Previous studies show gender differences in math and language performance, mainly in adolescents. In this study, we aim to evaluate gender differences in self-concept, subjective value, expectations and academic performance, to analyze the relationships between the variables, and to understand their role in explaining performance in language and mathematics. A total of 406 4th and 5th grade students from Colombia participated in this study. The results show that girls have higher performance expectations in mathematics and language, as well as higher performance in language than boys. No gender differences were found in self-concept and the subjective value of the task. Self-concept, performance expectations and age explained performance in both mathematics and language. We discuss the implications of these results for narrowing the gender gap in learning. Because this study is the first attempt to explore the relationships between expectations and task-value beliefs in language and mathematics in Hispanic primary school students based on the Expectancy-Value Model, more research is needed to support or refute our findings.

Resumen Tras un repaso del conocimiento actual acerca del acoso y la exclusión social entre escolares, como problemasde grupo, se revisan los estudios que han explorado la naturaleza y las consecuencias de este tipo de relacióncon el alumnado con alguna discapacidad. De esta revisión, se deriva que la incidencia de víctimas es mayorcomparada con la del alumnado sin discapacidad, y que el modo en que se manifiesta el abuso de poderentre iguales, así como el tipo de persona a quien se acude en busca de ayuda es diferente según el tipode discapacidad, sea sensorial, motriz o del desarrollo (intelectual, del habla o comunicación, del espectroautista). El artículo presta especial atención a cómo afectan los abusos entre iguales al alumnado con trastornosdel espectro autista y se presentan los tipos de intervención que, centrados en el grupo de pares, han mostradosu eficacia para cambiar el clima de relaciones del grupo.

Students’ role in traditional bullying and cyberbullying was investigated in relation to self-serving cognitive distortions (SSCD), perception of school moral climate and bullying observation. Participants were secondary school students from Spain (n = 568; 286 girls) and the Netherlands (n = 421; 223 girls). The results demonstrated that in both country samples, bullies and bully-victims had higher levels of SSCD. Both Spanish and Dutch students who were directly involved in traditional bullying situations showed more negative perceptions of the school moral climate. In cyberbullying situations, bystanders scored higher on school moral climate perception than bullies and bully-victims. Furthermore, school moral climate perception was negatively associated with traditional bullying observation in the group of victims, and with cyberbullying observation in the case of victims and bystanders. The present findings suggest that future research should focus on the cause-effect relations of these factors, which could include measuring the effects on bullying prevalence of an intervention aimed at SSCD reduction in bullies and bystanders and the improvement of the school moral climate.

Background: Pegboard tests are a powerful technique used by health and education professionals to evaluate manual dexterity and fine motor speed, both in children and adults. Using traditional pegboards in tests, the total time that, for example, a 4-year-old child needs for inserting pegs in a pegboard, with the left or right hand, can be measured. However, these measurements only allow for studying the variability among individuals, whereas no data can be obtained on the intraindividual variability in inserting and removing these pegs with one and the other hand. Objective: The aim of this research was to study the intraindividual variabilities in fine manual motor skills of 2- to 3-year-old children during playing activities, using a custom designed electronic pegboard. Methods: We have carried out a pilot study with 39 children, aged between 25 and 41 months. The children were observed while performing a task involving removing 10 pegs from 10 holes on one side and inserting them in 10 holes on the other side of a custom-designed sensor-based electronic pegboard, which has been built to be able to measure the times between peg insertions and removals. Results: A sensor-based electronic pegboard was successfully developed, enabling the collection of single movement time data. In the piloting, a lower intraindividual variability was found in children with lower placement and removal times, confirming Adolph et al’s hypothesis. Conclusions: The developed pegboard allows for studying intraindividual variability using automated wirelessly transmitted data provided by its sensors. This novel technique has been useful in studying and validating the hypothesis that children with lower movement times present lower intraindividual variability. New research is necessary to confirm these findings. Research with larger sample sizes and age ranges that include additional testing of children’s motor development level is currently in preparation.