Variaciones en el desarrollo, influencias socioculturales, y dificultades en el aprendizaje de las matemáticas

Es sabido que la mayoría de los niños entran en la escuela con conocimientos y recursos fundacionales para su aprendizaje matemático. Sin embargo, esta no es la historia completa. Resultados de investigaciones revelan enormes diferencias en los niveles de competencia matemática de los niños pequeños, y estas diferencias parecen ser más acusadas en los Estados Unidos que en algunos otros países (por ejemplo, China) (Starkey y Klein, 2008). En este artículo se describen los tipos de diferencias que se dan y se ofrece una revisión sobre lo que se sabe acerca de la naturaleza y las fuentes de las variaciones en el desarrollo entre los niños

Fundamentos cognitivos para la iniciación en el aprendizaje de las matemáticas

En este artículo, sobre fundamentos cognitivos para la iniciación en el aprendizaje de las matemáticas, se realiza una revisión de investigaciones sobre el aprendizaje de las matemáticas en educación infantil. Esta revisión está estructurada según los siguientes apartados: Evidencias sobre la comprensión temprana del número, desarrollo del pensamiento espacial y la geometría, desarrollo de la medición, y regulación de la conducta y la atención

Contenido matemático fundacional para el aprendizaje en los primeros años

En este capítulo se describe el contenido matemático fundacional accesible para niñas y niños pequeños. El foco en este capítulo está puesto en las propias ideas matemáticas, más que en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de las mismas. Estas ideas matemáticas se dan por sentadas por los adultos, pero son sorprendentemente profundas y complejas. Hay dos áreas fundamentales en las matemáticas para la primera infancia: (1) el número y (2) la geometría y la medición, tal como identifican los Focos Currículares del NCTM y subrraya este comité. También hay importantes procesos de razonamiento matemático en que los niños deben implicarse. Este capítulo también describe algunas de las conexiones más importantes de las matemáticas infantiles con las matemáticas posteriores

Guiding explanation construction by children at the entry points of learning progressions

Policy documents in science education suggest that even at the earliest years of formal schooling, students are capable of constructing scientific explanations about focal content. Nonetheless, few research studies provide insights into how to effectively provide scaffolds appropriate for late elementary‐age students' fruitful creation of scientific explanations. This article describes two research studies to address the question, what makes explanation construction difficult for elementary students? The studies were conducted in urban fourth, fifth, and sixth grade classrooms where students were learning science through curricular units that contained 8 weeks of scaffold‐rich activities focused on explanation construction. The first study focused on the kind and amount of information scaffold‐rich assessments provided about young students' abilities to construct explanations under a range of scaffold conditions. Results demonstrated that fifth and sixth grade tests provided strong information about a range of students' abilities to construct explanations under a range of supported conditions. On balance, the fourth grade test did not provide as much information, nor was this test curricular‐sensitive. The second study provided information on pre–post test achievement relative to the amount of curricular intervention utilized over the 8‐week time period with each cohort. Results demonstrated that when taking the amount of the intervention into account, there were strong learning gains in all three grade‐level cohorts. In conjunction with the pre–post study, a type‐of‐error analysis was conducted to better understand the nature of errors among younger students. This analysis revealed that our youngest students generated the most incomplete responses and struggled in particular ways with generating valid evidence. Conclusions emphasize the synergistic value of research studies on scaffold‐rich assessments, curricular scaffolds, and teacher guidance toward a more complete understanding of how to support young students' explanation construction. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 141–165, 2012Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90320/1/20454_ftp.pd

Fundamentos cognitivos para la iniciación en el aprendizaje de las matemáticas

In this article, about cognitive foundations for early mathematics learning, we make a review of research on the learning of mathematics in the early childhood. We structure this review in the following sections: evidence for early understanding of number, development of spatial thinking and geometry, development of measurement, and regulating behavior and attention.En este artículo, sobre fundamentos cognitivos para la iniciación en el aprendizaje de las matemáticas, se realiza una revisión de investigaciones sobre el aprendizaje de las matemáticas en educación infantil. Esta revisión está estructurada según los siguientes apartados: Evidencias sobre la comprensión temprana del número, desarrollo del pensamiento espacial y la geometría, desarrollo de la medición, y regulación de la conducta y la atención

