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Recent attention to character formation as the key to moral education has also regarded personal and fictional role models as appropriate means to this end. Moreover, while one may have grave reservations about the influence of personal role-models (perhaps upon the young by those they happen to admire), serious fiction has often been considered an inspirational source of moral example. Still, while this paper ultimately mounts a defence of the moral educational potential of literature, it is also concerned to press two significant reservations about any and all attention to fictional character as a means to such education. First, since the ultimate meaning of any fictional character and conduct is largely, if not exclusively, confined to their narrative contexts, we should not suppose them to have any direct role-modelling application to the affairs of human life beyond such contexts. Second, and more significantly, since morality is also ultimately more than and/or not entirely reducible to the contingencies of human character, attention to either fictional or real-life character must anyway fall somewhat short of full moral education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the recent interest in phronesis ('practical wisdom') and the creation of a four-componential model to unpack its nature, various puzzles (philosophical, psychological, and educational) remain about those components, not least the proposed one of «emotion regulation». This paper introduces four remaining puzzles about this component and provides a brief overview of possible responses based on Aristotle's texts. However, given his own naturalistic method, in which ethical theorising must be constantly updated in light of empirical findings, the paper suggests that Aristotle's texts only take us thus far and that we need to draw on contemporary psychological sources for further enlightenment. Therefore, it invokes research from the last quarter of a century about so-called «meta-emotions», of great relevance given the meta-status of phronesis as an integrative virtue. Some of the possible implications of this research for an understanding of the emotional component of phronesis are elicited, as well as how it can be cultivated as part of character education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of the article "A Comparison between Evaluation of Computer Based Testing and Paper Based Testing for Subjects in Computer," by S.M. Arachchi, K. Dias, and R.S. Madanayake, and published in issue 5 of the "International Journal of Software Engineering & Applications" is presented.

The competency-based curriculum approach is an international focus that embodies a trait which is widely shared around the world in today's educational scenario. It is deemed a response to the challenges faced by societies today, in the era of modern globalisation and the fourth industrial revolution. In Spain, the recently passed Organic Law 3/2020, of 29 December, which amends Organic Law 2/2006, of 3 May, on Education (hereinafter, LOMLOE) has developed legislation that is now reaching the curriculum. Therefore, it is appropriate to analyse such legislation. This is the purpose of this paper, which describes some of the institutional history behind this curriculum reform movement; the humanistic component of the movement, which remains connected to so-called "liberal education" while broadening its perspectives, is specified; certain elements of the ideological controversy around this new curricular approach and its rendering in the new law are described; a critical analysis of the conceptual foundations of the new structure is made and its limitations are indicated; attention is drawn to the central role of evaluation of learning outcomes and the paper ends with a succinct conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out different contexts where mathematics helps create a thinking and reasoning habit, with special emphasis on problem solving. Intelligence is thought to be connected to problem solving ability and so we are interested in the relationship between intelligence and mathematical problem solving. These problems will be posed in a broad sense, not just considering classical written problems but also problems that appear in situations such as chess, magic tricks, and board games. These settings motivate students better, solving them requires different approaches, and they relate to other fields of knowledge. This paper reports on our experience of posing problems and reasoning with gifted students through magic tricks based on mathematical ideas and we give some examples of the activities we have done with them. We also present recreational mathematics as a discipline that promotes student motivation and increases curiosity and inquiry. We show some ideas from Miguel De Guzmán, Martín Gardner, and Raymond Smullyan that have been used in different frameworks. We describe some games that have been shown to be useful tools for creating reasoning schemas, presenting the particular case of chess as an educational tool. Finally, we set out some conclusions about the introduction of new materials, methods, and ideas for solving problems and we formulate a proposal for continuing this work and applying it in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many countries and international organizations have devoted significant efforts to designing a school curriculum that responds to the educational needs of the 21st century. In Spain, the LOMLOE (Organic Law 3/2020, of 29 December, which amends Organic Law 2/2006, of 3 May, on Education) has also proposed the renewal of the curriculum as a key element for the modernization of the education system. The aim of this paper is to analyze the Spanish curriculum reform from a comparative perspective, in order to assess whether it is in line with the current trends of change on the international scene and to detect the conditions that must be met to successfully achieve its purpose, in the light of what has been