Teaching Socio-Emotional Competencies Among Primary School Students: Improving Conflict Resolution and Promoting Democratic Co-existence in Schools.

Teaching socio-emotional skills among primary school students is the key to creating a climate of cooperation in classrooms and reducing disruptive or aggressive behaviors among students. The primary goal of this research is to present an educational proposal for imparting socio-emotional competencies among primary school students. We attempt to impart socio-emotional competencies based on: (1) fostering self-knowledge, self-esteem, and respect for others among students; (2) developing behaviors that allow them to perceive and express feelings and self-regulating emotions; and (3) developing assertive communication skills aimed at improving conflict resolution. This program has been designed in such a way that it is implemented throughout the academic year by organizing bi-monthly sessions of 45 min each, held until the completion of 15 sessions. The sample consists of 100 students in the third grade, with the control and experimental groups having an equal number of students (50 each). The instruments used for this research are: (a) BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory (Youth Version [BarOn EQ-i:YV]): used for measuring emotional and social functioning; (b) the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY): used for assessing social skills; and (c) Questionnaire for the Assessment of School Violence in Preschool and Primary School Questionnaire. To check the effectiveness of the educational intervention, a quasi-experimental design, along with pretest-posttest control group design, is used in accordance with the general linear model. Its effectiveness is also checked using repeated measures analysis of variance. The results show that the program is useful in preventing violent behaviors in the educational field and promoting the development of socio-emotional skills among third grade students. Finally, the applicability of the program to other educational contexts is discussed to enhance students' personal development and decrease the levels of violence found in primary school.

Differences in Learning Strategies, Goal Orientations, and Self-Concept between Overachieving, Normal-Achieving, and Underachieving Secondary Students.

The aims of this work were to identify and establish differential characteristics in learning strategies, goal orientations, and self-concept between overachieving, normal-achieving and underachieving secondary students. A total of 1400 Spanish first and second year high school students from the South-East geographical area participated in this study. Three groups of students were established: a group with underachieving students, a group with a normal level of achievement, and a third group with overachieving students. The students were assigned to each group depending on the residual punctuations obtained from a multiple regression analysis in which the punctuation of an IQ test was the predictor and a measure composed of the school grades of nine subjects was the criteria. The results of one-way ANOVA and the Games-Howell post-hoc test showed that underachieving students had significantly lower punctuations in all of the measures of learning strategies and learning goals, as well as all of the academic self-concept, personal self-concept, parental relationship, honesty, and personal stability factors. In contrast, overachieving students had higher punctuations than underachieving students in the same variables and higher punctuations than normal-achieving students in most of the variables in which significant differences were detected. These results have clear educational implications.

Validity evidence based on internal structure of scores on the Spanish version of the Self-Description Questionnaire-II.

The aim of this study was to analyze the reliability and validity evidence of scores on the Spanish version of Self-Description Questionnaire II (SDQ-II). The instrument was administered in a sample of 2022 Spanish students (51.1% boys) from grades 7 to 10. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine validity evidence based on internal structure drawn from the scores on the SDQ-II. CFA replicated the correlated II first-order factor structure. Furthermore, hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis (HCFA) was used to examine the hierarchical ordering of self-concept, as measured by scores on the Spanish version of the SDQ-II. Although a series of HCFA models were tested to assess academic and non-academic components organization, support for those hierarchical models was weaker than for the correlated 11 first-order factor structure. Results also indicated that scores on the Spanish version of the SDQ-II had internal consistency and test-retest reliability estimates within an acceptable range.

Validity evidence based on internal structure of scores on the Spanish version of the self-description questionnaire-II

The aim of this study was to analyze the reliability and validity evidence of scores on the Spanish version of Self-Description Questionnaire II (SDQ-II). The instrument was administered in a sample of 2022 Spanish students (51.1% boys) from grades 7 to 10. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine validity evidence based on internal structure drawn from the scores on the SDQ-II. CFA replicated the correlated 11 first-order factor structure. Furthermore, hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis (HCFA) was used to examine the hierarchical ordering of self-concept, as measured by scores on the Spanish version of the SDQ-II. Although a series of HCFA models were tested to assess academic and non-academic components organization, support for those hierarchical models was weaker than for the correlated 11 first-order factor structure. Results also indicated that scores on the Spanish version of the SDQ-II had internal consistency and test-retest reliability estimates within an acceptable range (AU)

