Future teachers facing the problem of pollution of the seas by plastics and consumption

En este trabajo se aborda desde el ámbito educativo el problema de la contaminación de los mares por residuos. En un escenario en el que la contaminación por plásticos se ha convertido en un problema de orden global, indagamos sobre las ideas, actitudes y competencias didácticas que muestran los futuros maestros cuando se enfrentan a los hábitos de consumo de nuestra sociedad actual. Se analiza la puesta en práctica de una intervención educativa en la que, a partir de una situación problemática vinculada a la contaminación por plásticos, los estudiantes realizan tareas en las que exploran el problema y algunos de sus hábitos de consumo. Sus respuestas indican que establecen relaciones causales entre ciertas actividades humanas y las problemáticas ambientales, y se muestran dispuestos a asumir compromisos para reducir sus consumos, aunque lo hacen desde un escenario limitado a su entorno y sus intereses. Al implementar esta problemática en Primaria, la mayoría utilizan un modelo simple basado en la información. Se han identificado algunas dificultades al concretar estrategias que permitan desarrollar el pensamiento crítico en los niños y niñas de Primaria.In this work, the problem of pollution of the seas by waste is addressed from the educational field. In a context in which contamination by plastics has become a problem of global order, we inquire about the ideas, attitudes and didactic competences that future teachers show when they facing the consumption habits of our current society. The implementation of an educational intervention is analysed, in which, from a problematic situation related to pollution by plastics, students perform different tasks. By means of these tasks, they explore the problem and some of their consumption habits. Their responses indicate that they establish causal relationships between certain human activities and environmental problems, and are willing to assume commitments to reduce their consumption, although they do so from a scenario limited to their surrounding and their interests. When implementing this problem in Primary school, most of them use a simple model based on information. Some difficulties have been identified in specifying strategies that allow the development of critical thinking in Primary school pupils

Análisis de las propuestas de los actores sociales en la recuperación ambiental de la Bahía de Portmán (Región de Murcia). Nuevas perspectivas para un desarrollo sostenible

La bahía de Portmán representa uno de los casos de contaminación más importantes en el Mediterráneo. En este trabajo se analizan las posiciones de los diferentes actores sociales, así como las principales fortalezas-debilidades y oportunidades-amenazas que existen en las posibilidades de un planteamiento estratégico de regeneración de la bahía y de la Sierra Minera. Desde una perspectiva socio-ecológica, los análisis realizados ponen de manifiesto las potencialidades para el desarrollo de un turismo ambiental y cultural de este entorno. Sin embargo, las propias debilidades y amenazas podrían superar esas potencialidades si no se lleva a cabo una gestión cuidadosa y una apuesta clara por un modelo de desarrollo sensible en extremo con el patrimonio natural, paisajístico y cultural. Un modelo de turismo ligado a la restauración ambiental y al consenso con los agentes sociales locales debe constituir un elemento básico para la adaptación del territorio como producto turístico, y así debe reflejarse en las futuras decisiones

Influence of the collision energy on the O(1D) + RH --> OH(X2Pi) + R (RH=CH4, C2H6, C3H8) Reaction Dynamics. A laser Induced Fluorescence and Quasiclassical Trajectory Study

The influence of the collision energy (ET) on the O(1D) + RH OH(X2H) + R (RH = CH4, C2H6, and C3H8) reaction dynamics has been studied, using the N2O photodissociation at 193 nm as O(1D) precursor (ET = 0.403 eV) and probing the OH v = 0 and 1 levels by LIF. A triatomic QCT study of the reaction with CH4 on a fully ab initio based analytical PES has also been performed, and a quite good agreement with the experimental OH rovibrational distributions has been obtained. Our experimental results are similar to those obtained when the O3 photodissociation is used to produce O(1D) (ET = 0.212 eV), as expected on the basis of the available energy in products and also from the QCT calculations. The P(v=0)/P(v= 1) populations ratio values reported for C2H6 and C3H8 in a very recent work (Wada and Obi, J. Phys. Chem. A 1998, 102, 3481), where the N2O was also used to generate O(1D), are probably largely underestimated. The rotational distributions obtained are similar to those obtained in other experiments, and a quite good agreement has been obtained for the spin-orbit and A-doublet populations. The reaction takes place near exclusively through the insertion of the O(1D) atom into a C-H bond below 0.6 eV, and the mechanism may be direct or nondirect (mainly through short-lived (CH3)OH collision complexes) with about the same probability. The OH vibrational distribution arising from the direct mechanism is inverted, while the nondirect one leads to a noninverted distribution. At higher ET, the abstraction mechanism also contributes appreciably to reactivity. © 2000 American Chemical Society

