Search Results (19)

Computational thinking is recognized as a critical competency in contemporary education, preparing individuals to tackle complex challenges in a digitally pervasive world. In this quasi-experimental design study with pretest and post-test measures, the possibility of developing computational thinking from the field of didactics of mathematics in higher education students was investigated. This was performed via a problem-based learning (PBL) methodology using problem solving in the experimental group or, alternatively, focused on the analysis of solved problems in the control group. After the intervention, the control group experienced a statistically significant improvement in the scores obtained in the post-test measure. Thus, PBL and problem solving did not lead to an improvement in the students’ computational thinking, whereas the analysis of solved problems approach did. Therefore, the results suggested the potential benefits of this latter methodology for teaching computational thinking. Full article

Video games have emerged as a promising tool for enhancing engagement with cultural heritage. However, there is limited knowledge about how existing games can effectively fulfill this role. This study compiled and analyzed 100 video games based on cultural heritage by adapting an existing framework that includes 10 game attributes for a comparative statistical analysis of the games’ engagement features. These features include narrative-driven gameplay, information capsules, task-driven learning, ease of play, identity-driven content, open-world exploration, people-centered perspectives, meaningfulness, simulation, and verisimilitude. The analysis revealed that while the majority of games adhered to most of the recommended attributes, features such as task-driven learning, open-world exploration, and simulation were either uncommon or rare. These findings highlight a significant opportunity to develop games that incorporate these underrepresented features, thereby providing more immersive and engaging experiences in heritage education. Furthermore, the study offers a systematic overview of existing games that represent cultural heritage, serving as a valuable resource for developers, designers, and educators in this field. Full article

The promotion of intergenerational dialogue is postulated as one of the most frequently used strategies to promote meaningful learning. The objective is to analyze the impact of intergenerational dynamics on the learning process. To this end, this work is based on the methodology of a systematic review following the PRISMA method through the establishment of inclusion and exclusion criteria and analysis of their suitability. The priority indicator was to collect empirical experiences in the WOS and Scopus databases that implemented strategies on intergenerational learning and promoted improvements in learning, obtaining a total of 14 documents to be analyzed. The results of the review reaffirm the effectiveness of promoting dynamics of this type, observing positive outcomes in different sets of samples in six main areas: (1) attitudes, well-being, and happiness; (2) integration of vulnerable groups; (3) improvement of family relationships; (4) promotion of social and human values; (5) prevention of diseases and increased knowledge about health; and (6) combating the generational digital divide. There are also weaknesses associated with these experiences, such as the strong involvement required by the participants or the initial prejudices that exist between one generation and another. Full article

This paper aims to provide a framework for creating and analyzing cultural heritage games, with the intention of maximizing players’ cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement with digital heritage. To achieve this, a set of game design characteristics was identified through semi-structured interviews with experts (n = 16) and subsequently validated through a discussion with university students (n = 19). Grounded theory was then applied to the comments of the experts to create a framework of ten fundamental characteristics, divided into three dimensions: cognitive, emotional, and behavioral. Additionally, an assessment of the literature was conducted to explain and support the inclusion of each game component. Full article

The acquisition of the habit of reading is a fundamental issue for primary school pupils, as it contributes to the integral education of the person and, in some cases, may be essential for pupils to remain in the educational system and to escape social exclusion. In order to carry out research on reading promotion in socially disadvantaged contexts, it is necessary to have an appropriate instrument for these profiles. The aim of this work was to adapt and validate a questionnaire on reading habits and preferences that is suitable for pupils in the first cycle of primary education who are at risk of social exclusion. To this end, a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology was used to analyse the content validity and the construct validity, which obtained, as a result, a high correlation between the variables, an appropriate factor analysis, a high overall reliability of the instrument and, in general, an adequate model to correctly explain the data of the proposed structure. We concluded by obtaining a 22-item questionnaire that is divided into five factors and that will be appropriate for determining the reading habits and tastes of disadvantaged pupils, as well as the influence of families and schools in the task of encouraging reading. Full article

