The importance of oral discussion among student peers for the development of argumentative competence in the primary language curriculum. A case study in a rural school in Colombia

Este estudio hermenéutico tuvo como objetivo caracterizar la interacción oral entre pares estudiantiles en el desarrollo de la competencia argumentativa oral en educación primaria, utilizando las situaciones cotidianas como material de discusión. Para esto, develamos los factores que inciden en la argumentación, los cuales emergen en el discurso oral de los estudiantes. Asimismo, se identifican los tipos de argumentos recurrentes que utilizan los estudiantes, en su cotidianidad, para sentar bases que permitan realizar una innovación curricular a través de estrategias pedagógicas que fortalezcan los procesos de argumentación. Los resultados obtenidos en esta investigación dan cuenta de los condicionantes que inciden en la capacidad argumentativa de los estudiantes de primaria en una escuela rural, los aspectos relevantes para el desenvolvimiento argumentativo en las interacciones orales entre pares, el papel que desempeña el docente en el desarrollo del proceso argumentativo y la identificación de los tipos de argumentos usados por los estudiantes. Dado el importante papel de la escuela para desarrollar la capacidad argumentativa de los niños y niñas, es necesario incentivar el trabajo argumentativo desde la primaria. Por lo tanto, planteamos algunas recomendaciones basadas en estos hallazgos que podrían ser tomadas en cuenta por docentes de escuelas primarias rurales en el momento de emplear estrategias que fortalezcan la argumentación oral.This hermeneutic study had as its objective the characterisation of the oral interaction between student peers in the development of oral argumentative competence in primary education, using everyday situations as discussion material. For this purpose, we reveal the factors that affect argumentation, which emerge in the students' oral discourse. Likewise, the types of recurrent arguments used by students in their daily life are identified, to lay the foundations for a curricular innovation through pedagogical strategies that strengthen argumentation processes. The results obtained in this study explain the conditions that affect the argumentative capacity of elementary students in a rural school, the relevant factors for the argumentative development in oral interactions between peers, the role played by the teacher in the development of the argumentative process, and identify the types of arguments used by the students. Due to the important role of the school in developing the argumentative capacity of children, it is necessary to encourage argumentative work from the primary school. Therefore, we propose some recommendations based on these findings that could be taken into account by teachers of rural primary schools when employing strategies that strengthen oral argument.Este estudo hermenêutico teve como objetivo caracterizar a interação oral entre pares estudantis no desenvolvimento da competência argumentativa oral no ensino primário e utilizou situações cotidianas como material de discussão. Para isso, revelamos os fatores que incidem na argumentação, os quais emergem no discurso oral dos estudantes. Do mesmo modo, os tipos de argumentos recorrentes que os estudantes utilizam em sua cotidianidade são identificados para definir bases que permitam realizar uma inovação curricular através de estratégias pedagógicas que fortaleçam os processos de argumentação. Os resultados obtidos nesta pesquisa mostram os condicionantes que incidem na capacidade argumentativa dos estudantes do ensino fundamental em uma escola rural, os aspectos relevantes para o desenvolvimento argumentativo nas interações orais entre pares, o papel que o docente desempenha no desenvolvimento do processo argumentativo e a identificação dos tipos de argumentos usados pelos estudantes. Dado o importante papel da escola para desenvolver a capacidade argumentativa dos meninos e meninas, é preciso incentivar o trabalho argumentativo desde o ensino fundamental. Portanto, apresentamos algumas recomendações baseadas nessas descobertas e que poderiam ser levadas em consideração por docentes de escolas primárias rurais na hora de empregar estratégias que fortaleçam a argumentação oral

Validity, reliability and adaptation of the DREEM in Colombian Spanish and an integrated curriculum

