0000000000784047
AUTHOR
Vicente Sanjosé
Mejorando el procesamiento macro-estructural en L2 en estudiantes con niveles de inglés elementales o intermedios: un procedimiento instruccional centrado en la coherencia global en la comprensión lectora de textos científicos
Previous studies have shown that students have difficulties building the macro-structure from expository texts in English (as L2). The usual cause pointed out is a lack of language proficiency. Thus, instructional methods have focused on providing students with the necessary vocabulary and grammar knowledge. This study proposes and validates an instructional approach which improves students’ L2 processing on the macro-structural level, focusing on reading strategies rather than on vocabulary or grammar. Comprehension monitoring on the macro-structural level was improved by performing instructional tasks devoted to establish global coherence. As a consequence, students’ reading comprehension…
Variables related to the informal caregivers' burden of dependent senior citizens in Spain
The study aims at analyzing the psychosocial variables associated with the informal caregivers" burden of dependent older people. A sample of 296 dependent people and their informal caregivers (n= 153) was randomly selected among users and non-users of the Spanish public In-Home Help Service (HHS) in an autonomous Spanish region (Comunidad Valenciana). Diverse variables in reference to the care context and the caregiver as well as the care recipient show major associations with the burden: those associated to disease and the social situation of the dependent person, the greater frequency and intensity of care, and the low frequency in which the caregiver receives help from others. The obtai…
Effects of Scientific Information Format on the Comprehension Self-Monitoring Processes: Question Generation // Efectos del formato en que se presenta la información científica sobre la autorregulación de los procesos de comprensión...
Generating questions is a regulatory action associated with self-monitoring processes in comprehension tasks: subjects can ask information seeking questions to solve comprehension obstacles. A sequence of two related experiments were conducted to trigger, classify and analyse questions asked under different conditions: reading a text about experimental scientific devices operating, watching these devices in a DVD and manipulating them in the LAB. Students’ information seeking questions were classified using a simple taxonomy. Taking into account the multimedia learning principles, the advantages of realistic animations for understanding time-depending processes and the effect of the procedu…
Detection of explanation obstacles in scientific texts: the effect of an understanding task vs. an experiment task
The aim of this study is to analyse the effect of tasks on the detection of explanation obstacles when secondary school students read scientific texts. Students were instructed to read short passages under different task conditions, and to ask questions if necessary. Obstacle detection was operationalised in terms of the type of questions asked by the students. The experiment examined the influence of goals associated with the task of reading to understand a text vs. reading to perform a procedure described by the text (a science experiment). Significantly, more explanation obstacles were found in the understanding condition than in the experiment condition. Scientific text also had an effe…
Analogy Construction and Success in Mathematics and Science Problem-solving: a Study with Secondary Students // Construcción de analogías y éxito en la resolución de problemas de matemáticas y ciencias: un estudio con alumnado de Secundaria
We conducted an empirical study to analyse the association between students’ perception of surface and structural analogies between problems, and their algebraic success. Different surface and structural relationships between one ‘source’ problem and ‘target’ problems were considered. We also considered high (daily life) and low (scientific) familiarity contexts. Algebraic success was measured by the equations selected to solve each problem. Similarities and differences between problems were explicitly asked to students. Results showed a significant correlation between detecting the correct structural relation between problems and selecting the correct equations to solve them. Low familiari…
Efectos de las adaptaciones textuales, el conocimiento previo y las estrategias de estudio en el recuerdo, la comprensión y el aprendizaje de textos científicos
ResumenEste estudio analiza la influencia de diversos cambios textuales, del conocimiento previo de las estrategias de estudio en el recuerdo, comprension y aprendizaje de textos cientificos. Empleamos un diseno factorial 2×2 con dos variables entre sujetos, texto y estrategias de estudio, y la variable conocimiento previo anidada bajo la variable estrategias. Universitarios de Fisica y Psicologia, y bachilleres de ciencias y letras leyeron una de las dos versiones de un texto tomado de un libro de Fisica-Quimica de Bachillerato. En una version se hicieron cambios para facilitar la formacion del texto-base y facilitar la construccion de un modelo situational. Se tomaron tres medidas dependi…
Is Digital Literacy Improving Science Education?
