Search

This article provides an overview of how student-teachers and the pedagogical practicum are conceived in the Colombian English language teaching field. The study reviewed 72 articles in three levels of analysis: extraction of corresponding knowledge, epistemic review, and concatenation of emergent insights. The analysis reveals that student-teachers are conceived as subjects with principles, values, beliefs, responsibilities, and knowledge. Meanwhile, the pedagogical practicum is an academic space, process, and experience constituted by purposes, practical knowledge, and building relationships. This literature review mainly contributes to the field as an invitation to continue revising the foundations of the pedagogical practicum and the kind of student-teachers that this space may develop.

This case study reports how three high-school teachers from two state schools in Colombia enacted the National English Suggested Curriculum by the Ministry of Education. The teachers' trajectories of action were analyzed through semi-structured interviews, teachers' narratives, and lesson observations. Using the ecological model of agency as a framework, we situated teachers' steps within projective, iterational, and practical evaluative dimensions of agency. In this paper, we provide additional dimensions of teacher agency, which can help to expand theoretical and empirical knowledge in the field. Findings show that teachers cope with the changes derived from policy differently. The analysis presented in this paper can inform the creation and promotion of future curriculum policies in similar contexts.

This study examines hegemonic discourses on English and socioeconomic development from teachers' perspectives. Specifically, it scrutinizes the sorts of positions a group of 36 teachers of English, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese in an undergraduate program of modern languages take towards both the predominant narrative of English as the language of development and the role that the languages they teach may also play. Using postdevelopment as a theoretical framework, teachers' social representations around the languages they teach are analyzed. Findings suggest that, although there is a strong tendency to uncritically accept and accommodate instrumental and Anglo normative views of development, "small hopes" for configuring plural, locally sensitive, less instrumental, and ecological understandings are also emerging.

English teachers' professional development responds to individual needs and societal discourses about teaching, learning, and language use. This paper reports the findings of a case study that explored the factors that increased or limited the active and committed participation of nine Colombian teachers of English in professional development programs. Findings suggest that English teachers are invested in their professional development if they may develop three imagined identities--as proficient English speakers, ELT experts, and ICT competent users--and their affiliation to an imagined community of "bilinguals." The teachers' journey to the imagined identities and the imagined community is full of conflicting emotions amidst the socio-political context of their work and the country's language education policies.

The professional development for teachers is an important component of the quality of education. However, few systems for monitoring and analysing the quality and impact of teacher professional development programmes have been created. In this article, we present the effects on classroom practices of a Colombian professional development programme for in-service secondary mathematics teachers. We compare the teachers' classroom practices of planning, implementation, and assessment, before and after participating in the programme. We found that the professional development programme shows a statistically significant and positive effect on planning, implementing and assessment practices. These results serve as evidence of teacher training policy in terms of changes in classroom practices.

This paper is a theoretical contribution to discussions about the emancipatory potential of citizenship education across four sites (i.e. Catalonia, Colombia, England, and Pakistan). By reflecting on policy and empirical data from our four contexts of study, we discuss whether citizenship education manifests different conditions of emancipatory education (modern, postmodern, and posthumous). We argue that citizenship education offers possibilities for emancipation, but these are constrained by capitalist and Enlightenment barriers. We conclude that if an emancipatory form of citizenship education is to be possible, there is a need to make room for politics in school classrooms and further politicise epistemological and anthropological assumptions. We recommend a form of citizenship education that conceptualises emancipation as our ability to respond ethically to situated challenges by thinking by ourselves with others.

A part of students learning in the classroom depends on how the teacher responds to their thinking. The literature has separately addressed teachers' feedback responses to errors and unexpected strategies that students put into play when solving tasks. We propose a framework to analyze these responses together based on three criteria: the focus of the answers (teacher or student), the type of knowledge (conceptual or procedural) that the teacher puts into play in the teacher-centered answers, and the types of actions (asking and proposing) involved in student-centered responses. We codified and analyzed the feedback responses of a group of mathematics teachers to a questionnaire that inquired about their curricular practices. We found similarities in their reports of responses to students' errors and unexpected strategies: two-thirds of teachers have a teacher-centered response. For the student-centered answers, the number of responses of the teacher in which he/she proposes activities is three times the number of responses in which he/she asks students questions. Furthermore, responses to unexpected strategies differ from responses to errors because teachers evaluate, correct, and accept those strategies.

