Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

The application of empirical methods for scientific research in the educational field requires instruments that guide the verification of the object under investigation and guarantee the necessary information to reach scientific conclusions. Having the right instruments, with the qualities to fulfill their purpose, becomes a problem for inexperienced researchers. This article exposes the shortcomings found in a set of instruments used in research for the Diploma Work of the students of the degree in Primary Education, a study made by working in small groups of previously prepared teachers. The instruments were analyzed on the basis of four indicators necessary for the reliability and validity of the data that are expected to be obtained: the relevance, the feasibility, the rationality and the quality of the writing of these tools. The final result includes the suggestion of methodological steps to mitigate the negative effects of the inexperience of beginner researchers when preparing guides and questionnaires on the variables to be investigated.

The new educational paradigms use methods that place the student at the center of the teaching-learning process; among them are the problematic methods; However, there are still shortcomings in their use. The purpose of this study was to characterize the use of these in Machala basic education schools. The methodological strategy was systematized through the use of methods: scientific observation, hermeneutics and statistics. The data were collected through: observation guide, in-depth interviews with teachers and student surveys. We counted on the collaboration of five educational centers selected for the possibilities offered for the study; the sample consisted of 25 teachers and 60 students selected through stratified sampling in these centers. The investigations made allowed to conclude that: the problematic methods are little used in the classes; teachers recognize the value of problem teaching as a way of contributing to the development of cognitive independence, but in general they do not apply it due to theoretical and methodological ignorance, as a result, students do not develop the capacity for cognitive independence.

The current importance of information as an indispensable resource and the need to form a competent graduate capable of managing it, implies raising the quality of the university graduate. Today's university demands a professional with mastery of science and technology in its sphere of action, with skills in access to information and its use, which allow him to achieve high levels of independence in the acquisition of knowledge in his professional life. The objective of this work is to base a didactic conception of the process of formation of informational skills in the students of the Agronomy career of the University of Pinar del Río. For the development of the research, the materialistic dialectical method was assumed as the essential and guiding approach of the whole process, which allowed harmonizing the use of theoretical methods such as historical-logical, modeling and systemic-structural; among the empirical methods, the analysis of documents, the survey and the interview were used. The result of the research manifests a didactic conception of the process of formation of informational skills sustained on theoretical bases and governed by didactic principles that allow its foundation through scientific ideas that establish the stages of the process, the link between its personal components in a context of developer learning and the relations that are established between the non-personal components that characterize it.

This article discusses the possibility that Mexican victims of human rights violations may take advantage of the contents of the Alien Tort Claims Act to sue Mexican officials for extra-contractual civil liability in the event that they suffer damages derived from the use of firearms, technology, or otherwise, linked to the Merida Initiative. We analyze the Merida Initiative to Combat Illicit Narcotics and Reduce Organized Crime Authorization Act of 2008, and the Alien Tort Claims Act, also known as the Alien Tort Statute. We also refer to related Acts such as the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act, as well as to cases that help to understand the scope and limitations of the Alien Tort Claims Act. We conclude that the Merida Initiative and the resources allocated under it have deepened human rights violations in Mexico, and that the Alien Tort Claims Act could be invoked by Mexicans victims of such violations and of the “war” against drug trafficking under the framework of the Merida Initiative.

The right to self-determination has become an increasing legitimate demand of peoples seeking recognition and autonomy. In the beginning, this right was conceived in favor of peoples that depended on colonial powers, but today it has become a claim of any people that considers itself a people, as in the case of indigenous peoples or non-colonized peoples. This concept of the right to self-determination seems to be the path leading to a more heterogeneous world. Conversely, the rise of various problems that affect us globally seems to require the creation of international political institutions capable of solving these problems, which would most likely lead us toward a more homogeneous global order. Although both tendencies have powerful reasons that make them irreversible, it is not clear how they can co-exist. In this article, the author discusses whether a broad notion of the right to self-determination is compatible with three different models of global order proposed by Thomas Christiano, Rafael Domingo, and James Bohman, respectively.

Based on 45 interviews conducted in 6 different jurisdictions in Mexico, this article presents a close examination of the distinctive attributes and practices that characterize the Mexican Federal Judiciary (Poder Judicial Federal). Interviewees included typists, clerks and court clerks, judges, and justices, as well as scholars and experts with an in-depth knowledge of this institution. From an insider perspective, the article sheds light on idiosyncrasies, customs, and organizational patterns that are not well known outside the MFJ, such as its strong hierarchical structure, the nature of the work done, employee salaries, the practices of legalism, the risks of drug-related trials, and structural gender inequalities. It also discusses phenomena like influence peddling, cronyism, and nepotism, all of which are widely practiced within the MFJ but kept undisclosed. These practices do not necessarily have a negative connotation within the federal judiciary because they have become normalized due to their widespread use. In fact, the notion of corruption is somehow ambiguous for many judicial employees. Despite all this, the MFJ has become a more professionalized branch where the vast majority of employees performed their job competently and efficiently.

In the past few years, Mexico has taken a number of measures to further prevention, protection, and prosecution of trafficking in persons. The country’s government has signed international anti-trafficking conventions and has taken some aspects of widely accepted international definitions of this crime as a reference when drafting its anti-trafficking legislation. However, Mexican lawmakers have interpreted human trafficking in their own terms. Mexico’s current anti-trafficking legislation is based on a quite broad definition of trafficking in persons and shows serious limitations that have led to the misidentification of victims and traffickers, as well as to re-victimization. This adds to Mexico’s weak rule of law, corruption, and the involvement of interest groups with particular agendas/ideologies that have obstructed reform. The present analysis demonstrates the imperative necessity to modify the current anti-trafficking legislation in Mexico and provides some basic suggestions for this much-needed reform.

In Mexico, human rights education and training programs are becoming one of the most recurrent outcomes in official settlements related to institutional violations and abuses of human rights. Despite their predominant role in addressing human rights violations, there is little systematic information on how these programs are conducted in practice. To fill the gap, this article presents a cross-case analysis of three qualitative studies that explore practitioners’ professional knowledge and practices in implementing human rights education programs in Mexico. Each individual case examines some of the challenges practitioners face in the implementation of these programs, the institutional influence on their work, and the role of their own experiences in human rights practices.

Bullying is a type of behavior that has been studied more from psychological and sociological perspectives, but little has been done about the legal consequences that generate this type of illegal act. In Mexico, there are special laws in some states, but there is no genuine public policy that provides a mechanism of redress for the victim. Therefore, this investigation conducted a study of comparative law on the treatment given to bullying in the United States. This article also presents a study of the legal system that punishes the administrative form of bullying in Mexico, highlighting the most advanced states such as Coahuila, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Veracruz, Yucatán and Zacatecas. This article also makes an assessment of bullying and its treatment to identify gaps in legislation and the failure of public policies to protect the best interests of the children. In these cases, the Federal Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) rulings on these cases are analyzed and compared to the damage suffered by those affected and the need for comprehensive reparation.