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First-generation students (FGS) have become a recent field of study as a result of the massification processes of higher education. The objective of this paper is to analyze Latin American articles on FGS published from 2002 to 2020, and indexed in Web of Science, Scopus, and SciELO; the research is centered on the dimensions/variables under study and the theoretical approaches and methodologies used. The results show that research on FGS in Latin America is in the incipient stage—produced primarily in the Southern Cone. It follows the theoretical patterns of the global north; in other words, the object of study is addressed through sociological or psychological theories that emphasize individual characteristics as a determining factor in academic persistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general objective of the research was to describe the incidence of teaching methodologies in university students. It was developed from the quantitative paradigm and a documentary-bibliographic design, through the inquiry, collection and critical documentary and referential bibliographic analysis, based on the methodical, rigorous and deep exploration of various documentary sources, such as: scientific research, articles, peer-reviewed papers, theses, among others. Subsequently, the findings were described, allowing the development of the theoretical body in relation to the subject of study. It was concluded that the training process at the university level must be rethought and open to the changes that are being generated as a consequence of technology, globalization and the social context; hence the importance of having teaching methodologies that allow the generation of knowledge and meaningful learning, allowing the development of critical thinking and the acquisition of competencies for future professionals graduating from universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the perceptions about university access, sense of effort, meritocracy, and social inequalities of students from 8 elite Chilean higher education institutions. Using 1773 responses to a questionnaire that was applied to a stratified sample of students from these universities, regression models that control for differences between socioeconomic groups, types of university and time of stay are estimated. The results show that the type of university is the main axis of differentiation in these perceptions, with traditional university students being more skeptical of meritocracy and individualistic explanations than their peers from emerging private universities. Furthermore, there is a relative homogeneity within each type of university, except in those items related to university entrance. It is concluded that the different types of elite institutions are a relevant distinction for understanding the diversity of perceptions that exist among those who transit through these highly influence spaces at the national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the narratives about the inclusion- exclusion of university students with disabilities in the city of Temuco, Chile. Therefore, it was decided to reconstruct the university experience of young people through the biographical-narrative method as it offers insight to give meaning and understand the cognitive, affective and action aspects of students with disabilities. In the same way, for the purposes of this paper a discourse analysis model has been formulated based on the theoretical-methodological proposals proposed by Gilberto Giménez (1989) that guide the work with the corpus obtained for the present study. Consequently, the analysis of the corpus allows us to describe and highlight that each experience should not be treated as an expression of a unique thought, since disability is not a standard situation and each case enriches its very notion based on its particularities. Finally, the students who agreed to share their stories reinforce the importance for them of both family context, institutionalization and the role of friendships; same that acquire the role of thematic axes from which topics emerge, as well as implications around the inclusion-exclusion binomial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The review is a hybrid text genre of an expository-argumentative nature that is very appropriate for initiation into the production of academic texts in higher education, as it enables the development of some of the communicative, discursive and linguistic skills inherent to academic texts. The aim of this paper is to present an analysis of reviews written in Basque by first-year university students in order to identify some indices for improving the current teaching intervention. The analysis of the reviews has focused on three levels: general planning of the text, nominal cohesion and modalisation. The results show that although the basic components of the macro structure of the review are included, certain aspects need to be improved, such as the introduction of the topic and objective of the text reviewed and the evaluation. Other difficulties are related to aspects such as the lack of precision in the use of academic terminology when referring to the reviewed text or its author, and the use of declarative verbs in accordance with the use of this genre. On the basis of the analysis carried out, we detail some of the didactic objects to be worked on with first-year university students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines various concepts related to academic texts writing from a functionalist and interactionist perspective of discourse and language, with the aim of reflecting on the purpose of writing centers and to establish a theoretical framework which substantiates the practice of a center aimed at teacher's education. In this work, literacy and academic literacy are circumscribed in the context of initial teachers training. Social and epistemological aspects of common writing