La creació 'd'estudis de cas' per part de l'alumnat: superant el buit entre la teoria i la pràctica. Els alumnes com a protagonistes en el desenvolupament de competències

En general, el professorat universitari interessat en la participació de l'alumnat, té provat que els estudis de cas proporcionen una base fèrtil per a l'aplicació de conceptes a situacions del món real. L'estudi correlacional presentat aquí ha tingut com objectiu que l'alumnat de psicologia social de la Universitat de Barcelona experimentés com a subjectes actius del seu procés d'aprenentatge, creant estudis de cas. Com a resultat, l'alumnat ha fet un aprenentatge significatiu que l'ha beneficiat també en l'examen final, en la nota de final de curs i en la seva satisfacció amb l'assignatura

The impact of writing case studies: Benefits for students' success and well-being

University professors often use case studies because they provide a fertile basis for the application of theoretical concepts to real world situations, enhancing student participation. The present correlational study aims to present social psychology's students from the University of Barcelona (UB) as active participants of their learning process through their work with case studies. Results demonstrate that students made significant learning through the writing of case studies, which has benefited their results in the final exam, course grades, and course's satisfaction

University students strengths associated with an optimal academic and professional performance

At university level, the awareness and the use of personal strengths (defined as forms of behaviour, thoughts and emotions that are associated with optimal performance), can enhance students´ learning process, and their future professional performance. However, there is little research on this topic, especially research framed within the social psychology field. The present descriptive study analyzed (a) the students´ signature strengths, (b) the signature strengths for an optimal professional performance, and (c) the signature strengths related to the academic performance. Participants were 83 students enrolled in an 'Applied Social Psychology' course following an ongoing assessment in the degree of Psychology (University of Barcelona). To assess the students´ personal strengths, the 'Values in Action' Inventory of Strengths was used (VIA-IS; Seligman, Park & Peterson, 2004). To evaluate the academic performance, a total score was calculated from the weighted average of: (1) a test, (2) two individual works, and (3) teamwork. The strengths needed for an optimal professional performance were discussed until a consensus was reached during a session conducted by the professors. The signature strengths more commonly encountered in the sample were in this order: gratitude, teamwork, fairness, perspective and kindness. The signature strengths related to the professional practice were: curiosity, social intelligence, perspective, hope and self-regulation. Finally, the strengths showing a greater relationship with the academic performance were: perseverance, teamwork, prudence, honesty and self-regulation. Overall, it should be noticed that teamwork was one of the students' signature strengths related to optimal academic performance, and perspective was one of the students' signature strengths related to optimal professional performance. However, the majority of strengths related to academic and professional domains did not coincide. This lack of relationship represents an opportunity to develop learning practices that enhance those participants´ signature strengths that are more related to an optimal performance in the professional and academic fields

Fortalezas personales relacionadas con el rendimiento académico y profesional en el campo de la psicología social y la psicología social aplicada

Podeu consultar el document complet a: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/58585Las fortalezas personales, entendidas como formas de comportamiento, pensamientos y emociones que se asocian con un rendimiento óptimo, pueden mejorar el aprendizaje de los estudiantes universitarios y su futuro desempeño profesional. Sin embargo, el desarrollo empírico sobre este tema es escaso, especialmente en el campo de la Psicología Social. Por eso, el presente estudio descriptivo analiza (a) las fortalezas más destacables en estudiantes universitarios, (b) las fortalezas más relacionadas con el rendimiento académico y (c) las fortalezas más relacionadas con el rendimiento profesional en este campo. Se utilizaron dos muestras de estudiantes del grado de Psicología de la Universidad de Barcelona (N=67 de la asignatura de “Psicología Social” y N= 136 de la asignatura de “Psicología Social Aplicada”). Para evaluar las fortalezas personales del alumnado, se administró una versión reducida del “Values in Action" Inventory of Strengths. Para evaluar el rendimiento académico, se calculó la media ponderada de (a) un examen, (b) dos trabajos individuales y (c) un trabajo en grupo. Las fortalezas necesarias para un rendimiento profesional óptimo fueron discutidas y consensuadas a lo largo de una sesión conducida por el equipo docente. Los resultados muestran que las fortalezas relacionadas con la virtud justicia son las de mayor presencia en ambos grupos, mientras que las relacionadas con la virtud coraje guardan una mayor relación con el rendimiento académico, y las relacionadas con la virtud sabiduría son las que están más relacionadas con el rendimiento profesional. Se discute la adecuación de fomentar las fortalezas del alumnado relacionadas con el rendimiento

Paleomagnetism from Deception Island (South Shetlands archipelago, Antarctica), new insights into the interpretation of the volcanic evolution using a geomagnetic model

Deception Island shows the most recent exposed active volcanism in the northern boundary of the Bransfield Trough. The succession of the volcanic sequence in the island is broadly divided into pre- and post-caldera collapse units although a well-constrained chronological identification of the well-defined successive volcanic episodes is still needed. A new paleomagnetic investigation was carried out on 157 samples grouped in 20 sites from the volcanic deposits of Deception Island (South Shetlands archipelago, Antarctic Peninsula region) distributed in: (1) volcanic breccia (3 sites) and lavas (2 sites) prior to the caldera collapse; (2) lavas emplaced after the caldera collapse (10 sites); and (3) dikes cutting pre- and the lower- most post-caldera collapse units (5 sites). The information revealed by paleomagnetism provides new data about the evolution of the multi-episodic volcanic edifice of this Quaternary volcano, suggesting that the present-day position of the volcanic materials is close to their original emplace- ment position. The new data have been combined with previous paleomagnetic results in order to tentatively propose an age when comparing the paleomagnetic data with a global geomagnetic model. Despite the uncertainties in the use of averaged paleomagnetic data per volcanic units, the new data in combination with tephra occurrences noted elsewhere in the region suggest that the pre-caldera units (F1 and F2) erupted before 12,000 year BC, the caldera collapse took place at about 8300 year BC, and post-cal- dera units S1 and S2 are younger than 2000 year BC