Using Songs in Primary Education: Advantages and Challenges

Aquesta recerca està basada en l’observació de les cançons per aprendre i ensenyar la llengua anglesa en l’etapa d’Educació Primària. S’analitza la cançó com un recurs eficaç per aprendre aquesta llengua, així com també s’observen els avantatges i desavantatges que es poden trobar en l’ús de les cançons a les aules de Primària. A partir d’una aplicació pràctica també s’estudia la validesa d’aquest recurs en el primer i darrer curs de la Primària. A més a més, es mesura la motivació que mostren els alumnes davant d’aquesta eina d’aprenentatge. Finalment, es presenten els resultats obtinguts en l’aplicació pràctica que s’ha portat a terme en una escola i les conclusions que s’extreuen a partir de la justificació teòrica i els resultats obtinguts a partir de les sessions pràctiques.

Learning in the working place: the educational potential of a multihead microscope in pathology postgraduate training.

Training future pathologists is an important mission of many hospital anatomic pathology departments. Apprenticeship-a process in which learning and teaching tightly intertwine with daily work, is one of the main educational methods in use in postgraduate medical training. However, patient care, including pathological diagnosis, often comes first, diagnostic priorities prevailing over educational ones. Recognition of the unique educational opportunities is a prerequisite for enhancing the postgraduate learning experience. The aim of this paper is to draw attention of senior pathologists with a role as supervisor in postgraduate training on the potential educational value of a multihead microscope, a common setting in pathology departments. After reporting on an informal observation of senior and junior pathologists' meetings around the multihead microscope in our department, we review the literature on current theories of learning to provide support to the high potential educational value of these meetings for postgraduate training in pathology. We also draw from the literature on learner-centered teaching some recommendations to better support learning in this particular context. Finally, we propose clues for further studies and effective instruction during meetings around a multihead microscope.

Metabolic activation pattern of distinct hippocampal subregions during spatial learning and memory retrieval.

Activation dynamics of hippocampal subregions during spatial learning and their interplay with neocortical regions is an important dimension in the understanding of hippocampal function. Using the (14C)-2-deoxyglucose autoradiographic method, we have characterized the metabolic changes occurring in hippocampal subregions in mice while learning an eight-arm radial maze task. Autoradiogram densitometry revealed a heterogeneous and evolving pattern of enhanced metabolic activity throughout the hippocampus during the training period and on recall. In the early stages of training, activity was enhanced in the CA1 area from the intermediate portion to the posterior end as well as in the CA3 area within the intermediate portion of the hippocampus. At later stages, CA1 and CA3 activations spread over the entire longitudinal axis, while dentate gyrus (DG) activation occurred from the anterior to the intermediate zone. Activation of the retrosplenial cortex but not the amygdala was also observed during the learning process. On recall, only DG activation was observed in the same anterior part of the hippocampus. These results suggest the existence of a functional segmentation of the hippocampus, each subregion being dynamically but also differentially recruited along the acquisition, consolidation, and retrieval process in parallel with some neocortical sites.

Time in e-Learning Research: A Qualitative Review of the Empirical Consideration of Time in Research into e-Learning

Peer-reviewed

Information System ProcessInnovation Adoption, Adaptation, Learning, and Unlearning: A Longitudinal Case Study

This thesis examines the history and evolution of information system process innovation (ISPI) processes (adoption, adaptation, and unlearning) within the information system development (ISD) work in an internal information system (IS) department and in two IS software house organisations in Finland over a 43-year time-period. The study offers insights into influential actors and their dependencies in deciding over ISPIs. The research usesa qualitative research approach, and the research methodology involves the description of the ISPI processes, how the actors searched for ISPIs, and how the relationships between the actors changed over time. The existing theories were evaluated using the conceptual models of the ISPI processes based on the innovationliterature in the IS area. The main focus of the study was to observe changes in the main ISPI processes over time. The main contribution of the thesis is a new theory. The term theory should be understood as 1) a new conceptual framework of the ISPI processes, 2) new ISPI concepts and categories, and the relationships between the ISPI concepts inside the ISPI processes. The study gives a comprehensive and systematic study on the history and evolution of the ISPI processes; reveals the factors that affected ISPI adoption; studies ISPI knowledge acquisition, information transfer, and adaptation mechanisms; and reveals the mechanismsaffecting ISPI unlearning; changes in the ISPI processes; and diverse actors involved in the processes. The results show that both the internal IS department and the two IS software houses sought opportunities to improve their technical skills and career paths and this created an innovative culture. When new technology generations come to the market the platform systems need to be renewed, and therefore the organisations invest in ISPIs in cycles. The extent of internal learning and experiments was higher than the external knowledge acquisition. Until the outsourcing event (1984) the decision-making was centralised and the internalIS department was very influential over ISPIs. After outsourcing, decision-making became distributed between the two IS software houses, the IS client, and itsinternal IT department. The IS client wanted to assure that information systemswould serve the business of the company and thus wanted to co-operate closely with the software organisations.

