Inter and intrasubject domain issues on the content of epistemological conceptions in university teachers

El presente trabajo estudia las concepciones epistemológicas de docentes universitarios desde la perspectiva de las teorías implícitas. Se analiza de qué manera intervienen en las concepciones: (a) la disciplina de formación que poseen (cuestiones de dominio intersujeto) y (b) el contexto escogido para indagar las concepciones (cuestiones de dominio intrasujeto). Se utilizó un diseño ex post facto prospectivo, recurriendo a dos cuestionarios de dilemas para indagar a los sujetos. Del análisis intrasujeto se concluye que las concepciones sobre conocimiento científico y las concepciones sobre enseñanza y aprendizaje no están relacionadas, excepto que unas y otras se hayan adoptado de manera explícita. El análisis intersujeto arrojó como resultado que la disciplina de formación de los docentes incide en el contenido de las concepcionesThis paper examines the epistemological conceptions of University professors from the perspective of implicit theories. We analyze how the following factors influence these conceptions: (a) the discipline of training them have (intersubject domain issues) and (b) the context chosen to investigate the conceptions (intrasubject domain issues). We used an ex post facto prospective design, using two questionnaires stating dilemmas to probe the participants. From the intrasubjecto analysis we can conclude that conceptions of scientific knowledge and ideas about teaching and learning are not related, except that they have been taken explicitly. Intersubject analysis results showed that the discipline of training of teachers affects the content of conceptionsO presente estudo analisa as concepções epistemológicas dos docentes universitários a partir da perspectiva das teorias implícitas. É analisada a forma em que intervém nas concepções: (a) a disciplina de formação que os professores têm (problemas de domínio intersujeito) e (b) o contexto escolhido para investigar as concepções (questões de domínio intrassujeito). Foi utilizado um desenho ex post facto prospectivo, aplicando dois questionários de dilemas para investigar aos participantes. Da análise intrassujeitos conclui-se que as concepções sobre conhecimento científico e sobre ensino e aprendizagem não estão relacionados, com exceção de que umas e outras tenham sido adotadas de maneira explícita. A análise intersujeito mostrou que a disciplina de formação dos docentes afeta o conteúdo das concepçõe

Correlation between IL1β expression level and morphological parameters proves the usefulness of morphology measures to predict the degree of activation of microglial cells

It is well known that microglial cells undergo an important change in morphology upon activation, so that form and function are intimately related. Upon activation, microglia cell body enlarges, its ramifications shortens and become thicker. In parallel, a variety of cytokines and inflammatory mediators such as IL1β are released. However the activation process is not all-or-nothing. Rather, cells in subtle activation states or in a deactivation process can occur, so intermediate not obvious phenotypes may appear. Thus, we aimed to correlate the expression level of a well-defined marker of activation, IL1β, with different morphological parameters. To do so, we used an intracerebroventricular injection of neuraminidase to produce an acute inflammation in rats. Brain sections were double-stained with IBA1 to have an image of the whole cell and its ramifications, and with IL1β to assess the level of activation. Images were captured from septofimbria (close to the injection site) and from the hypothalamus. A ratio of IL1β-positive pixels to IBA1-positive pixels was used to estimate the level of IL1β expression for each cell. Single microglial cell images were processed with ImageJ software to obtain outlined and filled shapes, which were used to obtain (by means of FracLac plug in) the following morphological parameters: fractal dimension, lacunarity, area, density and perimeter. All parameters showed a significant correlation with the level of expression of IL1β. This occurred in cells sampled from the two brain areas studied. Density, lacunarity and perimeter resulted as the best predictor parameters of activation, that is, those with a better correlation with the level of expression of IL1β. Area, an extensively used parameter to assess microglial activation, presented the least significant correlation. Thus, objectively measured morphological parameters correlate with the level of expression of IL1β, and could therefore be used as predictors of the activation level of microglial cells.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Las representaciones de profesores y estudiantes sobre la escritura académica en las universidades españolas

