Didactics of Mathematics Profile of Engineering Students: A Case Study in a Multimedia Engineering Degree

Multimedia engineers develop digital content in a wide range of fields that require them to acquire skills in the development of web solutions for those fields. In this study, we evaluated the level of didactic knowledge of mathematics that Multimedia Engineering degree students possess. The aim was to determine whether they are prepared to conceive, design and develop educational multimedia tools for teaching mathematics to primary school children. For this evaluation, the Didactic–Mathematical Knowledge and Elementary Algebraic Reasoning (DMK/EAR) test was carried out on a sample of 50 students in the second year of a Multimedia Engineering Degree. The results were compared with those of teacher training students who receive specific training in mathematics didactics. The study shows that, for most of the variables analysed, the Multimedia student scored better or comparatively equal to the teaching trainee. In conclusion, students of Multimedia Engineering have a solid foundation in the didactics of mathematics, although some deficiencies have been detected in the cognitive dimension and the content in structures, which indicate that they would need to complete their training in these areas

Socio-emotional competencies of teacher professional development

El principal objetivo de las universidades es educar en términos de adquisición de capacidades, habilidades, competencias y valores, con el fin último de promover el empleo. Numerosos autores han llegado a la conclusión de que la inteligencia emocional forma parte de las competencias que requieren las personas para desarrollar con éxito su labor profesional. En este trabajo se realiza una comparación de perfiles de competencias socioemocionales, mediante un análisis multivariado de la varianza, para el cual se dispuso de la opinión de una muestra de 148 maestros en ejercicio y de la medida en dichas competencias de 139 estudiantes de magisterio. Los resultados indicaron que existen diferencias en los perfiles de ambos grupos; siendo esta diferencia significativa para 11 de las 13 variables socioemocionales analizadas. Los estudiantes tienen menos desarrolladas las competencias socioemocionales que requieren según los profesionales. Parece, por tanto, necesario que desde los currícula universitarios se promueva el desarrollo de estas competencias para un desarrollo profesional eficaz.The main purpose of universities is to educate in terms of knowledge, abilities, skills and values adquisition, with the ultimate aim of promoting employment. Many academics have concluded that intelligence is part of the social-emotional skills needed by individuals to successfully develop their professional work. In this article we undertake an analysis of socio-emotional competence profiles by means of the application of a multivariate procedure to a sample of 148 teachers in exercise and to 139 students in teacher training courses.The results of our analysis show notable differences in the profiles of both groups, the difference being highly significant in 11 of the 13 socio-emotional variables analyzed. Students show a minor development of socio-emotional skills required by professionals. As a main conclusion of our analysis we can state that it reveals imperative that the university curricula promotes the development of these skills in order to achieve an effective professional development.Esta investigación ha sido financiada por el Proyecto de I+D PSI2009-12696 de la Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, con el título: Competencias Intelectuales, Personales y Socioemocionales en la Inserción Laboral de los Egresados Universitarios

Gamificación en el aula a través de las TIC

Gamification has recently been revealed as one of the most efficient teaching methodologies for students, being useful at all educational levels. Different research grants benefits such as increased motivation, improved mood and strengthening the bond among others. However, one of the most mentioned properties is its ability to “restart” the student’s attention clock: the key is collective learning, an attractive way to remember new content. Benefits for the teacher have also been documented, since the games provide valuable and immediate feedback of the students’ knowledge. This paper presents an educational experience based on the introduction of the gamification tool “Kahoot” corresponding to a compulsory subject of the Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. The results show the interest and the good reception that gamification has had in the classroom, showing together with high levels of motivation an increase in class attendance.La gamificación se ha revelado recientemente como una de las metodologías de enseñanza más eficiente en el alumnado mostrándose útil en todos los niveles educativos. Distintas investigaciones le otorgan beneficios como el aumento de la motivación, la mejora del estado de ánimo y el fortalecimiento del vínculo entre otros. Sin embargo, una de las propiedades que más se mencionan es su capacidad para “reiniciar” el reloj de la atención del alumno: la clave es el aprendizaje colectivo, una forma atractiva de recordar nuevos contenidos. También se han documentado beneficios para el profesor, ya que los juegos otorgan un valioso e inmediato feedback de los conocimientos del alumnado. En este trabajo se presenta una experiencia educativa basada en la introducción de la herramienta de gamificación “Kahoot” correspondiente a una asignatura obligatoria del Grado de Maestro en Educación Infantil. Los resultados demuestran el interés y la buena acogida que ha tenido la gamificación en el aula, mostrando junto a altos niveles de motivación un aumento de la asistencia a clase

The Collaborative Work and the Pedagogy of the Context. Methodological Innovation

