ABSTRACT The impact of neuroscience in our society and especially in the field of education offers important consequences for the processing and development of learning, although few studies have been carried out on its impact on academic learning. In order to better understand the impact that this field of knowledge has on the process of reading acquisition, this work is carried out, which aims to analyze, through an intervention program, whether the findings proposed by neuroscience for the facilitation of learning school affect the progress of learning to read. A quasi-experimental design of comparison between groups with pretest and posttest measures was used. A total of 428 pupils aged 5-6 years participated. The results point to the potential value of instruction and support the development of teaching models that integrate neuroscience contributions to the process of early reading acquisition.

RESUMEN La presencia de la neurociencia en el campo educativo está ofreciendo importantes hallazgos respecto del procesamiento y desarrollo de los aprendizajes, pero son escasos los estudios efectuados en cuanto a su repercusión en el rendimiento escolar. Con el propósito de profundizar en la relevancia que presentan estos postulados en la adquisición de la este trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar, mediante un programa de intervención, si los hallazgos que ofrece la neurociencia para la facilitación del aprendizaje escolar inciden de manera positiva en el aprendizaje de la lectura. Se empleó un diseño cuasiexperimental de comparación entre grupos con medidas pretest y postest. Participaron 428 alumnos de entre los 5 y los 6 años. Los resultados ponderan el valor potencial de la instrucción y apoyan el desarrollo de modelos de enseñanza que integren las aportaciones que ofrece la neurociencia al ámbito educativo para favorecer el proceso de adquisición de la lectura.

Abstract Background: Emotional intelligence (EI) has often been linked to improvements in professional performance. Indeed, generic competencies related to EI have been included in university curricula. However, learning EI involves significant time and effort on the part of students, and this may hinder the acquisition of specific content for each degree. In this study, an intervention to develop EI in higher education students is described and evaluated. Methods: The intervention consisted of eight group sessions performed in a regular course aiming to increase EI. The sessions included strategies and training on perceiving and understanding one's own emotions and others’ emotions, identifying and understanding the impact one's own feelings in adopting decisions, expressing one's own emotions and the stress experienced, and managing both one's own emotions and emotions of others. Participants were 192 students studying for a Master of Primary Education degree. A quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was adopted. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated using multi-level analyses. Results: The results showed a significant improvement in the EI of students in the experimental group compared with the control group. Conclusions: This research demonstrates that it is possible to develop EI in higher education students, without hindering the acquisition of specific content competencies and, therefore, without interfering with their academic performance and without overburdening students with work outside the classroom. Trial registration: The experiment has been registered in the Initial Deposit of the Spanish Center for Sociological Research (CIS). 7/6/2015. http://www.cis.es/cis/opencms/ES/index.html.