Sergio Rosa’s research while affiliated with University of Alicante and other places

ABSTRACT (English)/ RESUMEN (español) Some authors consider that the didactic change in primary science education is an impossible task. Indeed, systematic research on this process is still scarce. For this reason, we present a plan, based on research on in-service professional development and in the theory of critical mass for change in social conventions, to achieve didactic change, based on collaboration between a university research team and teaching and principal of a school. We justify the different phases of the plan, define the indicators to evaluate them and show the results of its development. RESUMEN: Algunos autores consideran que el cambio didáctico en la enseñanza de las ciencias en primaria es una tarea imposible. Efectivamente, se trata de un proceso sobre el que se ha investigado poco y poco sistemáticamente. Por ello, se presenta un plan –justificado en la investigación sobre formación en activo y en la teoría de la masa crítica para el cambio en las convenciones sociales– para conseguir el cambio didáctico a partir de la colaboración entre un equipo universitario y el equipo docente y directivo de una escuela. Se justifican sus distintas fases, se definen indicadores para valorarlas y se muestran los resultados de su desarrollo.

La mayoría de los maestros de Educación Primaria en formación tienen actitudes negativas hacia la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de las ciencias, una formación preuniversitaria en humanidades, y poca confianza para enseñar ciencias. Como indica la investigación didáctica actual, aprender en profundidad alguna idea fundamental de la ciencia puede mejorar esta situación. Para ello, se elaboró un curso en el Grado, donde se estudió un problema fundamental de ciencias (movimientos del Sol y el modelo Sol/Tierra) con una estructura didáctica problematizada. Los estudiantes alcanzaron altos niveles de conocimiento sin diferencias significativas debidas a sus actitudes o formación iniciales, lo que sugiere que esta metodología ayuda a que los futuros maestros aprendan en profundidad ideas fundamentales de la ciencia, en un ambiente similar al que se espera que creen cuando ejerzan su profesión.

Study of Earth position in the Universe is included in most of primary and secondary science school curricula. Contents concerning the location of people on the Earth (latitude and longitude) can be studied from a geographical point of view, in which geographical coordinates are given or from an empirical point of view, in which an observer could know its position on the Earth by tracking the Sun path that can be observed from the place where he is located. To know accurately where we are on the Earth using Sun's movements observed from the Earth, it is necessary to admit that Earth is a sphere and people can live anywhere, to know that in an equinox day the only magnitudes related with Sun's movement that can change are: Sun's culmination, the time when it occurs and the direction of the Sun's path (from left to right or the opposite direction), and have the necessary spatial vision to imagine how a person located anywhere on the Earth would see the Sun path. The aim of this work is to analyse spatial vision difficulties of pre-service primary and secondary teachers about Sun's path. To this end we have designed a questionnaire to know if they can imagine how a person sees the Sun from different places of the Earth. Here, we present the validation of this questionnaire and first results with pre-service primary and secondary science teachers. Despite the grade studied, most of the students present difficulties of spatial vision when they have to imagine how would be the Sun path as a result of being on a big sphere spinning.