When mentioning different actions that lead to the implementation of strategic planning in the use of ICT for achieving educational quality in the UFPS, it should become a concretion of the practical participation of these entities to try to achieve quality standards in education. In this sense, when it is intended to generate actions that lead to consolidating this proposal, the purpose of the research was to establish how ICT improves quality in higher education and to propose a strategic plan that allows its improvement at the Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander, framed in a feasible, field, descriptive project. With a sample of 13 active teachers in the selected university institution. In addition, the survey technique was applied with a questionnaire-type instrument with response options always, almost always, sometimes, almost never and never. Its items were validated employing expert judgment and its reliability was verified through Cronbach's Alpha statistical formula. Subsequently, the respective analysis of the information was carried out to elaborate on the actions to be proposed for the implementation of strategic planning for the achievement of educational quality at the Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander. The results found to indicate the relevance of strategic planning to stimulate educational quality in the university selected for the research, in addition to pointing out organizational aspects that generate administrative waste, are minimized with the systematic application of strategic planning as a projection to the university community.

This paper outlines a description of research carried out at a public university in Colombia where students of the Hospitality and Tourism Management program took four general English levels in 2017 as a requirement to graduate. According to the data collected, these levels were not enough to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to interact in English. This need, determined through questionnaires, and a CNA report were the starting point of this research study, whose main objective was to enrich students' language learning skills and knowledge through a CLIL curriculum. This participatory action research is framed within a qualitative study. After designing, implementing, and piloting one unit, including four lessons, we determined that not only students' language learning skills can be improved but also their confidence, participation, solidarity, and awareness of their and others' learning process through the activities designed and strategies proposed by this approach.

This qualitative research study delves into elementary school teachers' beliefs and the potential contribution of reverse mentoring to improve English language teaching for children. The purpose was to explore how elementary in-service teachers' beliefs could be transformed after participating in a reverse mentoring experience. A group of in-service teachers from two public elementary schools and a group of student-teachers from Universidad de Córdoba (Colombia) were the research participants. Data were gathered through a questionnaire, interviews, and classroom observations. Findings showed that reverse mentoring played an important role in transforming in-service teachers' beliefs about teaching English to children regarding the difficulties of language learning, communicative strategies, motivation and expectations, foreign language aptitude, and the nature of language learning.

This exploratory case study seeks to examine the role that specific factors exert on the evolution of beliefs in preservice English teachers during their final teaching practicum. Data were collected through reflections, interviews, focus groups, and observations. The findings revealed that three groups of factors affect belief evolution during the practicum: participant subjectivity, contextual circumstances, and university support community. Subjectivities encompassed preservice teachers' fears, reactions to real-life teaching challenges, and enthusiasm to become teachers. Contextual circumstances incorporated classroom circumstances and cooperating teachers. The university support community concerned their peers and the university tutor. Implications discuss the relevance of curricular and reflective agendas that enrich the education of future teachers through beliefs exploration.

The professional development of English teachers is a significant area in language teaching and learning, as well as in teacher education. On the one hand, at least in theory, professional development initiatives respond to the teachers' changing needs. On the other hand, it reflects the beliefs that different educational authorities and stakeholders have about English uses and education. In this self-study, I consider the professional development of English teachers in Colombia and its tight connection to the language education policies of the country. Following a chronological approach, I present the findings as landmarks that have contributed to my reflections and research around professional development and language education policies. Discussing the findings, I show how the discourses and decisions about teachers' continuing learning represent certain views of language, second language acquisition, English language teaching and learning, and teachers as professionals. This self-study addresses some of the concepts that illuminate the discourses that have shaped English teachers' professional development. Focusing primarily on the development of the National Program of Bilingualism, I underscore the power of these concepts over the major decisions made at the local and school levels. In the analysis of the past and present of teachers' professional development in Colombia, I conclude on the necessity of maintaining critical scholarly work to contribute to the construction of local knowledge for future reflection.

