Practical way to apply fourth-generation assessment tools integrated into creating meaningful learning experiences in biology at high school.

The learning process for a Biology topic regarding organisms and animal kingdom diversity was investigated through an innovative Interactive Didactic Sequence (IDS) which integrated the idea of "concept maps" with the Hermeneutic-Dialectic Circle (HDC). HDC is a tool for data collection and a reference for pluralist-constructivist thinking, considered a form of fourth-generation evaluation. Hofstede's cultural dimensions were also integrated into the investigation in order to facilitate mediation in an evaluative context. Students' performances (N = 25) from a São Paulo-Brazil public school were statistically evaluated. Their cultural profile was determined via the Hofstede Value Survey Model 1994 questionnaire. The elaborative process of arranging concept maps was individual (CM-individual) and integrated with HDC in groups (CM-HDC). Concept map assessment methods were based off existing literature. An improvement in students' performances (p < 0.05) that presented concept maps integrated to HDC in a more complex structure when compared to individually-built maps was observed. Employment of HDC helped form motivational/interactive dialogues between students and teachers, which, in turn, assisted in achieving greater learning through the use of concept maps. The application of the fourth-generation evaluation was improved via knowledge regarding students' cultural profiles.

Helping medical students to learn pathology more effectively.

CONTEXT: Teaching methods in pathology for undergraduate medical students are not effective. AIMS: To document measures that can be adopted by individual teachers that can excite the interest, participation of the students and help them learn pathology in a clinical reasoning context. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Medical students in a large international medical school with class sizes of 700-900 were taught the pathology course in a period of sixteen weeks for two cohorts of students each year over a period of twenty years. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Specific learning objectives were devised to achieve higher levels of cognitive domain including interpretation, analysis and problem solving of clinical data of patients related to the objectives. The teaching sessions were modified to provide for maximum active participation by students with effective feedback at multiple points. Additional learning tools like concept maps, clickers, modified essay questions, flipped classrooms, clinicopathological conferences, directed self-learning activities were included. Learning objectives and assessment tools for professional behavior and communication skills were included. RESULTS: The students actively participated in all the learning activities with enthusiasm and achieved the objectives as reflected in the performance in the in-house examinations and the USMLE step one examination which tests clinical vignette-based problem-solving principles of which around 70% are related to pathology. CONCLUSIONS: The teaching sessions in pathology were useful and effective with adaptation to interactive, clinical reasoning platforms for teaching and assessment.

Constructing online concept maps in CMap Cloud collaboratively: Connecting pathways in case scenarios.

Learning metabolic pathways is vital for understanding biochemical processes and all of their implications for life. Their learning in the virtual environment is complex and generative learning strategies, such as the construction of online conceptual maps, can help in this process. This article presents a proposal for the collaborative construction of virtual concept maps on metabolism by students in the CMap Cloud browser application (free). A sequence of steps is suggested, which include online group brainstorming and discussions, peer assessment, and teachers feedback. This proposal is flexible and can be adapted to the didactic and technological reality of each teacher.

Use of CMAP tools® software to teaching muscle contraction: an experience with undergraduates students in physical education

Aim: To evaluate the use of CMAP tools® software as a teaching strategy of skeletal muscle components and contraction in undergraduates students of physical education. Methods: Nineteen students from the discipline of fundamentals of human physiology of the undergraduate course of physical education of the Centro Universitário Padre Anchieta were engaged in this study. Students were asked to divide into groups of three people and to bring a notebook with CMAP tools® software installed. During class, students were responsible for creating conceptual maps in CMAP tools® software describing each step of skeletal muscle components and contraction. To assess the effectiveness of this strategy in assisting learning related to skeletal muscle components and contraction, we created a visual learning scale (ranging from 0 (did not help) to 10 (helped a lot)) and applied to students at the end of the class. Results: From the students assessed, 47% scored 10 on the visual learning scale. Overall, 74% scored higher than 8 on the scale. Conclusion: The use of CMAP tools® software was effective in helping students understand concepts related to skeletal muscle components and contraction.(AU)

Conocimiento práctico para la enseñanza del lenguaje oral y escrito de estudiantes de educación inicial: Una aproximación desde la elaboración de mapas conceptuales / Prospective early childhood teachers' practical knowledge to teach oral language and literacy: An approach from conceptual mapping