Mass media, and especially digital media, have become an important tool of literacy and have increased their use in classrooms for educational purposes. This is of great interest in scientific literacy and Brossard and Shanahan (2006) developed an instrument to evaluate the understanding of scientific terms and basic science concepts. In this quantitative study we analyse the relationship between Spanish digital mass media and scientific literacy in pre-service pri- mary teachers (N = 189). Results showed that these university students have a term knowledge level lower than the one found by Brossard and Shanahan in the USA. On the other hand, conceptual knowledge was not correlated at all to t…
Control de la Comprensión micro y macro-estructural durante la lectura de textos científicos en lengua extranjera: ¿Algo más que dominio del idioma?
Se presenta un estudio con estudiantes universitarios españoles con dominios básico, intermedio y avanzado de inglés como lengua extranjera. El objetivo fue estudiar la efectividad en el Control de la Comprensión (CC) en inglés, comparado con el que se tiene en español, y explicar los resultados a partir del modelo de comprensión de textos desarrollado por Kintsch y otros colegas. Nuestro foco de atención fue la representación semántica, diferenciando el CC a nivel micro y macroestructural. Se midió el CC al leer textos asumiendo el Error Detection Paradigm: se insertaron inconsistencias micro y macroestructurales en los textos y se pidió a los estudiantes juzgar su comprensibilidad usando …
Care needs among the dependent population in Spain: an empirical approach.
The objective of the present paper was to identify the profile and needs of social and healthcare users in Spain who required long-term care. To achieve this goal, an extensive empirical study was carried out in 2001 of a typical southern European region: the Valencia Autonomous Region in Spain. The method used was a questionnaire-based survey. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire comprising 119 questions grouped into seven sections: social and demographic data; clinical diagnosis and treatment; living environment; degree of dependence in activities of daily living (ADLs); cognitive state; social support; and the social, demographic and attendance data of the carer, if availab…
Obstacles modelling reality: Two exploratory studies on physics defined and undefined problems
For some researchers, and perhaps for many teachers, problem-solving is strongly related to thinking (Mayer, 1983). Several reports highlight the importance of developing suitable skills to solve complex, ill-defined and boundless real-life problems in educated people (NSF Standards, U.S. Department of Labour, ABET engineering accreditation organization, and American Institute of Physics, mentioned in Etkina & Van Heuvelen, 2007; Bureau of Labour Statistics, U.S. Department of Labour, 2014; Competency Model Clearinghouse, 2012). Problem-solving is virtually the core of the professional activity of a physicist (Etkina, Van Heuvelen, White-Brahmia, Brookes, Gentile, Murthy, Rosengrant & Warre…
Effects of Topic Familiarity on Analogical Transfer in Problem-Solving: A Think-Aloud Study of Two Singular Cases
We conducted a qualitative research of case studies based on think-aloud protocols. The aim was to carry out in-depth analyse secondary students¿ cognitive difficulties appearing in early stages of transfer processes in problem-solving. The task was to relate several source problems to a target problem, in order to solve it effectively. Source and target problems had different Surface and/or Structural similarities. In this paper, the solvers¿ high or low Familiarity with the problem stories on transfer processes was also focused on. Two emergent instructional phenomena are described, both associated to specific students¿ cognitive obstacles to achieve success in solving the target problem:…
Effects of Two Instructional Procedures on Spanish University Students’ Comprehension Monitoring when Reading Science Texts in English
Abstract Two instructional approaches on comprehension monitoring in English as FL are contrasted. Although using the same materials (elementary science texts), one of them is based on tasks focusing on vocabulary and grammar, and the other one is based on main ideas identification and textual coherence. The English proficiency level was controlled and comprehension monitoring measures were obtained in the pretest and the posttest using embedded micro and macro-structural inconsistencies in texts. Results showed that teaching students to read in order to understand main ideas and to elaborate the text macrostructure produce better results than focusing attention on discourse low-level compo…
Predicting Word Maturity from Frequency and Semantic Diversity: A Computational Study
Semantic word representation changes over different ages of childhood until it reaches its adult form. One method to formally model this change is the word maturity paradigm. This method uses a text sample for each age, including adult age, and transforms the samples into a semantic space by means of Latent Semantic Analysis. The representation of a word at every age is then compared with its adult representation via computational maturity indices. The present study used this paradigm to explore to the impact of word frequency and semantic diversity on maturation indices. To do this, word maturity indices were extracted from a Spanish incremental corpus and validated, using correlation scor…
Generating students' information seeking questions in the scholar lab: what benefits can we expect from inquiry teaching approaches?