Contenido matemático fundacional para el aprendizaje en los primeros años

This chapter describes the foundational and achievable mathematics content for young children. The focus of this chapter is on the mathematical ideas themselves rather than on the teaching or learning of these ideas. These mathematical ideas are often taken for granted by adults, but they are surprisingly deep and complex. There are two fundamental areas of mathematics for young children: (1) number and (2) geometry and measurement as identified in NCTM's Curriculum Focal Points and outlined by this committee. There are also important mathematical reasoning processes that children must engage in. This chapter also describes some of the most important connections of the mathematics for young children to later mathematics. In the area of number, a fundamental idea is the connection between the counting numbers as a list and for describing how many objects are in a set. We can represent arbitrarily large counting numbers in an efficient, systematic way by means of the remarkable decimal system (base 10). We can use numbers to compare quantities without matching the quantities directly. The operations of addition and subtraction allow us to describe how amounts are related before and after combining or taking away, how parts and totals are related, and to say precisely how two amounts compare. In the area of geometry and measurement, a fundamental idea is that geometric shapes have different parts and aspects that can be described, and they can be composed and decomposed. To measure the size of something, one first selects a specific measurable attribute of the thing, and then views the thing as composed of some number of units. The shapes of geometry can be viewed as idealized and simplified approximations of objects in the world. Space has structure that derives from movement through space and from relative location within space. An important way to think about the structure of 2-D and 3-D space comes from viewing rectangles as composed of rows and columns of squares and viewing box shapes as composed of layers of rows and columns of cubes.En este capítulo se describe el contenido matemático fundacional accesible para niñas y niños pequeños. El foco en este capítulo está puesto en las propias ideas matemáticas, más que en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de las mismas. Estas ideas matemáticas se dan por sentadas por los adultos, pero son sorprendentemente profundas y complejas. Hay dos áreas fundamentales en las matemáticas para la primera infancia: (1) el número y (2) la geometría y la medición, tal como identifican los Focos Currículares del NCTM y subrraya este comité. También hay importantes procesos de razonamiento matemático en que los niños deben implicarse. Este capítulo también describe algunas de las conexiones más importantes de las matemáticas infantiles con las matemáticas posteriores.  En el área del número, una idea fundamental es la conexión entre los números de contar como secuencia y en la descripción de cuántos objetos hay en un conjunto. Podemos representar números de contar arbitrariamente grandes de una manera eficiente y sistemática, mediante el notable sistema decimal de numeración (de base 10). Podemos utilizar los números para comparar cantidades sin emparejarlas directamente (sin usar la correspondencia uno a uno). Las operaciones de adición y sustracción nos permiten describir cómo se relacionan las cantidades antes y después de combinarlas o quitar una de otra, cómo se relacionan las partes y el todo, y expresar con precisión la comparación de dos cantidades. En el ámbito de la geometría y la medición, una idea fundamental es que las formas geométricas tienen diferentes partes y aspectos que pueden describirse, y que pueden componerse y descomponerse. Para medir el tamaño de algo, primero se elige un atributo medible específico del objeto, y luego se considera el objeto como composición de un determinado número de unidades. Las formas de la geometría se pueden ver como aproximaciones idealizadas y simplificadas de objetos del mundo. El espacio tiene una estructura que deriva del movimiento a través del espacio y de la posición relativa dentro del espacio. Una forma importante de pensar en la estructura del espacio bidimensional y tridimensional proviene de considerar los rectángulos compuestos de filas y columnas de cuadrados y visualizar la forma de una caja como compuesta de capas formadas por filas y columnas de cubos

