Aula, Museos y Colecciones

La falta de interés por la Ciencia de los alumnos de secundaria en España ha sido puesta de manifiesto en diversas investigaciones. En busca de soluciones a este problema, proponemos y desarrollamos una serie de actividades para alumnos de 1º ESO (12-15 años). Asimismo evaluamos su efectividad para la mejora de diversos aspectos relativos al interés por la Ciencia (diversión, importancia social, etc.) a través de la aplicación y análisis de un cuestionario. En cuanto a las actividades, diseñamos prácticas de laboratorio manipulativas, cooperativas y basadas en el aprendizaje por descubrimiento. Además de un ejercicio práctico en que los alumnos deben resolver un problema real, con respuestas abiertas y creativas que desarrollan las competencias básicas. Entre los principales resultados cabe destacar que las actividades propuestas parecen aumentar el interés por la búsqueda de información científica fuera del aula y reducen la percepción de dificultad para aprender Ciencia. Además, la diversión aparece correlacionada positivamente con el interés por aprender Ciencia. Finalmente y teniendo en cuenta los resultados de los cuestionarios, la opinión de los alumnos en cuanto a actividades y contenidos que ellos mismos consideraron que podrían mejorar su interés por la Ciencia, su valoración de las actividades (diversión y aprendizaje) y las observaciones personales, proponemos una serie de claves educativas para aumentar el interés por la Ciencia. Entre éstas destacan: tener en cuenta la diversión y la facilidad de aprendizaje a la hora de diseñar actividades; la conveniencia de desarrollar actividades manipulativas, de laboratorio y fuera del aula. En cuanto a los contenidos conceptuales, los favoritos de los alumnos no difieren de los del currículo oficial, por lo que no consideramos prioritaria su modificación. Todo esto con el objetivo de formar ciudadanos científicamente alfabetizados, responsables, con mente abierta y capacidad crítica de decisión.

The lack of interest in Science from secundary students in Spain was revealed by several researches. Trying to solve this problem, we propose and develop a set of activities for 1st ESO (Secundary School, 12-15 years old). We also assess its effectiveness to improve some aspects about interest in Science (fun, social importance, etc.) by applying and analysing a questionnaire (Annex I). The proposed activities were situated in a cooperative work frame in which also had time for individual work. Both the discovery learning and the inference, as methods for achieving the conceptual objectives proposed, were the core of the activities. For such a purpose, we developed manipulative activities and some laboratory experiences (figure 3 and figure 4). We also look for open, creative answers which develop basic competencies. To do so, we proposed a practical exercise in which students had to solve a real problem (Figure 5). All the activities were carried out according to a holistic view of the processed contents and were described in detail in this paper. Among other results, we point out the lack of statistical differences between both genders; the developed activities seem to enhance the interest for searching scientific information out of school and reduce the perceived difficulty for learning Science (Table I). Besides, we found some significant positive correlations between variables, e.g., the enjoyment experienced during Science learning and the interest in learning Science (Table II). Finally, we propose some educational clues. To do so, we considered the student’s opinion regarding with activities and topics that they consider can increase their own interest in Science (Figure 1.- a, b), student’s assessment of the activities (enjoyment and learning) (Figure 2), personal observations and questionnaire results. These considerations includes: take into account enjoyment and learning easiness during the design of activities; the convenience of develop manipulative, laboratory and outdoor activities; the favorite topics does not differ from the official curriculum, so it seems not neccesary to change them; we have to look for basic competencies development and solving real problems. This way, students will achieve significative learning and will value Science in their everyday life. Finally, we have to make students feel like scientists, able to purpose original and ingenious solutions in an open changing Science, full of new discoveries to be made. This, however, does not mean we want to train scientists. What we really care about is to produce critical open-minded citizen able to decide from a scientific critical point of view.