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.

The Pros and Cons of a Field Project: The case of the Laboratory School in Heredia

This article reviews some of the most important characteristics of the Laboratory School in Heredia, Costa Rica, for recognizing the success aspects and setbacks that an innovative experience of an educational project has within the national education system. It is a description of the pedagogical model of the school and includes the vision that different participants have in this educational project, around which it is showed the different positions of the actors who live and reflect daily in the school.

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.

Educational Inclusion in the Regular Classroom: an Asperger Syndrome Case

The following paper resulted from the final research project conducted for my Master’s Degree in Teacher Training for Teachers of Primary Education (1st – 6th grade of the Basic General Education). This research project was conducted under the supervision of the Rural Education Division of the Center for Research and Teaching in Education (CIDE-UNA, Spanish acronym), in coordination with the Central America Educational and Cultural Coordination (CECC). The research is qualitative with an interpretative approach. Our main objective was to analyze the process of inclusive education in the regular classroom for a person with Asperger’s Syndrome, defined as a type of social impairment. The case study method was used in this research, as it allows a deeper study. A girl was chosen from a public school in an urban area of San José, Costa Rica. Three techniques were used to obtain information: interviews, questionnaires and documentation (personal file, behavior record, and psychological assessment) related to the girl with Asperger. The triangulation of sources was used as a method of analysis. The conclusion of the project was that regular schools may have children miss-diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, and that our schools are still far from achieving inclusive education, but efforts are being made to achieve it. For a more opportune intervention, some recommendations based on this study were provided to the family and the school of the girl with Asperger.

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.

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

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.

¿Quién es el sujeto en la investigación educativa?

Recibido 22 de mayo de 2011 • Acepta 29 de agosto de 2011 • Corregido 4 de setiembre de 2011   En este artículo argumento, en primer lugar, que la identidad de quien investiga incide no solo en su forma de investigar, sino también en los procesos de formación de sus estudiantes y, por ende, en la formación de las futuras investigadoras y los futuros investigadores educativos. En segundo lugar, señalo que las instituciones educativas, así como sus docentes, juegan un rol central en la construcción de identidades. En tercer lugar, enfatizo que de esta responsabilidad no se eximen quienes se dedican a la investigación educativa, por lo que les invito a reflexionar sobre: ¿Cuáles son nuestras responsabilidades en el proceso de construcción de identidades? ¿Quién es el sujeto de la educación? ¿Quién es el sujeto de la investigación educativa y en ella?¿Cuán inclusivas son nuestras nociones de sujeto educativo y del sujeto empírico? Mediante el desarrollo y análisis de interrogantes sobre temas como: la relación sujeto-objeto; el sujeto en la investigación educativa; el aporte de la subjetividad; la contribución de la fenomenología; entre otros, argumento que: a) la autobiografía intelectual es un instrumento de gran potencialidad para comprender el tono y la dirección de un proceso investigativo y b) centrar la atención en las personas, en su historia, sus relaciones sociales y su ambiente, como sujetos actuantes y no solo como objetos de estudio es un movimiento epistémico, político y ético, puesto que reconoce la acción del sujeto en el mundo y sobre este. Por último, apelo a que las investigadoras y los investigadores cualitativos no solo deben comprender quiénes son, sino que también deben hacerlo explícito puesto que hay un condicionamiento ético que lo demanda.

La investigación científico-social: Un debate epistemológico desde la educación

Recibido 27 de julio de 2011 • Aceptado 26 de agosto de 2011 • Corregido 28 de octubre de 2011  El debate epistemológico de la investigación científico-social durante años ha consistido en confrontar los métodos, tratando de hacer valer más uno que el otro a partir de la gran teoría que lo soporta. Aunque propuestas más recientes recuperan métodos híbridos o planteamientos epistemológicos más diversos, la postura de la dualidad ha prevalecido. Descriptiva o explicativa; fenomenológica o positivista; clásica o emergente; los paradigmas de investigación son la manera en cómo tenemos acceso a la realidad investigada y así obtener principios y respuestas. Ello define los métodos. Aún cuando es posible agrupar y categorizar estos métodos en cuantitativos y cualitativos, el entramado epistemológico que establecen las estructuras de cualquier metodología permitirá el abordaje de un fenómeno mejor que otro, sin que esto pondere necesariamente alguno de manera definitoria. Dentro de la educación, tanto métodos cuantitativos como cualitativos han ayudado a abordar fenómenos de tal manera que han producido resultados favorables para el bienestar del quehacer educativo. Este ensayo, producto de una revisión bibliográfica y una trayectoria investigativa y educativa, pretende esclarecer el complejo panorama inicial de los investigadores educativos novatos antes de revisar y recuperar una postura epistemológica.

El rigor metodológico en la evaluación curricular

Recibido 19 de mayo de 2011 • Aceptado 26 de agosto de 2011 • Corregido 27 de setiembre de 2011   En el presente ensayo se desarrolla la importancia del rigor metodológico en una evaluación curricular. Se parte de que para su valoración, por parte de los interesados, es exigido que el evaluador muestre el rigor con el que se ha realizado el proceso, de tal manera que sea posible evidenciar elementos que la hacen válida, confiable y creíble. Para ello, se sustenta el rigor de la evaluación con base en la articulación de aspectos significativos, valorativos, teóricos, metodológicos, de participación de los actores y de ética. Estos permiten delimitar y desarrollar el objeto por evaluar. Por lo tanto, cada uno de estos aspectos forman parte esencial del camino a seguir en un proceso evaluativo.

Construyendo el camino de la transformación personal y colectiva: El inicio de una experiencia de investigación-acción

Recibido 26 de julio de 2011 • Aceptado 26 de agosto de 2011 • Corregido 31 de agosto de 2011   Un proceso de investigación-acción se caracteriza por la participación de diferentes personas con el fin de buscar una transformación, tanto personal como colectiva, así como por analizar las propias realidades para mejorarlas. Este ensayo presenta la experiencia del inicio de una investigación-acción realizada por la autora, en la que se analiza una situación propia de su práctica laboral cotidiana.  

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.

La integración curricular: Una experiencia en el primer nivel de diplomado de la carrera de Licenciatura en Pedagogía con énfasis en Educación Preescolar

Recibido 28 de setiembre de 2011 • Aceptado 24 de octubre de 2011 • Corregido 06 de noviembre de 2011     Se plantea una reflexión acerca de la experiencia de integración curricular realizada por académicos y académicas universitarias, del primer nivel de diplomado de la carrera de Licenciatura en Pedagogía con énfasis en Educación Preescolar, de la División de Educación Básica de la Universidad Nacional, durante el primer semestre del año 2011. La integración ha sido concebida por el equipo del nivel como un proceso de crecimiento personal y profesional, para generar oportunidades que permitan el fortalecimiento de equipos docentes y de los cursos del nivel, en procura de brindar mayores oportunidades para el desarrollo estudiantil.