Encouraging A Gender Perspective in Science Education: A Learning Experience for Pre-Service Early Childhood Education Teachers

This work describes and evaluates a learning experience whose aim was to encourage pre-service early childhood education teachers to consider aspects of gender in science education and to begin acquiring the skills needed to design teaching strategies that promote children’s awareness of these aspects. Participants were 56 pre-service teachers whose task was to design workshops on science topics in which women scientists have made key contributions. At the outset, some of the participants showed little inclination to consider aspects of gender in the science classroom, and others did not contemplate that science and gender could be addressed in an integrated way. It was also apparent that the pre-service teachers lacked the skills needed to design activities that encompassed both scientific content and aspects of gender. Overall, the subsequent learning experience appears to have had a positive impact, although we suggest certain refinements that could lead to more satisfactory outcomes

Encouraging a Gender Perspective in Science Education: A Learning Experience for Pre-Service Early Childhood Education Teachers

Gender bias in science should be made visible to the pre-service teachers and those pre-service teachers should be given tools to implicitly counter that gender bias. One way to do this may be by simply including more female scientists together with male scientists in the teaching approaches, rather than the norm of predominantly including males. This work describes and evaluates a learning experience in which the aim was to encourage pre-service early childhood education teachers to consider aspects of gender in science education and to begin acquiring the skills needed to design teaching strategies that promote these aspects. Participants were 56 pre-service teachers whose task was to design workshops on science topics in which women scientists have made key contributions. At the outset, some of the participants showed little inclination to consider aspects of gender in the science classroom, and others did not contemplate that science and gender could be addressed in an integrated way. It was also apparent that the pre-service teachers lacked the skills needed to design activities that encompassed both scientific content and aspects of gender. Overall, the subsequent learning experience appears to have had a positive impact, although we suggest certain refinements that could lead to more satisfactory outcomes

Skills that Pre-service Primary Teachers’ consider important in argumentation approach

Argumentation as a form of scientific discourse is a powerful tool that allows students questioning, justifying, and evaluating their and others’ claims. In science education, transmissive teaching predominates and this leads to difficulties in students’ construction of arguments and highlights limitations in teachers' pedagogical abilities in the management of this type of activities. Also, teachers' beliefs and perceptions have a big influence in the way they teach. Thus, the purpose has been to investigate pre-service primary teachers’ beliefs of what would be the skills they need as a core to support argumentation in science classrooms, and what skills students can develop when participate in science lessons based in argumentation. Results show that Pre-service Teachers of Primary pay little attention to the skills they will need in order to manage different methodological strategies as debate, pair work or pair discussion, that support the argumentation approach. Moreover, they lack of awareness about what is a good argument and its components, besides scientific knowledge. These results are significant because they indicate a need in designing specific training programs to support teachers in acquiring knowledge and skills about argumentation.Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. This study is part of the project “La argumentacıón como estrategıa metodológıca para el desarrollo de competencıas profesıonales docentes.” [Argumentation as a methodological strategy for the development of professional teacher competences] (PIE15-74) funded by the University of Málaga in the assembly of 201

La problemática energética como contexto de enseñanza-aprendizaje: una experiencia con profesorado de Ciencias en formación inicial

En esta tesis doctoral, centrándonos en un problema socio-científico, hemos analizado la presencia que, en una muestra de 36 libros de texto de ciencias, tienen los aspectos más relacionados con la problemática enérgetica. En segundo lugar, nos planteamos conocer la disposición que 29 profesores de ciencias en formación inicial tienen ante una serie de aspectos sobre lo que debe ser el conocimiento del profesorado en torno a la enseñanza y aprendizaje de la problemática energética

Enseñanza de las ciencias y problemas relevantes de la ciudadanía. Transferencia al aula.

