Meaningful learning of some geological concepts through the resolution of problems in students of fifth grade of the departmental educational institution headquarter el lago

Abstract

This is a quantitative report, where the application of the didactic alternative of solving contextual problems raised in the thematic unit of "the Earth" is proposed; which is addressed in the area of ​​Natural Sciences corresponding to the fifth grade of the Departmental Educational Institution located in El Lago de Neiva, Colombia.

The investigation begins with the analysis of the preconceptions that on the subject "the Earth", it had in its cognitive structure, a group of 35 students enrolled during the school year of 2007, who made the analysis of the subject object of study in the fourth period academic in the subject of natural sciences and environmental education. Once this step was taken, seven work groups were formed and each received a problem inherent in the study subject; to solve it they had to work systematically; showing alternative solutions, and then choosing the one that best suits the conceptual requirements demanded by the problem situation. Once the problems were solved, the final cognitive structure was characterized, whose results were statistically contrasted with the initial ones, to determine the effectiveness of the selected didactic strategy.

The results reveal that the study group possesses 59.29% of the elementary knowledge of the theme "the Earth" and that due to the didactic application of problem solving 87.71% of conceptual management is achieved, that is, a advance of 28.42% in the management of the previous study concepts that were on: characteristics, layers, rocks, soils and horizons, volcanoes, seismic movements, conservation and future of the Earth. This manifestation allows proposing this strategy to facilitate the learning of different knowledge.