practices in higher education are addressed, as well as the linguistic aspects that characterize these types of texts and that can represent challenges for students. It is concluded that the practical reason of the writing center must be grounded on a clear theoretical-pedagogical position, based on the knowledge of the features of discourse and language used in such process of inculturation, which has a social, cognitive and linguistic character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the representations of good university teachers prepared by professors at public universities in Mexico, and discusses the implications for management, training, and identity. A literature review allowed us to contrast instructional and student-centered focuses, while defining ethical, pedagogical, and multifunctional dimensions. We employed quantitative methodology based on a representative sample's responses to a Likert scale survey. The resulting representations were inferred by analyzing linear trends and dif erences by age group, type of contract, seniority, gender, and area of knowledge. The findings show that the teachers' shift toward student-centered learning requires explanation and self-criticism of their representations, as well as ethical displacement; also necessary are adequate conditions and coherent institutional discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the influence of academic engagement on university students' satisfaction with their faculty from teachers' autonomy support. Scales of Autonomy Support, Academic Engagement and Satisfaction with the Faculty are administered to 870 Dominican university students (50.6% male and 49.4% female). Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling are carried out. The results reflect the influence of teachers' autonomy support on the satisfaction with the faculty mediated by academic engagement, as well as the direct effect of perception of teachers' autonomy support on university students' satisfaction with their educational center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the fundamental goals of education is for people to learn to differentiate scientific knowledge from the one derived from common sense and pseudoscience. Learning to think scientifically is considered an easy task. It is not natural to humans; it requires changing certain structures of knowledge towards notions that need reflection, and an important transformation of some conceptual networks that are involved in the information processing mechanisms natural of all living organisms. In the case of psychology, the conceptual change from folk psychology (or common sense) and pseudoscience to psychological science is also difficult to teach, perhaps even more so than in physics or biology, as the latter are more developed, more remote from human problems and there are less epistemological controversies about their methodology. There is evidence of differences between students and graduates on their views about the scientific basis of psychology. In this paper, the perception of psychology's status was evaluated among psychology students and graduates from universities in Argentina using the Psychology as a Science Scale (Friedrich, 1996 PAS). It's comprised of 20 items with a 7 point Likert style response ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). It is divided into three factors. F1: psychology can be considered as a science similar to biology or physics (4 items, e.g. A degree in psychology should be a Bachelor of Science rather than one in Arts or Humanities); F2: research conducted in controlled laboratory environments is essential for the understanding of everyday behavior (5 items, e.g. Being able to do experiments is as important to psychology students as for chemistry, physics or biology students); and F3: behavior is predictable (6 items, e.g. Although each person is unique, it is possible for science to find general laws to explain human behavior). It also has 4 filler questions (FR) to hide the objectives of the survey and control social desirability (eg. An introductory course in psychology should encompass the widest range of possible topics). Friedrich (1996) reported that the scale has an internal consistency coefficient alpha of .71 for a sample of students and Holmes (2014), reported alpha of .74 for graduate / teachers. For the sample presented, Cronbach's alpha was .74 for all items. The Spanish translation was done by the authors of the study and evaluated by two experts in psychology and English proficiency. Then it was administered to a group of psychology students to confirm the understanding of the items. The survey was administered both through an online system and in person. The main results show that students have significantly lower score than graduates in the three factors of interest. However, graduates who identify with a cognitive-behavioral framework or with an integrative-eclectic approach strongly agree or agree with the scientific status of psychology as measured in F1, F2 and F3, unlike students and psychoanalysts who scored significantly less in F1 and F3. Moreover, students of the first years of study have a significant minor score than students of the last years on F1 and F3 (p < .05). This work has as limit that the sample is not representative and the questionnaire was not validated in its version in Spanish. However, the results are similar to those of other countries, although it was the first that discriminated the opinion of the graduates in function of the theoretical orientation. Future research confirms these results. These results are discussed in relation to studies in other countries and to the teaching of psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an analysis of the application of a test of citizenship skills on a group of students from the University of Magdalena (Universidad de Magdalena) after they received teaching practices that were both constructive (case studies) and playful (games) to acquire citizenship skills. The study is quantitative with a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design, a control group that received explanations (lectures) and an experimental group that received playful and constructive teaching practices. The parametric tests performed on the data obtained lead to the conclusion that there are significant differences in favor of students who used playful and constructive teaching practices to develop citizenship skills. This points to the need to continue applying effective teaching practices to develop these skills in university students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper assumes some relevant links connecting both, the reflection on student dropout and quality in Higher Education. The assumed frames locate the reflection on student dropout in a wider context than the most common studies do. That's it; the influence exerted by the tertiary education in the student's personal development and its socio-economic impact on the local contexts where it is such education is developed. Beyond it, the paper analyzes some of the more relevant data related to the dropout phenomena and some of the it most common evaluations on Higher Education in our country, besides considering some key biases detected in studies on dropout. To deepen the knowledge of this phenomenon means the development of high analytic criticism on previous studies and the frames they adopted in its analysis. Beyond the former analysis some feasible guidelines are proposed in order to build up better policies pointing at the dropout reduction in Higher Education. According to such proposal some key concepts are depicted for a more comprehensive approach to the phenomena. As a closing summary, they are illuminated by ten basic guidelines aiming at the institutional intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The researches on the Belief in a Just World (BJW) started in the 60' with the experimental studies carried out by Lerner (Lerner, 1965, 1980; Lerner & Clayton, 2011; Lerner & Simmons, 1966). Those studies pointed out that social injustices are frightening for individuals, therefore they need to belief that everyone gets what deserve during his or her life to maintain the control over their environment. If people do not believes that things happen as consequences of their acts, they will feel exposed to undesirable situations that today happen to others, but tomorrow could happen to them. Then, to deny this threat, they blame the victims of injustice, attributing to them the responsibility for their suffering. During the last decades, different studies have shown that individuals from different cultures around the world believe that the world is a just place, and the relations between this belief and socio-political factors (Furnham, 1993, 1998, 2003). In this vein, the system justification theory proposes that the BJW, together with the social dominance orientation (SDO; Jost & Hunyady, 2005; Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth & Malle, 1994), contributes to support and rationalize the social order denying social injustices by appealing to the merit of the dominant social groups. Moreover, there are evidence that the BJW is positively associated to right wing authoritarianism (RWA - Altemeyer, 1996; Dalbert & Yamauchi, 1994; Moore, 2008) and political ideology self positioning (PI - Schlenker, Chambers & Le, 2012). The aim of this paper is to adapt and validate a Spanish version of the Global Belief in a Just World Scale (GBJWS) by Lipkus (1991) in a sample of university students. Hence, a self-reported questionnaire was administered to 328 university students of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (Argentina) aged between 18 and 40 years old (M = 24.1, SD = 3.88), 36.6% were male (n = 120) and 63.4% female (n = 208). Besides, 61.28% of the participants studied Psychology and the remaining 38.72% studied Sociology, both at the University of Buenos Aires. Firstly a descriptive analysis of the items was performed. Secondly, the reliability of the scale was tested studding its internal consistence (a = .83). Simultaneously, the construct validity was test by an exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis. Finally, the validity of criteria was studied by analyzing the relations between the GBJW, RWA, SDO, and PI. The results suggest adequate psychometric properties of the GBJWS in this sample of university students and verified the unidimensionality of the scale (x2(df) = 54,01(14); S-B x2(df) = 41,77(14); S-B x2 / (df) = 2,98; NNFI = .93; CFI = .96; A2 = .96; RMSEA = .08). Furthermore, GBJWS was positively associated with RWA (r = .35; p < .01), SDO (r = .36; p < .01) and negatively with PI (r = -.37;p < .01). It is considered that this paper contributes to the measuring of the GBJW since presents an adaptation and validation of a scale that wasn't available in Spanish. This study had been done with a university sample because the construction and following adaptations of the original scales were made in such population (Bègue, 2002; Dalbert, Lipkus, Sallay, & Goch, 2001; O'Connor, Morrison, T. & Morrison, M., 1996). The relations between political conservatism are coherent with the support of the status quo, since if the world is thought as a just place, there is no reason to transform it (Furnham, 2003; Jost & Hunyady, 2005). This study had been done with a university sample because the construction and following adaptations of the original scales were made in such population (Bègue, 2002; Dalbert, Lipkus, Sallay & Goch, 2001; O'Connor, Morrison, T. & Morrison, M., 1996). However, it's necessary to point out that this limitation doesn't allow the generalization of the results to a general population. Hence, it is recommended for future studies to consider other populations to improve the generalization and representatively of the results pre- sented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research