La frontera en l’ensenyament i aprenentatge de les ciències socials. La construcció de conceptes en l’alumnat de secundaria des d’una anàlisi i interpretació d’entorns geogràfics i històrics

Abstract

To think in a Social Studies teaching that approaches the students to topical issues and the current reality, an approach which includes relevant and significant situations that allows to the students to interpret the present and to participate in the construction of the future is necessary. This premise suppose a reassessment of the teaching activity towards curriculum adaptation contents, from a critical and controversial perspective. Also to transform the students class work in an instrument for the social studies knowledge construction incorporating topics that help them to construct concepts. The border, own concept on the social studies, became the aim of our research that we have started with an study of the border phenomenon from the contributions of border experts. The methodological frame drawing served us to elaborate teaching sequences focused in their own explanation and to achieve its understanding since the problem-situation giving meaning including related concepts. Because it is a research based on Social Studies Teaching field we chose a socio-critical paradigm and mixed methods, even the qualitative has been the one where we have supported the most, the analysis and the interpretation of the figures obtained to identify in which way the relevant social problems and the social controversy take part in the border conceptualization. In order to collect evidences which help us to corroborate the research questions, aims and assumptions we decided to use three resources: semi-structured survey, text elaboration and focus group. The combination of these tools allowed us to obtain figures in three different moments of the investigation: before to start the teaching proposal, during the class application and after a year. This structure serve us to know how the students have been incorporating the social knowledge in the border explanation and moreover, it allows us to determine the persistence of the time conceptualization. The didactic proposal also incorporates a methodological model where the students became the protagonist of their own learning based on the combination of independent work, work in couples, collaborative groups and class group work. To sum up, it deals with the analysis and interpretation of problem situation topics of interest where the border topic appears from the self-reflection, dialogue and debate between colleagues making use of the social knowledge acquired.

Date of Award	23 Oct 2018
Original language	Catalan
Supervisor	Montserrat Oller Freixa (Director)