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

This paper describes how educational communities perceive the stimulation of 21st-century skills in students. A quantitative approach was employed, following a descriptive non-experimental research design, with a sample of 692 subjects comprising teachers, students, and parents and guardians. The results reveal a perceived lack of stimulation of digital skills like robotics, electronics, and the development of mobile applications; social skills like taking a rights-based or gender-based approach; emotional skills like self-care and resilience; and cognitive skills like creative and computational thinking. In conclusion, educational communities exhibit only a moderate perception of the stimulation of 21st-century skills, which demonstrates a need to strengthen initiatives to promote these skills in the education system.

Teachers’ autobiographies are key to understanding their career choices. Thematic content analysis was employed to explore the formative experiences of 70 Argentinian teachers of natural sciences pursuing a graduate degree. Their formative experiences occurred most commonly (43%) in high school, and notably,  40% of these high school experiences were described as “negative.” The results revealed three types of role model: “lighthouse” teachers, who sparked an interest in sciences or teaching; “inspirational” teachers, role models in the way they taught; and “anti-models,” whose lead the teachers hope not to follow. The findings also highlighted the importance of secondary education as a defining stage of career paths, and a need for role models that promote teaching as a career choice, in particular in areas where there is a shortage of teachers, as is the case in science.

This paper focuses on metacognition facilitation through digital narratives. The objectives of the study were to explore how the creation of digital narratives strengthens the formation of metacognitive skills, and which teaching practices promote awareness of learning. The process of digital narrative creation connects literacy, language, technologies, and metacognitive planning, debugging, monitoring, and assessment strategies. A metacognitive awareness inventory questionnaire was used to assess the level of metacognitive skill formation, and content analysis and descriptive statistics were employed to analyze interviews and discussions. The study involved engineering and pedagogy students from three universities. Findings demonstrated improved metacognition subject to the implementation of appropriate teaching practices and the existence of an educational partnership between students and teachers. The most relevant practices were identified, and it was concluded that digital narratives may be an efficient strategy for the development of metacognitive skills including knowledge about cognition and regulation of cognition.

This paper presents a framework based on three dimensions (material, educational, and psychoemotional) to explore the characteristics, processes, and outcomes of emergency remote education introduced by in-person universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. With this aim, two ad hoc questionnaires were designed and administered in April-May to a sample of 220 teachers and 548 students in a Spanish university. The most significant findings show digital inequality between students in terms of technological equipment and the quality of connectivity. Remote education was designed as a way to transfer the in-person teaching model to a virtual environment. Both teachers and students experienced an overload of work, which may help to explain the high levels of stress experienced by both groups. The research concludes with proposals to improve the quality and effectiveness of distance learning in any future crises.

Decreasing student attrition rates is one of the main objectives of most higher education institutions. However, to achieve this goal, universities need to accurately identify and focus their efforts on students most likely to quit their studies before they graduate. This has given rise to a need to implement forecasting models to predict which students will eventually drop out. In this paper, we present an early warning system to automatically identify first-semester students at high risk of dropping out. The system is based on a machine learning model trained from historical data on first-semester students. The results show that the system can predict “at-risk” students with a sensitivity of 61.97%, which allows early intervention for those students, thereby reducing the student attrition rate.

Introduction: Validating health-education materials prevents the dissemination of erroneous messages and enhances the effectiveness of health-promotion initiatives. Objective: To describe the validation process for five educational materials pertaining to an online course on the promotion of water consumption among Mexican adolescents. Methodology: One group of 13-15 experts (technical validation) and another of 13-39 adolescents (population validation) reviewed three infographs and two videos using digital tools. Five criteria were established for the evaluation: appeal, clarity, identification, acceptance and inducement to action. A performance index was developed based on two categories: strong or weak compliance with each criterion. Successful compliance was determined when 70% or more of responses fell within the strong-compliance category. Results: Between 80% and 100% of the experts and adolescents rated all materials in the strong-compliance category for appeal, acceptance, clarity and inducement to action. For identification, however, the experts accorded the three infographs low scores, with similar results obtained from the adolescents for the three infographs and one video. Conclusions: Validation of the course materials allowed for identifying their strengths and weaknesses, as well as for ascertaining their usefulness in promoting water consumption among Mexican adolescents.

Considering the first wave of the pandemic scenario and the necessary operation of policies and strategies that promote the population's self-care, in particular, through effective communication strategies, we find here the strategies adopted by the government of the state of Sergipe, Brazil. For this, we used the case study method, in which we resorted to multiple sources of evidence, from data collection in conventional and digital media, to interviews applied to managers responsible for health communication in the state government nucleus. Furthermore, we used the content analysis method for appreciation and judgment. Such work is justified to the extent that the learning of resolute communication strategies and mechanisms can contribute to the objective of prevention and health promotion. With the investigation, we found the prevalence of content focused on the dissemination of official data on the pandemic, to the detriment of efforts to promote self-care in the population.

Introduction: The coronavirus pandemic has led to an explosion of hoaxes that mitigate the predisposition and speed of vaccination, especially in Latin America. This makes fact-checking journalism an option for healing the scientific conversation. Objectives: To analyze the characteristics and discursive axes of misinformation on COVID-19 vaccination in Latin America and the work of the fact-checkers. Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative research through content analysis of 113 misinformation extracted from LatamChequea Vacunas. Results: The countries that check the most are Argentina and Brazil, especially in the months of June, August and September. Fake content predominates, in text format, about adverse effects and application and efficacy, circulating on multiple social networks, with Facebook predominating. The activity of fact-checkers is not sufficient, as the rates of propagation are faster than those of checking. Also, they exhibit limitations such as the lack of identification of the disinforming subject, the contact with the sources involved and the deficiency of digital tools in the processes. Conclusion: Latin America has become a focus of misinformation on COVID-19 vaccination through ideological approaches promoted by denialist and conspiracy groups that undermine the credibility of the inoculation process.

Introduction: Since the arrival of COVID-19 in Chile, the older adult population's communication forms have changed, generating effects on their health due to digital social exclusion. Objective: To demonstrate the problems and causes of the lack of excellent connectivity and social communication among older people in Chile, according to their use of and access to ICT, and their effect on loneliness, considered a public health problem. Methodology: Descriptive study through a literature review on the relationship between using ICT, loneliness in older people and the possible effects on health. The Health Determinants Theory was used to explore this relationship. Results: The problems and causes focus on structural determinants, specifically the lack of digital social inclusion policies, educational differences, socioeconomic level and territory. These determinants intervene in using and accessing ICT, which could affect loneliness. Conclusion: A greater incorporation of public policies that are directly related to the digital social inclusion of this group in Chile, whose population density is increasing daily, is required.