Introducción: En la evaluación de los currículos médicos ha sido importante medir el ambiente educativo con la ayuda de algunos instrumentos como el DREEM. Sin embargo, varios estudios han identificado problemas con sus propiedades psicométricas. La consistencia interna de sus 5 dominios es bastante variable y, en ciertos casos, la confiabilidad es baja. Para tomar decisiones sobre cambios curriculares en nuestro contexto es necesario validar este instrumento. Objetivo: Validar el DREEM en español colombiano y su adaptación a un currículo integrador. Método: Estudio cuantitativo, no experimental, exploratorio, transversal. La validación del contenido se realizó con juicio de 12 expertos. Participaron 308 estudiantes de medicina respondiendo el DREEM. La validación de constructo y la confiabilidad se determinaron con Análisis Factorial Exploratorio (AFE) y ? de Cronbach. Resultados: Se adecuaron sintáctica y semánticamente los ítems y se movilizaron 7 ítems de un dominio a otro. El puntaje total del DREEM mostró un nivel de confiabilidad excelente (? = 0.91), pero 2 de sus dominios tuvieron un nivel cuestionable de consistencia interna. La validez de constructo indicó que 26 ítems serían suficientes para medir el ambiente educativo. Los ítems del dominio 5 y el ítem 17 quedaron excluidos del AFE. Conclusiones: El DREEM adaptado en español colombiano es un instrumento confiable y válido, pero algunos de sus dominios son cuestionables, lo que pone en duda sus soportes teóricos. Excluir el análisis independiente de estos dominios puede dificultar la comprensión de los resultados del DREEM y obstaculizar la toma de decisiones en áreas concretas del currículo. Por tanto, es necesaria una reconstrucción teórica del ambiente educativo y, en consecuencia, una reconceptualización de las subescalas de este constructo.Introduction: Measurement of the educational environment has become of key importance in medical curriculum evaluation. The DREEM has been developed for this purpose. However, a number of studies have identified issues with the psychometric properties of the DREEM. The internal consistency of the 5 domains is rather variable and, in some cases, the reliability is low. Since information obtained from the DREEM can be used to change the curriculum in our context, it is necessary to validate this instrument. Objective: To validate the DREEM in Colombian Spanish considering an integrated curriculum. Method: Quantitative, non-experimental, exploratory, cross-sectional study. 12 experts in education validated the DREEM content. 308 medical students participated. Exploratory Factorial Analysis (EFA) and Cronbach’s ? determined construct validity and reliability. Results: Syntactic and semantic adaptations were made to the items. Seven items were mobilized from one domain to another. Although the total DREEM score had an excellent reliability level (? = 0.91), domain analysis showed 2 questionable domains. The analysis indicated that 26 items may be enough for measuring the educational climate. Domain V items and item 17 were excluded. Conclusions: The adapted DREEM to Colombian Spanish is reliable and valid. However, some of the domains were questionable. Findings suggest the original theory of the DREEM domains embodies debatable assumptions. Excluding the independent analysis of the domains may harden scores understanding, which in turn may obstruct decision making in specific areas of the curriculum. Therefore, A new theory of the educational climate domains is needed

Trabajo colaborativo en el aprendizaje basado en problemas, fortalecido por un ambiente híbrido de aprendizaje, en un contexto médico

Se presenta a continuación los hallazgos sobre la incorporación de actividades de aprendizaje apoyadas con tecnologías de información y comunicación (TIC) y con metodología de aprendizaje basado en problemas (PBL), para potenciar el trabajo colaborativo de pequeños grupos de estudiantes dentro de un ambiente híbrido de aprendizaje, en el módulo de necropsias del curso de medicina forense, del pregrado de medicina de la Universidad de los Andes. Lo anterior fue realizado para innovarlos procesos educativos que se venían desarrollando en este módulo. El diseño de estas actividades de aprendizaje tuvo como punto de partida la identificación de las necesidades educativas del módulo, relacionadas con una interacción pobre y un bajo nivel cognitivo en el trabajo colaborativo de los estudiantes. En tal sentido, la innovación le apuesta a potenciar el trabajo colaborativo a través de la realización de actividades PBL apoyadas con TIC, que buscan aumentar la frecuencia de las interacciones y profundizar el nivel cognitivo de las discusiones.Magíster en EducaciónMaestrí

Understanding curriculum integration in medical education

Cuniculum integration (CI) has been embraced as a notable strategy for reforming and creating medical education programs around the world. However, medical schools seem to struggle when integrating their cunicula. This is possibly a consequence of the confusing definitions of CI that are anchored on diverse learning theories. Thus, clarifying the framework of CI may provide stakeholders insights into how to succeed in the endeavor of analyzing, designing, implementing and evaluating an integrated curriculum. This thesis aimed to understand medical CI from a contextual perspective by answering what the meanings of CI are in the practice oftwo types of integrated curricula. To answer it, we analyzed the stakeholders' subjective experiences oftheir problem-based learning curriculum and built four theoretical constructs of CI. Then, we transferred the constmcts to understand the meanings of the practice of an integrated- systems cumculum. By doing this, we refined and extended our theoretical constructsDoctor en EducaciónDoctorad

Integración curricular mecanicista versus sistémica

Introduction: Curricular integration has been a fundamental factor in the development of modern medical curricula; however, in its more well-known models, including horizontal and vertical integrations, the learning of medicine around subjects, as it is done in traditional curricula, continues to be understood. This way of conceiving learning does not allow methodological analysis of the design of integrated/integrative curricula that involve other ways of learning. Objective: To stimulate a theoretical and methodological reflection on curriculum integration in medical education, with the aim of orienting the design and assessment of integrated/integrative curricula and to discuss how innovative vertical and horizontal integrations are. Development: Horizontally and vertically integrated curricula are similar to traditional curricula fragmented in their design linear conception, while in systemic curricular integration, examples of which can be visualized in curricula designed through problem-based learning, curricular design is addressed in a circular way by connecting issues that feed back to one another; therefore, learning activities could be designed and assessed simultaneously. Conclusions: Thinking about curricular integration as a strategy of educational innovation implies discussing what we are understanding as integrated/ integrative curricula, how we are analyzing the practice of our medical curricula, with which theoretical frameworks we are doing that analysis, and what implications this has in curricula design and assessment. © 2017, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved

La magnitud del patrón de lesión en los feminicidios con arma cortopunzante en mujeres colombianas

Introducción. Estudiar la gravedad del trauma físico en las víctimas de feminicidio podría contribuir a prevenirlo de forma más efectiva. Objetivo. Determinar si el número de heridas en los feminicidios con arma cortopunzante varía respecto a la edad de la víctima y su relación con el atacante. Materiales y métodos. La población correspondió a mujeres colombianas lesionadas hasta la muerte con arma cortopunzante entre 2011 y 2013 (n=331; edad promedio 14-91 años), quienes fueron categorizadas por rangos de edad y tipos de relación con los agresores. Dos análisis ANOVA de una vía y uno factorial permitieron identificar diferencias entre los promedios de las lesiones de las víctimas y los efectos de interacción entre las categorías establecidas. Resultados. El patrón de gravedad del trauma físico fue mayor en mujeres entre los 22 y 40 años y con vínculos románticos con los agresores. Los rangos de edad y tipos de relación tuvieron efectos de interacción sobre la cantidad de heridas sufridas. Conclusión. La edad de las víctimas y el tipo de relación que tenían con el agresor son variables a considerar al diseñar políticas de prevención del feminicidio dado que su conexión con actos violentos resulta en un patrón peor de lesiones.Introduction: Assessing the severity of the injuries suffered by victims may contribute to prevent femicide more effectively. Objective: To establish whether the amount of wounds recorded in femicides by stabbing vary according to the age of the victim and the victim-offender relationship. Materials and methods: Cases of Colombian women who were stabbed to death between 2011 and 2013 (n=331; age: 14-91 years) were included in the study. They were classified according to age ranges and the type of relationship with the offender. Descriptive analyses were conducted. Two one-way ANOVAs and a factorial ANOVA were performed to assess the differences in the mean number of the stab wounds received by the victim, and to determine the effects of interaction among the established categories. Results: The pattern of injury severity was higher in women aged 22 to 40 years than in those aged 41 to 55 years, and in women attacked by their intimate partners than in those attacked by strangers and acquaintances. Age ranges and types of relationship had an interaction effect on the dimension of the sustained wound. Conclusion: The age of the victims and the types of relationship they had with the offender are variables that should be considered to propose preventive policies on femicide since both are correlated to violent acts with greater injury patterns. © 2017, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. All rights reserved

El nuevo trívium en la formación médica más allá de la comunicación médico-paciente

One of the innovative elements of medical curricula in recent decades is the emphasis on the doctor-patient communication. However, communicative competences go further; they involve cognitive-linguistic skills that support active listening, reading, writing and orality in the context of learning and practicing medicine. We believe that limiting the teaching of communication to the doctor-patient encounter leaves the cognitive processes and the fundamental linguistic manifestations aside to ensure the communicative success of the doctor within the society. In other words, in addition to the techniques for better communication, cognitive-linguistic skills are essential at the time of choosing, organizing, classifying and categorizing the information that must be provided both to the patient and his family and to the medical community for the improvement of the health of individuals and populations. In this article, we intend to argue why it is important to comprehensively learn the communication skills, exemplifying the case of the new trivium of the medicine curriculum of Universidad del Rosario, which constitutes a favorable space for the students to develop cognitive-linguistic skills for the clinical communication in their scientific community. © 2017, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved

Integrated Medical Curriculum: Advantages and Disadvantages

Most curricula for medical education have been integrated horizontally and vertically--vertically between basic and clinical sciences. The Flexnerian curriculum has disappeared to permit integration between basic sciences and clinical sciences, which are taught throughout the curriculum. We have proposed a different form of integration where the horizontal axis represents the defined learning outcomes and the vertical axis represents the teaching of the sciences throughout the courses. We believe that a mere integration of basic and clinical sciences is not enough because it is necessary to emphasize the importance of humanism as well as health population sciences in medicine. It is necessary to integrate basic and clinical sciences, humanism, and health population in the vertical axis, not only in the early years but also throughout the curriculum, presupposing the use of active teaching methods based on problems or cases in small groups

The influence of different curriculum designs on students' dropout rate : a case study

The relationship between students' withdrawal and educational variables has generated a considerable number of publications. As the explosion of information in sciences and integration theories led to creating different curriculum designs, it has been assumed that differences among designs explain academic success and, therefore, students' retention. However, little attention has been given to examine explicitly how diverse designs influence dropout rates in practice, which questions if decisions to reform curricula are sufficiently informed. This article describes our curriculum reform, which exposes our former and current curriculum designs as having had dissimilar dropout percentages. Furthermore, we aimed to explore the influence of different curriculum designs on students' dropout rates. The conclusion is that dropout variations may be explained not only because of the curriculum design itself, but also because of the power relationship changes between teachers and students that brought out the design change. Consequently, more research is needed to fully understand the political implications of different curriculum designs and their influence on dropout rates