in sociology and psychology of work have stated the importance of considering a more general definition of 'work' which not only refers to employment. From a more comprehensive point of view, the ad-honorem participation of students in academic activities (teaching, research, extension) might be understood as work. Thus, it is of interest to analyze how students perceive this and what meanings they give to their academic work. This paper has the objective of analyzing the meanings that ad-honorem academic work has for students. As motives and benefits are two important aspects of the meaning, the motives that students have to do ad-honorem work, what benefits it provides them, and therefore, the meanings they give to this academic work, are analyzed. This is an exploratory and descriptive study with a quantitative and qualitative methodological approach. A survey and an interview were applied to the total population of students (n=64) who do ad-honorem work in academic jobs at the school of Psychology at the National University of Mar del Plata, as well as a focus group with eight students with different profiles of participation. Based on the results, six categories of 'meaning of ad-honorem academic work' were designed. Many of them are consistent with results of previous research, except for one category which is specific for this type of organization which is institutional support. This information from the student's perspective may contribute to the characterization of this population, allowing a more complete comprehension of the relation that students established with the academic work. The value of this contribution to the field of psychology of work is also stated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers the results of a quantitative study carried out with the aim of defining the technological skills profile of 301 students entering the BA in elementary education. A 29-question digital survey was used; results reflect a prevalence of female students over 30 years of age, who have access to a computer with an Internet connection, prefer to interact using phones, use e-mail, surf the Internet every day, are able to use technology at a basic level, particularly office suites, and are unfamiliar with the use of modern tools such as blogs and social bookmarking. It is concluded that these students do not display the characteristics expected of digital natives: the production, dissemination and consumption of culture online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to share research results. These are about the reconstruction that students do on their previous school experiences and how they contrast them with the changes in their university life. The central problem was linked to the need to know the characteristics of young people who are in fact living at the stage of university. We have as a goal to show some of their psychosocial references in order to identify issues related to the experiences in this new step and their ways of action on the construction of their institutional place. The research was conducted in 2014. It is a mixed methodological approach, because we gave a questionnaire with closed and open questions, but also, we took individual and group interviews. The population consisted of students who were enrolled in their second year of Chemical and Veterinary Sciences at the Catholic University of Córdoba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking into consideration the gap between the explosive growth of enrollment of new students and the small number of graduates, this paper explores the processes of attrition and slowing that increase the distance between theoretical duration and real duration of university courses. Taking as an object of analysis the behavior of students in the University Technical Degree in Cultural Management, -Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Design, UNMDP, we have made a cut on the Cohort 2009 to explore the current dynamics, among the factors that enhance the low rate of graduation, persistence or prolongation of studies and the attrition process of students in the institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on epistemological beliefs has become widespread, but in recent years has opened the doors to a debate on how these beliefs should be characterized and assessed. It is within this context that this study seeks to characterize these beliefs as component premises of epistemological perspectives. The study evaluated 55 first-year university students from four academic disciplines by means of the Egyptian pyramid-building dilemma. Two epistemological perspectives were identified. One was empirical and supported by the premise that knowledge is an objective systematization of observations of an unequivocal reality embodied by just one possible explanation, and the other was an individual relativist perspective supported by the premise that knowledge is a subjective systematization of facts that gives rise to multiple but equally valid explanations. The paper discusses the nature of these premises, the utility of a dilemma-based methodology and the implications for educational practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In 2006, the Nursing School of the University of Chile began changing the teaching plan from a learning objective syllabus to one based on competencies; this implementation began in 2013. Objective: This paper aims to present a summary of a research carried out from 2010 to 2013 by the syllabus innovation commission of the Nursing School from the University of Chile in order to implement a syllabus based on competencies Methodology: It presents the different phases that require the integration of different actors, per se; the academic school staff, external teachers to it, employers, graduates and students from the nursing program as well. Conclusions: This experience allowed thinking about some of the paradigm changes required in this process, such as the student