Description of Main Innovative and Alternative Methodologies for Mathematical Learning of Written Algorithms in Primary Education.

The traditional way of teaching mathematics generates significant learning difficulties in students that are reflected in their academic performance. In recent years, the number of teachers and researchers interested in finding innovative, flexible and comprehensible methodologies has increased. The main objective of this article has been to carry out a theoretical review of the methodologies for learning/teaching mathematics at school level. Central elements of international and national method initiatives have been highlighted. The empirical evidence on the Singapore method and the Algorithm Based on Numbers (ABN) method confirms the need to include innovative and manipulative strategies in the classroom. The Singapore method has been shown as a source that improves students' problem solving skill, mathematical competence, boosting reasoning, and a higher motivation. Some studies focused on the effectiveness of the ABN method and its influence on mathematical cognition. The use of this methodology and learning in flipped classroom have obtained significant results in teacher training. These results could provide guidance about how to improve pre-service education in Primary Bachelor's Degree. The findings presented in the manuscript could be a basis for opening new lines of quantitative research, with the aim of analysing problem solving and the use of manipulative materials in mathematics. Thus, future research should focus on analysing the cognitive processes involved in mathematical learning, carrying out empirical studies in schools. In addition, it is necessary to improve future teachers' training, so that they can learn about new alternatives for mathematical teaching and the available resources to be able to put it into practice. Moreover, alternative methodologies are a necessary driver for the improvement of mathematical performance both inside and outside the classroom, and also for the technological and economic development of countries.

Neurocognitive Impairment in Severe Mental Illness. Comparative study with Spanish Speaking Patients.

BACKGROUND: Serious mental illness (SMI) represents a category of psychiatric disorders characterized by specific difficulties of personal and social functioning, derived from suffering severe and persistent mental health problems. AIMS: We wanted to look into differences in cognitive performance among different SMI patients. METHODS: Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) screening was applied in one sample of SMI patients (n = 149) and another of healthy comparison participants (n = 35). Within the SMI sample, three different subsamples were formed: one with 97 patients with schizophrenia, a second with 29 patients with mood disorders, and a third with 23 patients with personality disorder. We performed a comparative study within and between groups. RESULTS: Analysis of covariance was performed. Significant differences were found for cognitive functioning including attention and memory. CONCLUSIONS: RBANS can be recommended for the detection of neurocognitive deficits in psychiatric disorders, especially in Schizophrenia.

Coming Together: R&D and Children's Entertainment Company in Designing APPs for Learning Early Math.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have an increasing influence on the way we interact, learn, and live. The increase in teaching and learning methodologies that are mediated by ICT in the field of education and in the domestic settings encourages the design of new effective technological tools, supported by scientific research and development to improve student learning. The challenge psychology is facing in the education field is to promote those technologies and make them available to the education community. Technologies also would produce attractive items for users and realistic commercial issues for businesses. This also allows an effective transfer for scientific work, providing visibility to Research and Development. In this context, the main aim of the article is to describe the process to get an agreement between Babyradio (a children's entertainment company: https://babyradio.es/) and our research team, starting a collaborative work between two groups of people (Babyradio's technical designer and Psychologist-Engineers software designer), in order to create several educative applications (APPs) in the field of early mathematics cognition. The institutional framework of the relationship of the R&D project and a children's entertainment company is described. The article also focuses on experience in Psychology, Technological Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. In considering the efficiency of the agreement, we present different APPs designed for tablets and smartphone devices, adapted to the different operating systems (IOS, Android, Windows). APPs are designed to instill the cognitive fundamentals associated with early math learning for students aged 4 to 7 years. The study developed after this babyradio-university enterprise agreement contributes to the development of mathematics skills in children, aged 4-7 years, so that they can successfully meet the mathematics school requirements; it also contributes to encouraging a more positive attitude toward mathematics. This study also suggests how the education system and software and educational content developers' companies would manage verified instructional APPs, with a more realistic commercial perspective.

Predictive model for early math skills based on structural equations.

Early math skills are determined by higher cognitive processes that are particularly important for acquiring and developing skills during a child's early education. Such processes could be a critical target for identifying students at risk for math learning difficulties. Few studies have considered the use of a structural equation method to rationalize these relations. Participating in this study were 207 preschool students ages 59 to 72 months, 108 boys and 99 girls. Performance with respect to early math skills, early literacy, general intelligence, working memory, and short-term memory was assessed. A structural equation model explaining 64.3% of the variance in early math skills was applied. Early literacy exhibited the highest statistical significance (ß = 0.443, p < 0.05), followed by intelligence (ß = 0.286, p < 0.05), working memory (ß = 0.220, p < 0.05), and short-term memory (ß = 0.213, p < 0.05). Correlations between the independent variables were also significant (p < 0.05). According to the results, cognitive variables should be included in remedial intervention programs.