The profile of the pedagogy student is polyvalent, the motivations, competencies, attitudes, and necessary aptitudes are also varied and suitable for developing the exercise of their profession in different labor scenarios, ranging from the educational-training context to the business context. The aim of this research has been to analyze the influence of sociodemographic factors and knowledge in pedagogy on labor market insertion, expectations about the degree, and employability of students of the degree in pedagogy at the University of Granada, Spain. The methodology used was based on a cross-sectional study design through a survey administered to a total of 334 students. The results obtained show that there are differences between the two genders. Regarding the year of study, no significant differences were found. Knowledge about the profile of the pedagogue is a factor that does influence expectations about the degree, job placement, and employability. However, expectations about the degree did not influence job placement, although employability did. It is concluded by stating that there is a lack of knowledge about the role of the pedagogue, which needs to be alleviated, as well as highlighting the need to reinforce the curricular, academic, and practical training of this degree. Full article

The exercise of leadership in the educational area and its diverse forms of being reflected in practice continue to arouse interest at the time of designing and developing research that reveals the characteristics that a leader must have in order to be considered a competent university leader, that is, a college student who carries out activities and a leadership position on his or her campus. In this sense, the present work aims to analyze the profile of the student leader to generate an explanatory model, being answered by means of a series of questions. Next, a cross-sectional study of university students at the University of Santo Tomás is carried out, obtaining statistical-descriptive data that indicate the mean scores in relation to each of the dimensions of the sociodemographic factors of this research. In addition, gender and age are identified as study factors that coincide with other research, as well as the qualities, expectations and formation of the student leader. In the present study, female gender is significant in relation to leadership practice, and age does not show significant differences between the groups. Finally, it is concluded by determining as key the role of students who exercise leadership in the University. In addition, it should be noted that the present research is derived from the Doctoral Thesis entitled: “Student leadership at the University Santo Tomás de Bucaramanga: Pedagogical proposal”, defended at the University of Granada, Spain. Funded by Proyecto de investigación, Colombia. Code: 2008/12058. Full article

Digital self-efficacy and the amount of perceived support from the school can improve teachers’ motivation to increase the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the classroom. Likewise, attitude, perception, gender, and experience of mathematics teachers are factors that influence their use of ICT. This study aimed to analyze the profiles of mathematics teachers, determine the existence of differences between them, and identify the sample size necessary to detect significant differences. A total of 73 high school teachers were included in this cross-sectional study. Teaching practice, ICT resources, ICT in the classroom, skills, and uses of ICT were assessed through a validated 19-item questionnaire. Statistical analysis revealed that the required sample to detect significant differences was 53 subjects. Further, 67.21% of the mathematics teachers surveyed in Melilla were younger than 40 years of age, and 62.30% had less than 6 years of teaching experience. In addition, 81.97 and 47.54% of mathematics teachers stated that they consider themselves to have sufficient ICT resources at home for their work and in the classroom, respectively. Through different clusters, mathematics teachers can be identified and classified according to their motivational and competence profiles in pedagogical and digital areas. In addition, young teachers with some teaching experience had positive perceptions of technology, as reflected by high scores in the motivation indicator for ICT. Full article

With the arrival of the Internet and information and communication technologies (ICTs), today’s society has driven many changes in which the digital channel is one of the main information consumption channels for young university students. Due to the turbulent landscape full of fake news and confusing information we have entered, there is a need to promote information literacy among quality students. To this end, the use of innovative strategies and methods such as Flipped Classroom can be a novel alternative to receive this content. Based on these ideas, the objective of this work was framed in the methodological design corresponding to the systematic review. Thus, empirical work was compiled to put into practice the Flipped Classroom methodology and to promote informational teaching from different knowledge disciplines at the university level. The results showed that the application of the methodology is multivariate, and that it can be administered to students in various ways (video-tutorials, animated videos, training modules, etc.) depending on the creativity of the teacher. Likewise, the results compiled in the review turn towards the improvement of the students’ informational skills, as well as the increase in diverse personal and academic variables. Full article

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is generating the emergence of new pathologies such as nomophobia. The aim of this research was to analyze the prevalence of nomophobia among young people, as well as to check whether the level of nomophobia is higher in males or females and in those students who claim to have less healthy nutrition due to the use of their mobile phones. The research method was based on a correlational and predictive design with a quantitative methodology. The measurement tool used is the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q). The participating sample was 1743 students between 12 and 20 years old from different educational stages of the Autonomous City of Ceuta (Spain). The results show that highest rates of nomophobia were found in relation to the inability to communicate and contact others immediately. About gender, women have higher rates of nomophobia than men. In relation to age, no significant differences were found; thus, the problem may affect all ages equally. Finally, students who think that their smartphone use is detrimental to their good nutrition show higher levels on the scale provided. Full article