at the learning center, with dynamic and proactive participation of them, the agreement on using a different language, with innovative methodologies that aim to a meaningful learning. [Silva-Galleguillos A. Training by Competencies in Nursing. An Experience from the University of Chile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The word «Infotecnología» defines the key discipline for reaching the training and the development of the technical-social relationships and the communications infrastructure of the Cuban Higher Education. The use of Information Technology for producing and publishing the graduation theses is highly important for the best use of TICs in Higher Education in Cuba, so, since the 2008-2009 course the decision was make that all the Cuban students should produce their graduation theses in digital format. The results of the application of a procedure to produce the graduation theses by using Free software and their publication in digital format are discussed in this paper. The paper proposes the use of the Editorial University's Websites to become the main tools for training professors and students in the intensive use of the Information Technology and for producing and publishing the academic documents. The creation of the Register of the Cuban Academic Publications is proposed to make possible the use of bibliographical references managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to communicate and discuss aspects of the research process as part of a doctoral degree, carried out within the clinical approach in a broad sense, studying the task at university classrooms. The research's scope and its epistemological and methodological framework will be described. Then we will focus on a central and specific problem such as construction of sense. This will be addressed from several perspectives. From an epistemological one, it will address the construction of sense of the clinical approach, which considers it a peculiar relationship between researcher and research object. From a methodological perspective, it will address the interpretative-jump from collected data which allows the construction of theory. From a subjective perspective it will analyze the complex nature of involvement of the researcher, especially considering that this is a double hermeneutical process. Finally, from a substantive approach, the relationship between epistemological and methodological framework and the theoretical thesis will be analyzed, related to the knowledge built on task, as a result of the investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceived social support is a multifaceted construct conceptualized as one's cognitive appraisal as to the existence of a connection to others, based on trust, on whom one can rely on when necessary. The aim of this paper is to examine the psychometric properties of perceived social support, using the following scales: Social Support Questionnaire-short Form (SSQ6) and Social Provisions Scale (SPS), on a sample of 855 first year university students - 575 females and 280 males - enrolled in 16 professional degrees at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). The SSQ6 Scale assesses the dimensions of perceived support availability and satisfaction, whilst the SPS Scale assesses its social support functions. The factor analysis conducted confirms the SSQ6 Scale's twodimensional model and the SPS Scale's six-factor structure. Internal consistency of both scales is satisfactory, as is the evidence of validity obtained from the correlations between the two scales and their subscales. The results reveal that the Spanish version of the SSQ6 and SPS scales are reliable and valid measurements for assessing perceived social support amongst university students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a psychometric study performing a confirmatory factor analysis of Gismero's Social Skills Scale. A background review is conducted on evaluation tools generally used for social skills, and the general characteristics of the scale are presented for the tool studied. A review is also conducted on psychometric properties of this tool. The sample consisted of 1206 college students at the Universidad Católica de Temuco, Chile. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using a polychoric correlation matrix, and the structure proposed by Gismero was analyzed. Reliability assessment procedures, such as internal consistency (Ordinal Alpha) and discriminant validity analysis, were also conducted using AF5 factors. The results show good internal reliability of the tool, suitability of the model to the data, and good discriminant validity. In conclusion, the Gismero's Social Skills Scale is considered as a suitable tool for assessing social skills in Chilean university students. A slight modification of the model structure in the second order factor level is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the main features about the concept of Learning Styles, highlighting contributions of the main models that define this concept; it shows the role of learning styles over academic performance focusing it towards the university population, which underlines the importance of the different styles used in the learning process, student's autonomy and the contributions to this learning process, which implies the understanding of how the student learns, this work also considers similarities and differences on the results of the research about Learning styles and its connection to the academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to pinpoint to what communication media do undergraduate students recourse when they search for scientific information. Through an open/close questionnaire the 234 students show they prefer Internet in the first place and television in second place; most of them have confidence in Internet as a source that provides scientific information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the problem investigated