Diseño y validación de una prueba de selección para controladores de tráfico marítimo basada en la medida de la conciencia situacional / Design and validation of a screening test for vessel traffic services operators based on situational awareness assessment

En este artículo se resalta la necesidad de contar con un test fiable para la selección de futuros operadores en los servicios de tráfico marítimo. Se presenta el proceso de creación del Situation Awareness Test for Vessel Traffic Services (SAT-VTS) [Prueba de Conciencia Situacional para Servicios de Tráfico Marítimo]. Se expone la base teórica sobre la que descansa la prueba, que es la conciencia situacional, y el proceso de su construcción y validación, para lo que se utilizó una prueba de jueces expertos y posteriormente una muestra de posibles futuros candidatos (N = 138), alumnos de Náutica de la Universidad de Cádiz. Se detallan los niveles de fiabilidad de la prueba (α = .864) así como otras características psicométricas (AU)

This article highlights the need of a reliable test for the selection of future operators in vessel traffic services. It describes the theoretical basis of the test that lies in situational awareness and the process of building and validation of the Situation Awareness Test for Vessel Traffic Services (SAT-VTS) by means of a test of expert judges, and then a sample of possible future candidates (N = 138), students of the Sea Navigation School at Cadiz University (Spain). The reliability of the test (α = .864) and other psychometric characteristics are detailed (AU)

Relationship between personality traits and vocational choice.

Summary.-The relationship between occupational preferences and personality traits was examined. A randomly chosen sample of 735 students (age range = 17 to 23 years; 50.5% male) in their last year of high school participated in this study. Participants completed Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor-5 Questionnaire (16PF-5 Questionnaire) and the Kuder-C Professional Tendencies Questionnaire. Initial hierarchical cluster analysis categorized the participants into two groups by Kuder-C vocational factors: one showed a predilection for scientific or technological careers and the other a bias toward the humanities and social sciences. Based on these groupings, differences in 16PF-5 personality traits were analyzed and differences associated with three first-order personality traits (warmth, dominance, and sensitivity), three second-order factors (extraversion, control, and independence), and some areas of professional interest (mechanical, arithmetical artistic, persuasive, and welfare) were identified. The data indicated that there was congruency between personality profiles and vocational interests.

La motivación laboral de los jóvenes en su primer empleo / Labour motivation of young people in their first job

Este trabajo forma parte de un proyecto de investigación que pretende analizar los aspectos que en mayor medida motivan a los sujetos, que acceden por primera vez a un empleo. Estamos interesados en aquellos jóvenes que se han visto, por diversos motivos, en la necesidad de abandonas el sistema reglado y buscar como alternativa la Formación Profesional Ocupacional para poder así insertarse laboralmente en la sociedad. Basándonos en el supuesto de que existen factores inherentes al propio trabajo (intrínsecos) y factores ajenos al contexto laboral (extrínsecos), se lleva a cabo un estudio con alumnos de Formación Ocupacional de la provincia de Cádiz. Para conseguir nuestro objetivo, se aplicó un cuestionario sobre motivaciones psicosociales y se contrató con las respuestas emitidas a un ítem que refleja el grado de satisfacción del sujeto, llegándose así, a la conclusión de que son los aspectos extrínsecos del trabajo los que en mayor grado motivan a los sujetos utilizados que acceden a su primer puesto de trabajo a través de los programas de empleo y formación (AU)

This work is part of a wider project of investigation that tries to analyse the main aspects that motivate people who get their first job. We are specially interested in those young people who, for several reasons and in one moment of their lives, had to leave the regulated Educational System and get into Professional Occupational Training in order to enter labour society. On the basis of the supposition that there are factors inherent in the own job (intrinsic) and factors foreign to the labour context but where the consequences of the job become very important (extrinsic), it was made a study with pupils of the province of Cádiz. To get our aim, it was applied a test about psychosocial motivations and the results were contrasted with the answers given to an item that shows the personal degree of satisfaction, drawing the conclusion that the extrinsic aspects of job are the ones that most motivate people who get their first job through the employment and training programs (AU)

Formación del profesorado en prevención de alcoholismo. Análisis de una muestra de docentes de ESO / Teachers training in the prevention of alcoholisme. An analysis of a sample of teachers in Secondary Education

El presente trabajo recoge un análisis de las opiniones de los profesores de Secundaria con relación a la prevención escolar del consumo de alcohol y otras drogas. Tres aspectos fundamentales han sido objeto de este estudio: actitudes hacia la implicación de los centros educativos en tareas de prevención, nivel de capacitación del profesorado para asumir esta labor y sugerencias para la formación en prevención. Los datos han sido recogidos mediante la aplicación de una encuesta a 112 profesores de centros públicos y privados de la ciudad de Cádiz. Los resultados hacia su implicación en tareas de prevención, si bien existe un claro déficit de formación en este campo (AU)