La investigación sobre las prácticas de enseñanza de los educadores ha puesto de relieve la importancia de las cogniciones que subyacen a las prácticas pedagógicas. El conocimiento práctico de los educadores define el conocimiento que generan los educadores mismos, como resultado de la integración y mutua influencia de fuentes teóricas y prácticas y que orienta su quehacer en el aula. Esta noción ha sido aplicada para abordar el conocimiento de los educadores sobre las diversas dimensiones que integran su trabajo profesional. El objetivo del estudio que se presenta fue examinar las dimensiones del conocimiento práctico para la enseñanza del lenguaje oral y escrito evidenciadas por estudiantes de educación inicial en práctica final, a través de la elaboración y explicación de mapas conceptuales. Participaron 26 estudiantes de ocho programas universitarios de formación profesional de Santiago (Chile). Los resultados de este estudio cualitativo descriptivo mostraron una mayor representación de tres de las seis dimensiones examinadas: conocimiento de la materia (lenguaje oral y alfabetización inicial), conocimiento de estrategias pedagógicas para su enseñanza y conocimiento de los niños a su cargo. El conocimiento del desarrollo y el aprendizaje en la infancia, de los propósitos de la enseñanza de esta materia y del currículum fueron representados en menos de la mitad de los mapas conceptuales. Se analizan estos resultados desde la perspectiva de la investigación reciente acerca de la enseñanza del lenguaje oral y la alfabetización durante los primeros años y la formación profesional de los educadores a cargo del nivel inicial.

Teachers' practical knowledge has become an increasingly relevant issue for educational research during the last decades. The concept of practical knowledge refers to the cognitions that underlie to teachers' actions, including teachers' knowledge and beliefs and attempts to grasp the knowledge and skills that are "unique to the teaching profession." Insights into the categories that constitute teachers' practical knowledge have suggested that it is a multi-dimensional concept that entails several dimensions: knowledge of student learning and development, subject matter, purposes and goals for teaching the subject, curriculum, instructional strategies (Beijaard & Verloop, 1996; Meijer, Verloop, & Beijaard, 2002). As part of their professional development, teachers need to know about language and its relevance to support general cognitive development and specific subject matter competencies. A great deal is known about how young children learn language and literacy and how their learning can be supported in the educational context. Literacy is a secondary system that depends on oral language as the primary system, so effective early childhood teachers need to know a good deal about language and literacy in order to organize learning opportunities for children during the first years of life. Early childhood teachers who have better training show better educational practices, more appropriate to children's development, are more sensitive to their needs and show more informed understanding of appropriate educational practices (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). This study aimed to examine the practical knowledge evidenced by prospective early childhood teachers in their last year of preparation to teach language and early literacy to children from 0 to 6 years. 26 prospective early childhood teachers in their final professional practice, from 8 university teacher education programs located in the city of Santiago - Chile (2-4 students from each program). Data were collected through the elicitation and verbal explanation of concept maps (Novak, 2008; Cañas, et al., 1997; Rovira, 2003) a procedure used in previous studies in which teachers identify and relate concepts considered important for teaching, organizing them into a schema (Meijer, Verloop, & Beijaard, 2002). A descriptive qualitative design based on the Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 2002) was conducted. Results evidenced the majority of conceptual maps included three of the six dimensions examined: knowledge of subject matter (oral language and initial literacy), knowledge of pedagogical strategies to teach this subject matter and knowledge of children. Phonology and phonological awareness were identified as the most relevant learning goals in the early years and activities like phonological segmentation as appropriate practices to reach them. Vocabulary was also identified as a relevant goal and different kind of texts, particularly children stories as important pedagogical resources. Knowledge of subject matter and pedagogical strategies to teach language of literacy was supported by recent research base, even tough, schemas and explanations did not evidenced the complex integration of language and literacy learning, oral language and literacy were presented as different skills, that had to be taught at different ages and using specific pedagogical strategies. Knowledge of children and their context was also considered in most of the conceptual maps, but there was no evidence of a systematic assessment of children strengths and difficulties, in order to organize the learning opportunities. This research expands international evidence on teachers' practical knowledge, focusing on prospective early childhood teacher education, which has not been examined before. According to these preliminary results, the early childhood teacher education programs, recognized by a panel of experts as the best of the country, are not preparing their students to address children needs. More research is needed in order to obtain a more complete picture of early childhood teacher education to teach language and literacy.

