Dra. Mayra R. Martínez-Plana

23/08/2026

[ del aprendizaje]❤✍️✅🔍

21/08/2026

¿Tu bebé tiene entre 1 y 3 años?
¿Tienes entre 21 y 25 años y vives en Puerto Rico?

El Observatorio de Equidad de Género de Puerto Rico te invita a participar en el estudio “Cultivando Comienzos Saludables”, donde exploramos las experiencias de maternidades y paternidades jóvenes en el embarazo, parto y posparto.

🗣️ Actividad: Grupo focal presencial
⏱️ Duración: 60–90 minutos
💛 Compensación: $75 por tu tiempo
🔒 Participación voluntaria y confidencial

Requisitos:
• Haber tenido un bebé/infante vivo hace 1–3 años
• Tener entre 21–25 años
• Ser residente de Puerto Rico
• Dominio del español
• Haber vivido el embarazo y parto en Puerto Rico
• Ser beneficiaria/o de al menos un programa de asistencia pública (PAN, WIC, Plan Vital, Sección 8, TANF)

Si cumples con estos requisitos y deseas más información, puedes comunicarte con nuestra Coordinadora de Investigación, Valeria Ríos Kuilan:
📞 (787) 616-6172
📧 [email protected]

Tu experiencia es valiosa y puede ayudar a fortalecer el bienestar de familias jóvenes en Puerto Rico.

Protocolo

21/08/2026

Here is one of my favourite papers on critical thinking. It brings together evidence from hundreds of studies and features a collection of practical activities that you can use to help students question assumptions, evaluate evidence, consider alternatives, and justify their conclusions.

These include:

1. Teacher questioning that moves beyond recall: What evidence supports this? What assumptions are being made? Is there another explanation?

2. Whole-class and small-group discussions in which students explain, challenge, and revise ideas.

3. Authentic problems connected to situations students recognize from life beyond school.

4. Case studies, simulations, ethical dilemmas, debates, and role-playing activities.

5. Applied problem-solving that requires students to use knowledge rather than simply repeat it.

6. Mentoring and coaching in which teachers model good reasoning, identify weaknesses, and provide feedback.

The central message is simple: critical thinking can be taught, but telling students to “think critically” will not make it happen. Students need repeated opportunities to practise interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-correction.

One of the paper’s strongest findings is that these strategies work particularly well when combined. Give students a meaningful problem, create space for genuine dialogue, and support them with careful questioning and feedback. The problem gives them a reason to think, dialogue exposes them to different perspectives, and mentoring helps them improve the quality of their reasoning.

The paper also found positive effects across educational levels and subject areas. Critical thinking does not belong to one course or discipline. It can be developed through science investigations, historical sources, literary interpretation, mathematical reasoning, media analysis, and everyday classroom decisions.

This is why critical thinking must be designed into instruction. It does not develop automatically through content exposure. We have to create the conditions in which students are expected—and supported—to question, reason, explain, reconsider, and revise their own initial judgments.

Abrami, P. C., Bernard, R. M., Borokhovski, E., Waddington, D. I., Wade, C. A., & Persson, T. (2015). Strategies for teaching students to think critically: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 85 (2), 275–314. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654314551063

21/08/2026

Rising temperatures are making it harder for students to learn—and most schools aren’t prepared for what that means.

A new report from APA and the Network for Resilient PK–12 Schools in Extreme Climates looks at how extreme heat affects students’ health, development, and ability to learn, and what schools can do about it.

Read more: https://at.apa.org/7b7fa1

18/08/2026

Want a healthier society? Start earlier.

Long before someone enters school, joins the workforce, or votes, their brain is growing at an incredible pace. The experiences they have in the first three years help shape their health, learning, relationships, and well-being for years to come.

When we invest in babies and the people who care for them, we're investing in our collective future.

Because healthy societies don't start in adulthood. They start in infancy. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4txHq4n

14/08/2026

Language and literacy skills are about so much more than reading.

They're about...

- Talking
- Singing
- Storytelling
- Listening
- Building fine motor skills to write
- Asking questions
- Sharing ideas

These everyday moments help children build the language and literacy skills that prepare them for kindergarten and support learning for years to come.

That's why we created Word Wonders, our FREE early language and literacy curriculum for children ages 18–48 months.

Play-based. Joyful. Built for real classrooms. Because strong literacy begins with meaningful interactions: https://bit.ly/4bqf4S6

11/08/2026

La crisis de agua de Puerto Rico que está impactando la vida de cientos de miles genera fuertes efectos psicológicos y riesgos a la salud.

11/08/2026

Hay que vacunar.

A statement from AAP President Dr. Andrew Racine on today’s executive order on U.S. childhood vaccines:

"As measles cases reach a 35-year high in the U.S. and with cold and flu season quickly approaching, today's executive order on vaccines is not only disheartening but dangerous. Instead of ensuring every family can access life-saving vaccines for measles, influenza, RSV and more, federal leaders are once again spreading misleading claims.

Today's executive order is not based on ‘gold-standard science.’ There is no new evidence to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance. Dozens of studies involving millions of people show there is no link between vaccines and autism, and yet federal leaders continue to promote this outdated, disproven idea to scare families. Today's executive order will do nothing to support families of children with autism or advance understanding of the condition. The only purpose of this announcement is to sow confusion so that more people doubt the importance of vaccines. Delaying or skipping shots is risky, especially as measles continues to spread and children go back to school.

Vaccine recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics are tailored to the health of children living in the United States and are based on decades of research and systematic tracking of real-world experiences. Pediatricians recommend children receive certain vaccines at specific ages based on when children's immune systems will respond best and when they are most vulnerable to certain diseases. Sometimes this means children will receive a single shot that protects against multiple diseases, or they may receive multiple vaccines at one visit.

On-time immunization keeps our kids and our communities healthy and thriving. If parents have questions about vaccines, I encourage them to talk with their child's pediatrician or clinician.”

Read more: https://bit.ly/3SmyNvH

11/08/2026

11/08/2026

How does childhood trauma leave a mark on the brain?

Researchers have discovered a molecular "scar" left behind by early-life trauma inside brain cells that reshapes DNA accessibility and heightens stress sensitivity later in life.

Read about the study via the link in the comments.