is linked to the need to know the characteristics of young people entering university life and some of their psychosocial references. Also, we identify characteristics on the population of different careers so we could relate particular psychosocial characteristics to personal and school paths. In addition, we aimed to investigate distinctive features of each population to establish relationships between prior arrangements, career choice and college journey. We worked with the population of three different careers: Psychology, Graphic Design and Public Accountant, at a private university in the city of Córdoba. The methodology used was a mixed approach, using surveys and interviews. In this opportunity, we present the first results concerning sociodemographic aspects, career choices and changes occurring in the new student life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main factors associated with academic performance are study strategies and self-regulation in university students, thus the objective of this paper is to compare two sample groups: those in a regular status and others under certain academic lag. The Study Strategies Inventory and Self-Regulation (IEEA) BY Castaneda was applied to 41 learners. It was observed that both groups need support to develop strategies for the four scales of the instrument: Information acquisition, memory resource management, information processing and self-regulation in all three dimensions: people, tasks and materials. In conclusion there is a need to develop programs to help the consolidation of study strategies and self-regulation and highlights the importance of analyzing the factors in teacher's education and development of programs and curricula, to improve academic performance in higher educationinstitutions. key words: academic lag, study strategies and self-regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a study on appropriation and educational uses of cell phones in a random sample of 954 students and 246 teachers, representing 12% and 24% respectively of the total population of the two campuses of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC) in Ensenada, Mexico. A survey was developed and applied to this university population in 2011. The results show that students had used cell phones for an average of seven years, while teachers had an average of ten years of use. Students were able to operate their mobile devices with more ease. Cell phone ownership was 97% among the teachers and students. However, we observed that there was not much use of the cell phone for educational purposes, the principal ones being communication, information management and organization. The main disadvantages found were the potential for distraction and the high cost of Wi-Fi connection. The cell phone has great educational potential; nevertheless, further research is needed for its proper integration in the university educational process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuing with a previous study that confirms the presence of bullying in a private university (Hoyos, Romero, Valega & Molinares, 2009), this paper presents the results of a second comparative-descriptive research in which the aimed was characterize the phenomenon of bullying in a sample of 218 college students (153 female and 65 male) from different programs of four private universities. We used a questionnaire that was developed for the national study Ombudsman (2000) in Spain, it was adapted to our university context. The results of study show the incidence of bullying manifestations in the university context, circumstances and places where bullying occur, communication strategies and conflict resolution, in accordance with perspective of each actors (victims, perpetrators and witnesses), and the comparisons by gender and age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports an enquiry aimed at: (1) assessing the spatial reasoning level reached by students admitted to the university entrance course at the Architecture, Design and Urban Planning School of the University of Buenos Aires, (2) examining the relation between spatial reasoning and academic achievement, (3) exploring the relation between spatial reasoning and secondary schooling, (4) evaluating spatial reasoning progress at the end of the course, and (5) ascertaining possible gender - related differences in spatial reasoning and academic achievement. Current literature is reviewed, focusing on the concept of spatial reasoning, the skills involved, gender - related differences and academic achievement, with special reference to technology studies. Two prevailing trends are identified: the factorial approach and cognitive. Explanations of male spatial skills advantage stress biological or environ mental aspects or a combination of both. Students' poor spatial reasoning performance at the start of university highlights the need to develop spatial competence at the lower levels of schooling, particularly in secondary school, within an integral education approach. This would encompass all the essential dimensions of the human being, rather than concentrate on disembodied rationality. Research points to mental visualisation and graphic communication abilities as necessary components of drawing and design. Training in object manipulation, block building and the sketching of observed objects has been found to enhance performance in activities specifically related to the contents taught, although transfer to test situations would seem harder to accomplish. Spatial skills training should, therefore, become part of university curriculum, especially in the case of technology courses. The sample was made up of 596 students enrolled in the Drawing Course. A quasi-experimental pre-test post-test intact group design was used and the results were linked to gender-related attribution patterns. Students' initially low spatial reasoning level would point to secondary schooling shortcomings. Significant differences in