Validación del software educativo Poliestudio 1.0: informe de investigación

PoliEstudio 1.0 is a computational tool, with free license, created to work with polynomial expressions in one variable and it was created by a team in which the authors of this article are part of. This article documents the qualitative validation performed to this software which main objective was to bring to the Costa Rican Educational System a validated educational software that can solve, partially, the problems that nowadays exists in the mathematic education of secondary students, particularly in the topics related to polynomial expressions in one variable and specifically to those students who are in eighth grade.

Currículo en el nivel preescolar costarricense: El Ciclo Materno Infantil (CMI)

The present article tackles the conceptualization and description of the Infantile Maternal Cycle as p The present article tackles the conceptualization and description of the Infantile Maternal Cycle as part of the preschool level of the Costa Rican educational system. With the intention of having a wider vision of this Cycle, a revision is done for the curriculum concept, as well as, for the elements that shape it, and then there is a detailed description of specific aspects related to the preschool Costa Rican curriculum of the Infantile Maternal Cycle, taking as a starting point the Program of Study that was designed to attend the above Cycle in the Costa Rican educational system.

Transición 6 grado a 7año, ¿problema o desafío?

The present article displays the results of a two-year research experience carried out by an interdisciplinary research team from the five academic departments (units) at CIDE. The study is part of a larger research project named Profiles, Dynamics and Challenges of Costa Rican education at CIDE, which is directed by the Deanery. The study was conducted during 2006 and part of 2007 in secondary schools which were identified as successful institutions regarding academic achievements. The research focused on exploring the factors which influence students’ academic performance positively as they move from primary to secondary school and as they remain within successful academic indicators during those transition years. This research, besides involving an important literature review, required field work which took place in ten secondary schools from diverse settings all over the country. Observations were made and the seventh and eighth graders’ beliefs, as well as, their parents’ and teachers’ assumptions were explored. In addition, paralleled to the aspects mentioned, an important population of sixth grade students, their parents, and teachers were studied, since those primary institutions were related to the secondary schools involved in the study.

Pedagogía intercultural: ¿un eufemismo para tranquilizar conciencias o una alternativa para la transformación?

The present article it entails the revision of some aspects of the Costa Rican pedagogy, especially in the epistemology area, ethics and the policies as fundamental dimensions of education. From there, it also proposes the revision of its intercultural practices in order to determine whether what it is called in the CIDE (UNA) Intercultural Pedagogy it is just another euphemism than comes from outside and above. If we receive it without major analysis in order not to disturb our comfortable being in the world, reality, or as an alternative of transformation of the Costa Rican society.

La investigación educativa interdisciplinaria integrada en el Centro de Investigación y Docencia en Educación (CIDE): un aporte de las Unidades Académicas y del INEINA

The project called Perfiles, Dinámicas y Desafíos de la Educación Costarricense (Profiles, Dynamics and Challenges of the Costa Rican Education) in its various working phases it conducts interdisciplinary educational research at an integrated level at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia en Educación (CIDE) (Research and Teaching Center) from Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica. This article discusses the importance of taking into account outcomes and products of such research work within the various majors that CIDE offers.

El equipo de investigación: un reto y una realidad

This paper presents the different initial challenges, work processes, team formation and learning content obtained by researchers of the interdisciplinary team of the project called Proyecto Perfiles, Dinámicas y Desafíos de la Educación Costarricense (Profiles, Dynamics and Challenges of the Costa Rican Education) of Centro de Investigación y Docencia en Educación (CIDE) (Research and Teaching Center), from Universidad Nacional, in its third phase. There will be an analysis showing how cooperative work and shared leadership as a team made a successful impact in the research process.

Espacios vitales de aprendizaje: su ecología en el sétimo año de la educación pública costarricense

The present article is the result of an investigation between CIDE-UNA to build a desirable profile for teachers that might teach seventh grade in Costa Rican public education schools. This article evidences transparency in the ecology of learning spaces, known as the environment, the actors involved and their complex interrelations. There is also a description of these spaces and their incidence in the permanence and promotion of the students population, in the singular moment in which the educational system imposes them the first and rough institutional changes coinciding with physical transformations and social and familiar relationships.

Talent in first, second, and third graders: teachers’ perspectives vs. educational reality

The article addresses the subject of talent by emphasizing different conceptions about talent and by proposing an approach to this theme, from the point of view of talent in boys and girls. It also provides an analysis of research conducted with first, second, and third graders in public and private schools of the Costa Rican Education System. Using questionnaires and observations of the dynamics of the classroom as measurement tools, this study contrasts teachers` expectations about their students’ talent with the reality of the class environment, pointing out the existing abyss between teachers’ beliefs and their professional practices.

The Support Educational Commitee Participation in the Pedagogical Approach of an Educational Integration

Educational services are essential to social and economical development of people, mainly to the progress of all sectors of society. Establishing actions that can promote the participation of various social groups is essential to improve their quality of life and building more respectful and fair human rights without any discrimination or exclusion. In recent years, the Costa Rican education system has undergone significant changes due to the pedagogical approach of inclusive education in which students with educational needs may require different support and specialized resources for training and development. For this, the Basic Educational Division of the Center for Teaching and Research in Education, generated a concern of investigating the participation of the Committee of Educational Support in the process of educational integration, thus, determine the functions performed in the educational context, under the rules of the 7600 Equal Opportunity Act for people with disabilities, which is the entity that corresponds to regulate access to education by identifying the support required for students with educational needs and, advice and trains, administrative staff in schools both public and private in the country. In addition, there is also a concern for exploring the role of the Special Education teacher for this Committee, as well as learning the perceptions of teachers and parents about the functions performed by the committee.

