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This article presents and explores a framework for self-directed competence development (SDCD) for tertiary students to advance conceptual understanding and practical applications of self-developme...

This paper describes a quantitative study that explores both the degree of preservice teachers' (PSTs) motivation and achievement, and the dimensions of need-supportive teaching, when PSTs were involved in designing and implementing contextualized physical cooperative challenges (CPCCs) in primary schools. The analysis was based on the PSTs' perceptions of the dimensions of need-supportive teaching (namely autonomy support, structure, and involvement), and the dimensions of motivation. Need-supportive teaching was evaluated through a version of the Teacher as a Social Context Questionnaire (TASC-Q), and motivation through a SMOTIV motivation questionnaire. Results showed that the dimensions of the teaching process were all positively correlated, thus, implying the importance of a teacher's role in supporting autonomy, providing structure, and being involved. While motivation during the in-class definition of the CPCCs was correlated with the teachers' involvement, the out-of-class implementation of the CPCCs was found to correlate with the three dimensions of teaching, thus, implying that the PST students' perceptions of developing instructional approaches in schools is mediated by the role their university teachers play in defining and structuring all aspects of the teaching process. Students' achievement, on the other hand, was a process that relied on the synergies between the teachers' involvement and the PST student motivation during the stage when the CPCCs in the classroom environment were defined. This interlink responds to the constructivist position adopted to implement a cooperative approach in the university that, in turn, responds to assessing a student-centered cooperative-based learning approach This research was funded by the Josep Pallach Institute of Education Sciences, University of Girona, grant number ICE-XIDAC05-2021 and ICE-XIDAR05-2021

This manuscript deals with how cooperative learning in pre-school and primary education can be dimensionalized in terms of reducing gender differences and inequalities. In this study, formulated through instructional approaches delivered in four medium- to very high-complexity schools (the number of students with an immigrant background ranging from 30% to 100%), 376 pre-service teachers and 43 qualified teachers were asked to analyze the instruction that they gave to 1658 pre-school and primary students over two consecutive years. Instruction was defined in terms of contextualized physical education challenges that included cooperative psychomotor physical challenges, guided discovery activities and psychomotor problem-solving. The analysis was based on reflective narratives on both gender differences and inequalities, which evinced 792 comments regarding gender (618 by the pre-service teachers and 174 by the schoolteachers) and 627 comments for inequalities (363 by the pre-service teachers and 264 by the schoolteachers). The analysis produced categories based on critical reflection—on both individual and classroom scales—from the pre-service teachers and the schoolteachers. Each of the cooperative learning dimensions, i.e., positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, social skills, and group processing, were investigated to produce a set of principles and competencies that best promoted education for sustainable development. The research produced 42 principles that operated under the tenet of leave-no-one-behind, with positive interdependence and promotive interaction providing the higher number of principles that are best suited to tackle, through cooperation processes, equity and inclusivity issues in pre-school and primary education classrooms This research was funded by the Institute of Sciences Education of the University of Girona, grant numbers XIDAR/04-2021 and XIDAC/04-2021 and by the AGAUR Agency of the Generalitat of Catalonia, with reference 2017-ARMIF-00013

This paper describes a quantitative study that explores teaching practices in primary education to sustain the hypothesis that students&rsquo, critical thinking may be activated through individual and group reflection. The study examines the quality of the reflections from primary school students during group processing when participating in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) instructional approaches. The project&rsquo, s core methodology lies in scientific (physics) and artistic (dance) instructional activities which were executed in a continuous reflective and cooperative learning environment. The educational approach was refined by analyzing the reflective discussions from focus groups where descriptive, argumentative, reflective and critical reflective knowledge about acquired knowledge, competences, beliefs, attitudes and emotions were considered. While the educational intervention proved that 1st-year (K-7) students essentially reflected at the level of description, 3rd-year (K-9) and 5th-year (K-11) students, however, attained higher levels of individual critical reflection development than initially anticipated. The STEAM approaches were found to produce significant use and understanding of both science and artistic concepts and to increase a sense of competence readiness and a perception of modes of cooperation such as individual responsibility and promotive interaction.