Uso de Mapas Conceituais: percepções sobre a construção de conhecimentos de estudantes do ensino médio a respeito do tema radioatividade / Using Concept Maps: perceptions about building knowledge of highschool students on the radioactivity subject

Este trabalho destina-se a investigar as contribuições dos mapas conceituais na análise da construção do conhecimento relacionado ao tema Radioatividade no ensino de Química com estudantes do terceiro ano do ensino médio, tendo como paradigma teórico a Aprendizagem Significativa de David Ausubel. Tal teoria compreende que o aprendiz se apropria do conhecimento, por elaboração pessoal, a partir de conceitos pré-existentes em sua estrutura cognitiva, que vão se modelando e se aprimorando por diferenciação progressiva e/ou reconciliação integrativa no decorrer do processo de ensino e aprendizagem. Partindo dessa teoria, Joseph Novak desenvolveu a metodologia de mapas conceituais, no sentido de representar como o conhecimento é armazenado na estrutura cognitiva de um estudante. Utilizando como categorias de análise a diferenciação progressiva e a reconciliação integrativa,mapas conceituais de dois estudantes, antes e depois da referida unidade temática, são estudados para a compreensão da organização conceitual que os estudantes atribuíram ao tema. As análises mostram que os mapas conceituais constituem-se em recurso privilegiado de acompanhamento do processo ensino e aprendizagem dos estudantes por seus educadores.

This study aims to investigate the contributions ofconceptual maps in the analysis of the construction of knowledge related to the topic Radioactivity in chemistry teaching. Theoretical paradigm of Meaningful Learning from David Ausubel study wasutilized with students of high school (third year). This theory includes the learner appropriates the knowledge, personal development, from pre-existing concepts in their cognitive [structure,which will be shaping and tweaking by progressive differentiation and/or integrative reconciliation in the process of teaching and learning. Based on this theory, Joseph Novak developed the methodology of conceptual maps, to represent how the knowledge is stored in the cognitive structure of a student. Conceptual maps of two students before and after thisthematic unit were studied using as categories of analysis the progressive differentiation and the integrative reconciliation. These aspects were used for understanding the conceptual organization that students assigned to the radioactivity theme. The analysisshows that concept maps are a privileged resource monitoring the teaching and learning processes of students by their teachers

El modelo constructivista y el tradicional y su influencia sobre el aprendizaje, estructuración del conocimiento y motivación en alumnos de enfermería / The constructivist and traditional models and their influence on learning, knowledge structuring and motivation in nursing students

La enseñanza de enfermería debe contemplar la conjugación de contenidos declarativos, procedimentales y actitudinales, aspectos que deben ser considerados por los docentes durante el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Para lograrlo es necesario un enfoque activo, dinámico y de análisis continuo, para lo cual, el modelo constructivista, permite combinar entre una gama de estrategias de enseñanza-aprendizaje destacándose el uso de los mapas conceptuales, el aprendizaje basado en problemas (ABP) y aprendizaje colaborativo. Se trata de un estudio cuasi experimental con pre-test y post-test, conformado por dos grupos con n=60 estudiantes de enfermería cada uno; un grupo sin intervención educativa (modelo tradicional), y otro con intervención educativa (modelo constructivista). Se aplicaron 3 instrumentos de evaluación: estructuración del conocimiento (Cronbach= 0.770), motivación al logro (Cronbach=0.833) y evaluación del aprendizaje (Cronbach = 0.864). Al grupo con intervención educativa se le dieron 10 sesiones con duración de 6 horas cada una, en el cual se utilizó de manera combinada los mapas conceptuales y ABP en trabajos colaborativos. El grupo con intervención presentó diferencias estadísticamente significativas en estructuración del conocimiento(p=0.039), motivación al logro (p=0.012) y aprendizaje (0.001). Con respecto a la estructuración, el grupo con intervención educativa presentó diferencias las dimensiones: concepto central, concepto subordinado, relación entre conceptos, jerarquía y estructura (p<0.05), mientras que el uso de proposiciones no presentó diferencias estadísticas (p>0.05). Con relación a la motivación al logro se observaron diferencias en las dimensiones interés (p<0.05) e interacción colaborativa (p<0.01), mientras que en las dimensiones interacción con el profesor, influencia de los pares, tareas y exámenes no se observaron diferencias estadísticas (p>0.05) En conclusión, la utilización de una metodología educativa constructivista combinada mediante la utilización de mapas conceptuales y aprendizaje basado en problemas mejora el aprendizaje de los contenidos declarativos, la estructuración del conocimiento, así como el interés de los alumnos y un actitudinal que es el trabajo colaborativo.