Un equipo docente de la asignatura “Innovaciones en los Proyectos Educativos de Educación Infantil”, desarrolla un proyecto global de trabajo para implicar totalmente al alumnado en su proceso de aprendizaje y acercarlo lo máximo posible a la realidad escolar en que desarrollará su profesión. Lo denominamos metodología o pedagogía del contexto, y se basa en el trabajo colaborativo y el desarrollo de otras competencias pre-profesionales. Realizamos un trabajo de investigación para ver el grado de satisfacción, concluyendo que, profesorado (aunque supone una mayor carga docente) y alumnado (con la dificultad de asumir responsabilidades sin experiencia previa) valoran positivamente la innovación.A professor comittee for the subject “Innovations in the Educational Projects of Infantile Education”, developped a global project which contains the complete learning process of the student body as well as the closest to possible school reality which develops their profession. We name it methodology or pedagogy of the context, and it is based on the collaborative work and the development of other pre-professional competitions. We realize a work of investigation to see the degree of satisfaction, concluding that professorship (though a major educational load) and student body (with the difficulty of assuming responsibilities without previous experience) are welcoming the innovation

Difficulties of the Students of Secondary Education in Transition to College

El objetivo de esta investigación es obtener información sobre las dificultades que presenta el alumnado en la transición del Instituto a la Universidad. Para recoger los datos se elaboró un cuestionario que se administró a 468 estudiantes pertenecientes al último curso de Bachiller. Los resultados muestran que un tercio del alumnado no recibe tutorización sobre cómo elegir estudios y tomar decisiones vocacionales de forma adecuada. Como conclusión destacamos la necesidad introducir de forma sistemática dentro del Plan de Acción Tutorial de todos los Centros de Educación Secundaria la orientación del alumnado en la transición a la universidad.The objective of this research is to learn about the difficulties of the students in the transition from high school to university. To collect the data a questionnaire was administered to 468 students from the final year of Bachelor was developed. The results show that a third of students do not receive tutoring on how to choose vocational studies and take decisions accordingly. Like to emphasize the need to introduce systematically within the Tutorial Action Plan of all secondary education centers orientation of students in the transition to college

A collaborative working model for enhancing the learning process of science & engineering students

Science and engineering education are mostly based on content assimilation and development of skills. However, to adequately prepare students for today's world, it is also necessary to stimulate critical thinking and make them reflect on how to improve current practices using new tools and technologies. In this line, the main motivation of this research consists in exploring ways supported by technology to enhance the learning process of students and to better prepare them to face the challenges of today's world. To this end, the purpose of this work is to design an innovative learning project based on collaborative work among students, and research its impact in achieving better learning outcomes, generating of collective intelligence and further motivation. The proposed collaborative working model is based on peer review assessment methodology implemented through a learning web-platform. Thus, students were encouraged to peer review their classmates' works. They had to make comments, suggest improvements, and assess final assignments. Teaching staff managed and supervised the whole process. Students were selected from computer science engineering at the University of Alicante (Spain). Results suggested greater content assimilation and enhanced learning in several scientific skills. The students' final grade exceeded what any student could produce individually, but we cannot conclude that real collective intelligence was generated. Learning methodologies based on the possibilities of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide new ways to transmit and manage knowledge in higher education. Collaborating in peer assessment enhances the students' motivation and promotes the active learning. In addition, this method can be very helpful and time saving for instructors in the management of large groups

Comparison of the Effects of the Kahoot Tool on Teacher Training and Computer Engineering Students for Sustainable Education

Gamification has proved to be a methodology that increases the likelihood of success and sustainability of educational institutions. This methodology has recently revealed itself as one of the most efficient teaching methodologies in the student body, proving useful at all educational levels. One of the most frequently mentioned properties is its ability to “reset” the student’s attention clock: the key is collective learning, an attractive way of remembering new content. The experience described below has been developed in the context of a generalist university in two very different degrees: Degree in Teacher Training and Degree in Computer Engineering. To develop the theoretical sessions, the master class was combined with the use of the Kahoot tool. The observations made by the teachers in relation to the dynamics of the theoretical classes show that the use of Kahoot at the end of the theoretical sessions increased the students’ attendance at class, in addition to their involvement in the sessions and they kept their attention for longer. This study has also shown that there are significant differences in the level of satisfaction shown by the students of both degrees with these tools.This work was supported by the I3CE Network Program of research in university teaching at the Institute of Educational Sciences at the University of Alicante (ICE call 2018-19) under Grant 4331

Cultural Identity Distance Computation through Artificial Intelligence as an Analysis Tool of the Amazon Indigenous People. A Case Study in the Waorani Community