Beyond Chapter 4.7

Chapter 4.7 of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research refers specifically to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. It lays out the points at which researchers working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders must consider their approach, and the engagement with individuals, communities or groups who are involved in or affected by their research. History, of Australia and of research involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, has informed this approach. The response to that history has been a rational, institutionalised, systematic demand for a different perception of what should direct research and research processes to ensure engagement with and service to the community with whom the researchers wish to do the work. This paper considers whether these principles could inform the approach to other research work.not applicabl

Commentary: why abandoning undergraduate laboratories is not an option

[Excerpt] Laboratory exercises (labs) are sometimes regarded as dispensable in BMB education for various reasons including a combination of increased class costs and small budget allocations, pressing demands for more time to lecture to fit in new BMB discoveries within constant time span of courses, and the fact that labs’ look less powerful for illustrating BMB content as state-ofthe-art research technologies gain complexity and sophistication. Virtual environments are also in the equation: available examples from other sciences—pathology, for example—which are taught with virtual instead of real labs, question what justifies the allocation of facilities, technicians, and faculty to BMB labs. Finally and equally important, are the conclusions that the quality of labs is often below educational standards. Recent reports [1, 2] emphasize the need for severe changes: from ‘‘cookbook’’ labs—in which students do little more than following a protocol, one step at a time with highly predictable results—to ‘‘enquiry-driven’’ or ‘‘project-like’’ labs. Dropping labs may look far more convenient than making profound reforms, which are always time consuming and, at the end of the day, will not be taken into consideration in academic faculty evaluations or promotions. [...

The Personal protective technology program at NIOSH: reviews of research programs of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Maintaining the health and safety of workers in the United States and globally is accomplished in part by reducing hazardous exposures through the use of personal protective equipment. Personal protective technologies (PPT) include respirators worn by construction workers and miners; protective clothing, respirators, and gloves worn by firefighters and mine rescue workers; and respirators and protective clothing worn by healthcare workers. An estimated 5 million workers are required to wear respirators in 1.3 million U.S. workplaces. For some occupations, such as firefighting, the worker's protective equipment is the only form of protection against life-threatening hazards; for other workers, the PPT is a supplement to ventilation and other environmental, engineering, or administrative hazard controls. In the United States, federal responsibility for civilian worker PPT is integral to the mission of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). This book examines the NIOSH Personal Protective Technology Program (PPT Program) and specifically focuses on the relevance and impact of this program in reducing hazardous exposures and improving worker health and safety.Summary -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Relevance of the NIOSH PPT Program -- 3. Impact of the NIOSH PPT Program -- 4. Emerging issues and research areas in personal protective technology -- 5. Recommendations for PPT program improvement -- Appendix A: Framework for the review of research programs of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health -- Appendix B: Methods: Committee information gathering -- Appendix C: Information Provided by the NIOSH PPT Program -- Appendix D: Biographical sketches of committee membersCommittee to Review the NIOSH Personal Protective Technology Program, Board on Health Sciences Policy, Institute of Medicine and National Research Council of the National Academies.Also available via the World Wide Web.Includes bibliographical references

The Health Hazard Evaluation Program at NIOSH: reviews of research programs of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

It is the unique mission of the Health Hazard Evaluation Program within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to respond to requests to investigate potential occupational health hazards. In contrast to other NIOSH programs, the Health Hazard Evaluation Program is not primarily a research program. Rather, it investigates and provides advice to workplaces in response to requests from employers, employees and their representatives, and federal agencies. The National Research Council was charged with evaluating the NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation Program and determining whether program activities resulted in improvements in workplace practices and decreases in hazardous exposures that cause occupational illnesses. The program was found to play a key role in addressing existing widespread or emerging occupational health issues. This book makes several recommendations that could improve a very strong program including more systematic use of surveillance data to facilitate priority setting, and greater interaction with a broader array of workers, industries, and other government agencies.Committee to Review the NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation Program, Division on Earth and Life Studies, National Research Council and Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.Title from electronic title page (viewed Apr. 7, 2009).Also issued in print.Adobe Acrobat required for PDF version.Mode of access: World Wide Web.Text in GIF and PDF format.Sponsored by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 211-2006-19152 001Includes bibliographical references