The Pedro Pablo Muñoz School in La Higuera, and the Gabriela Mistral and Técnico Marta Brunet high schools in La Serena, are the establishments that join the Program.

In a pleasant meeting, the official welcome was held to the three new educational establishments in the communes of La Higuera and La Serena, which starting this year will be part of the Support and Effective Access to Higher Education Program (PACE) University of La Serene.

With the presence of the Academic Vice-Rector, Dr. Jorge Catalán, the Director of Teaching, Mg. Laura Vega, part of the institution's PACE Team and representatives of the new educational establishments assigned to the PACE Program, went to the first welcome activity organized by the house of higher education to welcome the Pedro Pablo Muñoz School of La Higuera , and the Gabriela Mistral and Técnico Marta Brunet high schools in La Serena.

For the Executive Coordinator of the PACE ULS Accompaniment Program, Viviana Romero, this is a very pleasant instance: “we are very happy to receive these three educational establishments in our Program, since it is a way to continue strengthening public education and providing support to more students. This year 2018 presents us with new challenges and we have the expectation and hope that this work can contribute to the consolidation of the Program. We extend a cordial welcome to the Gabriela Mistral High School, the Marta Brunet Technical High School and the Pedro Pablo Muñoz School in La Higuera.”

On the other hand, the director of the Pedro Pablo Muñoz School, Alejandra Zúñiga, expressed that “as an educational establishment we are happy to belong to the Program under the auspices of the University of La Serena. We live in a fairly vulnerable commune, where children, in order to study, have to travel, and some getting up so early caused them to drop out. Now we promote secondary education, which has around 60 students (...). It is an opportunity that not everyone has, to have a future and in addition to that, for the entire school community to aim towards the same goal, the education of our students.”

Meanwhile, the director of the Gabriela Mistral High School, Lorena Rodríguez, expressed her gratitude to the University of La Serena and “for this new opportunity that my educational establishment has to provide, through the PACE Program, more tools to my students to be able to enter to higher education, because it is the opportunity for those who do not have many opportunities for a better quality education. We were looking forward to this news and it finally came true. "I have nothing left but to say thank you and start working for and for the students of public education."

Source: Press PACE ULS Program

This is Fernando Rojas Galleguillos, who obtained the title of Kinesiologist and the degree of Bachelor of Kinesiology.

The University of La Serena conferred the title of Kinesiologist and the degree of Bachelor of Kinesiology to Fernando Emilio Rojas Galleguillos, who thus becomes the first graduate of this career from the state campus of the Coquimbo Region.

It should be remembered that the Kinesiology career, like the Dentistry, Law, Engineering in Business Administration and Bachelor of Astronomy programs, began to be taught in 2013, responding to the labor market requirements associated with the strategy of regional development and, above all, providing new opportunities for the youth of the region.

The Kinesiology career, attached to the Faculty of Sciences, has the human being as its object of study, considering it as a system in constant movement. It focuses on primary care with deep foundations in the management of musculoskeletal dysfunctions, through integrative manual therapies (osteopathy, chiropractic, orthopedic manual therapy).

The course corresponds to the activities organized by the Teaching Improvement Unit (UMD) together with the Integrated Management of Pedagogies Unit (UGIP).

Analyzing a case study as an active learning methodology was the exercise carried out by the various teachers, who participated in the last refresher course developed between January 22 and 23. The sessions were directed by the coordinator of the UMD Teaching Area, Gerardo Galleguillos, who also participates in the UGIP student accompaniment subunit.

“The case study as such is an active methodology that seeks to mobilize knowledge at different levels and that the teacher is not the only holder of knowledge within a classroom. The case is one of the active methodologies of many that exist to be able to work in higher education," explained the coordinator.

In this way, attendees discussed some background information on teaching practice and learned about those elements that they should keep in mind when carrying out a case study. As a first exercise, they had to create a learning result based on their respective subjects taught in the pedagogy courses, and assess them in each standard to verify how they contribute to the graduation profile.

