Guillermo Infante

Early understanding of the concept of living things: an examination of young children’s drawings of plant life

This paper looks at the drawings of a sample of 118 children aged between 4 and 7 years old on the topic of plant life and relates the content to their knowledge of the concept of living things. The research project uses two types of tests: a task to analyse the level of understanding of the concept of living things and a free drawing activity. The data presented indicates that children with the most accurate knowledge concerning what living things are, more frequently draw key aspects of plant life such as the sun, rainfall and clouds and also tend to draw more types of plants. These conclusions point to the use of examining young children’s depictions in order to study how the concept of living things is developed in early childhood.

Efficacy of a Cognitive Program for Improving the Physical Self-Concept of University Students

The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of a 6-wk. educational program designed to improve physical self-concept, which was carried out in the classrooms of a university physical activity and sports faculty. The experimental group comprised 45 students (M age = 18.8 yr., SD = 1.5) and a control group (N = 41; M age = 21.7 yr., SD = 1.2). The Autokontzeptu Fisikoaren Itaunketa / Physical Self-concept Questionnaire (AFI) was administered pre- and post-intervention, with a statistically significant increase being observed in the post-test scores of the experimental group on the General physical self-concept scale, as well as on the Condition, Attractiveness, and Strength scales. No statistically significant changes were observed in the control group.