El maestro sabio o las treinta mil leyes de las cuatro estaciones (última parte) / The wise master or the thirty thousand laws of the four seasons (last chapter)

Esta es la última entrega de una serie de cuatro artículos muy especiales sobre la historia del maestro sabio, Gin y Seng, y su aprendiz de nombre cambiante. El maestro es el descubridor de un cierto número de Leyes Docentes Científicas de la Formación de Aprendices que han revolucionado el mundo educativo. Son las leyes que gobiernan el universo de la formación del aprendiz; son inalterables y válidas por sí mismas. Existen desde un tiempo sin comienzo. En una clara alegoría a la formación de los médicos internos residentes, los autores nos van describiendo las etapas por las que pasan los residentes, desde sus inicios titubeantes (primavera) hasta su actuación independiente (invierno), y nos dan las claves de lo que debe ser la labor de tutorización, desarrollando un completo curso de formación para tutores de residentes (AU)

This is the last chapter of a series of four very special articles on the story of the wise master, Gin and Seng, and his apprentice with changing name. The master is the discoverer of a certain number of Scientific Teaching Laws for Apprentices Training which have revolutionized the world of education. These are the three rules governing the education of apprentices; they are inalterable and valid by themselves. They have existed from a time with no beginning. In a clearly allegorical story of the training period of hospital medical residents, the authors describe the different stages that residents go through, from their hesitating start (spring) to their independent performance (winter), while providing the keys to the correct tutoring tasks, creating a complete training course for medical residents tutors (AU)

Autoeficacia y utilidad percibida como condiciones necesarias para un aprendizaje académico autorregulado / Self-efficacy and perceived utility as necessary conditions for self-regulated academic learning

En el marco de la teoría social cognitiva, en este trabajo se investiga en qué medida el rendimiento escolar (Lengua y Matemáticas) puede ser explicado por el uso de estrategias de aprendizaje autorregulado y cómo este tipo de comportamiento deseable puede estar condicionado por la utilidad percibida de su uso y por la competencia percibida para su ejecución. Para completar el modelo de ecuaciones estructurales, se plantea que los niveles de estas variables hipotéticamente centrales en el aprendizaje están significativamente influenciados por el tiempo de estudio, el curso actual y el grado de fracaso escolar (número de cursos repetidos). El ajuste del modelo se ha llevado a cabo en base a una muestra de 750 estudiantes de enseñanza básica (entre 12 y 15 años) seleccionados aleatoriamente por grupo de un total de diez colegios. Los resultados obtenidos muestran, en la dirección de lo hipotetizado, que a mayor uso de estrategias de autorregulación del proceso de aprendizaje mayor es el rendimiento, y viceversa, y que el uso de dichas estrategias depende fuertemente de la utilidad percibida de tal comportamiento y de la autoeficacia para su uso efectivo. Estos datos sugieren la importancia de que los profesores utilicen estrategias de autorregulación en las tareas previstas en el currículo, aplicándolas a situaciones concretas de aprendizaje y entrenando su transferencia para otros contextos y tareas escolares, ya que esto hará más visible su utilidad y la práctica generará competencia percibida en los alumnos (AU)

Grounded on the social cognitive perspective, the current investigation aims at evaluating, through a structural equation model, the extent to which school achievement (Portuguese and Math) can be explained by using self-regulated learning strategies and how those self-regulated behaviors can be affected by perceived instrumentality as well as by students’ perceived competence to manage learning strategies adequately. In order to develop the structural equation model the hypothesized learning variables previously referred are supposed to be significantly affected by students’ study time, grade level and school underachievement (number of years failed at school). The EQS model has been developed with a sample of 750 Portuguese students attending compulsory education (12 to 15 years old) randomly selected among a larger group of students from ten different schools. Data confirm the importance of teachers’ using embedded self-regulated strategies in the academic tasks assigned to their students, promoting their transference to other contexts and different academic activities, once this teaching practice will be a privileged way to make learning strategies’ usefulness clear and to ensure the promotion of students’ perceived competence (AU)

When everything new is well-forgotten old: Vygotsky/Luria insights in the development of executive functions.

The concept of "extra-cortical organization of higher mental functions" proposed by Lev Vygotsky and expanded by Alexander Luria extends cultural-historical psychology regarding the interplay of natural and cultural factors in the development of the human mind. Using the example of self-regulation, the authors explore the evolution of this idea from its origins to recent findings on the neuropsychological trajectories of the development of executive functions. Empirical data derived from the Tools of the Mind project are used to discuss the idea of using classroom intervention to study the development of self-regulation in early childhood.

Dogs and other metaphors: reflections on the influence of Mark Ylvisaker.

Mark Ylvisaker's death in 2009 marked the sad cessation of a prolific and rich discourse regarding what matters in brain injury rehabilitation. In this article, I reflect on how my own work has converged with and been influenced by this great thinker and doer. My own work, like Ylvisaker's, has been oriented toward finding contextually relevant ways of assessing and remediating communication and social impairments in people with severe traumatic brain injury. In this article, common themes between Ylvisaker's work and my own are explored, including the usefulness of pragmatic language theory, which helps clarify why context is important when determining whether language is appropriate or not, and also to help reveal where problems occur in the use of subtle, diplomatic, or inferred meanings. This article also reflects upon Ylvisaker's models for remediation and the extent to which these can be encompassed within (as well as shape) more traditional models of social skills training.