Nursing education considers the declarative content conjugation, procedural and attitude, issues to be considered by teachers in learning process. It is necessary to achieve an active and continuous approach. A dynamic analysis whereof a constructive model. It allows a range between combined learning strategies standing use of concept maps, problem-based learning (PBL) and collaborative learning. This is a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test. It is formed by two groups with n=60 nursing students each, a group without educational intervention (traditional), and one witheducational intervention (constructivist). It applied three assessment instruments: structure of knowledge (Cronbach 0.770), achievement motivation (Cronbach 0.833), and evaluation of learning (Cronbach 0.864). Interventions group presented significant statistically differences knowledge in structure (p= 0.039), achievement motivation (p=0.012), and learning (p=0.001). Regarding the structure, educational intervention group presented differences in dimensions: central concept, subordinate concept, and relationship between concepts, hierarchy and structure (p<0.05), while the use of proposals presented no statistics differences (p>0.05).With respect to the achievement motivation, it observed differences in the interest dimensions (p<0.05), collaborative interaction (p<0.001), while on the interaction with teacher dimensions, peer influence, work and tests not observed statistics differences (p<0.05). In conclusion, the use combined of constructivist educational methodology by using problem-based learning and concept maps, improvement the structure of knowledge and collaborative work.

O Papel dos Mapas Conceituais na Educação Médica / The Role of Concept Maps in the Medical Education

No âmbito do ensino da medicina, diante das imperiosas mudanças necessárias para a formação de um profissional que aprenda a aprender, a aprendizagem significativa de David Ausubel - pressuposto teórico para a construção de mapas conceituais - tem permitido uma genuína articulação dos conhecimentos necessários à prática médica, facultando, portanto, um aprendizado mais efetivo e permitindo a atuação em um contexto complexo e interdisciplinar. Em conformidade com o exposto, o presente manuscrito objetiva apresentar o papel dos mapas conceituais na educação médica.

As part of the medical education, due to the compelling changes required to produce a professional who learns how to learn, the meaningful learning construct proposed by David Ausubel provides a true contextualization of the knowledge needed for medical practice, allowing in this way a more effective learning and allowing it to be used in an interdisciplinary and complex context. Accordingly, this manuscript aims to present the role of concept maps in medical education.

Los mapas conceptuales como estrategia que permite mejorar el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje de la neuroanatomía / Concept maps as a strategy for improving the teaching learning process in neuroanatomy

Los mapas conceptuales son una estrategia de enseñanza aprendizaje que permite organizar los contenidos de una temática determinada facilitando su interpretación, comprensión y análisis. Su construcción en forma grupal incrementa la capacidad de los estudiantes de aprender de modo significativo debido al aumento del interés y la atención para integrar los conceptos más relevantes en forma cooperativa. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes que cursaron la asignatura morfofisiología II en la Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) al implementar el uso de los mapas conceptuales como herramienta pedagógica para la enseñanza de la anatomía funcional del sistema nervioso. Se realizó un estudio de tipo prospectivo analítico con mediciones transversales en cuatro momentos en 130 estudiantes de medicina (II semestre 2006) que cursaban la asignatura morfofisiología II a quienes durante los dos primeros cortes se les transmitió la información en forma de cátedra magistral y para el tercer corte se dividieron en grupos de trabajo que utilizaron como método activo de enseñanza los mapas conceptuales. Los resultados de sus exámenes académicos escritos se compararon utilizando la prueba de Bonferroni (p<0.05) cuando los ANOVA indicaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas. Los resultados demostraron que las calificaciones de las evaluaciones del tercer corte fueron significativamente mejores que las de los otros, lo que nos sugiere que la realización de mapas conceptuales en forma cooperativa ofrece ventajas al estudiante entre las que se encuentra la mejoría de su rendimiento académico.

The present study describes the implementation of conceptual maps as a pedagogical strategy that tends to transform the passive students into an active producer.The use of concept maps in groups encourages students to meaningful learning, increasing interest and attention in relevant concepts working in a cooperative way. The objective was to measure the improvement of academic performance of the student when implementing the strategy of conceptual maps as a pedagogical tool of students of morphophysiology II at the Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) for teaching the functional anatomy of the nervous system. An analytic prospective with four transversal sections study was conducted in 130 students of medicine (II semesters of 2006) Bucaramanga, Santander at 2006, who attended the course morphophysiology II.For the first and the second section the students received master classes and for the third section the group was divided and the active method of concept maps was applied. The multiple corrected comparisons were made using the Bonferroni test (p< 0.05) when the ANOVA shows significant statistical differences. All student received master classes as a group. For other activities they were divided in 4 groups; A, B, C and D with 36, 40, 25 and 29 students respectively. It is important that at the third period the performance of the group was homogeneous, finding not difference between groups. An ANOVA for all students in comparison of the 4 periods showed significant differences (F3,387: 39,116, p<0,001) where the comparison with Bonferroni demonstrated that performance in the third period was significantly better than in the other periods. Using concept maps as an strategy for actively constructing knowledge by students confirms that the process of learning is active and was reflected in the improvement of their performance.