learned in other countries. To this end, a comparative analysis framework has been developed based on UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and EU (European Union) publications on this subject and on various comparative studies on recent curriculum reforms around the world. The results show that, in terms of the approach and architecture of the curricular model of the compulsory education, the Spanish reform follows the recommendations of international organizations and shares to a large extent the characteristics of the reforms undertaken in many countries around us. However, it is also possible to detect some relevant differences in terms of the strategy adopted for the change and the agents involved in it, which should be considered, as they could become obstacles to the achievement of the pursued objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides some reasons that explain, in the view of the author, why the present eagerness of the Spanish Educational Authorities to reform all levels of education, from primary school to the universities, will not improve the quality of the Spanish educational system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The LOMLOE (Organic Law 3/2020, of 29 December, which amends Organic Law 2/2006, of 3 May, on Education), like any other law concerning education in an advanced democratic society, puts in place a new system to achieve the aims of education. However, as with any other education law, its wording and implementation raise contentious issues. Some are political in nature while others are more specific to the pedagogical field. In any case, they all relate to the purposes of education. This paper presents some of these controversial issues, perhaps the ones that are causing the most debate at a social level, especially in the field of education. These issues are: the idea of educational and social inclusion and how it is managed with regard to state-funded private centres, in particular ones that follow a single-gender education model and ones that cater for special educational needs; the competence-based curriculum and all that this entails; the objective of educational success and the role of evaluation in achieving it; and finally, the question of religion. This article does not set out to criticise the new education law. Instead, it seeks to consider how these controversial issues relate to the purposes of education. It concludes that the LOMLOE has some good points but that at the same time a political approach to the pedagogical predominates, which instead of integrating and opening itself to freedom and plurality, eliminates options without considering pedagogical arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online Principal Certification and Advanced Teacher Degree programs have taken up an incresingly larger share of graduate enrollments in U.S. colleges of education. This paper discusses how a major educational leadership department expanded its residence programs to incorporate online leadership degrees. Having started in 2008, the program now has current enrollments of over 80 students including students from outside the U.S. The paper discusses overcoming obstacles such as faculty resistance, meeting state licensing and accreditation requirements, staffing online courses, funding and marketing. Leadership for the program came from the department and college where online learning was increasingly seen as a priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about educational research journals in general and the British Educational Research Journal in particular. In this paper, we discuss some of the aims of educational research journals and several the challenges facing them; we also identify various ways in which journals could consider doing things differently. Two issues are of particular significance. The first is about the accessibility of educational research in an era of rapid technological change and the rise of Open Access publication models. The second is to do with the mission of education journals in relation to long-standing and pervasive educational inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to show the importance of language and the challenges it faces in the digital revolution by considering the possibilities for cultivating it during adolescence in three fundamental spaces: Homes, Schools, and Cities. It starts by analysing the dual function of language as a means of both communication and representation, as how one receives one's heritage and imagines and projects one's future. It then considers the false dichotomy between digital competency and reading skills in light of the latest results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Reading can no longer be understood just as the ability to enjoy dusty volumes of old classics languishing on library bookshelves. Rather, it can be defined as a set of strategies that enable personal development and participation in society. This extension of the concept inexorably involves the competence of acting creatively in digital environments. Unfortunately, these environments go largely unheeded at School, where they are relegated to the mundane world of play. At Home, however, digital discourse can be experienced as unfathomable, where the digital divide makes it a world apart. Therefore, collaboration between School and Home becomes vital for ensuring that adolescents' immersion in the digital world leads to critical, responsible participation in citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2008, Penn State University's online delivery organization, Penn State World Campus, established a dedicated faculty development unit to improve online instruction. The Online Faculty Development (OFD) unit was designed to prepare faculty for online teaching through a large and varied curriculum of asynchronous, online training courses built on the theory and research of best practices for online instruction. This paper describes the Penn State World Campus OFD unit, its mission and program, and the assumptions underlying