spatial reasoning level have been observed between the beginning and the end of the course, which might be ascribed to instructional intervention, consistently with research findings on the effects of training on spatial reasoning ability. Results for the whole sample reveal that male subjects scored higher on spatial reasoning ability, but no significant gender-related differences have been detected in the case of subjects with a technologically oriented secondary education. This might be associated with gender-based differences concerning the role of specific training. Drop-out rates were lower among women, who, together with higher post-test score increases and final achievement scores would point to the part played by effort in compensating for skills deficits. Female subjects would appear to make better use of the instruction received. Spatial reasoning has been found to be a good predictor of achievement, with initial spatial reasoning level combined with first semester achievement predicting 60% of the final achievement scores. Academic achievement levels were lower than spatial reasoning ones, especially in the first test. The gap narrowed in the second, which suggests that students learned to use their ability to better advantage during the course. It is concluded that the spatial reasoning capacity of students newly admitted to university may be characterised as limited, which might pose a major hurdle to the completion of technology entrance courses. Secondary schooling should be redefined in terms of the relationship between spatial skills and the capacity to assign representational content to conceptual knowledge, which is required for the latter to become fully possessed and transferable. Far from being restricted to the sphere of technical performance, the need to integrate the conceived and the perceived is rooted in the very nature of human knowledge. A relation has been identified between differences in spatial reasoning and drop-out rates, on the one hand, and degree course choice, on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper expresses part of the results of the investigation project (CIUNTR-401) "A pending matter: studies on the impact of the training model in Biology (joint UNT-Middle school) in the university students' academic performance. Part II". The goal of this study is to learn about the most frequent motivations and learning strategies of the first-year Odontology students. The instrument used to gather data is the Study and Learning Processes Evaluation Questionnaire. It was used individually and collectively in 98 voluntary students. The analysis of the results makes possible to evaluate the learning approaches adopted by a university student in his or hers study process. We found the predominance of students with a superficial approach (57/98) that show themselves to be extrinsically motivated; that nevertheless use both memory and comprehension learning strategies. A 25% of the students adopt a profound approach and 9% fit in neither of the mentioned categories. These learning characteristics provides us with important keys to understand the peculiarities of the academic learning of the students in question. The results suggest the need of continuing our studies in this line of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European System of Credit Transfer (ECTS) expresses a true change in the methodology of the European Higher Education. A more advanced model in which the student changes teaching and learning based in knowledge reception, to a new education, raised on skills development in students. This system demand training teachers to teach to learn and, therefore, it requires a bigger responsibility of the students in their own education, something that does nothing but aggravate the difficulties of disabled students. In public universities, there are 7.408 disabled students, the 0.53% of total students, according to the White Paper on Disability at the University carried out based on data CERMI. As for private universities, and with the available data, the percentage of students with disabilities is 0.24%. The Universities Act requires individual attention to disabled students, but in practice as we can see there are still barriers caused mainly by poor organization and for an almost nonexistent teaching material adapted to the special needs that are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the perceptions of students from different subject areas as regards student assessment procedures in the University of Santiago de Compostela. We believe that an awareness of how the perceptions of these different groups coincide, can offer insights into the cultural manifestations present in student assessment, as well as providing valuable information on the strengths and weaknesses to consider in any attempt at improving the quality of university education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is part of a research project that analyzes the processes of conceptualization of the notion of infinitesimals in college students majoring in Mathematics. The research project originates from an interest in understanding the processes of teaching and learning key concepts of Mathematical Analysis such as limit, real numbers, and continuity among others. From mathematical and cognition points of view, these notions are recognized as complex. In order to conceptualize them, students rely on an intuitive understanding of infinitesimals. In this paper, we describe, analyze, and characterize the epistemological conceptual frameworks associated with the historical evolution of the notion of infinitesimals. We identify seven epistemological concept frameworks: The infinitesimal as a ratio, as an indeterminate, as a difference, as an increment, as an arithmetic ratio, as a symbol, and as a function. Furthermore, ideas, methods, representations, and problems that mathematicians use in specific contexts are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]