Adaptation of a questionnaire to assess the epistemological beliefs of mathematics in secondary school teachers

The objective of the study is to determine the psychometric properties of the Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire on Mathematics. 171 Secondary School Mathematics Teachers of the Central Region of Cuba participated. The results show acceptable internal consistency. The factorial structure of the scale revealed three major factors, consistent with the Model of the Three Constructs: beliefs about knowledge, about learning and teaching. Irregular levels in the development of the epistemological belief system about mathematics of these teachers were shown, with a tendency among naivety and sophistication poles. In conclusion, the questionnaire is useful for evaluating teacher’s beliefs about mathematics.

Museums as a factor for the social integration of art in the community. The experience of cultural volunteering by members of the senior community

After considering museums as cultural institutions responsible for preserving cultural memory and its evolution over time, this article describes the cultural practices within our society that are aimed at disseminating art and at reproducing and transmitting culture, history and identity. Further, it considers the key role that older people are steadily assuming in Spain’s ageing society. New social-empowerment activities based on volunteering by the elderly are linked to generativity because the individual and social groups acquire new skills through those activities, thereby strengthening a society for all ages. Never in the history of social work have so many older people been prepared to participate actively at the community level, and never has a social movement with these features gone so unnoticed by so many social agents.

Use and access to ICT in students of public secondary schools in Chihuahua City, Mexico: inclusion in teaching and digital literacy

This paper addresses the issue of the digital divide in students of public secondary schools at Chihuahua City, Mexico. It seeks to identify potential inequality of opportunities with regards to subjects’ access to information, knowledge and education through the ICT (internet, mobile telephony, broadband and television). The study takes three schools as investigative stage, using the survey as a data collection instrument, identifying patterns of behavior regarding: general knowledge of them, access to computer equipment and internet, and characterization of their use. Other aspects of analysis are the identification of the educational level of parents and access to technology resources available for academic and non-academic purposes in various application areas (home, school and social environment). The proposal concludes, that it is through the recollection of alternatives suggested by the teachers themselves to incorporate ICT for teaching purposes in a systematic and planned fashion, whose greatest reflection manifests in better digital literacy indicators.

Calibration of assessment instruments – classification in mathematics at the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano

Item Response Theory, IRT, is a valuable methodology for analyzing the quality of the instruments utilized in assessment of academic achievement. This article presents an implementation of the mentioned theory, particularly of the Rasch model, in order to calibrate items and the instrument used in the classification test for the Basic Mathematics subject at Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano. 509 responses chains of students, obtained in the june 2011 application, were analyzed with a set of 45 items, through eight case studies that are showing progressive steps of calibration. Criteria of validity of items and of whole instrument were defined and utilized, to select groups of responses chains and items that were finally used in the determination of parameters which then allowed the classification of assessed students by the test.

The University Programmes for Senior Citizens and their contribution of lifelong learning

The study addresses the essential features of University Programmes for senior citizens (PUM). It committed to the lifelong education through the integration of the elderly in the University. Part of the base that is learned during the entire life cycle, there is no age, no specific space for education. Learning is constructed from knowledge, abilities, skills and aptitudes that are enriched continuously. It is necessary to ensure the elderly to age in a healthy way. It calls for active ageing, effective tool against isolation and social exclusion. The aim is to discover aspects of the UNED Senior training programme that contribute to lifelong learning and satisfaction produced. The PUM are ways for the promotion of aging along with other activities aimed to enhance a creative leisure, access to culture, facilitate training on topics of interest and create a means of participation in all spheres of society. In this research has resorted to a mixed methodology. Their wealth combines the methods of quantitative and qualitative allowing us to obtain information and contrast from different perspectives. The purpose is to verify the results of the investigation. The sample consists of 639 students, 57 teachers and 15 coordinators. The results indicate that the PUM of the UNED Senior is highly satisfactory for those involved, by the adequacy between interests and expectations. Fruit of this research are the conclusions and suggestions for improvement.

The elimination of the tutoring group-hour in Secondary Education. An exploratory study about teachers thoughts.

The Tutoring Group-hour in Compulsory Secondary Education and Post-Compulsory Schooling has been eliminated in a number of autonomous communities. Given the importance of the tutorial act as one of the fundamental pillars in students overall development, its disappearance has created considerable disturbance in the educational institutions, sparking a debate regarding the role of the tutor and the impact and effectiveness of their actions. In this survey, teachers from two different schools in the Community of Madrid maintain that they are properly trained to perform the various duties required for a tutor, show strong disagreement to the elimination of the Tutoring Group-hour in secondary schools, advocate incorporating it at a primary school level, and consider one of the main consequences of its disappearance to be less personalized attention for students. In short, an educational response that is less effective.

The Cuban school as a context for a proper development of the environmental perception

Environmental Psychology in Cuba is a new discipline that promotes a historical and cultural vision of mankind. Perception is one of the distinct processes that creates environmental consciousness. Depending on the perception of the environment, individuals interact with it, and vice versa. It means that a good perception of the significant elements of the environment also contributes to the formation of an environmental consciousness, in which perception is one of the main processes. In this transformation the school is one of the most important places for creating knowledge, skills, habits, and good attitudes towards the environment. As a result, the evaluation of the environmental perception development in students allows detecting weaknesses in the environmental education and proposing solutions based on specific problems. This study is based on different researches where the subjects were Cuban students from different educational levels and provides a first approach to the dynamic of the environmental perception development in these individuals. Recent researches have used some dimensions of the environment concept as development indicators: material, relational, intrapersonal, behavioural, cognitive, natural or ecological, and cultural. Generally speaking, different investigations show that school is the right context for environmental education.