its day-to-day operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of educational videos available on the internet on the most varied topics is rapidly increasing. These include mathematics videos that cover virtually any type of curriculum content. However, their quality as a learning resource varies greatly. As a result, it is necessary to provide teachers with tools to enable them to analyse the appropriateness of using educational videos, considering the various aspects involved. This paper describes the design, implementation and results of an educational intervention with 93 prospective primary school teachers, focussed on developing their ability to analyse the educational suitability of videos about proportionality. Preliminary analysis of the video revealed significant errors and inaccuracies in the definitions, propositions, and procedures, as well as shortcomings and inaccuracies in the arguments, and so its level of epistemic suitability is rated as medium. However, the majority of the prospective teachers rated its degree of suitability as high in almost all components. Students regard studying didactic suitability and implementing it through components and indicators as positive, believing that this activity facilitates professional reflection. However, mastering this tool requires analysing a greater number and variety of videos and further collective discussion of the results of the analyses performed by the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

but with greater attention to students’ computer literacy than teachers. At the same time, previous studies on digital literacy of teachers are unsustainable and mainly skewed on pre-service teachers than in-service teachers. These realities point to the need to investigate and implement effective and sustainable initiatives for improving digital literacy and online life-long learning for in-service teachers in Africa. This paper therefore presents a specialised MOOC platform known as TEP (Teachers’ E-learning Portal) for digital literacy and online life-long learning for in-service teachers in Uganda. TEP is built for environments with inadequate access to computers, internet and technical assistance. As such, TEP is accessible online or offline, managed by accredited local universities in collaboration with beneficiary secondary schools, and runs on existing resources in schools (technical personnel, computers and internet). Results from initial implementation of a computer literacy MOOC through TEP indicate that irrespective of age, when teachers are adequately supported internally by their schools and externally by a university, can improve their digital literacy and subsequently engage in online life-long learning. In addition, the results both in terms of high percentage of teacher participants’ completions (89%) and high volume of educational e-content generated, confirm TEP as an effective, attractive, and self-sustainable MOOC platform for in-service teachers’ in resource constraint environments. The paper finishes with an analysis of the relevance of TEP to Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological and methodological advances enable new substantive research questions to be posed, and new study designs to be implemented, in educational research. In this paper I review emerging methods relevant for capturing learning and teaching processes over time--the sequences of learning events--which take place in multiple contexts. To do so, the concepts of nomothetic and ideographic research are traced through the use of Cattell's (1952) cube, posing persons, variables and time as the three key dimensions for determining study-designs. For educational research, a fourth dimension--context--is important to consider given the nested structures (e.g. student-teacher dyads, peer-relations, student-groups, classrooms, teachers, and schools) learning and teaching occurs in. Several developments of quantitative methods enable researchers to a) establish quality of measurement (e.g. factor analysis, item response models), b) across sequences of time-points (e.g. autoregressive models), c) in complex multilevel structures (e.g. multilevel models, random effects models), also using estimators which are robust for small-n studies (e.g. Bayesian models). Educational researchers are encouraged to design studies fitting multilevel models for hierarchically and cross-classified data, and to think in terms of intraindividual learning processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social science journals are undergoing a process of change to reach the quality standards required by knowledge assessment agencies. This paper presents an overview of the main areas requiring improvement in order to attain a better position, visibility, and impact for these journals. Considering its remarkable trajectory that makes it a reference in the field of social sciences, the model of the journal Comunicar is analysed, pondering the relationship between articles received and accepted, authorship, methodologies, and quality criteria employed by the journal. This piece concludes with a reflection on the existence of a new academic culture, the potential quality parameters of the journals and their indicators, the importance of the author of academic texts and his or her training, the establishment of topics of interest beyond the local or individual, visibility and transference, and the incorporation of new ways of measuring the impact of work, in line with the resources of the digital society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the start of the PISA evaluations there have been numerous studies that have metaphorically tried «to separate the gold from the sand», in other words, to derive useful knowledge to guide educational practice and policy from the vast amount of data collected. However, research that uses data mining techniques to extract knowledge from the databases provided by the OECD has been less common. This paper analyses the context questionnaires from a metric perspective using a methodology