Taking notes is a common strategy among higher education students, and has been found to affect their academic performance. Nowadays, however, the use of computers is replacing the traditional pencil-and-paper methodology. The present study aims to identify the advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of computer (typing) and pencil-and-paper (handwriting) for taking notes by college students. A total of 251 social and health science students participated in the study. Two experimental conditions were chosen: taking notes by hand (n=211), and taking notes by computer (n=40). Those that used computer-written notes performed better on tasks based on reproducing the alphabet, writing sentences, and recognizing words (p<.05). However, those using handwritten notes performed better on free recall tasks (p<.05). Differences between the two conditions were statistically significant rejecting the hypothesis of equality between groups (X2=60.98; p<.0001). In addition, the discriminant analysis confirmed that 77.3% of students were correctly classified by the experimental conditions. Although the computer allowed for greater velocity when taking notes, handwriting enhanced students’ grades when performing memory tasks. La toma de apuntes es una estrategia generalizada del alumnado de Educación Superior y se ha constatado su influencia en el rendimiento académico. El uso del ordenador está desplazando al método tradicional de lápiz y papel. El presente estudio pretende arrojar luz sobre las ventajas y los inconvenientes derivados del uso de uno u otro método en la toma de apuntes en las aulas universitarias. Un total de 251 estudiantes universitarios de ciencias sociales y ciencias de la salud participaron en el estudio. Se plantearon dos condiciones experimentales: toma de notas de forma manual (n=211) y de manera electrónica (n=40). Se hallaron diferencias a favor del grupo que usó el ordenador en las tareas basadas en completar el abecedario, escribir frases y reconocer palabras anotadas previamente (p<.05). Sin embargo, en la tarea de recuerdo libre los resultados reflejaron un mejor desempeño del grupo que tomó notas manualmente (p<.05). Se rechazó la hipótesis de igualdad entre los grupos (X2=60,98; p<.0001). Además, el análisis discriminante confirmó que el 77,3% de los alumnos fueron clasificados correctamente según su condición experimental. El uso del ordenador resultó muy útil cuando se trataba de anotar datos con rapidez; sin embargo, en las tareas de recuerdo los alumnos de escritura manual obtuvieron mejores puntuaciones que los de escritura electrónica.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have an increasing influence on the way we interact, learn, and live. The increase in teaching and learning methodologies that are mediated by ICT in the field of education and in the domestic settings encourages the design of new effective technological tools, supported by scientific research and development to improve student learning. The challenge psychology is facing in the education field is to promote those technologies and make them available to the education community. Technologies also would produce attractive items for users and realistic commercial issues for businesses. This also allows an effective transfer for scientific work, providing visibility to Research and Development. In this context, the main aim of the article is to describe the process to get an agreement between Babyradio (a children’s entertainment company: https://babyradio.es/) and our research team, starting a collaborative work between two groups of people (Babyradio’s technical designer and Psychologist-Engineers software designer), in order to create several educative applications (APPs) in the field of early mathematics cognition. The institutional framework of the relationship of the R&D project and a children’s entertainment company is described. The article also focuses on experience in Psychology, Technological Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. In considering the efficiency of the agreement, we present different APPs designed for tablets and smartphone devices, adapted to the different operating systems (IOS, Android, Windows). APPs are designed to instill the cognitive fundamentals associated with early math learning for students aged 4 to 7 years. The study developed after this babyradio-university enterprise agreement contributes to the development of mathematics skills in children, aged 4–7 years, so that they can successfully meet the mathematics school requirements; it also contributes to encouraging a more positive attitude toward mathematics. This study also suggests how the education system and software and educational content developers’ companies would manage verified instructional APPs, with a more realistic commercial perspective.

En este estudio se trató de detectar el alumnado en riesgo de presentar dificultades de aprendizaje de las matemáticas, en los niveles iniciales de la escolarización obligatoria, satisfaciendo la necesidad de llevar a cabo una evaluación completa y exhaustiva, determinando qué aspectos de la evaluación del rendimiento matemático correlacionan con la medida de la inteligencia. Asimismo, se analizaron las diferencias de género en matemática temprana, revelando la posible influencia del género en las diferencias de los resultados matemáticos. Se evaluó a un total de 44 alumnos y alumnas pertenecientes a segundo curso de Educación Infantil (media de edad = 53.75 meses) mediante tres pruebas diferentes: Test de Evaluación Matemática Temprana (TEMT), Test para el Diagnóstico de las Competencias Básicas en Matemáticas (TEDI-MATH) y el Test de Matrices Progresivas de Raven. Los resultados mostraron que los alumnos con mayor puntuación en la escala de Raven obtuvieron mejores resultados en las pruebas matemáticas. Sin embargo, no se encontraron diferencias significativas entre género e inteligencia, ni entre género y rendimiento matemático.

Challenging behaviors exhibited by individuals with developmental disabilities often hinder the acquisition of academic, social, and life skills. Functional analysis has been useful for assessing challenging behavior in various settings. The purpose of this study was to implement an operant methodology for recognizing the functional properties of challenging behavior in people with intellectual disabilities. Four adults diagnosed with profound intellectual disability received assessment under several experimental conditions using a functional analysis methodology: social attention as positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement such as the termination of demands, positive tangible reinforcements, absence of social contingencies, and escape from noisy stimuli. Results showed that different types of reinforcement or avoiding contingencies affected the rate of aggression, self-injury, disruption, stereotypy, or socially offensive behaviors, and functional analysis may potentially be a viable alternative for identifying challenging behaviors.

One of the means for representing quantities/magnitudes is the mental number line. It is still a nonsolved question as to whether the method of learning mathematics in the early years could improve this type of estimating. A total of 233 students, aged four and five years, who learned mathematics with a new method called Open Algorithm Based on Number or the more traditional Closed Based on Ciphers approach, were evaluated with a reliable estimation on the number line test. Results revealed significant differences in participants’ estimation functions based on the learning method used. Students who learned mathematics through the Open Algorithm Based on Number method used a linear representation more efficiently than those who were taught with the Closed Based on Ciphers methodology. This group exhibited a logarithmic function in their approach. We discussed whether these differences can be attributed to a recurrent practice in estimation tasks at school, characterized by the Open Algorithm Based on Number methodology.