A questionnaire was recently developed for the use with the Spanish-speaking, and evidence have been provided about the construct internal validity by means of structural equation modelling. In this paper, two research questions were considered: (i) What new evidence does application of the Rasch model provide regarding the validity of this…

Reasoning for complexity is a fundamental competency in these complex times for solutions to social problems and decision-making. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the validity and reliability of the eComplexity instrument by presenting its psychometric properties. The instrument consists of a Likert-type scale questionnaire designed to…

Making the work of security organizations known to school children is a means of mitigating feelings of insecurity provoked by the diffusion of information on terrorist attacks in communications media and through social media. Whilst there is a longer tradition of projects to educate school children on the police and the armed forces, no…

Purpose: In this paper, the results of an investigation aimed at analysing and comparing the environmental competences of future teachers undergoing training in two universities are presented. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the difference in the acquisition of environmental competences amongst two groups of students enrolled in two…

How do university students understand the graphs that they read in their textbooks? How does their knowledge regarding the content and their statistical training influence this understanding? Does the kind of task demand also influence this understanding? To answer these questions, we asked a group of psychology students and a group of economics…

The objective of this study was to develop a nonformal environmental education program in a summer camp and to measure its effectiveness increasing environmental knowledge and attitudes of the participants. Seventy six teenagers between 14 and 17 years participated. Activities dealt with both natural and urban environment. Preactivity and…

Restricted to five Spanish public universities, this paper examines knowledge about information literacy competencies--that is, the objective dimension--among a population of social sciences students, as well as two subjective dimensions: students' belief in the importance of information literacy, hereafter called "belief-in-importance",…

Background: Microorganisms are very important in day-to-day life, but they are inadequately addressed in the Spanish educational system. It is essential that students are well informed about their characteristics and functions. Purpose: The study aims to find out primary school students' perceptions of microorganisms and to analyze whether…

In recent years, teachers in Western countries have developed beliefs and attitudes related to working with students with specific learning disabilities (LD) that may be critical in shaping their educational practices with them; however, their beliefs and attitudes differ across political and geographical contexts and may be influenced by specific…

The inclusive education framework and the increase in autism diagnoses have led to an overwhelming challenge for pre-service teachers who need to be qualified to teach all children. To test the quality of their training, the main purpose of this study was to compare 866 pre-service teachers' knowledge, misconceptions, and gaps about autism in…

Purpose: Over the past few years, social networking sites (SNSs) have become very useful for firms, allowing companies to manage the customer-brand relationships. In this context, SNSs can be considered as a learning tool because of the brand knowledge that customers develop from these relationships. Because of the fact that knowledge in…

The aim of this investigation is to assess the correlation among different competencies-assessment systems available on the market to measure social skills in the university environment. In order to carry out the research, three self-perception competency tests were used, and 30 competencies were evaluated in a Likert scale with several response…

This paper examines teachers' use of printed curriculum materials (PCM) during physical education (PE) instruction in Spanish secondary schools and the role they play in the enacted curriculum and in the construction of pedagogical knowledge. Three hundred and ten participants (mean age: 37.7 ± 8.7) responded to an interview-questionnaire on…

Education and training in schools are essential elements in the development and socialization process of children from early childhood. The fact of considering health as a complete physical, mental and social wellbeing (World Health Organization (1848), WHO), and not only as the absence of illness, is closely related to the achievement of optimal…

Advances in information and communication technologies, and the introduction of competency-based educational approaches promoted as a result of the participation of universities in the construction of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) are demanding urgent changes in teaching methodologies and in the role of students. In this context the…