Mikel Asensio

Mobile devices: a tool for tourism and learning at archaeological sites

The study analyses data obtained from the implementation of public programmes that utilise mobile devices at archaeological sites. The work documents that the two main uses for such devices are augmented reality (AR) and geocaching games involving GPS equipment. The paper notes the educational opportunities presented by the use of these devices. The work concludes that the programmes achieve good general results, are well rated by users, raise interest and are motivating. However, published ratings are limited and very descriptive, and evaluation standards are poor.

Ningún Iroqués era Mohicano: La influencia del contenido en las tareas de razonamiento lógico

Tisis work focuses on the study of d e tasie content infruence in deductive reasoning problems. Four different tasks were utilized: propositional reasoning with different types of logical connectives, lineal silo gisms or three terms series, categorial silo gisms and the Wason selection task. Two versions were designed for each of the proofs: °pe version with concrete thematic material, different for each proof and another version with abstract material, without any concrete thematie content. Both versions of the same task were isomorphic. Both of them were administered for the four tasks, in the same order commented, to two groups of subjects: one group always performed first the concrete version and then the abstract one, and the other group always performed first the abstract and then the concrete one. The subjects were Secondary School pupils (3 year), 37 and 38 respectively, being the mean 17 years of age. The results confirme that there is not a unique facilitative or difficultative effect produced by the content. In a task the content version is easier, in other more difficult and in the other two there are no differences. The greatest effect is in that task in which the subjects seem to have a very clear permission scheme about the thematic content of the task. The results were interpreted according to a double, syntactic and semantic, processing hypothesis. As for the facilitative effect of the presentation order (abstract-concrete; concrete-abstract) the results indicate that the concrete version facilitates the

Intentando aprender otro idioma

ResumenEn este trabajo se presenta una revision sobre el estudio, tanto teorico como empirico y metodologico, de las estrategias de aprendizaje en segundas lenguas y lenguas extranjeras. Tras acotar los terminos mas relevantes y presentar una breve evolucion historica, se pasa a la revision teorica. Aqui se analizan el concepto de “estrategias de aprendizaje”, sus clasificacionesy caracteristicasprincipales. Por ultimo, se examina resumidamente la metodologia de recogida de datos sobre estas estrategias del aprendiz.

Re-Paying Attention to Visitor Behavior: A Re-Analysis using Meta-Analytic Techniques.

The present study describes a meta-analytic review of museum visitors behavior. Although there is a large number of visitor studies available, their cumulative importance has not been determined due to the lack of rigorous methods to determine common causes of visitors behaviors. We analyzed Serrells (1998) database of 110 studies, defining a number of variables that measure visitors behaviors in exhibition spaces which exceeded the most typical and obvious ones. We defined four indexes of effect size and obtained their combined estimates: average time per feature [ATF● = 0.43 (0.49; 0.37)], percentage of diligent visitors [dv● = 30% (0.39; 0.23)], inverse of velocity [Iv● = 4.07 min/100m2 (4.55; 3.59)], and stops per feature [SF● = 0.35 (0.38; 0.33)], and we analyzed the role of relevant moderating variables. Key findings indicate, for example, that the visiting time for each display element relates to the size of the exhibition and its newness, and visitor walking speed is higher in large exhibit areas. The indexes obtained in this study can be understood as references to be used for comparison with new evaluations. They may help to predict peoples behavior and appreciation of new exhibitions, identifying important problems in museum designs, and providing new research tools for this field.

Habilidades de segmentación y aprendizaje de la lectura en las personas ciegas

ResumenEl objetivo de esta investigacion es estudiar las habilidades metalinguisticas de las personas ciegas y su relacion con el rendimiento lector en el contexto de la discusion de las relaciones entre la conciencia fonologica y la lectura. La muestra estaba formada por cuarenta y seis estudiantes ciegos agrupados segun el nivel escolar. Las habilidades metalinguisticas se evaluaron a traves de tres pruebas de segmentacion (omision, comparacion y construccion). Para determinar el nivel de lectura se utilizaron cuatro indices: velocidad lectora, decodificacion, habilidades inferenciales y un indice general de lectura.Los resultados muestran que el patron de adquisicion y desarrollo de las habilidades de segmentacion de estos ninos coincide con el de los videntes. Igualmente se confirma la relacion de estas habilidades con los procesos instrucciona les, mientras que se diluye el efecto cronologico. En los sujetos ciegos, igual que ocurria en videntes y en sordos, volvemos a encontrar una estrecha relacion...