Proposal for Academic Achievement and Permanence of Students in the 7th Grade (1)

This paper analyzes the impact of change processes experienced by many student populations when completing primary education (1st-6th grade) and starting secondary education (7th-11th grade). Based on the research conducted, this paper describes situations and aspects that may result in conditional factors for the student’s adjustment at this level: time-space changes, as well as organizational and dynamic changes that would set the new educational environment and social context in which this new stage will be developed. Such conditional factors that affect learning in incoming students: programs, teaching methodology, learning styles and new evaluation methods will be discussed. As a result of this research, a proposal is presented to facilitate transition from primary to the secondary education. This proposal includes guidelines for awareness and strengthening of pedagogical mediation, which would contribute to the permanence of students from all types of institutions in the education system.  (1) [Translator’s note: The Costa Rican education system is composed of primary education (1st-6th grade) and secondary education (7th-11th grade).]

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.

Maleku: A Culture in Danger of Extinction

This paper is about the Maleku, one of the indigenous languages that is still alive in the country; though the linguistic community that uses it, composed of less than 400 people, tends to reduce rapidly. There is a high risk that in the near future this language will disappear. This paper is the result of a research project that proposes the construction and implementation of learning strategies that would help to include the customs, traditions and the native language of the Malekus in the schools, to strengthen the identity and culture of this Costa Rican indigenous population.The research project includes a brief overview of the history and problems of the indigenous Maleku population, and an analysis on the importance of the language and oral expression. It also makes a review of how the indigenous languages in Costa Rican schools are currently taught. It later includes a diagnosis of the current situation of language from the perspective of different members of the Maleku community. This diagnosis is based on the research conducted and it will facilitate focusing on the integration of the Maleku and rural curriculums. Finally, there are some reflections about the bilingual intercultural education.

Proposal for Labor Market Integration of Teachers in Contexts of High Social Vulnerability

The purpose of this paper is to share a proposal for teacher’s labor market integration in contexts of high social5 vulnerability. This paper is the result of a research conducted in a priority attention primary school6 of the central canton of Heredia7. It explored the labor market integration process of teachers, considering the community, family and student reality of a population social risk. The research that supports this proposal is based on a qualitative approach, since the diagnosis process is not intended to provide answers that could be commonly applied to other education centers in similar contexts, but to make an exploratory approach of teachers’ reality and their integration process into education institutions of high social vulnerability. Therefore, although this paper intends to share this experience, it does not aim to unify integration practices, but to be an input in carrying out similar processes.  (5) The concept of high social vulnerability is understood based on Sojo’s approach (2003), which defines it as marginal urban communities in areas considered by the Costa Rican government as priority areas with the greatest social, economic backwardness in the country, and high rates of violence, leisure, unemployment and drug addiction. (6) Translator’s note: The Costa Rican education system is composed of primary education (1st-6th grade) and secondary education (7th-11th grade). (7)A public primary school in the circuit 02 of the Province of Heredia.

Desarrollo social y educación superior

Recibido 12 de abril de 2011 • Aceptado 26 de agosto de 2011 • Corregido 21 de octubre de 2011      El presente ensayo tiene por objetivo reflexionar sobre el quehacer de la universidad pública costarricense y su responsabilidad en la formación para el desarrollo social. Lo anterior, entendido como uno de los múltiples retos que enfrenta la educación superior, de cara a las demandas que la función del conocimiento posee en el presente, y a la relación de estas con el desarrollo autónomo del conocimiento. Su planteamiento, defiende algunos asuntos débilmente abordados en estudios previos, y que se constituyen en elementos esenciales para una formación significativa, funcional y de impacto social, como son: a) La ética en la organización, b) La autoeducación de la universidad, c) La incidencia de las políticas curriculares en las prácticas promovidas, d) La transformación de la cultura docente para contribuir a mejorar la práctica, y e) La construcción del conocimiento para fundamentar criterios, tomar decisiones, solucionar problemas y construir proyectos de vida.

Las maestras y el ensayo como escritura cívica femenina en Repertorio Americano

Recibido 17 de mayo de 2011 • Aceptado 26 de agosto de 2011 • Corregido 9 de octubre de 2011   La escritura femenina, como todas las formas de producción simbólica desde las mujeres, ha existido y se ha desarrollado a pesar del mandato patriarcal de obedecer y callar que pesa sobre el género femenino. No es objetivo en esta reflexión, ahondar en las acciones y las obras de las mujeres transgresoras quienes, a lo largo de la historia y a pesar de, han ejercido esa forma de hacerse presente y afirmarse ante los otros que es la escritura. Mi propósito es identificar a las mujeres, quienes desde el oficio de maestras ejercitaron su escritura, combinaron su rol docente con el de escritoras y en la elaboración de sus discursos cívicos cuestionaron, precisamente, las concepciones de patriotismo y sentimiento cívico dentro del mismo proceso de construcción de una ciudadanía de la cual ellas no disfrutaban.