DIDÁCTICA DE LA GEOGRAFÍA Y DIDÁCTICA SUPERIOR

El artículo reflexiona sobre el aporte de la didáctica en el proceso de enseñanza – aprendizaje, enfatizando en su carácter teórico – práctica.  Diferencia entre una didáctica general y una didáctica específica.La Didáctica Crítica propone al profesor en Geografía como un maestro en el  saber y actuar, en el cumplimiento de sus deberes, responsabilidades y habilidades.  La enseñanza de la Geografía precisadel apoyo de numerosos instrumentos de alta tecnología, que constituyen valiosos aportes didácticos, la  incorporación de  las Tecnologías de  Información y Comunicación  (TICʼs)    es una necesidad. La formación a nivel universitario debe ofrecer las destrezas  y habilidades en la creación y composiciónde medios audiovisuales para la enseñanza  de la Geografía.  La Geografía contribuye eficazmente al desarrollo de capacidades, actitudes y competencias genéricas esenciales sobre las que ha de basarse la formación ciudadana y la educación de valores.Palabras claves: Geografía, didáctica de  la Geografía, saber geográfico, metodología de enseñanza, método didáctico.AbstractThe article reflects on the contribution from didactics in the process of teaching-learning, emphasizing in its theoretical character – practice. It differentiates between general didactics and specific didactics. Critical didactics suggests that the Geography professor, as an expert, knows and acts according to his or her duties, responsibilities and abilities.The teaching of the Geography draws upon the support of high-tech tools, which constitute valuable didactic contributions, so that incorporation of the Technology Information and Communication (TICʼs) is a necessity to be the mode of communication. Formation at the university level ought to offer talents and abilities in the creation and composition of audio-visual media in the teaching of geography. Geography effectively contributes to development of capabilities, attitudes and competencies generic essential for citizen formation and the education of values.Key Words: Geography,  didactics  of Geography,  geographical  knowledge,  teaching methodology, didactic method

El grito de Calibán. Del cinematógrafo al proyecto teleSur: la construcción de lo latinoamericano en la comunicación audiovisual regional

This essay analyzes on the importance of TeleSur TV Station (founded in 2005), in the historical context of the development of audio-visual means of communication in Latin America, as well as the debates about the influence of mass media in the process of cultural identity raising-up. It proposes the thesis that the project of Tele- Sur plays a key role in the shaping of a new international order on communication that allows the protection of the cultural diversity of Latin American nations and democratizes the world’s information flows in the neoliberal globalization stage.

National university`s students perspective of teachers and college education: their characteristic and classroom environment

This article presents the results of a research project in which the characteristics of university teachers and classroom environment were studied from the students´ perspectives. The study was based on a mixed design, this one attempts to develop a profile of the teachers, with the participation of students being trained in pedagogy majors. The results indicate that the students underline the importance of personality and psico-pedagogical characteristics in contrast with the theoretical findings, which point more towards professional characteristics.

The Acknowledgment of the Education in the Construction of the School Project

This article collects the main ideas constructed during a research process that allowed an approach to the study of the construction of school identities. The approach undertaken starts off not only from an analysis of the way in which the identities that converge in the dynamics of an educational institution and their relationship with the national educational proposal are constructed and articulated, but also the identification, starting from that analysis, of some possible lines of action on the formation of education professionals.

Experiences from the course “Pedagogical Intervention in Preschool Education���: the vision from the faculty trainers, preschool teachers and students

As part of the educational formation of students from II level of the Associate dregree, from the Pedagogy major with an emphasis on preschool teaching from Universidad Nacional. There is a course named “Pedagogical Intervention in Early Childhood Education��� which carries out the process of the intensive practicum. In this article you will find a review of the program’s objetives, experiences and challenges, taking the experiences from the academic team, who have guided this process over the past two years, and the point of views from students and preschool teachers.

Attention to Diversity from an Interdisciplinary Perspective: Results from the Final Graduation Project from a Group of Students Majoring in Preschool Education and Special Education

Nowadays, the topic of diversity is being studied, particularly in the field of the formation of future educators, where it is clearly evident in each one of the students. In order to understand this concept and meet the challenges it demands, this investigation, through the experience of action research, looks for a real picture of how this diversity is served in Guanacaste’s rural contexts. This is accomplished by identifying those ways to guide a better teachers’ work, and by taking into account the educational planning and the participation of the different sectors involved in the process of teaching and learning.

Environmental Education Experience with Students from One Costa Rican Rural School

This article describes a teaching experience developed in Environmental Education in a Costa Rican rural school with students from ninth year, characterized by the dynamics of a workshop in which stresses the participation in the construction of initiatives to address environmental problems detected by the youth in their communities. The article aims to contribute to the construction of a pedagogical model of self-management training and education of young people in environmental sectors, tourism and agriculture, in the conviction that education constitutes a vital alternative for understanding and solving environmental problems.