Es la reseña del libro. Cebrián, D., Franco-Mariscal, A.J., Lupión, T., Acebal, M.C., Blanco, A. (Coord.(2020). Enseñanza de las ciencias y problemas relevantes de la ciudadanía. Transferencia al aula. Barcelona: Graó.  Book review. Cebrián, D., Franco-Mariscal, A.J., Lupión, T., Acebal, M.C., Blanco, A. (Coord.(2020). Enseñanza de las ciencias y problemas relevantes de la ciudadanía. Transferencia al aula. Barcelona: Graó. &nbsp

Do we play chess and learn science?

[Resumen] El ajedrez es un juego basado en tácticas y estrategias y, por tanto, fomenta los aspectos intelectuales y recreativos de aquellos que lo practican. En esta experiencia se presenta el diseño y la puesta en práctica de una serie de actividades creadas para la enseñanza de determinados contenidos científicos, a un alumno con dificultades de aprendizaje, a través del ajedrez como recurso educativo utilizando el modelo didáctico alternativo o de investigación en la escuela. La valoración de la experiencia, realizada a través de rúbricas diseñadas para tal efecto, muestra un avance importante en el alumno en cuanto al nivel de compresión de los conceptos científicos trabajados, así como un progreso en procedimientos y actitudes propias de la metodología científica.[Abstract] Chess is a game based on tactics and strategies, and therefore, it fosters the intellectual and recreational aspects of those who practice it. This experience presents the design and implementation of a series of activities created for the teaching of certain scientific contents to a student with learning difficulties. The activities use the chess as an educational resource and the alternative didactic model or research in the school model. The evaluation of the experience, performed through rubrics, designed for this purpose, show an important advance in the student in his cognitive level of the scientific concepts worked, as well as a progress in procedures and attitudes specific to scientific methodolog

Teleological structure of scientific and mathematical education

One of the main educational objectives in the current Spanish curricula is to develop mathematical and scientific competences, understood as the set of skills and abilities needed to apply Mathematics and Science in situations where are required. This is therefore closely related, on one hand, to the functionality of the knowledge, in the sense of its usefulness in problem solving and in mathematical and science modeling problems. And, on the other hand, is related to the understanding of disciplinary knowledge, a cognitive phenomenon that enables and gives competence to the individual to elaborate contextualized and accurate answers. These answers involve the use of mathematical and scientific knowledge in some of the categories of their phenomenological and epistemological dimensions. For this reason, in this work we carry out a theoretical and reflexive analysis that tries to determine which aspects of the Mathematics and Science Education should be promoted in order to optimize the formative dimension of an individual in these disciplines. This dimension, frequently forgotten in learning and teaching processes, turns out to be, in conjunction with the functional and instrumental dimensions, necessary to acquire the appropriate knowledge in Mathematics and Science that will enable future citizens to permanently adapt to the environment and eventually transform it positively. The results of the analysis show the components of this dimension that should be prioritized in the Science and Mathematics Education: the intellectual autonomy, understood as the ability to think for ourselves and to put in use our abilities and skills to generate information to solve real life problems and to make the right decisions; the moral autonomy, defined as the capacity to face with real life problems with ethical implications; and the social autonomy, understood as the aptitude to make decisions using social abilities and skills.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech.“Criterios e instrumentos de evaluación de unidades de enseñanza y aprendizaje” (PPIT.UMA.B1.2017/16) financiado por la Universidad de Málaga en la convocatoria de 2017-2018

El problema de la producción y el consumo de energía : ¿cómo es tratado en los libros de texto de educación secundaria?

En este trabajo indagamos sobre la atención que se presta al problema de la energía, en especial a los aspectos controvertidos de este, en una selección de libros de texto de la educación secundaria obligatoria. El estudio se ha centrado en los contenidos declarativos, que han sido categorizados. Se ha realizado un análisis detallado de las categorías relacionadas con los «pros y los contras de las actividades de producción» y «las implicaciones derivadas del consumo energético». Los resultados ponen de manifiesto que los contenidos propuestos en los capítulos que tratan el tema de la energía no contienen la información necesaria para dar una idea a nuestro alumnado de lo controvertido del tema y de su enorme relevancia en nuestro estilo de vida y nuestro futuro.In this paper we investigate on the attention paid to the problem of energy, especially the controversial aspects of it, in a selection of textbooks for compulsory secondary education. The study has focused on the declarative content, which have been categorized. We performed a detailed analysis of the categories related to the «pros and cons of the production» and «the implications of energy consumption ». Results show that the proposed contents of the chapters dealing with the issue of energy do not contain the information necessary to give our students an idea of how controversial the issue is, and its enormous relevance to our lifestyle and our future