Cultural identity is a complex concept that includes subjective factors such as ideology, family knowledge, customs, language, and acquired skills, among others. Measuring culture involves a significant level of difficulty, since its study and scope differ from the point of view, the time and the place where the studies are carried out. In the Amazon, indigenous communities are in an accelerated process of acculturation that results in a loss of cultural identity that is not easy to quantify. This paper presents a method to measure the cultural distance between individuals or between groups of people using Artificial Intelligence techniques. The distance between individuals is calculated as the distance of the minimum path in the self-organizing map using Dijkstra’s algorithm. The experiments have been carried out to measure the cultural identity of indigenous people in the Waorani Amazon community and compares them with people living in cities who have a modern identity. The results showed that the communities are still distant in terms of identity from the westernised cities around them, although there are already factors where the distances are minimal concerning these cities. In any case, the method makes it possible to quantify the state of acculturation. This quantification can help the authorities to monitor these communities and take political decisions that will enable them to preserve their cultural identity

Design of an Instrument to Measure Indigenous Cultural Identity: Case Study on the Waorani Amazonian Nationality

Los indígenas latinoamericanos han sufrido cambios de identidad cultural, en especial a partir del contacto con culturas de Occidente. Para determinar el grado de cambio de identidad cultural es necesario disponer de un instrumento de medida. En la Amazonía, las dificultades para obtener datos de campo no han permitido establecer indicadores culturales. Este trabajo presenta un instrumento diseñado desde la óptica indígena que permite medir su identidad cultural. El estudio cualitativo enfocado en la Amazonía ecuatoriana dio como resultado un instrumento que aporta información de treinta subescalas y cinco escalas culturales, y fue sometido exitosamente a pruebas de validez y de fiabilidad. Por último, fue aplicado a tres poblaciones de diferente grado de contacto con la sociedad occidental para determinar sus diferencias.Latin American indigenous people have undergone changes in their cultural identity, especially as a result of their contact with Western cultures. As such, a measuring instrument is required to determine the extent of this change. In the Amazon, difficulties in obtaining field data have not allowed the establishment of cultural indicators. This paper presents an instrument designed from the indigenous perspective that allows us to measure their cultural identity. The qualitative study focusing on the Ecuadorian Amazon resulted in an instrument that provides information on thirty subscale and five cultural scales, and was successfully tested for validity and reliability. Finally, it was applied to three populations with different degrees of contact with Western society in order to determine their differences

Diseño de un instrumento para medir identidad cultural indígena: caso de estudio sobre la nacionalidad amazónica Waorani

Los indígenas latinoamericanos han sufrido cambios de identidad cultural, en especial a partir del contacto con culturas de Occidente. Para determinar el grado de cambio de identidad cultural es necesario disponer de un instrumento de medida. En la Amazonía, las dificultades para obtener datos de campo no han permitido establecer indicadores culturales. Este trabajo presenta un instrumento diseñado desde la óptica indígena que permite medir su identidad cultural. El estudio cualitativo enfocado en la Amazonía ecuatoriana dio como resultado un instrumento que aporta información de treinta subescalas y cinco escalas culturales, y fue sometido exitosamente a pruebas de validez y de fiabilidad. Por último, fue aplicado a tres poblaciones de diferente grado de contacto con la sociedad occidental para determinar sus diferencias.Latin American indigenous people have undergone changes in their cultural identity, especially as a result of their contact with Western cultures. As such, a measuring instrument is required to determine the extent of this change. In the Amazon, difficulties in obtaining field data have not allowed the establishment of cultural indicators. This paper presents an instrument designed from the indigenous perspective that allows us to measure their cultural identity. The qualitative study focusing on the Ecuadorian Amazon resulted in an instrument that provides information on thirty subscale and five cultural scales, and was successfully tested for validity and reliability. Finally, it was applied to three populations with different degrees of contact with Western society in order to determine their differences.Os indígenas latino-americanos têm sofrido mudanças de identidade cultural, em especial, a partir do contato com culturas do Ocidente. Para determinar o grau de mudança de identidade cultural, é necessário dispor de instrumentos de medição. Na Amazônia, as dificuldades para obter dados de trabalhos de campo não permitem estabelecer indicadores culturais. Este trabalho apresenta um instrumento elaborado sob a ótica indígena que permite medir sua identidade cultural. O estudo qualitativo focado na Amazônia equatoriana resultou num instrumento que contribui com informação de 30 subescalas e cinco escalas culturais, e foi submetido, com sucesso, a testes de validade e confiabilidade. Por último, foi aplicado a três povos de diferentes graus de contato com a sociedad