Noelle Fabre Mitjans

Scopus Publications

Encouraging children’s learning and curiosity towards fish: the importance of outdoor science experiences and the inclusion of didactic activities
Noëlle Fabre, Carmen Maté, Dolors Vinyoles
Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 2025
Digital Gamification to Foster Attitudes Toward Science in Early Childhood Teacher Education
Noëlle Fabre-Mitjans, Gregorio Jiménez-Valverde, Gerard Guimerà-Ballesta, Genina Calafell-Subirà
Applied Sciences Switzerland, 2025
Integrating technology-enhanced gamification into teacher education can significantly foster motivation and reshape perceptions toward science learning. This mixed-methods case study explores how a 14-week course for preservice early childhood teachers, supported by the digital gamification platform FantasyClass and enriched with a cohesive narrative structure, impacted students’ motivation and attitudes towards science. The course featured structural gamification elements—such as experience points, digital collectibles, and team-based challenges—combined with immersive storytelling that contextualized scientific tasks within a fantasy adventure. Quantitative data from pre- and post-intervention surveys revealed statistically significant improvements in attitudes toward science and perceived teaching competence. Thematic analysis of qualitative feedback highlighted enhanced engagement, enjoyment, and relevance of science learning. These findings suggest that intelligent integration of gamified technologies and narrative design in science teacher initial training can address motivational barriers and foster positive emotional engagement. While context-specific, this study offers insights into how digital gamified learning environments can support the development of positive attitudes towards science among future early childhood educators.
Tailoring Gamification in a Science Course to Enhance Intrinsic Motivation in Preservice Primary Teachers
Gregorio Jiménez-Valverde, Noëlle Fabre-Mitjans, Carlos Heras-Paniagua, Gerard Guimerà-Ballesta
Education Sciences, 2025
This study examines the intrinsic motivation of preservice primary teachers in a science education course designed with player-type personalization in gamification strategies. Using a mixed-methods approach, a one-group post-test-only design was combined with qualitative analysis. Game elements were personalized based on the HEXAD user typologies, aligning with Self-Determination Theory to support autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Quantitative data from the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory revealed high median scores across these psychological needs, suggesting that customization fostered deeper engagement. Key elements included cooperative challenges, branching narratives, and flexible participation pathways. Qualitative findings reinforced these results, highlighting students’ increased sense of agency, social connection, and investment in learning. The structured integration of narrative played a crucial role in contextualizing academic tasks, transforming the learning process into an immersive experience. Overall, the findings indicate that well-designed, personalized gamification strategies effectively bolster preservice teachers’ intrinsic motivation in this science education course. By demonstrating how player-type personalization optimizes motivation in gamified teacher education, this study contributes to the growing body of research on tailored gamification.
Gamifying Teacher Education with FantasyClass: Effects on Attitudes towards Physics and Chemistry among Preservice Primary Teachers
Gregorio Jiménez-Valverde, Carlos Heras-Paniagua, Noëlle Fabre-Mitjans, Genina Calafell-Subirà
Education Sciences, 2024
This study investigates the impact of structural gamification, using the digital platform FantasyClass, on the attitudes and motivation of preservice primary education teachers towards physics and chemistry. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the research combined quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis involving 65 second-year university students over a 14-week course. The quantitative component was framed within a quasi-experimental pre-post design, allowing for the comparison of students’ attitudes and motivations before and after the gamified intervention. The qualitative component was designed to complement the quantitative findings. Quantitative analysis revealed significant improvements in students’ perceptions and motivation, with notable increases in positive attitudes towards these sciences. Qualitative data further highlighted enhanced interest and enjoyment, with students reporting greater engagement and a shift in their perception of physics and chemistry as accessible and enjoyable. The study also noted an increase in self-confidence among future teachers and improved teaching self-efficacy. The findings suggest that integrating gamification in initial primary science teacher education can effectively foster more favorable attitudes, enhance motivation towards science, and improve teaching confidence. Future research should explore long-term impacts, as well as personalized gamification approaches to cater to different types of learners and maximize educational effectiveness.
Kahoot and Quizizz: when playing in teams makes a difference to motivate science news reading
Noëlle Fabre Mitjans
Revista Electronica Interuniversitaria De Formacion Del Profesorado, 2023
Education students tend to have low levels of scientific literacy, a worrying fact considering that this aptitude is necessary to foster professionals who are critical with information and capable of teaching quality science to their students. Game-based student response systems emerge as a good tool to motivate students. The present study focused on investigating whether the use of the Quizizz and Kahoot platforms could motivate students to read science news and improve their knowledge. It also assessed whether the fact of working individually or in teams had an impact on the results. We worked with a sample of 76 students from education degrees and they were subjected to two phases. In the first phase the students played individually and anonymously, in the second phase they played in teams. At the beginning and at the end of each phase, the results of the knowledge tests were analyzed and the participants were asked if they had read the news on the proposed websites. The results show that news reading improves and also the correspondence between news reading - test score only in the group phase. Los estudiantes