ABSTARCT: Physics teachers use experimental devices to show students how scientific concepts, principles, and laws are applied to understand the real world. This paper studies question generation of secondary and under-graduate university students when they are confronted with experimental devices in different but usual teaching situations: reading about devices while studying still images or diagrams, watching an experimental demonstration, and handling the devices in the laboratory. The influence of the prior scientific knowledge on the questions asked is also analysed. Inquiry learning environments, involving lab projects, seemed to stimulate more inferences addressed to causality when s…
Efectos de las tareas de elaboración de resúmenes en el control de la comprensión de textos científicos en estudiantes universitarios con niveles de inglés elemental o intermedio.
Two studies were conducted to improve Spanish university student's comprehension monitoring of macro-ideas when reading expository Science texts in English (L2). The first one evaluated the effects of using summarization tasks on comprehension monitoring compared to other reading-for-understanding tasks. A significant improvement of comprehension monitoring was obtained from the summarization tasks. Results in study 1 suggested study 2 aimed at instructing students on summarizing texts in L2. The instructional work had a single significant contribution to students’ comprehension monitoring on the macro-structural level. English proficiency also explained a significant proportion of the vari…
Importancia de las destrezas de procesamiento de la información en la comprensión de textos científicos
ResumenSe pretendio probar que algunos obstaculos en la comprension de las ciencias no estan causados por esquemas conceptuales alternativos, sino por deficiencias en los niveles de comprension lectora y de control de la propia comprension de los estudiantes Se midieron esos niveles y se controlaron las ideas alternativas en dos muestras de estudiantes de 4° de ESO. Los alumnos leyeron un texto experimental sobre Evolucion de las Especies y respondieron cuestiones consultando el texto a voluntad. Se predijeron diferencias claras en las respuestas segun los niveles de comprension lectora y control de la comprension, pero no debidas a esquemas conceptuales lamarckianos. Los resultados confirm…
Assessment of pre-service teachers’ science knowledge : the case of Valencian Community in Spain
La alfabetización científica es en uno de los objetivos principales de la educación obligatoria, pero difícilmente se puede conseguir esta alfabetización si los profesores de enseñanza primaria tienen un pobre conocimiento científico (Appleton, 2003). Algunos estudios sugieren que, en España, el profesorado de educación primaria presenta carencias en su formación científica (Cañal, 2000 y 2008; Porlán, 2010). Por este motivo, se desarrolla un estudio sobre el conocimiento sobre ciencia básica de los maestros en formación en las universidades públicas de la Comunidad Valenciana, con suficiente validez externa (error de muestreo cercano a 5%). Se evalúa independientemente el conocimiento sobr…
The informal caregiver's burden of dependent people: Theory and empirical review.