¿Qué conoce nuestro futuro profesorado de educación primaria en relación a la contribución de las mujeres a la ciencia?

Los futuros maestros y maestras de Educación Primaria, como tantas personas, muestran carencias destacadas en su concepción de la ciencia como parte fundamental de la sociedad moderna. Este hecho, junto a la certeza de que en sus aulas participarán en la educación de niñas y niños, exige una intervención didáctica durante su formación inicial. Por ello, el trabajo que aquí se presenta analiza los conocimientos iniciales que estos estudiantes disponen sobre el rol de las mujeres científicas en el pasado, sus contribuciones a la sociedad y las dificultades encontradas por cuestiones de género, con el fin de diseñar alguna intervención docente posterior. El análisis de datos cualitativo muestra un conocimiento muy limitado en cuanto al aporte de las mujeres en la construcción del conocimiento científico, que les lleva a tener una visión descontextualizada, androcentrista y elitista de las ciencias

Una propuesta para desarrollar competencias docentes en educación matemática y científica [A proposal to develop teaching skills in mathematical and scientific education]

Resumen: La enseñanza y el aprendizaje de las ciencias y la matemática debe ser realizada para formar a ciudadanos que sean capaces de adaptarse y jugar un papel responsable en los cambios y desafíos de un mundo global. Esto pone de manifiesto la necesidad de enfocar estas dos disciplinas desde una perspectiva interdisciplinar. Por ello, en este trabajo se pretende analizar la puesta en práctica de una propuesta formativa interdisciplinar y basada en la experimentación, para que profesorado en formación inicial de Educación Infantil mejore sus competencias docentes para la enseñanza de las Ciencias y la Matemática, y por tanto en un futuro puedan llevar a cabo, de manera idónea, un tratamiento didáctico de las ciencias y las matemáticas con escolares de Educación Infantil. La evaluación de la propuesta se realizó a partir de una rúbrica diseñada para ello, que trató de determinar el nivel de desempeño alcanzado en algunas de las competencias docentes en matemáticas y ciencias. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto, entre otros resultados desarrollados en este artículo, como la propuesta ayudó al futuro profesorado a entender lo importante que es abordar contenidos de distintas disciplinas desde una perspectiva integrada, y a ser capaz de diseñar actividades para el aula que pongan de manifiesto este enfoque y fomenten un alto grado de autonomía en el alumnado.Palabras clave: Actividades experimentales; Competencias profesionales docentes; Enseñanza de las ciencias y la matemática; Educación infantil; Interdisciplinariedad. Abstract: The teaching and learning of science and mathematics must be carried out to train citizens who are capable of adapting and playing a responsible role in the changes and challenges of a global world. This highlights the need to focus these two disciplines from an interdisciplinary perspective. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the implementation of an interdisciplinary training proposal based on experimentation, so that teachers in early childhood education improve their teaching skills for teaching science and mathematics, and therefore in the future they can carry out, ideally, a didactic treatment of science and mathematics with children in pre-school education. The evaluation of the proposal was made from a rubric designed for it, which tried to determine the level of performance achieved in some of the teaching competences in mathematics and science. The results show, among other results developed in this article, how the proposal helped the future teachers to understand the importance of approaching content from different disciplines from an integrated perspective, and to be able to design activities for the classroom that show this approach and encourage a high degree of autonomy in students.Keywords: Experimental activities; Professional teacher competences; Science and mathematics education; childhood education; Interdisciplinarity