This paper establishes the determinants of professionals' postgraduate training needs. A quantitative survey of a sample of 492 professionals from Valle del Cauca, Colombia was conducted. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling to verify the research hypotheses. The results show that the factors affecting the need for postgraduate training are individuals' perceptions about their level of skill development and about the benefits of professional development. The findings suggest that career advancement is the most valued outcome of postgraduate training. Fieldwork was conducted with a sample of professionals located in the Valle del Cauca in Colombia, so it is important to continue validating the hypotheses in other regions to enable a comparison of results from different contexts. The study contributes to an understanding of the relationship between the variables and the explanation of the determinants of professionals' perceptions of the need for postgraduate training. It also provides elements for decision-making in the strategic design of postgraduate training offerings. Considering the scarcity of research on the variables that determine the need for postgraduate training, this study provides one of the first theoretical and empirical validations of a perceptual measurement scale of professional training needs in Latin America.

Teachers' beliefs about mathematics play an important role in the teaching of mathematics. Future teachers' views of mathematics are the basis of the quality of instruction they will deliver, as well as the teaching materials that they will present to their students and the means necessary to learn and participate in mathematical tasks. This article studies Colombian future teachers' beliefs about mathematical knowledge, taking into account two different training programmes for pre-service mathematics teachers from the same country, both of them qualify students to teach mathematics at elementary levels. Specifically, 213 mathematics graduate students and 405 normal school students from the Colombian Caribbean coast in their last term of their studies participated. Data were collected regarding four dimensions of beliefs: (i) on the nature of mathematics, (ii) about learning mathematics, (iii) about factors affecting students' achievement in mathematics, and (iv) about the quality of their training programme. Results show remarkable differences in the future teachers' beliefs depending on their training programme.

This article describes the implementation of digital storytelling in an English language class of eleventh graders at a private school in Mosquera, Colombia. It is a descriptive qualitative study, carried out for about six months by using digital tools to foster language production in the language learners. The implementation contained digital storytelling as a pedagogical strategy for developing the writing literacy practice. The personal stories and media literacy allowed the participants to combine both narratives and digital elements when writing in English in a collaborative work-group in which they co-constructed their stories. The data collected was analyzed by using ATLAS ti. Open questions looked for information about the writing process and the digital tools implemented when creating the stories. The findings revealed that the participants developed writing and speaking manners while assuming different roles. In addition, the digitalization of stories strengthened their multi-literacies. The participants' recordings of their voices helped them improve their oral production without worrying about their classmates' opinion. Finally, negotiation in the group roles, as writer, designer and media creator, played an important role when working in groups.

This paper reports an action research study on cooperative learning projects for engineering students at a public university. The research study is aimed at improving reading skills through the use of four cooperative learning projects implemented during the English classes. Data gathered from a survey, four group interviews, and the teacher's journal were collected and analyzed to determine the categories after coding the data. Findings suggest that working cooperatively has a higher effect on students' reading skills. Conclusions also highlight that cooperative learning strengthens English reading skills and fosters leadership, decision making, communication and problem-solving abilities. Additionally, it increases participation, motivation and goal achievement in students' language learning process.

The purpose of this paper is to address the most significant contributions of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) involved in teaching physics. Most studies have observed the characterizations of PCK via specific content in the lower secondary and upper secondary curricula. Here, we present a number of studies that show evidence for the development of some PCK components, including those that present PCK as an articulating axis for physics teacher training models. The present work is a descriptive study that analyzes, by means of a case study, the changes in PCK through a physics teacher training intervention program. This program is based on reflections about teaching, concerning the electric field in physics education. The results show that categories, such as knowledge about the curriculum and teaching strategies, evolved after the intervention program, in contrast with knowledge about evaluation and pupils. This suggests that an approach involving a teacher's reflection on what he/she designs allows for progression towards a teaching and learning process that is more focused on innovative tendencies.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) has a classic phenotype, however its expression can be variable among full mutation males. This is secondary to variable methylation mosaicisms and the number of CGG triplet repeats in the non-coding region of the Fragile X Mental Retardation 1 ("FMR1") gene, producing a variable expression of the Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP). Here we report a family with several individuals affected by FXS: a boy with a hypermethylated "FMR1" mutation and a classic phenotype; a man with an "FMR1" gene mosaicism in the range of premutation (PM) and full mutation (FM), who has a mild phenotype due to which FXS was initially disregarded; and the cases of four women with a FM and mosaicism. This report highlights the importance of DNA molecular testing for the diagnosis of FXS in patients with developmental delay, intellectual disability and/or autism due to the variable phenotype that occurs in individuals with "FMR1" mosaicisms.

