Una revisión del concepto de egocentrismo espacial en tareas de adopción de perspectivas

Resumen

Uno de los conceptos polémicos de la teoría piagetiana, el egocentrismo, es revisado en este artículo en el contexto de las tareas de adopción de perspectivas espaciales. Algunos autores han encontrado un elevado porcentaje de respuestas egocéntricas en niños pequeños en este tipo de tareas. Otros, sin embargo, observan pocos errores egocéntricos en todas las edades sin encontrar una etapa de egocentrismo en el desarrollo espacial, tal y como la describe la teoría piagetiana. Estas discrepancias se deben, en parte, a las diferencias metodológicas en el estudio de la habilidad para adoptar otras perspectivas. Además de analizar los aspectos metodológicos de la investigación, se propone en este artículo una reinterpretación del concepto de egocentrismo ligada a la distinción, propuesta por Turiel (1983), entre la adopción de perspectivas ajenas—como método para obtener información—y el sistema conceptual implicado en dicha información.     

Initiation aux probabilités à l'école élémentaire

Sans résumé     

Supporting pre-service elementary teachers in their understanding of inquiry teaching through the construction of a third discursive space

Several international reports promote the use of the inquiry teaching methodology for improvements in science education at elementary school. Nevertheless, research indicates that pre-service elementary teachers have insufficient experience with this methodology and when they try to implement it, the theory they learnt in their university education clashes with the classroom practice they observe, a problem that has also been noted with other innovative methodologies. So, it appears essential for pre-service teachers to conduct supportive reflective practice during their education to integrate theory and practice, which various studies suggest is not usually done. Our study shows how opening up a third discursive space can assist this supportive reflective practice. The third discursive space appears when pre-service teachers are involved in specific activities that allow them to contrast the discourses of theoretical knowledge taught at university with practical knowledge arising from their ideas on science and science teaching and their observations during classroom practice. The case study of three pre-service teachers shows that this strategy was fundamental in helping them to integrate theory and practice, resulting in a better understanding of the inquiry methodology and its application in the classroom.     

Do teachers’ conflicting testimonies influence children’s decisions about unconventional rules of counting?

This study addresses the influence of schoolteachers’ testimonies on children’s conceptions about unconventional correct counts or pseudoerrors. A total of 158 kindergarteners and second graders were individually interviewed: Fifty children participated in the baseline group (to determine their judgments about pseudoerrors without the presence of informants), and 108 children participated in the experimental group. There were two sessions—2 weeks apart—for the experimental group: in session 1, children faced the conflicting claims provided by three teachers vs. a dissident teacher about the correctness of different pseudoerrors made by the characters of a computer game. The participants had to decide which of the informants was right, providing a rationale for their choice. In session 2, children evaluated the same types of pseudoerrors but in absence of informants (similar to the baseline group procedure). We assessed the relative influence of the majority, and whether the presentation of teachers’ controversial judgments improved children’s understanding of counting. The findings revealed that children’s own ideas prevailed over the pressure of the majority: at both ages, children tended to endorse claims that considered pseudoerrors as incorrect counts, regardless of the source of information (majority or dissenter), and their tendency to reject pseudoerrors remained firm in session 2. Overall, results from the experimental and the baseline groups suggest that children’s adherence to the conventional rules of counting is strong and little susceptible to influence and revision. We discuss the educational implications of these findings as well as the limitations of the experimental paradigm used in this and other studies in the field of testimony.     

Intuitions primaires et intuitions secondaires dans l'initiation aux probabilités

Sans résumé     

A Teaching–Learning Sequence for the Special Relativity Theory at High School Level Historically and Epistemologically Contextualized

This paper discusses some topics that stem from recent contributions made by the History, the Philosophy, and the Didactics of Science. We consider these topics relevant to the introduction of the Special Relativity Theory (SRT) in high school within a contextualized approach. We offer an outline of a teaching?Clearning sequence dealing with the SRT within this frame of reference. Such a sequence was tried out on a group of high school students in Argentina. The results obtained seem to indicate that the proposal has been effective as regards the motivational aspects and the understanding students gained of some of its concepts.     

CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERVENTION RESEARCH IN SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY JOURNALS: 2010–2014

The purpose of this study was to provide an updated content analysis of articles published in major journals of school psychology spanning the years 2010–2014, with an emphasis on intervention research (including intervention and participant characteristics). Six journals—School Psychology Review, School Psychology Quarterly, Journal of School Psychology, Psychology in the Schools, School Psychology International, and Journal of Applied School Psychology—were selected for the analysis. Over the 5‐year period, 1,196 articles were published in the selected journals. A total of 65.8% of the articles were empirical articles; intervention studies with school‐age samples comprised 11.1% of all articles. Within the intervention studies, single subject represented the most frequently used research design (40.6%). Further, 58.6% of the intervention studies did not provide sufficient information to discern participants’ disability status. Although the proportion of empirically based articles has increased in recent years, that of intervention articles has remained low.     

Does universities' posting strategy influence their social media engagement? An analysis of the top-ranked higher education institutions in different countries

To ensure the widespread dissemination of information and to foster interaction and dialogue with users, higher education institutions need to develop an active profile on the social networks. This paper analyses the influence of universities' posting strategy on their followers' engagement (reaction, virality and conversation) by measuring the level of activity and type of presence on their social networks. A content analysis was conducted to analyse 90,000 posts by 70 universities from Europe, the United States and Latin America on their institutional profiles on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The universities' posting activity on their social media is moderate (with an overall mean of 7.04 posts per day), but the interaction rate is very low (0.237), far below the recommended levels of engagement. Notably, increased activity by universities on social networks does not lead to greater engagement but points to an inverse relationship between the two. Our findings also indicate that university-created content (UCC) achieves a higher level of engagement ($\overline{x}$ = 169.41) than university-shared content (USC) ($\overline{x}$ = 126.18). This study explores the effect of universities' posting strategy dimensions on their follower's interaction.