The version of record of this manuscript has been published and is available in Cultura y Educación 2015 http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/11356405.2015.1072357Research on academic writing has been the focus of several international publications, seminars and conferences during the last decades. However, knowledge of the practices and conceptions, along with the status of writing in higher education, is quite disparate depending on the contexts and traditions. In this paper, we survey the research on representations of academic writing internationally as well as the background of the European Writing Survey (EUWRIT), which has two versions, one targeted at students and the other at faculty, both of which were used in our research project. This paper explains the rationale of the scales and describes the items and the international underpinnings which endorse their development. Then, the characteristics of the sample, which were shared by all the studies included in this special issue, are outlined. Participants were 1,044 students and 280 faculty in different disciplines at nine Spanish universities. The theoretical structure and reliability of each of the scales are analysed. The paper ends with the descriptive general results regarding faculty and students and the differences observed based on some characteristics of participants from different disciplinesEl estudio de la escritura académica ha sido el centro de interés de publicaciones seminarios y conferencias de alcance internacional. Sin embargo, el conocimiento de las prácticas y concepciones y del estatus que la escritura tiene en la Educación Superior es muy diferente según los contextos y las tradiciones. En este artículo se revisan los trabajos sobre las representaciones de la escritura académica en el contexto internacional y se presentan los cuestionarios Encuesta Europea sobre la Escritura Académica (EEEA) para profesores y estudiantes, utilizados en el presente proyecto de investigación. También se describen las características de la muestra a partir de la cual se han realizado los análisis que conforman los artículos del monográfico (1,044 estudiantes y 280 profesores de nueve universidades españolas y se analiza la estructura teórica y la fiabilidad de las escalas. Se analizan los resultados descriptivos generales relativos a profesores y estudiantes y las diferencias observadas en función de algunas características de la muestra en las diferentes disciplinasThe research reported has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (DGICyT (CSO2013-41108-R y EDU2013-46606-C2_1-R) and the European Research Network on Learning to Write Effectively (ERN-LWE), COST Action IS0703

E-chapter of Analysis of Effective Instructional Sequences in Upper Primary Education (11–12 Years Old Students) to Enhance Content-Learning through the Integrated Use of Reading and Writing

Analysis of Effective Instructional Sequences in Upper Primary Education (11–12 Years Old Students) to Enhance Content-Learning through the Integrated Use of Reading and Writing2017-1

Analysis of Effective Instructional Sequences in Upper Primary Education (11–12 Years Old Students) to Enhance Content- Learning through the Integrated Use of Reading and Writing

Analysis of Effective Instructional Sequences in Upper Primary Education (11–12 Years Old Students) to Enhance Content-Learning through the Integrated Use of Reading and Writing.2017-1

Improving university argumentative writing through online training

Writing an argumentation about a controversial issue from contradictory sources is a challenging task. It involves understanding, managing, and generating arguments and counterarguments from different sources to support a final position, conveyed in a formal structure. Despite its difficulty, argumentative writing is not often taught in higher education in Spain. Furthermore, online interventions regarding this type of task are scarce. For this reason, we designed and evaluated virtual training aimed at writing integrative and wellstructured arguments in a distance learning university. Sixty-eight undergraduates participated in this pre-post with a control group design. The training included explicit instruction through video lectures and practice exercises with immediate feedback using open online resources (e.g., Moodle). The results show that after the instruction the participants' written products improved both in their structure, the number of arguments for the against-position, and the degree of integration of the two perspectives. However, those products that presented medium or maximum integration were still limited. These results illustrate how online instruction of argumentative writing can be implemented in higher education with positive results. However, students still need more support to expand their skills for generating integrative synthesis. Considering these results, we propose further improvements in the designed training. : Earli | This article is published under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported license

Estudio de la superficie de limas de endodoncia sometidas a desinfección química mediante microscopia electrónica de barrido

Se observaron al microscopio electró nico de barrido 40 limas de endodoncia de acero inoxidable después de ser sometidas a 10 ciclos de desinfección de 10 minutos cada ciclo, sumergidas en diferentes desinfectantes químicos. No se observó corrosión en la superficie de las limas en las circunstancias en que se realizó ese estudio

In search of lost constructivism: implicit conceptions on learning

The Version of Record of this manuscript has been published and is available in Estudios de Psicología 2001 http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1174/021093901609479El punto de partida de este trabajo ha sido analizar los diferentes significados atribuidos al término constructivismo y las concepciones implícitas subyacentes sobre el aprendizaje y la enseñanza. De la misma manera que existe cierta confusión en la utilización de este término por psicólogos, educadores y otros académicos, también parece haber cierta confusión y una excesiva atribución de características constructivistas a distintas concepciones sobre el aprendizaje y la adquisición de conocimientos. Una manera de analizar las diferencias tanto entre estas teorías científicas como en las personales es analizar los supuestos epistemológicos, ontológicos y causales que subyacen a los distintos tipos de teorías. La búsqueda de las características constructivistas y de los métodos que permitan diferenciar un tipo de teorías de otros nos sirve de guía en este artículo para una revisión de los trabajos sobre concepciones del aprendizajeThe study first analyses the different meanings attributed to ‘constructivism’ together with implicit conceptions underlying teaching and learning. We argue that just as there is certain confusion in the way psychologists, educators, and other academic persons use this term, likewise there is certain confusion and an excessive attribution of constructivist characteristics to different conceptions of learning and knowledge acquisition. Differences both between these scientific theories and personal theories may be analysed by examining epistemological, ontological and conceptual presuppositions underlying the different types of theories. The present review is organised along two axes: searching for constructivist characteristics and methods that will allow us to distinguish between different kinds of learning and teaching conceptionsEste trabajo ha sido posible gracias al apoyo de la D.G.I.C.Y.T. al proyecto P.B 98-0095 de cuyo equipo investigador forman parte los 3 primeros autores y del C.O.N.I.C.E.T. al proyecto PEI 017/98 del que forma parte la última autora. Asimismo la versión final de este trabajo se ha visto enriquecida por las sugerencias aportadas por los miembros de la Red ALFA subvencionada por la Comisión Europea mediante el contrato ALR/B7-3011/94-5.0157.8 a un proyecto coordinado desde la Facultad de Psicología de la UAM, y del que forman parte los cuatro autore