Socio-Ecological Controversies in the News as Trigger of a Model-Based Inquiry Instructional Sequence about the Effect of Global Warming on the Great Barrier Reef

The use of socio-ecological controversies, such as global warming, in classrooms has been suggested to increase students’ awareness about complex issues, although detailed analysis of their implementation in classrooms are still scarce. This research shows a model-based inquiry approach (MBI) instructional sequence, using scientific news as a trigger, aimed at addressing a global problem on a real socio-ecological system: the effect of global warming on the Great Barrier Reef. Its implementation in a lower secondary school classroom allowed the assessment of the effectiveness of the instructional sequence designed, based on students’ perception of what secondary school students have learned and felt. Results show that the MBI instructional sequence seems to have favored the mobilization of students’ alternative conceptions about global warming, coral reefs, and symbiotic relationships. In addition, it contributed to increasing the students’ awareness of the problem of global warming and its effects on an essential socio-ecological system, such as coral reefs

Los futuros maestros ante el problema de la contaminación de los mares por plásticos y el consumo

En este trabajo se aborda desde el ámbito educativo el problema de la contaminación de los mares por residuos. En un escenario en el que la contaminación por plásticos se ha convertido en un problema de orden global, indagamos sobre las ideas, actitudes y competencias didácticas que muestran los futuros maestros cuando se enfrentan a los hábitos de consumo de nuestra sociedad actual. Se analiza la puesta en práctica de una intervención educativa en la que, a partir de una situación problemática vinculada a la contaminación por plásticos, los estudiantes realizan tareas en las que exploran el problema y algunos de sus hábitos de consumo. Sus respuestas indican que establecen relaciones causales entre ciertas actividades humanas y las problemáticas ambientales, y se muestran dispuestos a asumir compromisos para reducir sus consumos, aunque lo hacen desde un escenario limitado a su entorno y sus intereses. Al implementar esta problemática en Primaria, la mayoría utilizan un modelo simple basado en la información. Se han identificado algunas dificultades al concretar estrategias que permitan desarrollar el pensamiento crítico en los niños y niñas de Primaria

Dynamic modelling of the potential habitat loss of endangered species: the case of the Canarian houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata fuerteventurae)

In this work, we apply a dynamic modelling approach to analyse the habitat loss of the Canarian houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata fuerteventurae). This tool allows us to assess the effects of the socio-economic and environmental interactions on the factors threatening the habitat and to carry out a prospective analysis. The results show a potential habitat loss of around 13 % during the period 1996–2011, the land uptake and increase in new roads and tracks being the factors contributing most. After model testing, a set of scenarios was explored. Under the business as usual (BAU) scenario, around 20 % of the habitat would be lost by the end of the period considered (2012–2025). The impact of the economic growth scenario on the habitat would mean an additional loss of around 21 % with respect to BAU, whereas under the recession scenario, the loss might be around 6.5 % lower than BAU. The policy of restoration of gavias—traditional farming systems—would suppose an additional loss of almost 6 %, relative to BAU. If this policy took place under economic growth conditions, it might mean an additional loss of almost 28 % relative to BAU. These results point to the existence of a potential trade-off between the recuperation of ecosystem services offered by restored gavias and the conservation of the houbara habitat, which must be addressed within the management processes, as well as to the need for compensatory measures to guarantee the conservation goals

Conocimientos de futuros docentes de Educación Infantil sobre categorización animal

Desde edades tempranas, se debe aproximar la diversidad de seres vivos y sus características a los escolares, por lo que consideramos que es necesario averiguar qué conocen los futuros docentes de Educación Infantil sobre clasificación animal. En concreto, analizamos los criterios que utilizan con animales vertebrados, así como al identificar su tipo de alimentación. Los resultados revelan dificultades a la hora de argumentar por medio de criterios adecuados la clasificación de algunos de los ejemplares presentados, especialmente reptiles y anfibios. Además, al identificar su alimentación tienden a cometer errores que podrían asociarse a la falta de experiencia sobre el mundo animal. Finalmente, se proponen algunas estrategias que podrían promover el aprendizaje de los criterios en los que se fundamenta la clasificación científica de los vertebrados