This study analyzes the perception, mainly on motivation, interpersonal relationships, and learning outcomes, of higher education students from seven university disciplines derived from Cooperative Learning (CL) activities undertaken in the course of their degree studies. The cross-disciplinary dimensional analysis on cooperative learning included students&rsquo, motivation, academic performance, students&rsquo, relationships within cooperative groups, group organization, and teacher involvement. The study was carried out using a questionnaire validated by a number of CL experts. The subsequent analysis of a sample of 162 student&rsquo, s perceptions on the CL dimensions provided first, positive students&rsquo, perceptions regarding satisfaction, motivation, learning outcomes, and interpersonal relationships, and second, that differences between university degrees on CL were significant, suggesting a strong dependence of cooperative dimensions on the implemented approach.

This paper focusses on university pre-service teachers developing cooperative physical challenges within reflective and cooperative learning frameworks. The pre-service teachers were involved in reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action and contemplated their professional identity in both reflective narratives and focus group discussions. The students&rsquo, reflections were scored using two rubrics. The first elements scored from the pre-service teacher&rsquo, s reflective narratives included the focus of the reflection, awareness of previous beliefs, knowledge, and experiences, inquiring and focusing on possible actions through questions and hypotheses, and arguing for concrete learning objectives. The second rubric scored elements of the pre-service teachers&rsquo, professional identity, including self-esteem, task perception, job motivation, and expectations about future jobs. The results from the instructional cooperative approaches based on the reflections on the in-practice at a primary school disclosed the differences between them, with the non-structured approach scoring higher than the structured one. The cooperative challenges, when embedded in the reflection process, profoundly helped pre-service teachers to identify aspects of their professional identity that would ensure an effective intake of sustainable competences.

The objective of this paper is to prove that interdisciplinary educational approaches foster knowledge and competences for sustainable development in primary education. The intervention methodology employed is an educational and pedagogical approach to teaching science through physical activities and is based on developing dynamic reflective and cooperative learning environments to strengthen teaching&ndash, learning relationships. The educational approach included analyzing students&rsquo, reflections from their focus groups, in which five categories of cooperative learning: positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, the appropriate use of social skills, and group processing, were considered. The results show that, to a significant statistical degree, when the interdisciplinary approaches were adopted the primary school students reached higher levels of understanding, reflective and critical thinking development, and that cooperative learning provided them with a greater perception of sustainable development competences through systems and critical thinking, analysis, interpersonal relationships and collaboration, and strategic action.

This paper addresses the development of knowledge and assessment-centered learning approaches within a reflective learning framework in a first-year physics class in a university faculty. The quality of students&rsquo, reflections was scored using a Self-reporting Reflective Learning Appraisal Questionnaire at the end of each learning approach. The results showed the differences between the approaches based on reflections on the learning control through self-knowledge, by connecting experience and knowledge, as well as through self-reflection and self-regulation. Assessment-centered activities fundamentally help students identify aspects of their attitudes towards, as well as regulate, their sustainability learning education.

Introduction. Despite academic climate being a key aspect of teaching quality in academic institutions, few studies conducted in the university context have analyzed this construct systematically.Method. Given the absence of specific tools to apply to university, we propose the construction of a tool for assessing college students’ perceptions of their class climate based on an adapted questionnaire regarding social climate in the classroom designed for secondary schools.Results. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses conducted on a sample of 330 college students from different disciplines and years resulted in a 22-item questionnaire with one second-order factor on academic climate separable into three first-order factors (the professor’s performance and relationship with the students, affective atmosphere -sense of belonging- and normative behavior, and relationships between students).Discussion and Conclusion. The Classroom Social Climate Scale for Universities (CSCS-U) has adequate psychometric properties and is a good starting point from which to evaluate classroom climate in the university context.