Background: Health perception is a subjective predictor of long-term morbidity and mortality. Few studies address the perception that pregnant women have of their oral health. Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between socioeconomic factors and self-assessment of oral health in pregnant women from Cali, Colombia. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 998 pregnant women, calculated using the formula to estimate a proportion in finite populations, with a confidence level of 95%. A questionnaire was applied for sociodemographic characterization, as well as to enquire about oral health perception, knowledge, and practices of oral health. Results: The mean age of the surveyed mothers was 24.7, with a standard deviation of 6.1, of which 23.6% were adolescents. The perception they had about their oral health status was considered good by 60.8%. Of the 82.9% who reported having attended dentistry, more than half perceived good oral health. Pregnant women with no history of oral problems, with a perception of medium or high income, and with good oral hygiene practices tend to have a good perception of their oral health. Conclusion: Pregnant women with no history of oral problems, with a perception of medium or high income, and with good oral hygiene practices tend to have a good perception of their oral health.

This article shows how the integration of native language in EFL classes affect positively the teaching and learning processes of English as a foreign language. The methodology shows a quantitative approach performing different processes and techniques adapted to the requirements of the investigation, data is the result of tests done to two groups of fifteen students in two class at a university, surveys and interviews. There is a theoretical research from authors about the use of native language in EFL classes which makes the investigation very solid. The results show that the integration of students' native language in the learning of English as a foreign language can help them achieve their learning goals.

Challenges to an existing face-to-face peer-tutoring model grew into an opportunity to integrate online technologies as a support for English autonomous learning in two undergraduate teacher education programs at a Colombian public university. This qualitative study examines how a group of tutees' exposure to an online-based peer-tutoring model shapes their autonomy. Informed by data from questionnaires, a focus group interview, tutees' logs, and records of their engagement with the model's internet resources, researchers identified a change in participants' conceptualization of autonomous learning and an impact on their self-directed practices rooted in the immediacy, accessibility, comfort and availability of resources that the online peer-tutoring model favors.

In the context of an undergraduate program in modern languages that includes the learning of French, Italian, Portuguese, and German in addition to English, this paper problematizes anglonormativity; that is, the dominant discourses of English as the taken-for-granted language of development. From the particular context of Colombia, where the hegemony of English has notoriously shaped different nation-wide language policies, this study critically analyzes how languages other than English also play a significant role in socioeconomic development. As an important theoretical backdrop, this analysis follows the views of post-development to interrogate the conventional instrumental understanding of development. Based on a mixed-method study involving 407 students, in which Abric's [1994). "Practicas sociales y representaciones" "[Social practices and representations]"] model of social representations was deployed as an analytical frame to examine the meanings students construct around the process of learning international languages. Particularly, three major narratives of social representations emerged from these diverse meanings. These served to scrutinize the essentialized and hermetic discursive construction of English as the quintessential language of progress, economic growth, and intercultural communication. The study highlights the need to deconstruct these hegemonic conceptions and make room for more intrinsically grounded social representations of both socioeconomic development and language learning.

Psychosocial intervention programs are carried out in Latin American communities with socioeconomic disadvantage to improve their quality of life; few evaluations are carried out to measure their effectiveness. The study aimed to determine if intervention processes in vulnerable communities might favor the children's development. An analysis of variance was used to find the dependence between different intervention processes and the cognitive development of 97 children between 3 and 6 years old. No relationship was found between the type of intervention received by the communities and their infants' global cognitive development. However, the children of the community intervened by multiple agents and services showed significant differences related to a better performance in dimensions such as language, rhythm, memory, and attention. It is necessary to ensure nutrition and guarantee quality education, early stimulation, spaces of relationship with peers, and a community aware of their co-responsibility in childcare to improve children's cognitive development.

This study presents the formulation of a quantitative and qualitative index of quality for accredited institutions based on their performance in five components related to institutional quality: research, students' performance, dropout rates, employability, and accreditation. This index will allow each accredited institution to identify its competences and shortcomings in contrast to the rest, not with the intention of establishing a stiff metrics and positioning system, but of generating information inputs that are flexible and relevant and that allow the revision of each university's status, thus constituting the foundations for a Colombian accreditation observatory for the purpose of continuous improvement.

