Digital competence is one of the eight key competences for life-long learning developed by the European Commission, and is a requisite for personal fulfilment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion, and employment in a knowledge society. To accompany young learners in the development of competence, and to guarantee optimal implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs), it is necessary that teachers are, in turn, literate. We had 43 secondary school teachers in initial training to assess their own level of competence in 21 sub-competences in five areas identified by the DIGCOMP project, using the rubrics provided in the Common Digital Competence Framework for Teachers (Spanish Ministry of Education). Overall, pre-service teachers’ conceptions about their level of digital competence was low (Initial). Students scored highest in information, which refers mostly to the operations they performed while being students. Secondly, in safety and communication, excluding protection of digital data and preservation of digital identity. Lowest values were achieved in content creation and problem solving, the dimensions most closely related with the inclusion of ICTs to transform teaching-learning processes. The knowledge or skills they exhibit are largely self-taught and, so, we perceive an urgent need to purposefully incorporate relational and didactic aspects of ICT integration.

The increasing presence and relevance of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in learning scenarios has imposed new demands on teachers, who must be able to design new learning situations while relying on the growing supply of available digital resources. One of the fields that more urgently needs to utilize the potential benefits of ICT to transform learning is sustainability, and more precisely the development of sustainability competences (SCs). Indeed, wider societal changes are needed that ensure a balance between economic growth, respect for the environment, and social justice, and these changes must start with individual action, knowledge, and the capacity and willingness to act (i.e., the definition of “competence”). However, although there is a wide consensus on the fact that education should ensure the acquisition of competences for life, making this a reality may be more problematic. This difficulty stems, partly, from a lack of a definition of the intervening elements (knowledge, skills, values, attitudes) that enables the integration of competences into specific learning sequences and activities. Taking into account all the above and the difficulties that teachers face in choosing relevant resources and incorporating competences into their planning, we propose a series of indicators that serve to characterize the four dimensions of scientific competence: contents of science, contents about science, the value of science, and the utility of science in educational materials. Although primarily intended for filtering multimedia resources in an educational platform, this instrument (as well as the indicators therein) can be extrapolated to the selection and management of a variety of resources and activities, eventually selecting those that are more useful for the acquisition of the scientific competence. They can also provide learning-managers with a common ground to work on by sharing the objectives and indicators related to the acquisition of competences.

La competencia investigativa es fundamental para construir una cultura científica básica. Trabajarla desde la primera infancia contribuye a desarrollar la capacidad de elaborar explicaciones a partir de la indagación y la construcción teórica. La mayoría de las investigaciones sobre la competencia investigativa del profesorado se enfocan desde un plano teórico. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar las percepciones de 208 alumnos del Grado de Maestro sobre su propia competencia investigativa y contrastarlas con su desempeño real. Las percepciones se valoran mediante un cuestionario que toma en cuenta las habilidades y destrezas vinculadas a la competencia investigativa, ajustadas en una escala Likert. El desempeño se midió a partir de cuatro tareas que responden a los tipos de pensamiento exigidos para el desarrollo de esta competencia: comprensivo, crítico, creativo y metacognitivo. Los resultados muestran que el alumnado no es consciente de sus carencias ni de sus necesidades formativas, lo que es imprescindible para aprender a aprender.

Resumen:El alumnado con altas capacidades demanda una respuesta educativa que responda de forma eficaz a sus necesidades formativas. Se parte de la hipótesis de que si el profesorado conoce las características así como la forma en la que adquiere el conocimiento este colectivo, y además experimenta la metodología propuesta por la comunidad científica para responder a sus necesidades educativas, será capaz no sólo de identificarlo en el aula, sino además de adecuar sus creencias a la realidad de este alumnado y dar una respuesta eficaz a sus expectativas en el marco de una escuela inclusiva, tal y como propone la legislación vigente. Se emplea una metodología de corte cualitativo, basada en la investigación-acción, y se diseñan instrumentos para recopilar las evidencias que responden a este modelo investigativo, como son entrevistas, plantillas que facilitan la observación directa en el aula, cuestionario de reflexión y rúbrica de evaluación. Participan en la muestra 2 colegios, uno público y uno concertado, un total de 100 estudiantes de primer ciclo de Educación Primaria, 5 de ellos previamente diagnosticados con sobredotación intelectual, y 5 maestras. En la línea de estudios anteriores, tanto europeos como latinoamericanos, el análisis de los datos apunta a la necesidad de formar al profesorado de manera específica para que pueda reconocer a este colectivo e implementar en el aula metodologías adecuadas a su forma de aprender, que a su vez y en el marco de una escuela inclusiva, contribuyan a incrementar la calidad de la enseñanza.

Para mejorar la calidad educativa, es fundamental investigar y visibilizar buenas prácticas docentes. Desde hace varios años y en esta línea, las autoras intervienen en proyectos de innovación e investigación centrados en la Educación Infantil, lo que les ha permitido conocer y analizar la realidad educativa de esta etapa. Este artículo se centra en los resultados de un proyecto concreto de investigación, en el que participan universidades de ámbito europeo y latinoamericano con el objetivo de reconocer, analizar, normalizar, representar y hacer visibles 100 buenas prácticas en Educación Infantil, en un marco plural de características y condiciones. Se emplea una metodología cualitativa que permite vincular creencias implícitas con las prácticas docentes, y se recopilan los datos mediante entrevistas, observaciones en el aula y registros. En esta ocasión se presentan los criterios registrados por el grupo de investigación para reconocer buenas prácticas en el tramo 0-3 años, donde se evidencian, mediante las narrativas de las docentes, apoyadas por las observaciones y registros realizados en el aula, los componentes conceptuales y operacionales que caracterizan una buena praxis en Educación Infantil, en la línea de estudios precedentes. To improve the educational quality, it is fundamental to investigate and make visible good teaching practices. For several years and in this line, the authors have intervened in innovation and research projects focused on early childhood education, which has allowed them to know and analyze the educational reality of this stage. Specifically this work that is now presented, is the result of a subsequent research project, in which European universities and Latin American universities participate, with the aim of detecting, analyzing, systematizing and representing 100 good practices in Early Childhood Education, in a framework of plural characteristics and conditions. A qualitative methodology is used to link assumed beliefs with teaching practices, and data are collected through interviews, observations in the classroom and records. This article presents some of the criteria proposed by the research group to identify good practices, in the 0-3year period, where they are evidenced, through the narratives of the teachers, supported by the observations and records made in the classroom, the conceptual and operative components that characterize a good praxis in Infantile Education.

In early educational stages the use of heritage, image and objects in the classroom using a dialogic strategy stimulates curiosity and facilitates addressing issues related to identity, cultural diversity, continuity against change, or causes and consequences. These notions are essential for children to interpret their experiences, understand everyday life and develop historical thinking skills. We present an experience, implemented in a classroom of early childhood education with 5-6 year-old boys and girls in Pamplona, in which object based learning and simulation of the archaeological method are used to develop historical competences; specifically to work the principle of change-continuity and contextualized narration. The results show that, by manipulating and interrogating about the sources, the student body developed skills to observe, describe, ask questions, analise, make comparisons of similarities and differences between past and present or formulate hyphoteses, deductions and inferences. In addition, the student body approached heritage from proximity and individuality to the distant and social. They also developed narrative capacity and historical empathy for the construction of critical, creative and contextualized short stories and explanations.