Towards a clinical staging for bipolar disorder: defining patient subtypes based on functional outcome.

BACKGROUND: The functional outcome of Bipolar Disorder (BD) is highly variable. This variability has been attributed to multiple demographic, clinical and cognitive factors. The critical next step is to identify combinations of predictors that can be used to specify prognostic subtypes, thus providing a basis for a staging classification in BD. METHODS: Latent Class Analysis was applied to multiple predictors of functional outcome in a sample of 106 remitted adults with BD. RESULTS: We identified two subtypes of patients presenting "good" (n=50; 47.6%) and "poor" (n=56; 52.4%) outcome. Episode density, level of residual depressive symptoms, estimated verbal intelligence and inhibitory control emerged as the most significant predictors of subtype membership at the p<0.05 level. Their odds ratio (OR) and confidence interval (CI) with reference to the "good" outcome group were: episode density (OR=4.622, CI 1.592-13.418), level of residual depressive symptoms (OR=1.543, CI 1.210-1.969), estimated verbal intelligence (OR=0.969; CI 0.945-0.995), and inhibitory control (OR=0.771, CI 0.656-0.907). Age, age of onset and duration of illness were comparable between prognostic groups. LIMITATIONS: The longitudinal stability or evolution of the subtypes was not tested. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide the first empirically derived staging classification of BD based on two underlying dimensions, one for illness severity and another for cognitive function. This approach can be further developed by expanding the dimensions included and testing the reproducibility and prospective prognostic value of the emerging classes. Developing a disease staging system for BD will allow individualised treatment planning for patients and selection of more homogeneous patient groups for research purposes

Perfiles de competencias y concepciones sobre la escritura académica en estudiantes universitarios

The version of record of this manuscript has been published and is avalilable in Cultura y Educación 2015 http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/11356405.2015.1072358This study analyses Spanish undergraduates’ perceptions of their competency in academic writing, as well as their perception of the criteria that define its quality. We identified student profiles and examined their relationship with (1) certain sample characteristics, such as years of university experience, area of study and students’ gender, and (2) variables related to the process of writing, namely the students’ perception of the writing process and the importance they attribute to its characteristics. The data obtained came from the European Writing Survey (EUWRIT) which was administered to 1,044 students from nine Spanish universities. Profiles were identified by means of k-means cluster analysis. The relationship between these profiles and the variables studied was examined by means of chi-squared analyses and univariate ANOVAs. Two profiles were identified: students who are confident about their writing skills and who acknowledge the importance of writing in their field of knowledge; and students who are relatively confident about their writing ability and who consider writing to be relatively important in their subject areaEste estudio analiza la percepción de estudiantes universitarios españoles sobre su competencia en escritura académica y sobre el criterio que define la calidad de dicha escritura. Se identificaron los perfiles de estudiantes y se examinó su relación con (1) algunas características de la muestra — años de experiencia universitaria, ámbito de estudio de los estudiantes y su género; y (2) variables relacionadas con el proceso de escritura — las percepciones que los estudiantes tienen sobre el proceso de escritura y la importancia que atribuyen a las características de dicho proceso. Los datos obtenidos proceden de la Encuesta Europea sobre la Escritura Académica (EEEA), que fue administrada a 1,044 estudiantes de nueve universidades españolas. La relación entre estos perfiles y las variables estudiadas fue examinada mediante análisis de chi-cuadrado y ANOVAS univariados. Se identificaron dos perfiles distintos: estudiantes que confían en sus habilidades de escritura y que reconocen la importancia de la escritura en su ámbito de conocimiento; y los estudiantes que confían relativamente en sus habilidades de escritura y que consideran que la escritura es relativamente importante en su ámbito de conocimientoThis study was partially funded by Spain´s Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, DGICyT (EDU2013-46606-C2-2-R y EDU2013-46606-C2-1-R) and the European Self-perceived competencies of academic writing