ABSTRACT
Resumen El aprendizaje de un sistema de conceptos científicos es la base del desarrollo de conceptos en la escuela. Uno de los obstáculos para lograrlo es que los conceptos se aprenden como palabras vacías sin contenido adecuado. Este estudio ilustra la forma en la que las ideas de Vygotsky se pueden usar para superar dicho obstáculo. Para describir el proceso de comprensión de los conceptos medio ambiente y naturaleza, se implementó una estrategia pedagógica en una muestra de 80 estudiantes de grado séptimo. Los resultados muestran que la estrategia fue efectiva para ayudar a los estudiantes a superar sus preconcepciones y construir conceptos adecuados, representados en modelos y textos expositivos.
Abstract Although learning a system of scientific concepts is the basis for the development of concepts in school, this objective is hindered by the fact that concepts are learned as empty words lacking adequate content. This study illustrates how Vygotsky's ideas can be used to overcome that obstacle. In order to describe the process of understanding the concepts of environment and nature, a pedagogic strategy was implemented in a sample of seventh-grade students. Results show that the strategy was effective in helping students go beyond their preconceptions and be able to build adequate concepts, represented in models and expository texts.
Resumo A aprendizagem de um sistema de conceitos científicos é a base do desenvolvimento de conceitos na escola. Um dos obstáculos para alcança-la é que os conceitos são aprendidos como palavras vazias sem conteúdo adequado. Este estudo ilustra a maneira em que as ideias de Vygotsky podem ser usadas para superar esse obstáculo. Para descrever o processo de compreensão dos conceitos meio ambiente e natureza, foi implementada uma estratégia pedagógica em uma amostra de 80 alunos do sétimo ano. Os resultados mostram que a estratégia foi eficaz em ajudá-los a superar seus preconceitos e construir conceitos adequados, representados em modelos e textos expositivos.
ABSTRACT
El objetivo de esta investigación es la formación de la autorregulación del aprendizaje de conceptos científicos en un grupo de 28 estudiantes universitarios en la interacción comunicativa en el aula. El estudio se planteó como una investigación cualitativa orientada por el método experimental formativo propuesto por la psicología pedagógica histórico cultural de Vigotsky. Los resultados muestran que los estudiantes universitarios necesitan que el docente proponga actividades de aprendizaje de conceptos científicos que involucren exigencia y retos cognitivos continuamente, en los que se sientan implicados emocionalmente. Se discute la necesidad de implementar estrategias didácticas que permitan que los estudiantes transfieran el aprendizaje de conceptos científicos del aula de clase a otros ámbitos como el social. Se concluye que durante la experiencia didáctica tanto la profesora como los estudiantes desarrollan habilidades reflexivas y creativas.
The purpose of this research is to explore the effects of the teaching in the self-regulation of scientific concepts in a group of 28 university students and their communicative interaction inside the classroom. The study is framed as a qualitative research guided by the formative experimental method proposed by Vygotsky's cultural-historical psychology. The results show that university students need activities proposed by their teacher to learn scientific concepts that involve demanding and cognitive challenges continuously in which they feel emotionally involved. The need to implement didactic strategies that allow students to transfer the learning of scientific concepts from the classroom to other areas such as the social one is discussed. It is concluded that during the didactic experience both teacher and students develop reflective and creative skills.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adolescent , Adult , Students/psychology , Personal Autonomy , Learning , Colombia , Self Efficacy , Academic Performance/psychology , MotivationABSTRACT
En investigaciones anteriores sobre los sistemas de actividad de una comunidad rural, se identificaron los conceptos empíricos que desarrollan los niños en el contexto de las actividades familiares, tales como el tejido de palma, la cría de animales y la recolección de hierbas (Amado, 2010; Amado & Borzone, 2003). El objetivo del estudio que se informa fue explorar el rol de los conocimientos previos de los niños de un medio rural en la comprensión de textos expositivos escolares. Para ello se elaboraron tres series de tres textos cada una en las que el primer texto respondía a temas conocidos por los niños, relacionados con los sistemas de actividad y los otros dos eran sobre temas desconocidos. Se analizó el desempeño de los niños de la comunidad rural en la comprensión de estos textos y se compararon los resultados con el desempeño que tuvieron en dichas pruebas niños de un medio urbano. Se realizó un análisis cuanti y cualitativo de las respuestas de los dos grupos de niños a las preguntas realizadas sobre los textos. Los resultados indican que cuando los conocimientos previos se circunscriben a conceptos empíricos, la comprensión se ve favorecida si el texto trata temas conocidos. En el abordaje de temas desconocidos, esos conceptos resultan insuficientes y pueden producir distorsiones en la comprensión, si los niños no han desarrollado habilidades de comprensión lectora, tales como la realización de inferencias y el uso adecuado de la información textual.
Written text comprehension is considered as an interactive process during which a mental representation is constructed by inferences making that require knowledge about texts, general knowledge about the world and specialized knowledge about the domain being discussed. The cognitive models of text processing emphasize the relevance of these types of knowledge for text comprehension (Gernsbacher, 1990; Kintsch, 1988; van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983). With regard to knowledge about the world, Vygotsky (1962) recognized different forms of conceptualization. He assumed that human beings are able to develop every day concept in the interaction with the environment and scientific concept that are reflective and systematic and must be taught. Within the framework of these contributions from Cognitive Psychology and the socio - cultural theory of human development the present work addressed the role that knowledge about the world of a group of children from a rural area plays in school expository texts comprehension. Expository texts were selected because for the processing of this type of text empirical and scientific concepts have to be activated. In previous studies on the activity systems of a rural community in the north of Córdoba (Argentina), the empirical concepts develop by children in the context of family activities, such as the weaving of palm leaves, animals bringing up and herbs gathering, were explored (Amado, 2010; Amado & Borzone, 2003). In this work the study of the way children from that community deal with expository texts processing was undertaken. With that purpose, three sets of three texts each were elaborated. The text material consisted in nine expository texts, three sets of three texts. Each set presented a progression from a known subject to the rural group (Text 1) to a text far from their natural and cultural environment (Text 3). Text 2 was about an unknown subject but the process described was related with the process described in Text 1. After reading each text, children had to answer eight literal and inferential questions. The answers to these questions were quantitative and qualitatively analyzed. The analysis of the performance of the rural group in understanding texts about known and unknown subjects was compared with the comprehension of a group of children from an urban area who had participated at school in a training program with expository texts. Results showed that the performance of children from the urban area was better than the performance of children from the rural community except in the cases of texts which included empirical concepts, that is, the knowledge that the rural group of children have learnt by their participation in the activity systems. Thus, although empirical concepts facilitated comprehension processes, they were not sufficient for all texts understanding and might be even an obstacle to the construction of coherent mental representation of the text if the children have not developed general comprehension abilities. In fact, it was observed that when rural children activated empirical concepts that were not coherent with text concepts, they had some difficulty to inhibit them. On the contrary, the urban group of children had a good performance in the processing of all the text except one which required handling of very specific knowledge. These results have relevant implications to comprehension teaching at school as they showed that, even though empirical knowledge learnt within the activity systems of the community must be considered, it is also very important to develop general comprehension abilities and scientific concepts. They will allow making a strategic use of knowledge to understand not only texts on subject related to children socio-cultural information but also texts about events and phenomena from other environments which are presented from a scientific concepts perspective.