Colombia has endured one of the world's longest internal displacement crises in recent history. Programs that address the practices and psychosocial wellbeing of the community of caregivers of young children in protracted crises are urgently needed. We developed and implemented a program aimed at strengthening the resilience and wellbeing of caregivers (parents, grandparents, and educators) of children enrolled in home-based and institutional centers for early childhood development in Colombia. The program, Conmigo, Contigo, Con Todos, or 3Cs, used purposive sampling across 14 municipalities disproportionately impacted by the armed conflict in Colombia. It consisted of two modules, a skills-building program (SBP) module and a psychotherapy intervention (PTI). The program content drew from cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness, and from inputs from local stakeholders. By applying a pragmatic evaluation strategy, we explored the pre-post intervention changes in parental resilience (the primary outcome of interest) through self-reports on the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). The analysis of the pre-post intervention outcomes showed statistically significant improvements in CD-RISC in both intervention arms (SBP and PTI). Caregivers in the PTI group started with lower CD-RISC scores than caregivers who did not receive the PTI, and they showed the most improvement over time. Caregivers who had lower than average participation in the SBP (M=1-3 sessions out of a total of 6) did not show significant changes in CD-RISC. Additionally, caregivers who had higher than average participation in the SBP showed significantly more improvement in CD-RISC scores than caregivers who did not attend any sessions. We discuss the implications of these findings for future applications of the program and substantiate the measurable impact of interventions for caregivers in conflict settings.

This article is the result of a qualitative research following the characteristics of hermeneutical research aims to understand the training process of the English university professor, taking into account factors that affect and surround the social, economic, and cultural environment; in which the experience and the story of life, shape the professor. A historicity that allows the subject to be an actor of her own life, and from her experiences narrated, it is analyzed and a training path by which the subject under study obtained academic and life skills. All times and spaces in which the professor is exposed are interpreted to understand the whole process of training. Finally, it is evidenced how the professor's training transcends beyond a simple classroom. The experience of life, lifestyle, family background, socio-cultural context are inseparable part of the training processes.

This paper presents a study that looked into the structuring of tasks that may foster oral fluency in an intensive eight-week course with 25 young adult and adult learners of English as a foreign language in a format of tutoring sessions for conversation. The action research involved two teachers and a research advisor, coauthors of this paper. Researchers identified two drawbacks: learners claimed that instruction was not helpful for them to use English outside the classroom, and that they had difficulty in retaining information in long-term memory. With surveys, interviews, observations and videos, the research team gathered data on students' progress, goals, performance and beliefs. The pedagogical intervention with "Task-Supported Teaching" (TST) produced these results: a) TST promoted cooperation b) the degree of participation correlated with the students' purpose for learning English, and c) TST raised awareness on the acquisition of speaking.

This qualitative study had the objective of analyzing the influence of graphic organizers on the development of written argumentative tasks in a group of sixth-grade Colombian L2 English learners. Learners are increasingly required to analyze information presented in languages other than their first critically to form reasoned opinions and solve problems. It is thus urgent to develop their argumentation skills, needed not only for academic success but also later professional life--and, indeed, by participant citizens in democratic societies. Although there has been some increased interest in teaching argumentation at primary and secondary levels, this remains relatively unexplored Colombia, certainly when considering writing in a second language. For the present study, data were collected through a questionnaire, a survey, a focus group, a teachers' journal, and students' written artifacts and analyzed through the grounded theory approach. Findings revealed that using graphic organizers influenced learners' argumentative writing skills positively, specifically through supporting strategic information planning and argumentative linearization during the pre- and while-writing stages. These understandings, which show that younger learners can develop complex argumentative writing skills in a second language, offer significant lessons for teachers of language--and content--in both the first and additional languages.