On the second day, the teachers developed a case study, according to the type (case/problem, case/evaluation and case/illustration) and the structure (background, purpose, questions and units of analysis) presented, and then socialized their proposals with the rest of the teachers present.

"Nowadays, new methodologies have to be applicable and not just remain on paper, and it is essential to meet with our peers to socialize what we are doing and see how we can face the challenges that our students are asking for according to the demands of the environment, and that is why it is recurrent to be participating in these courses and rearrange our study plans,” said the Coordinator of the Mathematics and Physics Pedagogy degree, Mg. Luis Tamblay

That is why the main purpose of the courses was to update the teachers' knowledge, considering the curricular redesigns that are being carried out in the different ULS pedagogy careers.

“The idea is that during the month of March they continue working on the case created and they can be incorporated into each of their subjects,” concluded Professor Galleguillos.

Source: PMI FIP ULS1501 Press

TNC is an organization established for the purposes of conserving plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth, protecting the lands and waters that they all need to survive.

An important collaboration agreement was signed by the University of La Serena and the NGO The Nature Conservancy (TNC), an international non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of the lands and waters on which life depends.

The agreement signed by the Rector of the ULS, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, and the TNC conservation manager, Maryann Ramírez, considers site conservation planning, the protection of priority areas and natural resources for conservation, the reduction of threats to biodiversity and conservation actions based on local institutions that contribute to mitigating threats to biodiversity in the long term.

It is also contemplated to promote conservation science, including applied research activities, ecological assessments, planning and monitoring of natural resources and biodiversity, documentation and dissemination of lessons learned in conservation management.

Another purpose of the agreement is to support the identification of potential conservation objects in the Limarí basin and their relationship with the water market.

For Rector Avilés, this agreement “reflects recognition of the work that the University is doing in terms of conservation, and leaves us with a broader commitment, with objectives that we hope to meet. We are grateful for the opportunity given to us as a regional and state university, and we are eager to continue working to benefit the conservation of our country's natural heritage."

The conservation manager of TNC, Maryann Ramírez, meanwhile, said that for the NGO born in the United States and which has a presence in various countries, it is an honor “to work with the University of La Serena. More than five years ago we began planning how to carry out conservation in our country. And within those recommendations, our goal was to get to work in this area, specifically in Limarí”, highlighting that thanks to the collaboration with the PROMMRA Laboratory of the university, they began “to make that work a reality.”

The Dean (S) of the Faculty of Sciences, Dr. Héctor Reyes, expressed that this agreement represents “one of the mandates that we have as a public and regional university, “which is to become part of the solutions to the problems inherent to our development, and clearly natural resources and their conservation are a fundamental part. That TNC has chosen the territory of the Coquimbo Region to develop its activities highlights the importance and richness that this arid territory represents, and not only from the point of view of its natural components, but also human and social ones.”

The academic added that at the University this is reflected “in many of the areas of university work, for example, in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, with training programs that effectively include the relationships and links between environment and society; and in research, with powerful and highly relevant and productive lines of work.”

In addition, Dr. Reyes valued the work carried out by Dr. Pablo Álvarez and the PROMMRA Laboratory team, “with whom TNC had its first and fruitful approaches, which over time laid the foundations for this cooperative relationship that is formalized with this signing of the agreement.”

Authorities, directors, academics and officials from the state campus, and representatives of the TNC were present at the activity carried out at the ULS Headquarters.

The contest financially supports the execution of scientific and technological research projects, with potential economic and/or social impact, whose results are obtained, evaluated and validated in short periods of time.

With a large attendance of researchers, the dissemination talk of the next FONDEF-CONICYT IDeA Competition was held at the University of La Serena, organized by the Research and Development Directorate, attached to the ULS Vice-Rector's Office for Research and Postgraduate Studies.