based on data mining with «regression trees». Its main goal is to discover how much value (how much «gold») is in the items that compose these questionnaires, considering their use as predictors of the performance of Spanish students. The results provide a list of the items selected in the six questionnaires and their predictive value. It also provides a methodological approach to help improve the productivity of educational research derived from PISA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The teaching of History (methodology, projects, materials), has undergone many changes from Rafael Altamira's research over the end of the nineteenth century and first third of the twentieth century through to research by innovation groups comprising teachers in the last third of the twentieth century. This paper shows the changes and continuities in history teaching models, as well as coincidences and differences. Its aim is to present a history of innovation concerning the teaching of the discipline because, although innovation has been discontinuous and has been more or less present depending on the circumstances and the actors who have promoted it, its return always maintains the intensity of the original expression. Consequently, we believe that this overview of innovation, analysing noteworthy proposals, is needed to record attempted changes and improvements and ensure they are available as a reference point when attempting to understand current initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the institutional origins of the Philosophy of Education in Spain through the study of Juan Zaragüeta, first Professor of this discipline in the thirties in the Spanish universities. Zaragüeta was trained in part at the Higher Institute of Philosophy at Louvain. He represented a link of continuity between the two worlds in which the institutionalization of pedagogy took place before and after the gap of the Spanish civil war. Nevertheless, the continuity was early truncated. The paper analyzes the presence of the courses of Philosophy of Education taught by Zaragüeta at the Section of Pedagogical Studies of the University of Madrid, and the conversion of their content into Fundamental Pedagogy. The authors argue that the basis of this identification was the revival of Thomistic philosophy and synthetic view of knowledge promoted by Cardinal Mercier, that Zaragüeta experienced in Leuven and led him to characterize pedagogy as a social science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes a few aspects of the February Report Proposals for a reform and improvement of the quality and efficiency of the Spanish University System, prepared at the request of the Spanish Minister of Education by a nine Experts Commission that included the present authors. The paper addresses several drawbacks of the Spanish university system, namely, the frequent duplication of Centers covering the same studies and degrees within very small geographical areas, an inadequate selection of university lecturers, a rather ineffective university governance and an insufficient funding of public universities and research. Among the main changes proposed by the Commission, the following are considered: a rationalization of the university studies, the need for a fully external assessment of Spanish universities plus funding criteria partially based on it, important changes in the recruitment of academic staff, much greater internationalization, improved university governance, a drastic reduction of bureaucracy, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is based on some works of late Foucault about an affirmative vision of making of Self, what complements the nihilistic and deconstructive perspective of its previous stages. I emphasize the extraordinary importance of these lasts writings, as some recent sources, for pedagogy. From what developed in them, the pedagogy can overcomes the reductionist instrumental reason model of modernity. The paper analyzes and points out aspects of Hellenistic philosophies, especially the Stoics as Foucault notes, which may be updated and serve as guidance today. They advocate an alternative model of education based on ethical rationality, in which the subject engages and educates. This conduces to an epistemological concept in which thinking and philosophizing involves a practical activity or behavior (an ethos), this being an educational process along which the subject is being constituted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the process of integration among migrant young people in Catalonia aged from 14 to 18. For this purpose, a study was made, using a survey and four discussion groups probing the points of view of both the migrant and native youth. Results are organised around a model of integration based on four core dimensions: structural, cognitive-cultural, social and of identity; and confirm that a society which is plural in its beliefs, convictions and forms should be reflected in democratic systems and social and educational policies based on a concept of integration as reciprocity and understood as a fundamental principle in the management of diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the current debate regarding the best school setting (single-sex schooling v. coeducation) several advocates of coeducation have published emblematic papers that implicitly suggest that the debate should be considered as finished and that further research regarding this topic is not needed. This essay aims to refute the combined arguments of those articles using methodological and empirical facts, and show that the debate about this question and research into it should not be seen as complete, but instead should be promoted. At the same time, the essay identifies certain features in the aforementioned articles that present a risk of distorting science by moving towards arguments of an ideological nature, and it underlines the problem this represents for the debate itself and for science in general. The article does not seek to defend single-sex