The Students’ Perspective of Geometry Teaching and Learning in High School

The purpose of this article is to present the results obtained from a questionnaire applied to Costa Rican high school students, in order to know their perspectives about geometry teaching and learning. The results show that geometry classes in high school education have been based on a traditional system of teaching, where the teacher presents the theory; he presents examples and exercises that should be solved by students, which emphasize in the application and memorization of formulas. As a consequence, visualization processes, argumentation and justification don’t have a preponderant role. Geometry is presented to students like a group of definitions, formulas, and theorems completely far from their reality and, where the examples and exercises don’t possess any relationship with their context. As a result, it is considered not important, because it is not applicable to real life situations. Also, the students consider that, to be successful in geometry, it is necessary to know how to use the calculator, to carry out calculations, to have capacity to memorize definitions, formulas and theorems, to possess capacity to understand the geometric drawings and to carry out clever exercises to develop a practical ability.

Construcción del perfil profesional docente de sétimo año: respuesta a una necesidad actual

In our country, the seventh grade is the level with the highest desertion and failure rate in high school. This was the main reason that motivated this group of researchers to define the teachers’ professional profile at this level. Based on a definition of the teachers’ characteristics, the concept of how a profile should be, the age features of seventh graders and all those aspects that benefit the teaching-learning processes, the optimum and required profile of the seventh graders’ teachers is proposed.

Quality of Life Profile, Overweight-Obesity and Sedentary Behavior in Elementary and High School Children of Guanacaste

The purpose of this study was to identify the quality of life profile, overweight-obesity and sedentary behavior in a group of elementary and high school children of Guanacaste. 635 students participated in the study. The participants completed a protocol by which they were anthropometrically evaluated, and also filled up a questionnaire related to sedentary behavior and quality of life. In general, the findings reflected a prevalence of overweight and obesity of 13, 9%. The most important sedentary activities were, in descending order, the small screen (watching TV, video games, computer), and certain social and cultural activities. The self-reported quality of life index was within acceptable limits but not exceeding 80 points on a scale of 1-100. There was no significant relationship between the rate of the overall quality of life, overweight, obesity and some sedentary behaviors, although some anthropometric parameters like percentage of body fat and body weight showed significant correlation with sedentary behavior and specific aspects belonging to quality of life. The study provides valuable information to health authorities, directors of educational institutions and parents about key issues related to child development.