formalera eramateko. Horretarako, Bizkaian euskal musika-tresna herrikoien egoera zein den ezagutu eta aztertzen da. Ikerketa honen oinarria, egindako elkarrizketa kualitatiboak izan dira. Bertan, metodo etnografikoa eta autoetnografikoa erabiliak izan dira. Emaitzei erreparatuz, hezkuntza formalean euskal musika-instrumentuen presentzia nahiko eskasa da. Nahiz eta irakasleen formakuntzan ere gabeziak egon, musika eskolei esker, euskal musika-instrumentuak jotzen ikasteko eta musika herrikoiaz gozatzeko aukera zabala dago.

ADAPTECC: A Role-Play Game about Adapting to Climate Change

The ADAPTECC Climate Change Adaptation Game is a role-play game designed to enable players to experience the difficulties that arise at local and regional levels when authorities have to implement adaptation measures. Adaptation means anticipating the advert effects of climate change (CC) and taking measures to prevent and minimise the damage caused by its impacts. Each player takes the role of the mayor or a councillor of a town affected by CC who must decide what adaptation strategies and measures to take, or of a member of the Regional Environment Department which must distribute funding for adaptation among the various towns. At the end of the game, players should have a greater understanding of the challenges posed by adaptation to CC