education, only the need for further research into it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After an initial stage of exponential growth in MOOCs, a need has arisen of to address several different aspects of these innovations in order to understand and develop them from different perspectives, such as this one, with the analysis of pedagogical dimensions aimed at improving course design. This paper presents an updated review of the literature and proposes five research lines for an in-depth approach. This study is part of a broader research project1 and here analyses 356 MOOCs delivered in Portuguese by 16 different platforms. The research design is quantitative, non-experimental and transversal. An adaptation of the MOOC Educational and Interactive Indicators Instrument —INdiMOOC-EdI— was used in the data collection process. The reliability and internal consistency analysis of that adaptation for the whole sample resulted in a Cronbach alpha score of 0.731. The data obtained enable us to classify the existing MOOCs in Portuguese according to descriptive, formative, and interactive components. These different types correlate with the quality indices, being negative in the first dimension (descriptive) and positive in the second and third ones (formative and interactive). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the results of a longitudinal study on the integration of MOOCs in university classrooms and their influence on academic performance. The relationship between performance and the course design and the type of student participation is discussed. Performance has been assessed through evidence of learning, while the design and influence of the type of participation have been checked using standard instruments: TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) and IMMS (Instructional Materials Motivation Survey). Evidence obtained shows that participation in a MOOC improves learning results, and that both the type of course design (defined by an intensive use of social networks and e-activities) and active participation have an influence on academic success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MOOCs are seen as the latest development in online learning and since their launch in 2008 they have become an integral part of university course curricula. We are currently at an early stage in the development of MOOCs; few studies have been published on their assessment so far. Consequently, this paper is based on a literature review, using the main academic databases JCR and Scopus, on 33 articles published between 2013 and 2015 with the objective of determining the educational quality of MOOCs. The methodology is based on a literature review procedure in which seven categories were distinguished when carrying out the analysis: course planning, contents, methodology, resources and activities, motivation, communication, and assessment and certification. The results of this study show that the assessment of the quality of MOOCs refers to a slightly higher than average quality, except for the three variables of content, resources and activities, and assessment. However, it warns of a lack of studies that assess the pedagogical quality of MOOCs and so we suggest further studies are needed with greater methodological rigour to obtain conclusive results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many theories of moral education exist, much is less known about how this virtue of prudence is developed. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to present and analyze the process through which moral virtue develops. More specifically, it shows how individuals must behave in order to grow as a moral person and achieve the good life. Drawing from the Theory of Action by Pérez López, this paper proposes that any decision situated in an interpersonal context involves learning from the decision maker and others. When the other is taken into consideration in one´s decision through the exercise of rationality and willpower, moral virtue is developed. This model allows transversality and thereby the teaching of ethical competency through the case method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to justify and assess the importance of impact evaluation of plans or intervention programs in organizations in general and in the educational ones in particular, to know the changes taking place in people and organizations themselves, especially the long-lasting ones that lead to a sustainable change, the magnitude of those changes and the determinant factors of their achievements. It begins with a conceptual approach to the term impact considered as the effects of an intervention, highlighting the sense that makes reference to the "footprint" left over time in an organization. It is also pointed out the relationship between impact evaluation and sustainable change, analyzing the meaning of impact evaluation in its temporary dimension, emphasizing the difficulties it raises and studying in depth those of methodological character connected with design, indicators and measurement. The paper ends with the conclusions coming from the analysis carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preparation of this paper was prompted by reading a few pages on peace education by José Antonio Ibánez-Martin, which I considered as an invitation for me to confront myself with peace pedagogy that was elaborated in the last century in particular with Italian Personalism that fits in an anthropological perspective similar to that raised by the Spanish pedagogue. Therefore this paper is divided into three parts; the first is an introductory that recalls a few pedagogues who dealt with the "argument" of peace education. The second deals with Personalism proposals. The third regards José Antonio Ibáñez-Martín thoughts on peace education. Finally I conclude with a few remarks and a proposal for a new understanding of the meaning of peace. The speech concludes with an invitation to commit oneself in promoting, through education, the ability | and desire to build a great