O movimento como tema gerador para a prática pedagógica inter/trans/multidisciplinar / The movement as a theme to the teaching practice inter/trans/multidisciplinary

Neste texto, vivemos atualmente uma crise paradigmática no campo das ciências e que aos poucos a vemos tomar conta de nossa educação. Tal crise veio a inquietar-nos no sentido de como vemos o mundo, a ciência, a experiência e principalmente a educação. Notoriamente ela nos mostrou o quanto reduzimos a realidade, a cognição e, pior, o Homem em partes dissecadas sem ao menos um vestígio de vida. Nessa problemática, autores como: Moscovici, Merleau-Ponty (1999), Capra e Moreira se esmeraram a entender as partes a partir do todo e o todo a partir das partes num movimento complexo e sistêmico. Mostraram o quanto a ciência clássica limitava explicações de sistemas vivos que por serem vivos apresentam complexidades. Identificaram os obstáculos conceituais e de aprendizagem que foi atribuído a:o corpo, ao movimento humano, isto é, a motricidade humana.

We live today a paradigm crisis in the sciences and to see that slowly take over our education. This crisis came to disturb us in the sense we see the world, science, experience and especially education. Usually she showed us how much we reduce the reality, cognition, and the worst of it is that dissecting the human body in parts without even a trace of life. In this issue authors as Moscovici, Merleau-Ponty (1999), and Moreira Capra went to great pains to understand the parts from the whole and the whole from the parts in a complex and systemic movement. Showed how classical science limited explanations of living systems because they are living present complexities. Identified conceptual obstacles and learning that was attributed to: the body, human motion, ie, the human movement.

Los mapas conceptuales como estrategia didáctica para el aprendizaje de conceptos de biología celular en estudiantes de ciencias de la salud / Concept maps as a didactic strategy for learning of concepts of cell biology in students of health sciences

Para los estudiantes de ciencias de la salud, el conocimiento de la biología constituye un pilar fundamental para afrontar con éxito los problemas que se les presenten relacionados con este campo del conocimiento y para interpretar los fenómenos concretos de las ciencias médicas y de la salud. Este artículo muestra los resultados del uso de los mapas conceptuales para el aprendizaje significativo de conceptos de biología celular. Objetivo: Determinar la efectividad de los mapas conceptuales como estrategia didáctica en el aprendizaje de conceptos de biología celular en estudiantes de ciencias de la salud. Materiales y métodos. Se trabajó un diseño cuasi experimental pretest postest con dos grupos intactos: un grupo experimental (usó los mapas conceptuales como estrategia de aprendizaje) y un grupo control (no usó los mapas conceptuales como estrategia de aprendizaje). Los estudiantes fueron evaluados con preguntas de selección múltiple con única respuesta, en los niveles de conocimiento, comprensión y aplicación del dominio cognitivo de la Taxonomía de Bloom. Resultados: En el postest no se hallaron diferencias significativas en el total de preguntas. Sin embargo, se encontraron diferencias significativas entre los grupos en el nivel de aplicación, y se observó mejor resultado en el grupo experimental. Conclusiones: Los mapas conceptuales proporcionaron a los estudiantes una herramienta para aprender significativamente conceptos de biología celular. Sin embargo, su uso efectivo depende de factores como: motivación por aprender, entrenamiento continuo en la elaboración de mapas, contenidos significativos de aprendizaje y tiempo de implementación...

For students of health sciences, knowledge of biology is a cornerstone to successfully face the challenges presented to them related to this field of knowledge and to interpret specific phenomena of medical science and health. This paper shows the results of the use of the concept maps for meaningful learning of cellular biology concepts. Objective: to determine the effectiveness of the concept maps as a didactic strategy in the learning of concepts of cellular Biology in students of Health Sciences. Material and methods: It was worked with a cuasi-experimental design of pre-test and post-test with two intact groups: an experimental group (it used the concept maps as learning strategy) and a control group (it did not use the concept maps as learning strategy). The students were evaluated using a pre-test and post-test, built with multiple-choice questions with one answer in the levels of knowledge, comprehension and analysis of the cognitive domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Results: In the post-test found no significant differences in the total number of questions. However significant differences were found between groups in the application level, observing better results in the experimental group. Conclusions: The concept maps gave students a tool to learn concepts of cell biology significantly. However, its effective use depends on factors such as motivation for learning, continuous training in mapping, significant contents of learning and implementation time...