This paper reviews the main theories and results of the existing research to date about the concept of the informal caregiver's burden. The explanation of the burden concept, the theoretical approaches which attempt to explain it, the variables which have emerged in the investigation, the predictors of its appearance, as well as the intervention programs developed to relieve burden, allow us to approach the appropriate solutions to deal with the current social and political reality of this problem. In this sense, the psycho-educational intervention programs framed within the respite services jointly with the knowledge of the determining variables of the burden can comprise the first optimal…
Levels of comprehension of scientific prose: the role of text variables
Abstract This research investigates the role played on shallow and deep levels of comprehension by textual changes that are aimed at: (a) improving the relationships within text ideas, and (b) producing better links between text ideas and the reader's knowledge. Four versions of a long physics passage were elaborated combining both kinds of textual changes. Four groups of tenth graders were each given one of the four versions. Different measures representative of these levels of comprehension were taken: getting main ideas, recall, and problem solving. The results indicated that: (a) main idea performance was affected by improving the relationships within text ideas, (b) both textual change…
Towards a new welfare state: the social sustainability principle and health care strategies.
In this paper we propose a social and health care model that offers alternatives to three problems arising in converging European welfare states, particularly in the southern nations: the rise in demand for services and features linked to the ageing process, the increase in dependency and the crisis of informal support. Development of the principles of social sustainability implies re-formulation of the regulatory, care, economic, administrative, cultural, and axiological framework enabling a response to the needs of long term care without compromising the welfare of future generations. Together with this principle, quality of life elevated to a subjective right directs attention towards th…
Questionning and reading goals: information seeking questions asked on scientific texts read under different task conditions
Background: A number of studies report that few questions are asked in classrooms and that many of them are shallow questions. Aims: This study investigates the way in which reading goals determine questioning on scientific texts. Reading goals were manipulated through two different tasks: reading for understanding versus reading to solve a problem. Sample: A total of 183 university students. Methods: In the first and third questioning experiments the participants read two short texts. Students in one condition were instructed to understand the texts, while in the alternative condition they had to read texts to solve a problem. Students were instructed to write down any questions they might…
Suitability of the health and social care resources for persons requiring long-term care in Spain: An empirical approach
Abstract The objective of this paper is to examine the suitability of specific facilities for dependent persons for meeting users’ needs. A total of 1265 users of social and health facilities for dependent persons were interviewed in a study carried out in a typical southern European region with a Mediterranean welfare system: the Valencia Autonomous Region in Spain. Data were obtained on users’ socio-demographic profile, health, functional dependence, cognition, social support and housing suitability. Based on these data and the institutional definitions of the specific facilities for dependent persons, the suitability index was drawn up for each facility and suitability was evaluated usin…
Testing a model for the monitoring of worked-out algebra-problem examples: from behaviours to outcomes on a math task
This study aimed at testing an extension of a theoretical model for the metacognitive monitoring mechanism implied in the detection of inconsistencies when the information provided includes abstract symbols in addition to plain text. Ninety-four postgraduates of STEM specialities were asked to read a worked-out algebra-problem example and to report any incoherence, inconsistency, or error detected in the statement or in the solving procedure. A set of model inspired indexes was defined to describe participants¿ behaviour along the task. The Read & Answer software was used to record online individual processing data and participants¿ reports. Results supported model predictions. Indexes corr…
Dificultades para Codificar, Relacionar y Categorizar Problemas Verbales Algebraicos: dos estudios con estudiantes de secundaria y profesores en formación
En resolución de problemas verbales por transferencia, la activación de problemas ya conocidos que sirvan de guía, depende de las analogías percibidas entre éstos y el problema a resolver. Se desarrollan dos estudios relacionados para analizar en qué características se basan los estudiantes para codificar problemas y detectar sus analogías, en tareas de categorización (sorting). Se utilizaron técnicas cuantitativas y cualitativas combinadas. Primero se analizó cómo los estudiantes de secundaria son influidos por diferentes variables características de problemas de ciencias. Una gran proporción de sujetos no fue capaz de percibir las analogías y diferencias adecuadas entre problemas. El segu…