human family «based on truth, justice, freedom and love». [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we intend to identify a professional speciality of Pedagogy that responds to a socio-labour demand, which is based on a little known research tradition, but well-founded. However, this field of interest has not an explicit implementation in the current university study plans. With this aim, we try to find out, through a descriptive-exploratory analysis, the origins of Labour Pedagogy. We also want to know how we can conceptualize Labour Pedagogy, why we consider it so important discipline, both from an academic and a professional perspective, where it is possible to fit it inside the current study plans of pedagogy, mainly in Spain, but also in the European countries close to us, and how we can guide our students academically so that they can develop a professional career inside this area. After the analysis, we have discovered the need to make Labour Pedagogy visible by increasing subjects in the curricula and research in this line, as well as more national and international meetings which may favour the exchange of experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of the present paper is to check whether there are relationships between the different levels of academic achievement and perceived parental involvement in homework, as well as to know whether these relationships vary as they advance to upper grade levels. The sample consists of 730 Secondary School Students (ranging from 12 to 16 years of age). The results indicate that students with high performance are associated with higher perceptions students' regarding parental expectations of their capabilities and the level of satisfaction of their parents in their academic results. In relation to grade level, there is a decrease in their perceptions of: (a) parental accompaniment to perform the homework, (b) control and parental support, (c) parental interest in their academic progress and (d) the level of satisfaction of their parents for their academic results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the presence of the character teacher or professor, carrier of pedagogical ideas, in the Spanish novel of the period between realism and the avant-garde. From the review of sixty-six novels and fifteen stories, it inquires about educational concepts and subgenres. The examination of the character leads to the separation of four narrative modes: schoolteachers (male and female) in the realistic novel, the philosopher-educator in the lyric novel, the teacher-cleric in the religious boarding school subject to the scheme of anti-Bildungsroman, and University Professor, with subsidiary role, in novels of universitary life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today we will see the need to rethink the teaching and learning models at Schools of Architecture, reconsidering the ways of teaching and learning. In this sense, the teaching of architectural design should step away from the attitude that is still prevalent in many schools, consisting of conveying predetermined teaching or a closed and complete architectural culture, which attempts to exhaust all the avenues of knowledge, showing a strict and infallible method. What is needed, though, is an active and plural education that considers the complexity of architecture, based on ongoing research and part of an open, flexible and dynamic disciplinary discourse. An education that allows students to develop skills and generate new knowledge from the creation of learning situations which stimulate independent learning, facilitate subsequent ongoing training and enable a more critical and profound intellectual development. Undoubtedly, students must acquire lots of knowledge and skills, and there are many learning processes which must be simultaneously present at the beginning of their training. These can be grouped into the following: learning how to see, learning how to think, learning how to build, learning how to communicate and learning how to learn. The aim of this paper has been to develop each one of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives an answer from assessments of cultural competences in architectural design learning. Learning based on competences raises fears about a displacement of a humanistic education by job training. Even before the competences approach was adopted in the field of architectural design learning, from some points of view, neither architectonic culture nor formation in the humanities was considered necessary to design. Its introduction increases the awareness on the possibility to lose the humanistic content in the architectural training. As a counter position to these points of view, the following article shows the results of an experiment to isolate and measure competencies of architectural culture and relate them with assessments of architectural design courses. This experiment found moderate and very high correlations between the results of formative assessments of competencies in architectural culture and those obtained by the same students in the summative assessments of the architectural design courses. These results demonstrate that architectural design needs knowledge of the culture of architecture, whose background is a humanistic education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a didactic sequence proposal, jointly designed by university and high school teachers of English and Spanish (Región del Bio Bio, Chile), which aims at supporting students' development of writing skills through the application of a wiki as a computer mediated collaborative tool. For this purpose, the paper provides a conceptual framework which supports the proposal, followed by a writing didactic sequence design, based on the process writing approach, the collaborative learning theory, and computer mediated communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools are required to educate students in community and citizenship. This overall aim comprises a number of specific objectives: to communicate a set of contents, to foster certain values and attitudes, and to develop a range of skills. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from a survey dealing with issues related to Citizenship Education (CE); 1,557 third-year students in secondary education in the Zaragoza region were surveyed. The paper is structured as follows: first, the international framework within which CE is promoted is described. The issue is then discussed in relation to established Spanish legislation in this regard. Thereafter, the empirical results from a case-study survey carried out among students attending schools in Zaragoza are presented. The focus of the survey was to evaluate student responses to EC as a subject, and its objective was to analyze the views of students both before and after their participation in the subject during academic year 2008-2009, the first year the subject was taught in the Spanish school system. The results show that there is significant improvement in the theoretical knowledge block, which is consistent with student experience on a taught course at school; however, there is no appreciable improvement in the blocks relating to values and attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational research has advanced theoretical approaches by defining and designing integrated models oriented up to the study of relationships between constructs not directly observable embedded in complex contexts. In parallel, data analysis software has allowed testing these complex models in reasonable computing environments in terms of time and effort. This techno-scientific revolution in the developed software for quantitative data analysis has transformed scientific practice in educational research. In this paper is assumed the growing trend in educational research on design and fit of comprehensive models of educational phenomena. More specifically we will focus on the statistical decision trees, in structural equation models and multilevel models, which come to dominate the landscape of educational research since the mid 70's and have recently been generalized thanks to technological development. The impact on educational research has been a widespread use of sophisticated statistical models than ever so far. It is necessary to think about what theoretically grounded models have to be tested with statistical tools as powerful as those being described in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper expose the characteristics that owe to have an on-line questionnaire, and the advantages in front of the questionnaires in paper, likewise gives some councils of how improve the tax of answers. The archive of data that generates there is exposes like treating it to be able to analysis the data with a program of statistical analysis, and particular with the SPSS. It does a brief description of how can build a questionnaire with the program LimeSurvey and as it can export the data for his statistical treatment. Besides, it gives indications of how encode the data in those other programs that serve to put online questionnaires and that generate archive of data without encoding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is part of the results found during a research project carried out during the academic year 2007-2008 in a number of schools in the periphery of Granada (Spain). The paper describes the relationship between phonological competence and literacy in Year-Five children. We found that phonological competence to be a determining factor in the development of literacy skills and further academic performance, as well as the consideration of writing skills as a key element in the analyzed features: phonemegrapheme conversion, arbitrary spelling, orthographic rules, accent rules, capitalization, punctuation, and others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper represents a contribution to the modern pedagogical literature regarding educational inequalities. We analyze the differences in the results between the ten CCAA that participated with a wide sample in the 2006 edition of PISA. The results show that a project such as PISA, whose first intention was to improve the educational politics of nation-states, also reveals the educational differences within countries. In the case of Spain, this paper shows that even with a common normative framework, autonomous educational politics along with certain contextual factors can produce very different educational results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the literature on choosing science courses in school and the determining factors in such choice in light of the important role that this choice plays in the present crisis in the science professions. The factors that influence this choice are personal, school-related, and extra curricular. The most important personal factors are gender and attitudes toward science and toward school science subjects; the paper analyses both attitudes and gender in particular. The quality of science education as implemented through curricula, teachers, and fairness issues are some influential school-related factors. There are many, diverse out-of-school factors. Finally, several proposals to improve the choice of science subjects are discussed, such as strengthening academic counseling in school and innovating science education by giving it a humanistic twist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the main topics in postmodern pedagogy and their relationship to Heideggerian hermeneutics and the "old" ideal of the New School. A critical analysis of emancipatory ideology, non-directivity, and disregard for memory is carried out. The paper emphasizes how the postmodern trend can be positive, as long as it does not ignore the Socratic tradition. In spite of appearances, postmodern pedagogy is part of this tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a number of ideas related to distance education and its role in teaching and learning are considered. Although these considerations have been made principally with highly able students in mind, our