During a visit to the University of La Serena, Dr. David Crowther, from the National Science Teachers Association of the United States (NSTA), highlighted the technological developments of LIITEC-ULS.

Some 57 thousand teachers who make up the National Science Teachers Association of the United States (NSTA), they will learn about the technological resources that support science teaching developed by the University of La Serena, through its Laboratory of Research and Technological Innovation for Science Education (LIITEC-ULS), after the former president of said association, professor of Science Education and Director of the Raggio Research Center for STEM Education (University of Nevada), Dr David Crowther, learned about these applications in detail during his visit to the state campus of the Coquimbo Region.

In a meeting with the LIITEC team, led by the academic of the Department of Biology, Francisco López, Dr. Crowther was presented with the augmented reality applications of “3D Mitotic Cell Division” y “3D meiosis”, and a collaborative repository “Cellfie-ULS”, a support system for capturing, labeling, managing and publishing photographs taken through an optical microscope using a mobile device.

“I learned about technologies that make it much easier to learn about difficult concepts such as Meiosis and Mitosis (…) All of this is very important for children to understand and comprehend science,” highlighted Dr. Crowther, who also indicated that these technological developments of the University of La Serena will share them with the teachers who make up the NSTA for their implementation and, in the future, merge with those that already operate in the United States.

The American expert added that these types of applications are very beneficial for children, since they allow them not only to learn science from a book, but also by using apps on a smartphone, tablet or computer. “They have much more access to be able to develop this knowledge. That is something that the association is taking into consideration and it is something very relevant for us, creating applications to improve scientific teaching,” he pointed out.  

Regarding ULS technological developments, the Executive Director of LIITEC, Francisco López, mentioned that “today these applications are used in classes of undergraduate subjects at the University; However, they can be used by anyone, they are free and available in virtual stores, and that is the experience we share with Dr. Crowther and his colleagues.”

Workshop "Teach Earth Sciences"

Another of the activities carried out by Dr. David Crowther, who visits Chile thanks to the collaboration between the Fondecyt 1161812 project (Dr. Claudia Vergara, U. Alberto Hurtado), the University of La Serena and the Chilean Society of Scientific Education (SChEC), was the Workshop: "Teaching Earth Sciences: from activities to content through inquiry", aimed at in-service science teachers, head teachers of educational establishments, and ULS academics.

Written by: Gonzalo Lozano, Communications Department