Item and task difficulty in a B2 reading examination: perceptions of test-takers and CEFR alignment experts compared with psychometric measurements

The article presents a study of a CEFR B2-level reading subtest that is part of the Slovenian national secondary school leaving examination in English as a foreign language, and compares the test-taker actual performance (objective difficulty) with the test-taker and expert perceptions of item difficulty (subjective difficulty). The study also analyses the test-takers’ comments on item difficulty obtained from a while-reading questionnaire. The results are discussed in the framework of the existing research in the fields of (the assessment of) reading comprehension, and are addressed with regard to their implications for item-writing, FL teaching and curriculum development.

Gravity collapse structures in the Central Precordillera fold-andthrust belt, Argentina

Several landforms found in the fold-and-thrust belt area of Central Precordillera, Pre-Andes of Argentina, which were often associated with tectonic efforts, are in fact related to non-tectonic processes or gravitational superficial structures. These second-order structures, interpreted as gravitational collapse structures, have developed in the western flank of sierras de La Dehesa and Talacasto. These include rock-slides, rock falls, wrinkle folds, slip sheets and flaps, among others; which together constitute a monoclinal fold dipping between 30º and 60º to the west. Gravity collapse structures are parallel to the regional strike of the Sierra de la Dehesa and are placed in Ordovician limestones and dolomites. Their sloping towards the west, the presence of bed planes, fractures and joints; and the lithology (limestone interbedded with incompetent argillaceous banks) would have favored their occurrence. Movement of the detached structures has been controlled by lithology characteristics, as well as by bedding and joints. Detachment and initial transport of gravity collapse structures and rockslides in the western flank of the Sierra de la Dehesa were tightly controlled by three structural elements: 1) sliding surfaces developed on parallel bedded strata when dipping >30° in the slope direction; 2) Joint’s sets constitute lateral and transverse traction cracks which release extensional stresses and 3) Discontinuities fragmenting sliding surfaces.  Some other factors that could be characterized as local (lithology, structure and topography) and as regional (high seismic activity and possibly wetter conditions during the postglacial period) were determining in favoring the steady loss of the western mountain side in the easternmost foothills of Central Precordillera.

Concept maps as a tool to analyze the ideas of teacher training students regarding what to teach on human nutrition in Primary Education

Concept maps are a technique used to obtain a visual representation of a person's ideas about a concept or a set of related concepts. Specifically, in this paper, through a qualitative methodology, we analyze the concept maps proposed by 52 groups of teacher training students in order to find out the characteristics of the maps and the degree of adequacy of the contents with regard to the teaching of human nutrition in the 3rd cycle of primary education. The participants were enrolled in the Teacher Training Degree majoring in Primary Education, and the data collection was carried out through a training activity under the theme of what to teach about Science in Primary School? The results show that the maps are a useful tool for working in teacher education as they allow organizing, synthesizing, and communicating what students know. Moreover, through this work, it has been possible to see that future teachers have acceptable skills for representing the concepts/ideas in a concept map, although the level of adequacy of concepts/ideas about human nutrition and its relations is usually medium or low. These results are a wake-up call for teacher training, both initial and ongoing, because they shows the inability to change priorities as far as the selection of content is concerned.

Institutional resistances before school mediation. An inquiry in the conflict settings

This paper deals with the conceptions of the different school actors about the meaning and the implications of mediation in their schools, drawing on data from a qualitative approach carried out as part of a wider project to map mediation perspectives and practices in Catalonia. The authors analyze the scope of the situations regarded as suitable or unsuitable for the introduction of restorative practices, as well as the resistance to change in the practice of conflict resolutions and in the democratization of school culture.

Speeches and paradoxes of cultural mediation: A practice between the elite and the cultural poverty

This text analyzes the speeches of a group of cultural mediators working in Madrid in public and private institutions of arts. The group was organized as part of the activities of the European Project Divercity: Diving into Diversity in Museums and the City of the Complutense University in March 2015. The aim of the interview was to unravel what they mean by diversity in the profession, and analyze the contradictions and objectives professions that arise in this new field of work.