Enseñanza de circuitos: ¿dependen los resultados de la experiencia del docente?

El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar como depende la efectividad de la instrucción de la experiencia del docente. Para ello se comparan los resultados obtenidos por tres docentes de muy distinta experiencia, un profesor con más de 20 años de experiencia docente y dos alumnos de Profesorado en Física, que realizaron esta instrucción como parte de sus prácticas docentes. La estrategia utilizada en las tres clases experimentales fue Tutoriales para Física Introductoria, que fue implementada en similares condiciones en distintas clases de la escuela secundaria. En todos los casos el conocimiento conceptual fue determinada con el test DIRECT. Trabajos previos de nuestro grupo había mostrado que Tutoriales produce un aprendizaje conceptual más profundo y duradero que la instrucción tradicional, independientemente del género y condición socio-económica de los estudiantes. El presente trabajo muestra que los buenos resultados se mantienen independientemente de la experiencia del docente, siempre que el mismo haya tenido un adecuado entrenamiento en la utilización de metodologías de enseñanza para el aprendizaje activo.The aim of this work is to show how the efficiency of instruction depends on teacher's experience. The conceptual knowledge on electric circuits have been measured with the test DIRECT on four classes taught by three teachers of very different experience: one with more than 20 years of teaching experience, and other two that taught this subject as part of their pre-graduation training. Tutorials for Introductory Physics was the activelearning teaching strategy used in all cases, implemented under similar conditions. The present results indicate that the efficiency of instruction was the same for all teachers, provided they use the same teaching strategy and have been properly trained for it. It also confirmed, for these inexperienced teachers, that Tutorials is clearly more efficient than traditional instruction in fostering conceptual learning.Fil: Sirur Flores, J.. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; ArgentinaFil: Lenhe, G.. Colegio San Luis Gonzaga; ArgentinaFil: Sánchez, E.. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; ArgentinaFil: Benegas, Julio Ciro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis "Prof. Ezio Marchi". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico, Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis ; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; Argentin

Effectiveness of Tutorials for Introductory Physics in Argentinean high schools

This longitudinal study reports the results of a replication of Tutorials in Introductory Physics in high schools of a Latin-American country. The main objective of this study was to examine the suitability of Tutorials for local science education reform. Conceptual learning of simple resistive electric circuits was determined by the application of the single-response multiple-choice test “Determining and Interpreting Resistive Electric Circuits Concepts Test” (DIRECT) to high school classes taught with Tutorials and traditional instruction. The study included state and privately run schools of different socioeconomic profiles, without formal laboratory space and equipment, in classes of mixed-gender and female-only students, taught by novice and experienced instructors. Results systematically show that student learning is significantly higher in the Tutorials classes compared with traditional teaching for all of the studied conditions. The results also show that long-term learning (one year after instruction) in the Tutorials classes is highly satisfactory, very similar to the performance of the samples of college students used to develop the test DIRECT. On the contrary, students following traditional instruction returned one year after instruction to the poor performance (<20%) shown before instruction, a result compatible with the very low level of conceptual knowledge of basic physics recently determined by a systematic study of first-year students attending seven universities in Spain and four Latin-American countries. Some replication and adaptation problems and difficulties of this experience are noted, as well as recommendations for successful use of Tutorials in high schools of similar educational systems