A Pedagogical Strategy for Integrated Education of Spanish in the 4th to 6th Grades of the General Basic Education

Language teaching has become a priority in the Costa Rican educational system, considering it as a tool for communication and development of thought. Without language, there is no access to other curriculum disciplinary knowledge. A successful experience conducted some years ago, with students from 4th to 6th grade, was the basis for the design and implementation of a professional development activity addressed to promoting an integration strategy previously adjusted according to the Ministry’s requirements and the existing national regulations. This study is developed in the framework of a qualitative paradigm including research-action and systematization. A purposive sample was selected based on a suitability factor, through which individuals are informed about the strategy, and then the strategy is applied to a group of students from urban-marginal areas. The techniques used include literature review, analysis of curriculum and Ministry’s regulations, application of an in-depth interview, discussions from the course’s participant in a portfolio, and discussions from students to whom the strategy was applied. We analyzed the considerations of teachers and students, as well as the theoretical and regulatory information by triangulation. The study’s conclusion is the necessity of a communicative approach in language teaching and our recommendation is to implement the strategy developed in the Costa Rican classrooms as provided in this paper.

Contributions of the Rural Education Project (PER)

This paper presents the results of the research project “El proceso de formación inicial del Proyecto de Educación Rural (PER)” (creation of the Rural Education Project, PER by its Spanish acronym), conducted between 1984 and 1987 in the Regional Offices of the Ministry of Public Education in San Carlos, Coto and Limón. The Rural Education Project (PER) was implemented by the Center of Research and Teaching in Education (CIDE) of the Universidad Nacional (UNA) aiming at training teachers of single-teacher schools located in rural areas. The objective of our research was to collect the contributions of PER bearing in mind the training processes required today, and considering the success of PER, which was based on the leadership of teachers to promote community progress in rural areas from the classroom, an input to be considered in the new learning processes of Rural Education

Linkage: Basic Requirement in any Product of Research in Education

The scientific production, in the field of education, constantly refers to linkage as a special condition to develop research. However, its meaning and the way to achieve that condition are not always clear, particularly for those who are in a training stage of research in education. Meanwhile, the academic production reviewers consider linkage as a very important aspect and essential characteristic of any research project. This paper suggests that linkage involves an epistemological discussion on the research factors in each one of the research stages, such as the construction of the object of study, the definition of methodology, and the data analysis and interpretation, among the most important stages. Linkage takes shape in a written product showing the results from an orderly construction and communication of thought, according to the rules established in a particular field of knowledge.

Andragogy as a Knowledge Driving Discipline in Higher Education

This paper exposes the diachronic (historical overview) of Andragogy (or Adult Education) and its introduction as a discipline in the context of university education. Based on the andragogical principles of the adult thought process and the work experience, this study sets out Adult Education as an education option to be implemented in higher education, in Costa Rica, to develop cognitive and meta-cognitive competencies in the university students, in the different academic areas simultaneously, by reproducing the Socratic maieutics, which is structured within the Kolb’s experiential learning cycle.

Conversation Circles as a Teaching Strategy: An Experience to Reflect on and Implement in Higher Education

The experience approached in this paper aims at reflecting, reasoning, planning and implementing the “Conversation Circles” as a teaching strategy in the PF-4237 course “Theory of Education: Multiculturalism and Education��� of the Latin American Doctoral Program in Education, University of Costa Rica. This training experience, based on the communicative action theory, intended to integrate the assistance of the teacher, the confrontation to otherness and the building of knowledge, skills and social attitudes in higher education.

How to Achieve Professional Skills in Higher Education?

During the last decade, higher education has tried to focus education on the achievement of professional skills. It is interesting to see how the learning strategies implemented may facilitate or make more difficult the achievement of competencies. By dealing with the challenge of a competency-based education approach, higher education points out the need of knowing how to build such competencies, i.e. how to design a learning strategy. Not much importance has been given to this issue, probably because the competencies can be confused with abilities, skills and attitudes and, therefore, the model can be associated to in- or out-of-classroom activities without a strategy to articulate the knowledge acquired with the cultural, social and economic contexts of the community and labor spheres, i.e., as a whole (Tobón, 2005). This paper analyzes the epistemological development of the competency-based approach in higher education, focusing on the implementation of professional competencies in the Sociology degree “Licenciatura en Sociología”, in two campuses of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California: Ensenada and Mexicali. This paper describes how competencies are built and explores different theoretical trends, their conceptualization and formation, based on in-depth interviews applied to students and teachers. It provides a mixed study to understand, based on the student’s point of view, the achievements of this study program in terms of professional competencies.

Relevant Aspects on Teaching Probability and Statistics in Basic General Education

Probability and Statistics were included in the Basic General Education curricula by the Ministry of Public Education (Costa Rica), since 1995. To analyze the teaching reality in these fields, a research was conducted in two educational regions of the country: Heredia and Pérez Zeledón. The survey included university training and updating processes of teachers teaching Statistics and Probability in the schools. The research demonstrated the limited university training in these fields, the dissatisfaction of teachers about it, and the poor support of training institutions to their professional exercise.

“Constructive Paranoia” Applied to Education (The Case of English Language Teaching)

This paper analyzes the concept of constructive paranoia stated by journalist and author Andrés Oppenheimer to promote development in Latin America. Based on that concept, this paper discusses the effectiveness of current English Language Teaching, particularly, as well as what should be done in order to obtain better results. As a conclusion, a re-structure of approach, curriculum and methodology in teaching the language is proposed.