The investigations were promoted through actions managed by the FIP ULS1501 Institutional Improvement Plan, in conjunction with the Research and Development Directorate of the University of La Serena.

With the purpose of strengthening the research area within the University of La Serena, last year academics, pedagogy students and classroom teachers were invited to participate in the Applied Pedagogical Research Contest, with five projects awarded in the first version. 2016.

In this context, the Annual Conference on Evaluation of the Design and Implementation of research projects was held, where each participating team presented the main results obtained to date.

One of the proposals is related to the observation of teaching pedagogical practices focused on the treatment of cognitive skills of reading comprehension in kindergarten, first and second grade students of the Carlos Condell de la Haza School in the city of La Serena (responsible researcher , Dr. Alejandra Torrejón). Among some of the preliminary results, it was found that the professional development of the teacher in the classroom is more focused on class moments than on the development of skills for the treatment of comprehensive reading strategies; and the use of the ICT resource in the classroom corresponds to the initial level, since it is used only to project content and not for the development of reading skills.

Regarding the project that seeks to improve the quality of the questions used by Basic General Education teachers to achieve learning in their students (responsible researcher, René Barraza), work has been done with three municipal schools in the commune of Ovalle, in the It has been observed that class questions are installed within the first three taxonomic levels and that their qualities must be improved in their approach to clarity of writing.

Another of the awarded investigations aims to recognize aspects that influence the application of a didactic modeling sequence, through an investigative approach in 8th grade students from two rural schools in Monte Patria (responsible researcher, Mg. Marta Madrid). Preliminarily, the spontaneous use of analogies as a reasoning instrument could be identified as a finding, when developing the didactic sequence of the atomic model in the classroom, which conditions not only the level of help as a compression tool, but also the degree of Maintained awareness of the value of said contribution in the investigative process.

The fourth proposal presented corresponds to the research being carried out at the Altovalsol Intercultural School and the Pedro Aguirre Cerda School, and which seeks to apply two different didactic strategies for the understanding and acquisition of scientific skills in the Stoichiometry Unit, present in the bases curricula of the first-year chemistry course (responsible researcher, Dr. Patricia Pizarro). The results of the diagnostic tests were obtained from the students of both establishments. At the Pedro Aguirre Cerda establishment, laboratory activities have been carried out, previously planned with the subject teacher, and therefore, at the Altovalsol Intercultural School, the stoichiometry unit has been developed based on problem-based learning.

Finally, the project regarding the formation of learning communities has worked with the fifteen communes of the Coquimbo Region (responsible researcher, Dr. Fabián Araya), in which the conceptual and didactic problems identified by the teachers were investigated. of History, Geography and Social Sciences in their daily work in the classroom. Some of the preliminary results detected in the area of ​​teaching are related to the tendency to generalize knowledge, the lack of depth in addressing specific content and the isolation between the knowledge acquired in initial training and the school context. On the other hand, from the area of ​​didactics, difficulties were identified for multidisciplinary work and innovation, and a need for professional teaching updating.

Participants

For student Janina Craviolatti, who participates in the learning communities project, “this experience has been very enriching because it has given us the opportunity to investigate as future teachers in different contexts, especially in rural areas (…). The fact of leaving the University and going to learn how teachers teach pedagogy in History allows us to pose challenges of what we are going to do when it is our turn to teach.”

On the other hand, the classroom teacher, Angélica Castro, who participates in the project that investigates the didactic sequences of modeling, stated that “I think it is very good that the University cares about the teachers and students with these projects, which are very beneficial. for educational communities. I hope these initiatives continue to be carried out and contribute to improving the quality of learning.”   

The Alternate Director of the PMI and head of the Applied Pedagogical Research subunit, Dr. Fabián Araya, stated that “what we are trying to promote at the UGIP level is that teaching is linked to research (…), and specifically Applied Pedagogical Research has to work based on real problems that teachers have in their daily lives,” he stated.
 
It should be remembered that applications to participate in the second version of the Applied Pedagogical Research Contest are open until January 4 and the contest rules are available at http://investigacion.userena.cl/concurso-de-investigacion-pedagogica-aplicada-pmi-fip-uls1501/.

Source: PMI FIP ULS1501 Press