This research arose from the need to consolidate a meaningful bilingual methodology for children from three to five years of age from low socioeconomic backgrounds belonging to the public education system, where they could begin learning English and Spanish by means of a bilingual methodology that provides them with the same opportunities as middle to upper class children. Its aim is to implement an Early Sequential Bilingual Methodology Model in a public Early Childhood Development Center-ECDC (Centro de Desarrollo Infantil-CDI), and to collect data from class observations, students' responses, early childhood teachers' and English teachers' views as well as parents' perceptions towards its methodology and implementation in order to consolidate the model. Likewise, it will provide children with new opportunities to develop higher cognitive and high order thinking skills that can maximize their academic performance throughout their school years. This present Early Sequential Bilingual Model is a descriptive case study funded by a public university in Colombia and was implemented in a public ECDC (CDI) in Pereira (Risaralda-Colombia) based on the bilingual methodological proposals portrayed by Rodao (2011) and Arias et al. (2015). This research project depicts and systematizes the most predominant methodological techniques employed when teaching English at public ECDCs (CDIs) and interprets their effectiveness based on the data collected from interviews, fieldnotes and surveys. This article describes the responses of three- to five-year-old children to audiovisual material implemented in class.

The goal of this cross-cultural study was to analyze and compare the cybervictimization and cyberaggression scores, and the problematic Internet use between Spain, Colombia and Uruguay. Despite cultural similarities between the Spanish and the South American contexts, there are few empirical studies that have comparatively examined this issue. The study sample consisted of 2,653 subjects aged 10-18 years. Data was collected through the cyberbullying questionnaire and the Spanish version of the "Revised generalized and problematic Internet use scale". Results showed a higher prevalence of minor cyberbullying behavior in Spain between 10-14 years. In the three countries compared, there was a higher prevalence of two types of bystanders: the defender of the victim and the outsider, although in Colombia there were more profiles of assistant to the bully. Regarding the problematic use of the Internet, there were not differences between the three countries. We provide evidence on the relationship between cybervictimization and cyberaggression and problematic use of the Internet. The dimensions of compulsive use and regulation of mood are the best predictors of cyberbullying. We discuss our results in relation to the possible normalization of violence and its lack of recognition as such.

The community restrictions during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic adversely impacted older adults' physical activity levels. This convergent mixed-method study assessed the adaptation of the Recreovía, a community-based physical activity program in Bogotá, and characterized physical activity levels among older adult participants. Our results showed how the Recreovía adapted during the pandemic to continue promoting physical activity, through indoor and outdoor strategies, including virtual physical activity sessions and safety protocols. During this time, 72%–79% of the older adults attending the adapted program were physically active. A greater proportion of park users (84.2%) and more people involved in vigorous physical activity were observed during Recreovía days. Older adults had positive experiences and perceptions of the Recreovía program related to their health and social well-being. Even though the older adults prefer being outdoors, the adapted program allowed participants to continue with their physical activity routines as much as possible during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an approach to developing intermediate level reading proficiency through a strategic and iterative use of a discreet set of tasks that combine some of the more common metacognitive theories and strategies that have been published in the past thirty years. The case for incorporating this composite approach into reading comprehension classes begins with an explanation of its benefits and the context in which it came to be; its relationship to theoretical discourse in the field; a description of its three main components: textual indicators, strategy instruction, and content learning; and concludes by presenting a model for implementing the approach that integrates these three components.

One hundred and ninety-eight hours of teacher-student interactions following transgressions in 109 early childhood classrooms in Colombia were observed to describe: (1) the types of responses teachers used to address students' moral and conventional transgressions, (2) whether those responses were appropriate for the type of transgression, and (3) the type of reflection promoted by the teachers on issues related to the socio-moral domains. Findings evidenced that the most prevalent responses did not allude to moral or conventional issues, and did not include a reflection with student participation. Practical implications of the study are discussed in terms of the need of more evidence-based guidelines and training for educators about how to promote moral development in their classrooms.

