This study investigates to what extent the popular online gaming platform called Kahoot can be used as a creative and effective tool to promote motivation, engagement and meaningful learning. For this purpose, a quasi-experimental study was conducted with a sample of 101 undergraduate students of education who participated in online Kahoot quizzes by designing their own questions as part of the formative assessment. According to the results of the pre- and post-tests, the integration of this game-based student response system into the teaching process improved students’ perception of certain concepts in social science teaching, increased their active participation in the lesson, and motivated them towards learning in a more interactive and stimulating environment. Therefore, it is recommended to take gamification to a whole new level with attractive digital participation platforms to increase motivation and enhance students’ learning experience in higher education contexts.

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) has been implemented in Spain for more than two decades, and the number of schools that have joined CLIL initiatives has progressively grown in an attempt to increase students’ proficiency in English; all of these developments are indicative of the importance of foreign language learning (FLL) in this country. The aim of this paper is to analyse the promotion of cognitive skills by teachers in the subjects of science and social science in primary education in the Spanish Region of Murcia. A mixed methodology combining techniques for collecting both quantitative and qualitative data was implemented. The results show a tendency to lapse into low-order thinking skills, which can hinder the development of demanding cognitive skills and creative learning processes in CLIL lessons. Some factors might affect these teaching practices, such as the type of teaching staff position or the experience that teachers have gained over time. The article concludes with some suggestions for further research.

Competency-based education is one of the challenges currently faced by social science teachers. At present, there is an abundance of research on competencies relating to the social sciences which favour the development of historical thinking among learners. The ongoing training of teachers is of vital importance when it comes to shifting the method of teaching towards approaches which focus more on the learner, which favour the teaching of historical contents and competences aimed at forming a critical citizenship. For this reason, the two objectives of this study are to discover which disciplinary contents are considered by teachers to be most relevant for the teaching of history and what training is required by teachers who give social science classes in primary and secondary education in Spain. The research is a non-experimental mixed-methods study. In order to achieve the first objective, a quantitative analysis has been carried out of the data obtained from a questionnaire with a Likert-type scale administered to 332 primary and secondary teachers in Spain. To achieve the second objective, the information obtained from 12 interviews with primary and secondary school teachers in Spain has been analysed in a qualitative way. The results obtained indicate that teachers update their disciplinary knowledge via scientific journals and that they are interested in receiving training in historical thinking skills, active learning methods and ICT resources. Based on these training needs, it is concluded that teachers currently envisage a teaching model in the social sciences which is more competency-based and focused on the active participation of the learner.

The objective of this article is to analyze teachers’ assessment of various resources used to teach history. The research methodology is of a quantitative nature with a non-experimental design using a questionnaire with a Likert scale. The non-probabilistic sample comprises 332 history teachers in Primary and Secondary Education in Spain. The analyses carried out are descriptive and inferential. The results indicate that the surveyed teachers value better the resources that imply a greater involvement of the students in the teaching of history and therefore more active methodologies. Specifically, the most valued resources were heritage, artistic productions and museums and, the least valued, video games, textbooks, and applications of historical content for mobile devices and tablets. The study concludes that heritage is a growing educational resource among teachers and shows that teachers are moving away from their perception of resources, which involve a more traditional methodology of teaching history.

Approaches to the teaching and learning of history imply a series of changes and improvements which are adapted to the new epistemological and disciplinary contexts. This calls for a series of transformations in teaching approaches and methodological strategies in order to bring them more into line with the current model of history education. The purpose of this article is to analyse the validity of a questionnaire designed to identify the perceptions of in-service teachers regarding the teaching approaches they believe to be most appropriate for teaching history in primary and secondary/baccalaureate education in Spain. The research methodology employed was quantitative with a non-experimental design based on a Likert-type questionnaire. The sample is non-probabilistic and consists of 332 active teachers who teach history in primary and secondary/baccalaureate education in Spain. For the analysis of the data, a structural equation model was used based on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The results indicate that the teachers surveyed identify three teaching approaches in accordance with the theoretical approach underlying the research. Specifically, a traditional approach based on the memorisation of content; an intermediate model in which there is interaction between teachers and students, through strategies such as discussion, and a third focused on students and the development of historical and critical thinking. These results have important implications for the initial and on-going training of teachers, especially in terms of content.