aim has been to generalize the possibilities of curriculum diversification and flexibility for all students be they highly able or not. It is true that the most capable students have special characteristics regarding the way they learn, which are obvious. No less obvious is that if we heed the principals which govern the teaching-learning process, all students should benefit from learning at their own pace, frequent evaluation, prescriptive teaching, etc. These are all characteristics of good teaching. Perhaps, for this reason, it would be fair to state that when teaching highly able students is taken seriously, the whole school benefits. The paper ends with some specific considerations on the distance education model which is followed by CTY Spain, a charter member of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth International, a center which is highly recognized throughout the world for the instruction of highly able students everywhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a nation-wide research, directed by the author of this paper, we describe the headship leadership in centres which are scarcely studied, such as Vocational Training. The contributions of this paper as regards the roles, functions and competences of those centres' headships are enriched by two facts: the contextualization and the inclusion in the Italian educational system and in the empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper offers a revision about the current state of the component of educational organisations, the so-called leadership. After a conceptualization, theoretical and historically based on the analysis of the abundant existing scientific production, the concept is then characterised in the paper by these features: it is a kaleidoscopic, integrative, prescribed, coveted, ambiguous-deceitful and competent term, divorced from the practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The boards of directors are subject to strong political and contextual pressures that on one side, make difficult the practice of an instructional leadership and, on the other, head for a bureaucratic, managerial and perpetualizing development of its function. The situation is revised by means of resources and significant experts from so disparate locations as the United States of America, Finland, Russia or South Africa. The paper also makes evident the role the main international journals about that field are playing, being one of them directed by one of this paper's author. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the surroundings of the school, which are described as the outside space of the school institution but closely related to the children's experiences due to their role of schoolchildren. Its aim is not the ethnographic description of what happens in those surroundings, but to take those events into account in order to reflect on their importance in relation to the different conceptions of what schools are and must be. The paper has two different parts, preceded by an introduction and followed by an epilogue. At the first part, the surroundings of the school are considered as peculiar spaces of autonomy and for transgression. At the second part, different pedagogical actions schools have carried out on their surroundings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

20th Century has finished with some hopeful signals in the national and international context of the Philosophy of Education. A right extension of «practical philosophy» has been taking place in education. In the realm of education, there is any discipline that does not demand for it the category of «praxiología». This paper tries to show the differences between this practical approach and the one trying to maintain the Philosophy of Education. Some current and mistakes lacks are also indicated: the ethical character of practical knowledge, the necessity of the personal commitment of the educator and the importance of the theoretical knowledge on the aims of a human development. The paper proposes to understand Philosophy of Education as an ethical theory for education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the traditional approach to the sociology of science based upon Karl Mannheim's sociology of knowledge. Robert Merton's program is discussed as the basis of sociology of science. Furthermore, Kuhn is acknowledged as having set up the foundation for a new paradigm in the sociology of science. This paper intends to defend the work of Kuhn as the framework by which other current studies in the social sciences under the name of «sociologies of scientific knowledge» have come about. Finally, several key pedagogical issues taken from the traditional sociology of science as argued by Merton are discussed. It has been found that pedagogy in terms of sociology of science has closely followed the framework used by the other social sciences. Several advances and achievements that have recently made some headway are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of Language Learning is a living process in constant flux. Nowadays and based on pedagogical principles like meaningful and unconscious learning, approaches such as CLIL have become important in the area of language teaching methodology, pursuing the learning of those languages through the study of subjects such as Science, History and Art in the foreign tongue itself. What kind of teacher should be delivering this specific training is the question dealt with in this paper. Using a thorough research process, including an in-depth literature review of current CLIL Teacher models, the participation of professional practice among experienced up-to-date CLIL teachers, and combined with a validation process carried out by experts in the field, a concrete, reality-based, widely-structured model of competencies is presented, describing the figure of an Effective CLIL Teacher. The ultimate goal is to go even further by designing specific training and evaluation tools based upon this model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]