Purpose: To describe the prevalence, incidence, and sociodemographic characteristics of uveitis in Colombia based on the National Health Registry of Colombia, the Integrated Social Protection Information System database (SISPRO). Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study using SISPRO. Along with the International Classification of Diseases, we were able to identify cases of general uveitis (GU), anterior (AU), and posterior uveitis (PU) from 2015 to 2019. For 2020, we used a statistical model for spatial data to predict the prevalence/incidence of the diseases and compared it to the data retrieved in SISPRO. Results: The average prevalence of GU was 14.66 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, while the average incidence rate of GU during the same period was 13.61 cases per 100,000 inhabitants per year. In 2020, there was a noticeable decrease in the incidence and prevalence of GU. Similar trends were observed when analyzing the incidence and prevalence of AU and PU separately. Females accounted for most reported cases, and there was a notable shift towards older age groups (over 50 years) for uveitis occurrence in males and females. Regions such as Bogotá, Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, and the Andean region had higher numbers of cases and a more significant disease burden. Conclusions: Our study represents Colombia's first population-based characterization of GU, AU, and PU epidemiology. Our results highlight the importance of understanding disease patterns according to sociodemographic factors intrinsic to distinct geographic locations to design better preventive, diagnostic, and treatment approaches in the Colombian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The professional development for teachers is an important component of the quality of education. However, few systems for monitoring and analysing the quality and impact of teacher professional development programmes have been created. In this article, we present the effects on classroom practices of a Colombian professional development programme for in-service secondary mathematics teachers. We compare the teachers' classroom practices of planning, implementation, and assessment, before and after participating in the programme. We found that the professional development programme shows a statistically significant and positive effect on planning, implementing and assessment practices. These results serve as evidence of teacher training policy in terms of changes in classroom practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This multicenter, retrospective cohort study aimed to compare the risk of ulnar nerve injury in pediatric supracondylar humeral fractures treated with percutaneous lateral-pins, blinded-crossed-pins, and crossed-pins with a mini-incision. Methods: Data were collected from 1705 children treated between January 2010 and December 2023 at four orthopedic centers in Colombia. The incidence of postoperative ulnar nerve injury was compared among three fixation techniques: lateral-pin, blinded-crossed-pin, and crossed-pin with a mini-incision. Results: A statistically significant difference in nerve injury rates was observed between the lateral-pin and both blinded-crossed-pin and mini-incision crossed-pin techniques (p < 0.001), with the lateral-pin technique demonstrating a significantly lower risk of injury. No significant difference was found between the blinded-crossed-pin and mini-incision crossed-pin techniques (p = 0.67). Conclusion: Crossed-pin fixation was associated with a higher incidence of ulnar nerve injury, regardless of the use of a mini-incision. The lateral-pin technique remains the safest option for minimizing iatrogenic nerve injury. There is insufficient evidence to support the mini-incision as a safer alternative to traditional crossed-pin fixation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Veterinarska Stanica is the property of Croatian Veterinary Institute and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In an effort to become more competitive in the global market, Colombia, as many other Latin American countries, has declared English the dominant foreign language to be taught in schools and universities across the country. To support this measure, in the last 16 years, the government, through its National Ministry of Education, has launched a series of programs such as National Program of Bilingualism 2004-2019; the Program for Strengthening the Development of Competences in Foreign Languages; The National English Program: Colombia Very Well 2015- 2025; and most recently, Bilingual Colombia 2014-2018. Results from studies conducted by local researchers across the country suggest that the regulation has posed a series of challenges for public primary school teachers, which these programs have not been able to address. These challenges can be divided into two categories: professional and work related. The purpose of this article is twofold: First, the article intends to provide a critical overview of the four programs that the Colombian government has launched since 2004. Second, the article aims to present some conclusions and recommendations for language policy design and implementation in Colombia.

Inventory of Suicide Orientation--ISO 30, it is a self-report scale that measures risk of adolescents suicide orientation. Although the risk of adolescents suicide is on the public agenda in Colombia actually, there is no study to analyze the psychometric properties of ISO 30, and for this reason, the present study is conducted with a random sample of 604 adolescent students (48% were male and 52% female with an average age of 14 and a deviation of 1.9 years). Methods: A confirmatory factor analysis was performed; reliability is checked by the Cronbach's alpha and correlation item-subconstruct to which it belongs; The test-retest reliability and concurrent validity with the RFL-A validated scale in Colombia with teenage school people is verified. AMOS 16.0 and SPSS version 20.0 for data processing was used. Results: this population was confirmed in the same factorial structure of the original scale; so does the internal consistency for the 30 items and the correlation of each item with its own subconstruct: social isolation and marginalization, low self-esteem, inability to manage emotions, suicidal ideation and hopelessness. Conclusion: The Inventory of Suicide Orientation--ISO 30 Spanish version, is a useful questionnaire and appropriate to diagnose the risk of suicidal orientation (which is a prelude to suicidal idea) in the adolescents students people in Medellin city.