Mišljenja učitelja razredne nastave o uporabi IKT-a u nastavi Biologije

In the 21stcentury pupils learn how to use technological devices from their early childhood. Therefore, the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in teaching and learning processes seems obvious. For the purpose of this research, 305 class teachers from four European countries (Serbia, Spain, Croatia and Hungary) were asked about their experiences and opinions on the use of ICT in biology classes. The aim was to determine whether they consider that this way of teaching is effective and may motivate pupils for further learning. The results showed that the teachers from all four countries agree that pupils enjoy and are more motivated when learning with the use of the ICT, and it improves the quality of their lessons.U 21. stoljeću učenici od ranoga djetinjstva uče kako se koristiti tehnološkim uređajima, stoga se primjena informacijske i komunikacijske tehnologije (IKT) u procesima poučavanja i učenja čini očitom. Za potrebe ovoga istraživanja 305 učitelja iz četiri europske zemlje (Srbije, Španjolske, Hrvatske i Mađarske) ispitano je o vlastitim iskustvima i mišljenjima o uporabi IKT-a u nastavi Biologije. Cilj je bio utvrditi smatraju li učitelji poučavanje pomoću IKT-a učinkovitim i može li se pomoću nje motivirati učenike za učenje. Rezultati su pokazali da se učitelji slažu kako učenici uživaju i više su motivirani za učenje pomoću IKT-a, što poboljšava kvalitetu nastave

Sensing technologies and machine learning methods for emotion recognition in autism: Systematic review

Background: Human Emotion Recognition (HER) has been a popular field of study in the past years. Despite the great progresses made so far, relatively little attention has been paid to the use of HER in autism. People with autism are known to face problems with daily social communication and the prototypical interpretation of emotional responses, which are most frequently exerted via facial expressions. This poses significant practical challenges to the application of regular HER systems, which are normally developed for and by neurotypical people. Objective: This study reviews the literature on the use of HER systems in autism, particularly with respect to sensing technologies and machine learning methods, as to identify existing barriers and possible future directions. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of articles published between January 2011 and June 2023 according to the 2020 PRISMA guidelines. Manuscripts were identified through searching Web of Science and Scopus databases. Manuscripts were included when related to emotion recognition, used sensors and machine learning techniques, and involved children with autism, young, or adults. Results: The search yielded 346 articles. A total of 65 publications met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review. Conclusions: Studies predominantly used facial expression techniques as the emotion recognition method. Consequently, video cameras were the most widely used devices across studies, although a growing trend in the use of physiological sensors was observed lately. Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise were most frequently addressed. Classical supervised machine learning techniques were primarily used at the expense of unsupervised approaches or more recent deep learning models. Studies focused on autism in a broad sense but limited efforts have been directed towards more specific disorders of the spectrum. Privacy or security issues were seldom addressed, and if so, at a rather insufficient level of detail.This research has been partially funded by the Spanish project “Advanced Computing Architectures and Machine Learning-Based Solutions for Complex Problems in Bioinformatics, Biotechnology, and Biomedicine (RTI2018-101674-B-I00)” and the Andalusian project “Integration of heterogeneous biomedical information sources by means of high performance computing. Application to personalized and precision medicine (P20_00163)”. Funding for this research is provided by the EU Horizon 2020 Pharaon project ‘Pilots for Healthy and Active Ageing’ (no. 857188). Moreover, this research has received funding under the REMIND project Marie Sklodowska-Curie EU Framework for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (no. 734355). This research has been partially funded by the BALLADEER project (PROMETEO/2021/088) from the Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital, Generalitat Valenciana. Furthermore, it has been partially funded by the AETHER-UA (PID2020-112540RB-C43) project from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. This work has been also partially funded by “La Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital”, under the project “Development of an architecture based on machine learning and data mining techniques for the prediction of indicators in the diagnosis and intervention of autism spectrum disorder. AICO/2020/117”. This study was also funded by the Colombian Government through Minciencias grant number 860 “international studies for doctorate”. This research has been partially funded by the Spanish Government by the project PID2021-127275OB-I00, FEDER “Una manera de hacer Europa”. Moreover, this contribution has been supported by the Spanish Institute of Health ISCIII through the DTS21-00047 project. Furthermore, this work was funded by COST Actions “HARMONISATION” (CA20122) and “A Comprehensive Network Against Brain Cancer” (Net4Brain - CA22103). Sandra Amador is granted by the Generalitat Valenciana and the European Social Fund (CIACIF/ 2022/233)