El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar la fiabilidad y validez de las puntuaciones en la versión española del Self-Description Questionnaire II (SDQ-II). El instrumento fue administrado a una muestra de 2022 estudiantes españoles (51,1% chicos) de 1º a 4º de educación secundaria obligatoria. El análisis factorial confirmatorio (CFA) fue usado para examinar la validez basada en la estructura interna de las puntuaciones del SDQ-II. El CFA replicó la estructura factorial de primer orden de 11 factores correlacionados. Además, el análisis factorial confirmatorio jerárquico (HCFA) fue usado para examinar el ordenamiento jerárquico del autoconcepto medido por las puntuaciones de la versión española del SDQ-II. Aunque se examinaron una serie de modelos de HCFA para evaluar la organización de componentes académicos y no académicos, el apoyo para estos modelos jerárquicos fue más débil que para la estructura factorial de primer orden de 11 factores correlacionados. Los resultados también indicaron que las puntuaciones de la versión española del SDQ-II tuvieron estimaciones de consistencia interna y fiabilidad test-retest dentro de un rango aceptable (AU)

Complex learning: the role of knowledge, intelligence, motivation and learning strategies / Aprendizaje complejo: el papel del conocimiento, la inteligencia, motivación y estrategias de aprendizaje

This work presents the main theories and models formulated with the purpose of offering a global overview on the acquisition of knowledge and skills involved in the initial development of expert competence. Setting from this background, we developed an empirical work whose main purpose is to define those factors in a complex learning situation such as chapter-sized in a knowledge-rich domain. The results obtained in a sample of Master students reveal that the several variables intervening, such as the qualitative organization of knowledge, intellectual ability, motivation, the deliberate use of strategies, and a rich learning environment, contribute in an independent way to provide an explanation for the acquired knowledge

Este trabajo presenta las principales teorías y modelos formulados con el propósito de ofrecer una perspectiva global sobre los factores que influyen en la adquisición del conocimiento y las habilidades que forman parte del desarrollo inicial de la competencia experta. A partir de este contexto teórico se desarrolla un trabajo empírico cuyo principal objetivo es el de definir los factores implicados en el aprendizaje de amplia información significativa en un dominio de conocimiento. Los resultados, obtenidos en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios, ponen de manifiesto que la habilidad de organización del conocimiento, la capacidad intelectual, la motivación, el uso deliberado de estrategias y un ambiente rico de aprendizaje, contribuyen de forma independiente a la explicación del conocimiento adquirido

Complex learning: the role of knowledge, intelligence, motivation and learning strategies.

This work presents the main theories and models formulated with the purpose of offering a global overview on the acquisition of knowledge and skills involved in the initial development of expert competence. Setting from this background, we developed an empirical work whose main purpose is to define those factors in a complex learning situation such as chapter-sized in a knowledge-rich domain. The results obtained in a sample of Master students reveal that the several variables intervening, such as the qualitative organization of knowledge, intellectual ability, motivation, the deliberate use of strategies, and a rich learning environment, contribute in an independent way to provide an explanation for the acquired knowledge.

El rol del conocimiento y de las habilidades intelectuales generales en la adquisición del aprendizaje complejo / The role of knowledge and of general intellectual skills in the acquisition of complex learning

El objetivo principal del presente trabajo es examinar la relación existente entre la habilidad intelectual y la habilidad de organización del conocimiento dentro de un modelo más general sobre los factores explicativos de la adquisición de conocimientos y habilidades. Se trata de comprobar si se produce un efecto compensatorio entre la habilidad intelectual general y la habilidad para organizar el conocimiento, así como establecer si el aprendizaje de los sujetos que obtienen un mayor conocimiento en un dominio particular viene predicho/explicado por las mismas variables que explican el aprendizaje de los sujetos que obtienen un menor conocimiento. Los resultados, en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios, indican que no se produce un efecto de interacción entre ambos factores, sino más bien un efecto aditivo. No obstante, sí se observa que el efecto de la inteligencia no es el mismo en los distintos niveles de conocimiento adquirido (AU)

The main aim of this work is to examine the relation existing between intellectual ability and the ability to organize knowledge, within the scope of a more general model on the factors explaining the acquisition of knowledge and skills. It attempts to check if a compensatory effect takes place between the general intellectual ability and the ability to organize knowledge. It also attempts to establish whether the learning in people with broader knowledge of a specific domain is determined or explained by the same variables accounting for the learning in people who get smaller knowledge. The results, in a sample of university students, reveal that no interaction takes place between both factors; rather than that, intellectual ability and the quality of the conceptual organization have an additional effect. Nevertheless, it is observed that the effect of intelligence is not the same on the different levels of acquired knowledge (AU)