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.

COMMUNICATION, SUBJECT, CULTURE: JOYS AND SOLITUDE INAUGURAL LECTURE OF THE SCHOOL YEAR 2002 OF THE SCHOOL OF LIBRARY, DOCUMENTATION AND INFORMATION

When you are invited to offer a conference like this, can not stop having a series of questions and considerations about the very fact of speaking to an audience informed and educated about the issues that the title might suggest exposure and how without falling into the usual cliches, without repeating the views and opinions set forth, if not obvious. I propose, then, establish, as a starting point, two things: the first is a promise: I will not talk about internet, a recurrent theme in his classes and activities. The second is a kind of contract between you and me: check out the obviousness of some views and question it, see it from behind, because that is where we might find the seams, some of the patches, if not outright nudity. I wonder if this is not precisely one of the first tasks of teaching in the University: to force what seems obvious to justify its obviousness, which is not easy.We can start messing things up a bit, looking like a very smooth and made ​​some surrealist poets to cut one by one the words of poems and writings, throw them into the air and read with amazement the order they fall to form a new verse, Perhaps more interesting and evocative than the first. Is not this somewhat random operation of new blends the fundamental operation of so many new discoveries and innovative ideas in the fields of science, culture, arts? Some of you know the thought of Pascal says: "Do not say that I am not proposing something new: the order in which the material presented is different."

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.