Currently, the e-learning method, due to the period of confinement that is occurring due to COVID-19, has increased its use and application in the teaching and learning processes. The main objective of this research is to identify the effectiveness of the e-learning method in the teaching of mathematics with adults who are in high school, in contrast to the traditional expository method. The study developed is quantitative, descriptive and correlational. The research design is quasi-experimental, with a control group and an experimental group. The results show that the use of the e-learning method has a positive influence on motivation, autonomy, participation, mathematical concepts, results and grades. It can be concluded that the e-learning method leads to improvement in adult students who are studying the mathematical subject in the educational stage of high school, provided that it is compared with the expository method. Therefore, this method is considered effective for its implementation in adults. Full article

Public speaking anxiety (PSA) is a common phobia in the student population. Traditionally, exposure therapy has been used as a treatment. However, the use of virtual reality (VR) is increasingly common to treat PSA. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the published scientific literature on VR as a treatment for PSA in students. The articles indexed in two databases (Web of Science and Scopus) were analyzed, with a time period from the beginning of the first publications until 2019 included. The systematic literature review was based on fixed inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 13 studies were identified which included 481 students. The results collected indicate that the duration of treatments to have positive effects was at least one week, where the number of sessions was between one and twelve. Furthermore, most VR treatments reported positive effects. Finally, this study showed evidence that VR treatment for PSA is effective while being less invasive than in vivo exposure. Full article

Good teaching practices are developed in order to improve student learning. With technological and social development, educational practices increasingly demand the use of technology, so having good teaching practices with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is essential. At the same time, the Sustainable Development Agenda of the United Nations for the year 2030 is setting the principles of sustainable action for today’s society. In this context, the following objectives were proposed: to identify the good teaching practices with ICT that are being developed in Spanish higher education and to establish the relationship between good teaching practices with ICT and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). For this purpose, the method of systematic review of the literature based on the PRISMA protocol was used. A total of 27 documents published in the period 2008–2019 on good teaching practices with ICT in Spanish higher education were analyzed. Among the results, the emerging trend of good practices with ICT, the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) as the main technology in good practices, and the majority of good practices in the development of SDG #4 (Quality Education) are highlighted. Finally, it is a challenge for teachers to include all these aspects in their classroom teaching. Full article

Problematic Internet use (PIU) has begun to be linked to the development of certain eating disorders. This uncontrolled use of the Internet is mainly found in the student population. The purposes of this paper were to determine PIU-related eating disorders in students from a systematic review of the literature and to analyze the incidence of PIU in eating disorders through a meta-analysis of the literature. We used two electronic databases (Web of Science and Scopus) from inception to June 2019. The systematic literature review was based on fixed inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 12 studies were identified (systematic review) and 10 studies for meta-analysis, which included 16,520 students. Different eating disorders were associated with PIU: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, food preoccupation, loss of control eating, and dieting. Furthermore, meta-analysis confirmed that PIU is a predictor of eating disorders in students. The groups of students with PIU presented a higher rate in the presence of eating disorders, these differences being significant. Finally, this study showed empirical evidence on the link between PIU and eating disorders. The need for prevention in childhood and adolescence is highlighted. Full article

We must remember the need to create communicative relationships among groups from different cultures, as well as to reinforce the configuration and organisation of the Spanish school system. The objective of this article is to highlight the urgent need to recognise cultural, religious and linguistic diversity as values. Furthermore, Spain has rejected the French assimilationist model, both in legal and practical spheres, and the only way to integrate this model is by implementing intercultural models. Following the Convention on the Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression of the European Union, providing respect and recognition of plurality from intercultural inclusive positions is primordial in the learning context. We cannot talk about building an intercultural society without considering democratic practice and citizen participation; to this regard, dialogue and collaboration between the school community and educational centres are imperative. It is necessary to adopt an inclusive intercultural policy, to open education centres outside of traditional school hours, to reach agreements with cultural institutions, etc. Only in this way will an intercultural society become a reality. Full article