Task complexity, the Cognition Hypothesis and second language learning and performance

In this paper we describe a taxonomy of task demands which distinguishes between Task Complexity, Task Condition and Task Difficulty. We then describe three theoretical claims and predictions of the Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson 2001, 2003b, 2005a) concerning the effects of task complexity on: (a) language production; (b) interaction and uptake of information available in the input to tasks; and (c) individual differences-task interactions. Finally we summarize the findings of the empirical studies in this special issue which all address one or more of these predictions and point to some directions for continuing, future research into the effects of task complexity on learning and performance.

Information, learning, and risk in financial markets

Cette thèse comprend trois essais qui abordent l'information le processus d'ap-prentissage ainsi que le risque dans les marchés finances. Elle se concentre d'abord sur les implications à l'équilibre de l'hétérogénéité des agents à travers un processus d'apprentissage comprtemental et de mise à jour de l'information. De plus, elle examine les effets du partage des risques dans un reseau entreprise-fournisseur. Le premier chapitre étudie les effets du biais de disponibili sur l'évaluation des actifs. Ce biais décrit le fait que les agents surestiment l'importance de l'information acquise via l'expérience personnelle. L'hétérogénéité restante des différentes perceptions individuelles amène à une volonté d'échanges. Conformé¬ment aux données empiriques, les jeunes agents échangent plus mais en même temps souffrent d'une performance inférieure. Le deuxième chapitre se penche sur l'impact qu'ont les différences de modelisation entre les agents sur leurs percevons individuelles du processus de prix, dans le contexte des projections de modèles. Les agents sujets à un biais de projection pensent être représentatifs et interprètent les opinions des autres agents comme du bruit. Les agents, avec des modèles plus persistants, perçoivent que les prix réagissent de façon excessive lors des périodes de turbulence. Le troisième chapitre analyse l'impact du partage des risques dans la relation entreprise-fournisseur sur la décision optimale de financement de l'entreprise. Il étudie l'impact sur l'optimisation de la structure du capital ainsi que sur le coût du capital. Les résultats indiquent en particulier qu'un fournisseur avec un effet de levier faible est utile pour le financement d'un nouveau projet d'investissement. Pour des projets très rentables et des fournisseurs à faible effet de levier, le coût des capitaux propres de l'entreprise peut diminuer.

Effects of Enriched Physical and Social Environments on Motor Performance, Associative Learning, and Hippocampal Neurogenesis in Mice.

We have studied the motor abilities and associative learning capabilities of adult mice placed in different enriched environments. Three-month-old animals were maintained for a month alone (AL), alone in a physically enriched environment (PHY), and, finally, in groups in the absence (SO) or presence (SOPHY) of an enriched environment. The animals' capabilities were subsequently checked in the rotarod test, and for classical and instrumental learning. The PHY and SOPHY groups presented better performances in the rotarod test and in the acquisition of the instrumental learning task. In contrast, no significant differences between groups were observed for classical eyeblink conditioning. The four groups presented similar increases in the strength of field EPSPs (fEPSPs) evoked at the hippocampal CA3-CA1 synapse across classical conditioning sessions, with no significant differences between groups. These trained animals were pulse-injected with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) to determine hippocampal neurogenesis. No significant differences were found in the number of NeuN/BrdU double-labeled neurons. We repeated the same BrdU study in one-month-old mice raised for an additional month in the above-mentioned four different environments. These animals were not submitted to rotarod or conditioned tests. Non-trained PHY and SOPHY groups presented more neurogenesis than the other two groups. Thus, neurogenesis seems to be related to physical enrichment at early ages, but not to learning acquisition in adult mice.

An empirical study on faculty perceptions and teaching practices of Wikipedia

Peer-reviewed

Learning and selection processes

In this paper I defend a teleological explanation of normativity, i. e., I argue that what an organism (or device) is supposed to do is determined by its etiological function. In particular, I present a teleological account of the normativity that arises in learning processes, and I defend it from some objections

Enseñar a aprender a pensar en los centros educativos, incluso en las actividades de evaluación.= Teaching to learn how to think at schools, even within assessment activities

El auténtico protagonismo de los centros educativostiene que dirigirse a ayudar a pensar a sus alumnos y aenseñarlos a aprender, es decir, el docente tiene queenseñar estrategias de aprendizaje y debe promover elesfuerzo del estudiante para facilitar la construcción deesquemas y el aprendizaje permanente.El profesor debe utilizar cualquier situación deaprendizaje para enseñar dichas estrategias deaprendizaje, incluso en las situaciones de evaluación;por lo tanto, en este trabajo se sugiere que en lasevaluaciones de los alumnos y alumnas se tenga encuenta la metacognición como factor fundamental en elaprendizaje y la enseñanza