Objective: To analyze the association between the behavioral profile of physical activity and sedentary time with subjective well-being and mental health in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile. Methods: Cross-sectional study in a voluntary sample of 469 university students (22.4 ± 0.19 years; 66% women). According to students’ self-reports of physical activity and sedentary time, four behavioral profiles were created to investigate their association with subjective well-being and mental health using one-factor ANOVA that was adjusted to a multifactorial model. Results: The physically inactive and sedentary behavior profile presents the lowest levels of subjective well-being (p < 0.001), positive affective experiences (p < 0.001) and general mental health (p = 0.001). When adjusting for confounding variables, it was observed that the physically active and non-sedentary profile was associated with better general mental health (p < 0.01) in contrast to those who are physically active and sedentary. Conclusions: Chilean university students with a physically inactive and sedentary profile during the pandemic presented worse well-being and mental health, with a sedentary lifestyle being one of the variables that most affects the mental health of these students. Therefore, measures should be implemented to encourage this population to maintain adequate levels of physical activity and reduce sedentary times.

Objective: To analyze the relationship between anxiety, self-esteem, happiness index and primary school students’ academic performance in Chilean adolescents from the Biobío province. Methodology: 733 (46.1% girls; 12 (1.3 years)) public primary school students that completed the 2018 Health and School Performance Survey carried out in the Biobío province were included in this cross-sectional analysis. The BECK Anxiety Inventory (BAI) was used to measure anxiety while happiness index and self-esteem were measured using the subjective happiness scale and the Rosenberg self-esteem scale, respectively. School performance was measured by grade point average (GPA) of language, math, physical education and cumulative GPA, and behavior associated with cognition in the school context was also considered. The relationship between mental health indicators and school performance was investigated using a one-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation. Results: In comparison to students with low anxiety levels and high self-esteem and happiness levels, students with higher anxiety levels, lower self-esteem and happiness levels perceived themselves as having memory problems. They were also slower to solve math problems, had a shorter attention span in class and presented more difficulties in solving complex tasks, as well as being more nervous during testing. These students also got the lowest grade point average in math, language and physical education. Conclusions: High anxiety levels, low self-esteem and low happiness levels were associated with lower school performance and weaker behavior associated with cognition in Chilean adolescents. Implementing plans of emotional education and mental health could improve academic achievement.

Virtual education has grown exponentially in the past year due to the global COVID19 pandemic. In this context, the exploration of teachers’ perceptions of their students’ emotions when using ICTs has become more relevant. The aim of this study was two-fold, on the one hand, to analyze how teachers perceived their students’ emotions and, on the other hand, to analyze the emotions teachers wanted to modulate in their students when using ICTs. To this end, an interpretative and comparative study was implemented using the Lexical Availability technique. The sample was formed by 178 Chilean teachers who took a lexical availability test. The analysis included general vocabulary through network graphs and a comparison across gender, academic background, school type and knowledge area. The results made it possible to identify the latent mental lexicon of teachers, revealing significant differences in the perception of emotions, according to gender and ICTs use and according to gender and knowledge area. The study further projects the potential of lexical availability to determine the emotions required by Affective Informatics in the adaptability of educational systems and to make adjustments to the instructional design.

The present study exemplifies an action research-based approach for addressing the extent to which a process of explicit instruction of formulaic language supports the use of this type of vocabulary in middle school students’ short narrative written texts. The study was conducted at a private school in Chile, as a plan to help learners use different forms of expression in a written format. Data were obtained from a group of 23 Spanish-speaking learners of English before and after the intervention period. The action research methodology was implemented in order to collect and analyse written compositions as well as a survey for evaluating the treatment from the students’ perspective. The observation and reflection process led to positive outcomes in relation to the use of formulaic expressions in writing, and students’ opinion about the process also proved favourable. The pedagogical innovation is reflected upon theoretical and pedagogical perspectives. Implications applicable to teachers working in this and other contexts are also considered.

When examining learning at university, especially in a pandemic context, it is important to analyze the actions taken by lecturers to promote students’ disposition towards studying. The objectives of this research project were to analyze the activities lecturers implement in class to promote their students’ disposition towards studying; examine lecturers’ basic psychological needs satisfaction levels; and determine the relationship between feedback, beliefs, and affect for self-regulation and lecturers’ basic psychological needs satisfaction. A quantitative methodological approach, with a descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional design was used, with a sample of 97 lecturers from Chilean universities. Data collection took place through a battery of instruments: the promotion of disposition towards studying survey; the feedback scale for self-regulation; the beliefs and affect in self-regulation survey; the satisfaction of basic psychological needs survey; and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The results showed that the promotion of disposition towards studying was a key factor to face social distancing and the loss of self-regulation for learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, a positive correlation was found between beliefs and affect in relation to self-regulation and satisfaction levels of basic psychological needs in the participating lecturers.