de educación suelen tener niveles bajos de alfabetización científica, hecho preocupante teniendo en cuenta que esta aptitud es necesaria para fomentar profesionales críticos con la información y capaces de enseñar ciencia de calidad a su alumnado. Los sistemas de respuesta de estudiantes basados en el juego surgen como una buena herramienta para motivar al alumnado. El presente estudio se centró en investigar si el uso de las plataformas Quizizz y Kahoot podía motivar al alumnado a leer noticias de ciencias y mejoraba sus conocimientos. También valoró si el hecho de trabajar individualmente o bien en equipos tenía repercusión en los resultados. Se trabajó con una muestra de 76 estudiantes de los grados de educación y se los sometió a dos fases. En la primera el alumnado jugó de forma individual y anónima, en la segunda fase jugó en equipos. Al principio y al final de cada fase se analizaron los resultados de los tests de conocimiento y se les preguntó a los participantes si habían leído las noticias de las webs propuestas. Los resultados muestran que mejora la lectura de noticias y también la correspondencia entre lectura de noticias - puntuación del test sólo en la fase grupal.
Parents' presence affects embryos' development in Salaria fluviatilis (Asso, 1801), a fish with parental care
Noëlle Fabre, Eduardo García-Galea, Dolors Vinyoles
Animal Biology, 2014
In fishes, the parents’ presence generally improves embryos’ survival through parental care, but it is also associated with some disadvantages such as clutch cannibalism and loss of male physical condition. Captive breeding of the river blennySalaria fluviatilismight improve if these disadvantages were avoided by artificially replacing parental care benefits in the lab. Before accepting this procedure, it should be studied whether embryo development is dependent or not on any other unknown effect related to the parents’ presence. In this study, the ontogenetic sequence and several morphological structures – standard length, head height, jaw length and yolk-sac volume – from embryos reared both in the presence and in the absence of the parents were compared. At day 11 after oviposition, in the parents’ absence treatment, well-developed embryos were obtained, but a smaller size of the yolk-sac, a greater head height and a tendency to have a greater jaw length than in the parents’ presence treatment were found. These results suggest that the parents’ presence might affect embryo development and perhaps offspring sexual determination. Given these differences, the practise of depriving clutches from their parents in captivity breeding programmes should be questioned.
Boldness is related to the development of the cephalic crest in the male of the river blenny Salaria fluviatilis (Asso, 1801)
Noëlle Fabre, Eduardo GarcÍa-Galea, Dolors Vinyoles
Current Zoology, 2014
Boldness is defined as the tendency of an individual to take risks when exposed to novel objects or situations. The main aim of this work was to dilucidate if boldness was related to the development of the secondary sexual traits (SSTs) in the male of the river blenny Salaria fluviatilis, a freshwater fish which takes care of eggs. As a second objective SSTs effect on parental status adoption was also be explored. Wild young fish were caught in the Segre River (Ebro basin) in November 2010. Fish were kept in five aquaria in groups of eight males and eight females with artificial nests. Boldness (boldness score and hesitancy) of males (initially with little SSTs development) was tested as the time required to exit a refuge when exposed to a new environment. Fish were mantained in the same aquaria for several months, and males’ SSTs development and reproductive behaviour were monitored. Boldness score was negatively associated to cephalic crest development. Hesitancy was negatively related to male length and was also influenced by the interaction between male length and cephalic crest. Parental status acquisition was positively related to the male’s length, marginally related to anal gland development, and non-related to cephalic crest. These results suggest an intrasexual role of the crest as an informative trait of boldness (honest signal) which might not necessarily be chosen by the females. It is also discussed that correlational selection could be responsible for linking boldness and growth rate in this species. Sexual selection, in addition to having directed the evolution of secondary sexual traits, might have favored certain personality traits (e.g. boldness) associated with the achievement of a larger body length.
Spatial learning based on visual landmarks in the freshwater blenny Salaria fluviatilis (Asso, 1801)
Noëlle Fabre, Eduardo García-Galea, Dolors Vinyoles
Learning and Motivation, 2014
Plasticity in secondary sexual characteristics in male freshwater blennies (Salaria fluviatilis)
N. Fabre, F. Oliva, E. García-Galea, D. Vinyoles
Canadian Journal of Zoology, 2014
Alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) driven by environmental factors are common among fish. However, the flexibility of fish to adopt distinct tactics in response to the characteristics of their environment has received little attention. The aim of the present work was to study phenotypic plasticity in the adoption of dominant behaviour (“bourgeois tactic”) by male freshwater blennies (Salaria fluviatilis (Asso, 1801)). For this purpose, two simultaneous experiments in aquaria were performed to examine the effect of social cues and nest abundance on the acquisition of secondary sexual characteristics (SSCs). Experiments were conducted with small (individuals without SSCs), medium-sized (1-year-old individuals), and large older dominant males (more than 2 years old), all collected in the wild. In experiment 1, the three sizes of males were combined to compare the development of SSCs depending on intrasexual context. In experiment 2, the effect of nest abundance (two nests vs. six nests) was tested for each size of male. Medium-sized males showed phenotypic plasticity in response to the environmental conditions simulated in the two experiments. The absence of larger dominant males was found to be the main factor enhancing SSCs and the onset of parental behaviour. Nest shortage also influenced the degree of cephalic crest development among medium-sized males. This knowledge helps to understand how the population of freshwater blennies still persists when it is reduced to young individuals during the summer droughts in Mediterranean streams.

Noelle Fabre Mitjans

RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS

Scopus Publications