This study estimates the effects of economic activity on the quality of education in various regions of Colombia. To estimate this effect, we first calculate an index of quality of education. Second, we use a spatial regression model to estimate the effect of the spatial heterogeneity of the regions on this index of quality. Third, we use a dynamic data panel methodology and instrumental variables to estimate a causal relationship, where electricity consumption data and light intensity from satellite images are used to measure the economic activity. The principal results show that economic activity has a positive effect on the quality of education and the effects are persistent over time. However, the effects of the previous quality of education on current quality disappear over time. Therefore, the quality of education does not reproduce endogenously in time. These findings have practical implications for research on education and for comparative education.

Previous publications in applied linguistics concerning nonnative English speaker teachers have analyzed how native-speakerism associated ideologies engender discrimination and affect students' and teachers' sense of self-worth. This qualitative study examines how Colombian English pre-service teachers' telecollaboration with U.S. Spanish heritage language students (SHLSs) influences the Colombian future teachers' self-perceptions as (non) native speakers. This research joins the call scholars have made to expand telecollaboration into critical perspectives to challenge pervasive and harmful language beliefs and attitudes. Findings suggest that Colombian participants' cooperative relationships with U.S. peers provided them affective and knowledge-based resources to build more favorable views of themselves, attitudes to confront the detrimental effects of native-speakerism ideologies, and informed judgments to dismantle them.

Colombian English as a foreign language student teachers' opportunities to grow as educators through international sojourns do not usually subsume the traditional study and residence abroad goal. This was the case for our participants who engaged mainly in working abroad with study being ancillary. Fifty student teachers from two public universities reported how their international sojourn bolstered their intercultural learning. Three different programs, disconnected from participants' academic institutions, became vehicles for their experiences abroad. Surveys and interviews reveal that participants' origin, selected programs, and contextual circumstances influenced their intercultural learning. As a result, intercultural development gravitated towards awareness of intercultural patterns, critical reading of culture, and pre-service teachers' repositioning to build cultural agency. Implications suggest the need to connect traveling abroad programs to undergraduate curricula.

In a public university in Tunja (Colombia), undergraduate language students mentioned that writing was important and yet, they kept at a distance from it due to its requirements. The aim of this pedagogical intervention was to find a strategy to encourage students to write and, more importantly, to feel an identity with their texts. For this pedagogical intervention, students were required to write narratives that allowed them to portray their experiences using the target language and to look for the most accurate words and descriptions. From a pedagogical perspective, writing the narratives provided the teacher with the possibility of knowing his students better and to feel an affiliation towards them.

In this paper, we propose a model to explore how teachers learn pedagogical concepts in teacher education programs that expect them to become competent in lesson planning. In this context, we view pedagogical concepts as conceptual and methodological tools that help teachers to design a lesson plan on a topic, implement this lesson plan and assess its results. Concepts such as the notions of learning goals, errors, conceptual structure, representation systems, resources, grouping, interaction or assessment strategies are examples of such pedagogical concepts. We propose a model that involves three types of knowledge of a pedagogical concept--theoretical, technical and practical--for describing teachers' learning of it. The knowledge classification proposed by this model assumes that a teacher should know the theory about the pedagogical concept (theoretical knowledge), be able to use it for analysing the topic and producing information about it (technical knowledge), and be able to use this information for making decisions in the planning process (practical knowledge). We present examples of the development and enactment of those types of knowledge by a group of mathematics future teachers in a teacher education program we have worked on.

It is possible to track multiple state reforms to secondary education in terms of curricula and syllabus throughout the second half of the twentieth century in Colombia. Underlying each reform, one can identify a rationality that surpasses the logic of Education, and is rather intertwined with the political project and ideological requirements of the government in office, or with certain socio-political junctures. The impact of the political world on education is particularly noticeable in school subjects that address National History. Within this perspective it is shown how, after institutional changes have occurred, different memories and visions about citizenship, democracy, conflict and nation are being promoted. This highlights different ways of subordination of the educational project to a wide universe of political dynamics.