Browsing by Author "Sebastian, Christian"

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    Evaluating school and parent reports of the national student achievement testing system (SIMCE) in Chile: Access, comprehension, and use
    (2009) Taut, Sandy; Cortés, Flavio; Sebastian, Christian; Preiss Contreras, David Daniel
    This evaluation examined school and parent reports of the national student achievement testing system (SIMCE) in Chile regarding three dimensions: access, comprehension, and use. We conducted phone surveys with a representative sample of directors (N = 375), teachers (N = 1145) and parents (N = 625), and we collected more in-depth data through interviews and focus groups in 16 of these schools. The results indicate that access to the reports is not an obstacle to use for school actors, but it is for parents. While summative ratings of the reports in terms of their clarity and utility were generally very positive, the actual recall and interpretation of even basic information (assessed through case scenarios) was incorrect for a majority of teachers and parents, and reported uses of the information were both intended and unintended in nature. We also found some statistically significant differences regarding comprehension and use among subgroups of our sample. Our findings are especially relevant given the expectations attached to the use of the reports for school improvement on the one hand, and parents’ behavior as critical consumers of education on the other hand.
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    Playful stances for developing pre-service teachers' epistemic cognition: Addressing cognitive, emotional, and identity complexities of epistemic change through play
    (2025) Sebastian, Christian; Vergara, Martin; Lissi, Maria Rosa; Pino, Catalina Henriquez; Silva, Maximiliano; Perez-Cotapos, Maria Asuncion
    Background: Teachers who show more developed epistemic cognition teach better and promote more and better learning in their students. Studies indicate that teacher training impacts little on student teachers' epistemic cognition development. One of the difficulties of epistemic cognition interventions is that, beyond the conceptual level, epistemic change implies identity challenge and emotional distress. Both benefit from a playful setting to be managed. We designed and implemented a university course as a socio-constructivist playful training experience. In a previous study, using growth curve analysis, we showed that this course promoted epistemic cognition development in student teachers. Aims: In this study we analyzed the experience of the course participants to characterize the lived process of change and to propose ways of understanding the relationship between a game-based course and epistemic change. Participants: Twenty-five female student teachers in their second, third, or fourth year of study participated in the study. Methods: Both small and whole group interactions from 15 training sessions, and 8 individual interviews after the course, were recorded and qualitatively analyzed to explore the students' experiences. Results: The analysis allows us to acknowledge changes in the students' attitudes towards the course, their roles in the classroom, and conceptual understandings that we organized in four phases from initial bewilderment and resistance, to the active and applied integration of knowledge. Conclusions: We discuss how different levels and layers of playfulness can sustain the difficulties student teachers' face during their epistemic change process.
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    Profiles of cognitive precursors to reading acquisition. Contributions to a developmental perspective of adult literacy
    (ELSEVIER, 2012) Sebastian, Christian; Moretti, Renato
    This article discusses conceptual and empirical elements concerning the development of cognitive processes that function as precursors of reading, and their association with the acquisition of reading skills in an adult population participating in literacy courses. It connects emergent literacy research with historical-cultural and bioecological concepts. Subsequently, it focuses on the problem of the development of profiles of cognitive reading precursors. A sample of 63 Chilean adults was studied through a growth/learning curves approach. The study replicated previous results indicating the existence of three major profiles of these cognitive precursors. Together, these precursors are associated with significantly different learning curves beyond the effect of each precursor considered separately. In addition, it established a negative association between initial phonological awareness and the rate of reading acquisition during the course. It has been claimed that an individual's participation in specific cultural activities throughout his/her life influences the development of the precursors of reading. Based on a complementary biographical study of a subsample of participants, preliminary evidence is presented that supports this link. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.