Students perceptions about attention to diversity in Secondary Education Teachers Initial Training

This work aims to analyze the perceptions of students enrolled in the Master's Degree in Secondary Education Teaching, Training and Language Teaching at the University of Jaen, about the initial training received on attention to diversity. A descriptive methodology has been followed using an ad hoc questionnaire as data collection instrument. The results show favorable attitudes of future secondary teachers for diversity, having received an adequate training in curricular and organizational aspects, making it able to fully achieve inclusion of students with special educational needs in the classroom.

How teachers of Geography and History of Secondary Education assess?

The purpose of this article is to analyse the assessment procedures and instruments used by teachers of Geography and History of Compulsory Secondary School (ESO) in the Region of Murcia (Spain). The data have been extracted implementing a survey technique proceeded by a descriptive analysis. The results show that teachers generally have a traditional conception of assessment, reflected in the fact that they think that assessment should not change when teaching strategies are changed or when they innovate. On the other hand, although they consider that is necessary to employ a variety of instruments to assess well and to prevent school failure, they still use exams as the most objective and essential instrument in the assessment, while they don’t apply continuous assessment, only tests in a continuous way. The implementation of similar research in other areas or in other subjects shows the existence of contrasts in teacher assessment practices.

A new teaching category at the Spanish University of Franco’s regime: the appearance on the scene of the senior lecturer

The Law of 17 July 1965 on the structure of university faculties and their teaching staff placed the figure of the university senior lecturer on stage. During the sixties, the gestation process, adoption and subsequent integration of the new figure in the academic pyramid did not escape controversy, leading to a complex phenomenon to which, however, non comprehensive studies have been devoted to reveal: how, when, why and under which conditions this teacher appeared in the Spanish University of Franco’s regime. This paper aims to provide an overview of the process of materialization of the senior lecturer, the legislative framework that definitely established this new educational category and the provisions that were in charge of regulating the processes to get tenure. Also, the first approved aggregate endowments and their distribution among universities, colleges and studies will be discussed. Finally, it was a first approach to the possible motivations that led to the creation of this new educational category in a university afflicted by serious problems waiting for a solution that had been delayed sine die. Asimismo, se analizarán las primeras dotaciones de agregados aprobadas y la distribución de las mismas por universidades, facultades y estudios. Para terminar, se realiza un primer acercamiento a las posibles motivaciones que condujeron a la creación de esta nueva figura docente en una universidad aquejada de graves problemas que esperaban a una solución que venía demorándose sine die.

Models of initial training of secondary school teachers in Spain from a European perspective

This paper seeks to analyse some key issues related to initial training models for secondary education teachers from an international perspective with more specific references to the Spanish model. First, we briefly mention secondary education and its training needs: purpose, organization, structure, character, duration, etc.. Secondly, the most typical models of initial training of these teachers: consecutive and simultaneous, academic and professional, are adressed. Thirdly, we analyse the structure of initial training containing more general scientific and professional knowledge, (its theoretical and practical components). Lastly, the relationship between initial training and access to the teaching profession will be established, as well as the possibility of academic and / or professional qualifications is analyzed. We then highlight the issue of "professional identity", which is closely linked to the initial training of future teachers and final conclusions are discussed.

Competence in research planning in the fourth level of Spanish Secondary Education: a case study

In the last years, “Inquiry-Based Science Education” methodologies (IBSE) are being recommended by European institutions in order to improve the competence levels and the attitudes towards science of primary and secondary school students. Therefore, the aim of this study is to test the effectiveness of an IBSE methodology, the Methodology of Problem Solving as an Investigation (MPSI), for the teaching-learning process of planning of experiments in the fourth level of Spanish Secondary Education. By means of the students’ solutions for a series of open problems, the progress in the learning of the competences related to the planning of experiments has been analyzed, along with the influence of the methodology on the development of these competencies. The results show a students’ command from higher to lower levels on: emission of hypothesis, design of the experiment, qualitative analysis, identification of variables and reformulation of the open problem. Furthermore, the Methodology has contributed to an improvement of the scientific competence in the area of planning experiments.

Study of the images for the Visual Arts Education in Secondary Education textbooks: educational implications

In this paper we present the first data from the research conducted to determine the relationship between traditional visual arts and other forms of visual culture closer to the experiences of high school youth. The hypothesis of this research is that while students are nurtured and live primarily with the images provided by the media culture, their textbooks basically refer to the more traditional art images. The research has been limited to a review and analysis of the most common educational materials for teaching visual arts in high school. After the systematization and analysis of the images appeared in textbooks, we have detected three major types: the artistics, those who belong to media culture and others. The most relevant conclusions indicate that: there are hardly any connections between different types of images, they offer a very traditional view of art and they are far removed from the experiences of young book users.