Enseñanza de las ideas principales: problemas en el paso de la teoria a la práctica

Dno de los sueños de todo educador es encontrar conceptos o métodos que sean a la vez poderosos y extremadamente simples. La «idea principal» se ha presentado como una de estas panaceas que permite construir estrategias de comprensión lectora adecuadas a los relativamente complejos modelos cognitivos, mediante un procedimiento de atractiva sencillez. En este artículo se aborda uno de los problemas más importantes y menos tratados de este prometedor enfoque. La propia denominación de «la idea principal» supone la existencia de un única idea principal y la univocidad de ésta: todo el mundo convendrá en una única y misma idea, la del maestro será la misma a la de cada uno de los alumnos.

El problema planteado por los autores de que este supuesto no se realiza (hay divergencias fuertes en la identificación de la idea) abre vías menos simplistas pero quizá más atractivas a la enseñanza desde «la idea principal».     

A distributed collaborative science learning laboratory on the internet

Abstract

A Distributed Collaborative Science Learning Laboratory (DCSLL) was designed, prototyped, and pilot‐tested as the “Electrical Circuit Simulator.” This laboratory was part of a module on electricity within an introductory distance course for postsecondary students on the scientific method. The concept of DCSLL emerged from work in distance education and new technologies, cooperative/collaborative learning, and science education. Instructional design principles derived from these areas are presented, and their implementation in the DCSLL is described, followed by results from the pilot test. Analysis of the results led to the articulation of six instructional design guidelines, identified as being key to the development of such learning environments.     

Occupational stereotyping by hearing impaired and hearing people: experiences of a comparative survey

ABSTRACT

The problems of preparing hearing impaired people for adult life and for productive work have not yet been properly solved in Hungary. The main reasons can be found in the old tradition of segregated education for people with disabilities. The political changes of 1990 and the economic reforms have not brought about any favourable changes. A nationwide, comparative survey dealing with vocational prejudices and attitudes concerning hearing persons and hearing impaired persons showed that the vocational knowledge and expectations of the latter group is not satisfactory, their information is uncertain and that they have prejudices against themselves ‐ that is, they suppose that high‐prestige professions are not available to them. Deaf persons are even more prejudiced than hard of hearing persons.     

A Fresh Start for a ‘failing school’? A qualitative study

This paper examines Fresh Start, a New Labour flagship initiative to raise education ‘standards’ in a radical and innovative way. Drawing on a qualitative study of a comprehensive school in England, I argue that the initiative added to the problems faced by the ‘failing school’ and promoted rather traditional ways of raising ‘standards’ due to the close surveillance that Fresh Start schools were subjected to. In the case studied, the needs of the pupils that the initiative was meant to address were being sacrificed in the school's construction of a ‘successful’ identity. While the initiative has now lost momentum, some lessons can still be learnt. This paper illustrates the complexity of creating a new school, as well as the need to attend to the specificities of the local context and experiences in raising ‘standards for all’ pupils.     

Contenidos,estructura y determinantes de las ideas de los padres. Una investigación empírica

Resumen

Se han estudiado las ideas de los padres sobre el desarrollo y la educación de los niños con un cuestionario contestado por 278 sujetos (maridos y mujeres) de diferentes niveles educativos, con diferentes niveles de escolarización, de diferentes hábitats y diverso grado de experiencia previa como padres. Se han encontrado diferencias entre unos sujetos y otros en relación con su nivel de información, sus expectativas evolutivas, su capacidad de influencia percibida sobre el niño y su desarrollo, etc. El nivel de escolarización del sujeto ha resultado ser el más importante determinante de estas diferencias. El análisis de los datos ha puesto en evidencia la existencia de tres clases de padres a las que se propone denominar tradicionales, modernos o actualizados y paradójicos.