During the presentation, led by the FONDEF project executive, Andrea Hinojosa, details of this IDeA (Research and Development in Action) Contest were provided, which financially supports the execution of scientific and technological research projects, with potential economic and/or impact. social, whose results are obtained, evaluated and validated in short periods of time.

The annual competitions and calls are: IDeA R&D, whose final objective is to carry out a proof of concept (PDC) of a product, process or service, that is, validate a prototype (with applications from January to April); and Technological Research, so that from the PDC, the development of the product/process/service is continued and thus achieve a result closer to the definitive application and develop massification and commercialization strategies (with applications between August and September).

The professional emphasized that the contest seeks to support those projects “that have previous antecedents that support a hypothesis of application” of a technology, product or service, and that, with the development of the research, achieve validation through a test of concept at prototype level within two years.  

Another novelty of the contest is that it will have thematic areas: Older Adults, Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and Food Safety and Quality.

The FONDEF project executive indicated that the rules of the 2018 contest are available on the website http://www.conicyt.cl/fondef/.

The activity took place in the Alejandro Covarrubias room of the Central House.

For professionals at the University of La Serena, this experience was fundamental since it constitutes the first step in establishing a formal alliance between both laboratories.

Academics from the Laboratory of Research and Technological Innovation for Science Education (LIITEC-ULS), carried out a two-day research stay at the Chemistry Didactics Laboratory of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV). Professors Francisco López, belonging to the Department of Biology, and Carlos Urrutia, from the Department of Education, participated in a technical meeting with the Director of said laboratory, Dr. Cristián Merino, an opportunity in which they exchanged experiences in the area of ​​didactics of natural sciences and implementation of innovative technologies in educational processes.

The activities took place during the first days of January at the Curauma Campus of the PUCV and, within the framework of the meeting, the academics had the opportunity to share with the research team and professors from the Institute of Biology of said institution. For the academics of the University of La Serena, this experience was fundamental since it constitutes the first step in establishing a formal alliance between both laboratories.

In this sense, Professor Francisco López pointed out that “this is a visit focused on exploring areas of collaboration between both institutions, establishing alliances in terms of linking in undergraduate training in science, as well as validation of content and research in educational technological resources. ”.

Professor Carlos Urrutia, LIITEC-ULS research coordinator, valued the possibility of carrying out said stay, as it implied a relevant step in the generation of strategic alliances that enable, in the short term, the formalization of joint research projects. , thus contributing to the actions to strengthen research included in the Strategic Development Plan of the University of La Serena (2016-2020).

In this regard, Dr. Merino indicated that the objective of the visit focused on learning about the laboratory's lines of research, especially those related to instructional design and the use of technology for science learning. On this occasion, theoretical and methodological frameworks were shared for the development and promotion of visualization as an essential capacity so that students can navigate the different models used by scientific disciplines, in order to be able to explain the different phenomena that are related to them. of your interest; all of this mediated by the use of new technologies.

Additionally, ULS academics presented two projects that LIITEC is developing, these are: “3D Cell Division”, which is a mobile application with Augmented Reality visualization, and “Cellfie-ULS”, which is an integrated system for capturing , labeling, managing and publishing photographs taken through an optical microscope using a mobile device.
The head of Biochemistry, Dr. Alexis González, and the director of the Institute of Chemistry, Nelson Osses, while appreciating the project, raised the importance of establishing potential cooperation strategies between both institutions, especially in the generation of histological images. of different fabrics.

The project was also presented to Dr. Verónica Rojas, Head of Teaching at the Institute of Biology, who provided preparations for optical microscopy that will favor the capture of images of said process, with the purpose of contributing to “3D Meiosis”, which is a Mobile app that is being developed by LIITEC-ULS.

Finally, the commitment was established to present projects and publications in line with the topics discussed and to study the possibility of generating internships for undergraduate students, and stays for researchers from both institutions.

Source: DEIP Press